Carla Baxter is part community organizer, part entrepreneur.
Wearing an all-black track suit and sporting braids past her shoulders that include a few rocking peacock blue highlights, she’s the owner of Baxter Beauty Supply. That business moved to a new location on Hilltop Drive in March, a year after she founded the store on Hartnell Avenue in south Redding.
Her new shop is a place where people from a variety of backgrounds come to get their hair done or buy hair supplies.
Dozens of packs of human and synthetic hair extensions are displayed along one wall of the store, in traditional colors like black and brown as well as neon bright and in a variety of textures and lengths.
Her store’s motto, as displayed on the salon wall: “Where confidence becomes your crown.”
As one of the only providers in the region offering those hair products, Baxter said she draws local customers from throughout the North State.
Carla Baxter sells a diverse selection of hair products including human-hair wigs and other hair-related items at her store called Baxter Beauty Supply at 2295 Hilltop Drive, Suite 4, in the Hartnell Castle building. She also takes braiding appointments for weaves and ponytails.
During heavy prom time, young women from local high schools are coming in to get styled. She provides services to regulars who drive from Chico and students who come in from the College of the Siskiyous in Weed.
There’s also a store salon, where Baxter can give customers braided hairstyles or install weaves, a process where extensions are sewn into a person’s natural hair to temporarily provide thickness or length.
When talking with her current landlord about her business, Baxter said she outlined the need for a beauty and hair supply business serving a diverse clientele in the increasingly diverse Redding area.
About 10% of her clientele are men, while about 80% are people of color, she said.
“I just explained to her that I’ve lived here over 20 years and how I had to drive to Reno or Sacramento to get my hair products,” said Baxter. “So I decided to open up this store so that people will have the opportunity to get their hair care needs met.”
When high school students are in her salon chair, Baxter said they’re not only getting their hair done. She uses the styling sessions to find out about their lives.
“I talk to them about what do you want to be when you grow up,” said Baxter. “I’ll talk to them about how’s school going.”
In the future, Baxter said, she wants to focus on youth: “There are some different things I’m thinking about how I’m going to help the community a little bit more.”
Baxter Beauty Supply owner Carla Baxter shows some of the hair products and accessories she sells at her Redding store at 2295 Hilltop Drive, Suite 4, in the Hartnell Castle building.
Cancer survivor now helping others
People sometimes come to Baxter’s store wanting wigs after they’ve experience hair loss due to illness, aging or because they’ve undergone cancer treatment.
Baxter knows about that first hand, as a breast cancer survivor who’s been in remission for six years.
While some people wear wigs for fashion, Baxter said she understands how losing one’s hair can make people feel.
“I know how that is. It is a very sensitive topic and they’re going through a lot,” said Baxter.
Since women often need a place where it is “safe” to remove their hat or their scarf, Baxter said the shop has a private room “so we can talk about what they need (with) somebody that cares, that can be sensitive with you while you’re going through what you’re looking at.”
A cultural resource, solo entrepreneur
Baxter said people often stop by the store to ask about upcoming celebrations happening around town.
“A lot of people have just moved here or they just happen to be a Black person of culture and they will ask me, ‘what’s going on in Redding?’ Anything that I know is going on, I’ll share it,” including about Fourth of July festivities, Anderson’s Mosquito Serenade summertime outdoor concert series and community resources including the Shasta Public Library and Redding Aquatic Center for the kids.
She keeps on top of the region’s multicultural events as a member of the Shasta Beloved Community, a grassroots organization that aims to unify Shasta County’s culturally diverse groups. She’s also active in Shasta County Citizens Advocating Respect, a civil rights and social justice collective.
When people ask, she fills them in about events including the upcoming African American Graduation and Recognition of Academic Achievements, held each June at Shasta College to laud Black graduates of Northern California schools of all ages — from preschool to graduate school.
Related: Bouyant Redding Juneteenth jubilee moves to the downtown promenade
In January, she told people about events planned around Redding in honor of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Once summer arrived, customers were asking about what was going on locally for Juneteenth, a national holiday celebrating Black freedom and culture to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. She said she works “behind the scenes” on that event, helping to line up food vendors and others. Juneteenth is held in downtown Redding with food and a New Orleans-style brass band and parade and is celebrated this year on June 19.
“I’m involved with making the community a better place. So the things that we don’t have in our community that we want to see here, we’re a part of organizing those things,” said Baxter, a California native who ran a commercial cleaning business before opening her beauty shop.
“So my business and I have just been saying, ‘how can we help?'”
Michele Chandler covers public safety, dining and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at [email protected]. Please support our entire newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Social enterpreneur opens beauty shop for Redding’s diverse community
Read the full article here
