A woman who suffered from a “permanent headache” for two years, owing to her heavily matted hair, had her life transformed after a 10-hour session at a North Carolina hair salon.
Ms. Fazal is proud of her salon’s non-judgmental attitude toward clients and has been specializing in detangling heavily matted hair for a year now. Her amazing transformation videos have gone viral and amassed positive comments from netizens.
On Nov. 9, Ms. Fazal first met Alabama resident Rebecca, who had severally matted hair, at her salon.
“Rebecca called, and she needed help,” Ms. Fazal told The Epoch Times. “She‘d been to other salons; they turned her down. Nobody was willing to do it in Alabama, where she was living, and we said, ’You know what, we can do it.'”
Rebecca was the hardest client Ms. Fazal had ever worked on since her hair was “like a helmet to her head.”
“I know it’s not the easiest thing for clients,” Ms. Fazal said. “There’s no pain medication, no IV, it’s not pleasant. But the clients that are sitting there, they’re so determined, and they cannot wait to have their hair back ... they power through.”
About five hours into the detangling process, Ms. Fazal had to leave. However, before departing, she assured Rebecca that she would be taken care of. But out of curiosity, Ms. Fazal asked her how she was feeling.
“She goes, ‘Well, my permanent headache is gone,’ and I was like, ‘Wow.’ I didn’t even think about that,” Ms. Fazal said.
The weight of the matted hair that had been pulling on Rebecca’s scalp constantly was finally lifted, giving her immense relief.
Rebecca’s natural hair was light brown, “thick, curly, and beautiful.” Ms. Fazal had “chills” at the end result, and Rebecca herself was “beyond excited.”
For Ms. Fazal, there is no feeling better than helping someone detangle their hair.
“You give somebody a haircut, great; you could give somebody even a color transformation, great; hair extensions, sure,” she said. “But when we’re de-matting hair, we’re literally changing their lives, and that’s just something that is just mind-blowing.”
Tone Hair Salon’s first de-matting client walked in one year ago. She was a pregnant woman who was in tears and didn’t speak English.
“She was ready to shave her head ... it was so matted,” Ms. Fazal said. “The guy that was actually supposed to cut her hair, he was about to head out ... he only had an hour. She was like, ‘Just shave it off, I don’t care.’”
But Ms. Fazal stepped in with one of her assistants, offering to detangle the woman’s hair instead. They soaked her hair in oil and invited her to return the following day.
“I think that one took about six and a half, seven hours, but her hair, oh my God, it was gorgeous!” Ms. Fazal said. “Since then, we’ve just been doing more and more de-matting.”
In the past, Ms. Fazal had already been helping people by offering a code word—“angel cut”—for anyone who felt unsafe. If the person was a victim of trafficking, the salon staff would call the police immediately. So when Ms. Fazal’s first de-matting client, i.e., the pregnant woman, walked in, Ms. Fazal initially wondered if she needed help.
“The man that she brought in with her was very suspicious, and we were scared for her,” she said. “We slipped her a note in Spanish that said, ‘Are you safe? Do you need help?’ and she started crying. She goes, ‘No, I’m safe, he’s great. I’ve just been depressed. I’m pregnant, and I just don’t know what to do.’ She went to four different salons, and everybody turned her down.”
Many salons, and many commenters on social media, judge people for allowing their hair to get into a matted state, said Ms. Fazal. At Tone Hair Salon, no client is expected to explain their story. Instead, they are taken care of, treated to lunch or dinner, and relieved of their burden.
According to Ms. Fazal, most of her clients with matted hair know how to care for their hair. She reasoned that most of her clients’ hair gets into a matted state because they’ve experienced depression, or haven’t brushed their hair and have been lying in bed. Meanwhile, others haven’t been able to care for their hair as they’ve been sick.
People are really grateful to Ms. Fazal for what she does and express their joy to her for giving them a second chance at life.
“The hair is your crown, right? Nobody wants to cut off their hair,” she said. “People pay thousands of dollars for hair extensions, like, they’re just so happy to have their hair back. It’s literally like a brand-new light, a brand-new start to life for them in no matter what situation.”
Ms. Fazal doesn’t believe anyone should feel ashamed of matted hair or that any salon should judge a client for the state of their hair.
