Sincerely Yours Salon celebrates 25 years of nurturing natural beauty

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

By Stella Griffin

Photos by Heather Diehl

When clients walk into Sincerely Yours Salon, they are not just walking into a place where hair is being done, they are walking into a third space — one where art covers the walls, community can be found and knowledge and culture can be shared. 

The salon, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, is owned and operated by Glenda Jones, a professional in the natural hair industry. 

Jones, a Chapel Hill native, said her flair for styling natural hair developed greatly when doctors were planning to shave her mother’s head as preparation for a brain tumor operation.

“I encouraged them not to shave her entire head — to shave part of it — and I was going to see how I could help her to cover up the part of her hair that was shaved,” she said. 

Jones  began to help her former co-workers at the Herald Sun with hair concerns and eventually started doing hair in her home until she  moved into the salon space that has become Sincerely Yours.

After buying the salon, Jones was able to keep the employees who had worked there prior to the ownership change, as well as bring on new professionals.

One of these is licensed esthetician and natural hair specialist Karen Weaver.

Weaver, who has worked at Sincerely Yours for the past ten years, has been in the esthetics industry for almost thirty years.

“When I first started out, there were very few women of color who were estheticians,” Weaver said.

She said many women of color for whom she was able to perform services for had never before had a professional facial. 

“I’ve seen the field grow tremendously,” Weaver said. “We’re making strides.”

Making strides in the industry is something Sincerely Yours seems to do best.

Jones’ specialty in natural hair has allowed her to support and guide many women as they transition from relaxed to natural hair.

The CROWN (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural hair) Act, according to www.thecrownact.com, is currently being passed in states across the country to ensure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles such as braids, locs, twists, and knots in the workplace and public schools.

“Just think about that,” Jones said. “There has to be a law to allow you to wear your hair the way it grows out of your head in order to not be discriminated against in schools and workplaces.”

Jones says research has now proven that the chemicals used to alter hair texture causes health issues such as infertility and neurological issues.

She chose to educate herself further on natural hair so she could help her clients and as well as educate them.

Sherika Hill is and was one of these clients.

When she first visited the salon 15 years ago, she was actively trying new salons around Durham. 

“When I came here it felt different from the others,” Hill said. “In the other settings, stylists talk to each other, they play music and they kind of ignore the client. It’s just a trade and you feel like you’re a customer. When I came here, it was about the person in the chair.”

Jones says the most joy that comes from her job is the people she gets to interact with and the relationships salon staff have built with clients.

“It’s a special place,” she said. “You can come in here sometimes with a need, and before you leave, the person who has the answer to it comes in the front door.”

Sincerely Yours has also opened its doors to host trunk sales, where customers can come into the salon, which has been cleared out and filled with clothes, such as dresses from a line called Onion Cut & Sewn. 

“It’s an amazing energy because it’s so supportive,” Jones said. “You cannot talk bad about yourself at that event.”

The salon has also hosted art display galas, baby showers, film conversation nights, provided COVID-19 and sexual health supplies and even allowed UNC students to come in and run studies on fall risk. 

“I definitely think there are people who can do hair but the way in which you treat someone, the way you make someone feel — that’s what they’re gonna remember,” Jones said “That’s what’s important.”

The celebration for Sincerely Yours 25th anniversary seems to mirror exactly what the salon stands for.

“It’s something pretty much like us — pretty organic and simple,” Jones said.  ”We’re wanting people to come out and enjoy the space, and enjoy the food, and enjoy the music and enjoy the energy,” Jones said.

Sincerely Yours Customer Appreciation Week will start at the salon on Tuesday, May 7 and end with a cookout on Friday, May 10.

Edited by Abigail Keller & Cade McConnell

Photos by Heather Diehl