As Black Business Month approaches in August, Montie Green is reflecting back on her journey to open her Old Town business Velvet Wax & Beauty.
Green is a licensed cosmetologist and opened her first salon in Hampton ten years ago. The location at Old Town’s Crilley Warehouse (218 N. Lee Street, Suite 100) has been open for four years.
Green has lost both parents — her mother in 2013 and father in 2016. The name Velvet Wax & Beauty pays tribute to her mother.
“Her motorcycle bike name was Red Velvet. So I started it in honor of her,” Green told ALXnow.
Green first came to the D.C. region to study at Howard University and now lives in Old Town. She takes a “skin first approach” to hair removal and trains her team of cosmetologists, estheticians and wax technicians with curriculum of instruction.
As a Black business owner, Green says access to capital and business visibility continue to be top issues. With the loss of both parents, Green says she hasn’t had the support parents can provide, but local business resources in Alexandria have stepped in to provide support.
“I was proud to be college educated, but not only did I not come from a super affluent or wealthy family, but I don’t have the support of parents who wish many people do. So I had to be extremely resourceful,” Green said. “I think access to capital is really important, and then I think that with the new algorithms and social media marketing is a huge business, and for small businesses, it’s very difficult to be visible because you have to pay for eyeballs.”
While the salon’s most popular service is the Brazilian wax, Green says a lot of clients also come for sugaring. An alternative to waxing, sugaring features a paste made from sugar, lemon juice and water that is applied in the direction of hair growth. Since it avoids the harsh chemicals often found in wax, Green recommends it for people with skin conditions like rosacea, hirsutism, eczema and hidradenitis suppurativa as well as pregnancy.
Green says sugaring can get a bad reputation for being more painful than waxing. But that’s only if it isn’t done correctly.
“That’s because on the East Coast, most esthetics and cosmetology programs do not teach sugaring in school, so there’s a huge training and learning deficit,” Green said. “And unfortunately, post high school, who’s investing thousands of dollars of learning something? They’re just trying to get to work, right? So they have to find an employer that’s experienced that really can like give them hands-on training, and that’s what we do here.”
Green, whose father was a Navy veteran, finds serving veterans a full-circle moment. She has seen plenty of veteran clients who have gotten sugaring treatments overseas but couldn’t find them in the U.S. Her Hampton location was the first military veterans have found at home.
“I think that’s cool because there’s so many clients that they started in Hampton and then they moved north to Northern Virginia and they have another one,” Green said.
Velvet Wax & Beauty carries its own line of products such as an ingrown bump spray, exfoliator and feminine wash to continue skin care after treatments. Green says the salon tries to raise awareness about the importance of using SPF products as well.
“If you’re just doing it, you’re leaving yourself more susceptible to burns,” Green said.
Along with running Velvet Wax & Beauty, Green teaches pro bono classes at local esthetic schools and started the nonprofit Pretty Kitty Committee to support those experiencing symptoms that may affect their chances of motherhood.
“Believe it or not, most people visit their wax lady more often than they visit their OB-GYN,” Green said. “Your esthetician is sometimes a person that really connects with you. It can affect that, and so we wanted to like create a pipeline so they can be informed about what we see and maybe what those symptoms could align to so that they can seek support.”
Green says small businesses are “at a pinnacle moment” with the rise of artificial intelligence, and utilizing AI is necessary for service-based businesses to stay competitive. But she also stressed the importance of personalized service.
“If you are in the beauty space, I think that you have to be client-focused and heart led, because for most founders, especially me, it’s not really about the money; it’s about the service,” Green said. “And because my business is founded with my mom’s name, I always try to have integrity in the way that I treat my customers and my employees.”
Green says customers have inquired about opening a third location, but she hasn’t decided on that yet.
Velvet Wax & Beauty operates by appointment in Old Town.
