Conversations with Shaunta Lomeli

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shaunta Lomeli.

Hi Shaunta, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Being a daughter to a mother who had five children and all of them being girls… she lived for the moments she’d get to drop us off to her sister’s house for the weekend lol. As equally as she looked forward to dropping me and my siblings off, we were just as excited to go to auntie La-La’s house! My favorite aunt and a second mom who I love and miss so much.

At aunties house, a kid could truly be a kid but what I enjoyed most was being by her side in her kitchen on the weekends watching her braid her client’s hair. I watched her braid multiple styles on multiple people for hours and hours, weekend after weekend. This all came into play when I was around eight years old. I should have wanted to play with dolls and Barbies or my cousins that was always at aunties and I did do those things but my first choice was to watch auntie braid. Before I knew it, one Sunday after mom picked me and my siblings up and took us home, I told my baby sister at the time that I was about to braid her hair. I went into our room that we shared and closed the door and went to work! I’m not sure if I did two ponytails or three ponytails on her that day but I do remember everyone was so shocked when I finished and couldn’t believe that I had did it and that it was my very first time braiding. Moving forward auntie allowed me to perfect basic French braids (cornrows) and then she told me one day, “As soon as your cousin comes home from work I’m going to show you how to add the fake hair to the cornrow”. I was so scared that it was going to be so hard considering the fact that auntie was an overhand braider, and for whatever reason I naturally started braiding in underhand method.

Despite me being scared, when my cousin came home, we got in that kitchen and auntie showed me what to do on one side of her head and I followed those same steps on the other side of her head….. mission accomplished!!! I had achieved feeding in synthetic hair into the cornrow on the very first try! Auntie taught me one last style a year or two after that which was DOOKIE BRAIDS which are now called BOX BRAIDS. As braid styles continued to progress, I started going to YouTube for most styles and taught myself how to do them. With braid evolution, more braid teachers began to surface and every technique I couldn’t teach myself… I invested in their class and continue to do so to this very day! I believe the greatest TEACHER is the one who never stops being a STUDENT! I’ve been an active braider since I was nine years of age, doing friends, family, and so many others’ hair by word of mouth. I have to give credit where it’s due… my bestest friend in the whole wide world begged me to make a hair page on Instagram many years ago… (2014) and I never would. One day she came over my house and made it herself, lol. From that point on, business for me blew up LITERALLY… my business stopped growing through only word of mouth but then and still now virtually, I get many new clients or students just from @Shaunta_hairpage crossing the paths of their socials media or devices! I praise and thank God for selfless people like her that God has strategically placed all throughout my life even when I didn’t know or understand it as such.

Although my aunt La-La is no longer physically here with me, I cherish every moment and the talent she shared with me and I hold it so dear to my heart! In 2016 God blessed me to have my own personal shop space where I can service my clients in an intimate, peaceful, private and clean environment and I thank him for it every chance I get. In February of 2020, I starting teaching upcoming or already existing braiders how to do the techniques that I’ve learned throughout the years and it’s been a joy. Doing hair has truly brought me so much joy! It’s my life, my passion, my LOVE, my ministry, a hobby that turned into a career! I’ve been told that when you do what you love, you’ll never work again… for me, I live that statement. I get paid but it never feels like work.. what a blessing! My hope is that everyone reading this article finds their SUPERPOWER and begin to operate in it, don’t be scared or discouraged because you think the world is over-saturated with it already. When it’s for YOU… who’s meant will flow to you! God bless ❤️

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not always been a smooth road. I remember at one point in my life when cheerios and grill cheese sandwiches AKA (Wic) were my daily meals because all my money went to bills and there was not a cent left over. I didn’t care though because my bills were paid and me and at the time my only child didn’t go hungry! Sometimes I didn’t have nothing but one or two clients the entire week and then other weeks I would have clients every day. Eventually, my clientele grew to the point I don’t even have room to receive. Some other struggles I experienced was people booking and canceling very last minute, or booking and not canceling at all or showing up! Because of these reasons, I incorporated a NON-refundable deposit into my booking site and that solved most of those issues.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
When it comes to me as a braider, there’s almost nothing that I can not do. I choose to not do dreads or locs because they don’t interest me..but everything else from cornrows, feed-ins, individuals, box braids, Knotless braids, Inward/goddess braids, flat twist, kinky twist, and Senegalese twist I can do. I also offer specialties such as camouflage styles where I’m able to provide braids for people who suffer from alopecia or hair loss due to various reasons. I specialize in a method known as TUCKING, where a persons natural hair is completely protected and covered. This method allows braid styles to last a lot longer then the average braid would with little to no frizzes even after four weeks old. It allows a person to wear a colored style without having to dye their natural hair to that specific color. So if your natural hair is black and you want orange braids, I would TUCK the natural hair into the synthetic hair and transform the hair to be an orange braid. Instead of a black and Orange braid, it’ll be completely orange.

I’m known for my customer service, my authentic personality and spirit… It’s been said that the person you walk in as is definitely not the person you’ll walk out as! I’m known to make you feel as if we’ve known each other all of our lives and it’s not something I put on to make my clients experience this… it’s IN ME so that’s all I know to be! I’m most proud that I never gave up on myself. I never thought being a braider would take me this far in life but it has allowed me to purchase my first home and sustained it for almost seven years now, I get to travel the world with my husband and two children with each one of our needs constantly being met! I’ve had the chance to meet so many beautiful people on this journey that are stuck with me for life. I believe what sets Braids By Ta’ apart from other braiders or stylists is the God in me and the God I serve, KING JESUS!!! The fact that this is bigger than a career for me, but truly apart of my GOD-given purpose brings an entirely different perspective in how I handle this business and how I treat those that I’m blessed to service.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love that our city is full of everything… different cultures, different nationalities, so many different career types and tons of money able to be made at our fingertips! What I like least is that a lot of people find a reason to be cheap and criticize value. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, and so many other luxury brands are worn with pride…but some gems in La are looked over day and night or critiqued without reason. Nevertheless, keep pushing! We all have to start somewhere!

Contact Info:

• Website: Braidsbyta.as.me
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/shaunta_hairpage?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Image Credits
Shaunta Lomeli