ellënoire: Embracing Curly Hair

Our mission at ellënoire is to offer a luxurious natural curly hair salon & a beautiful shopping experience to everyone in our community and to the world via our online stores. ellënoire stands against oppression in all forms and in particular offers a safe space for women of colour & the LGBTQ2S+ community.

For the last 9 years we have had two hairdressing stations within our beauty boutique, however it is time to expand as the natural hair market continues to grow. We want to provide more appointments for our ever-growing clientele by expanding to four stations and add more features to our space to make our client’s experiences even better. An expanded space will allow us to book more client appointments and provide more social distancing while we continue to work in a world limited by Covid19 risks.

 As you likely know, as a result of the closures due to the Covid19 pandemic  2020 has been a VERY DIFFICULT year for Hair Salons. We lost a lot of time and business during our 3-month salon closure but want to try to regain some lost revenue and take a leap into the future with your help.

 ellënoire has two products:

1. A safe curly hair salon space for all people to enjoy. Therefore, we are expanding to accommodate the growing demand for natural hair services.

2. An expansive, unique line of natural skin & hair products. Handmade in-house using locally sourced, natural and organic ingredients our line provides people an opportunity to observe products being created and custom scented right before their eyes.

 Quite simply we need more safe spaces for all people, most especially people of colour and the LGBTQ2S+ community. We want to be part of that solution.

By providing an emotionally & physically safe shopping experience, a welcoming salon and a luxurious collection of products we are creating a one stop shop for anyone and everyone to take care of their skin, curly hair or natural product needs.

Capital funding for small businesses is hard to come by in the best of times.  Pitching our idea of a safe curly hair salon and natural bath, body & hair products is not something banks are interested in.  

We need this money to help our female owned, female staffed company expand and provide more people with the opportunity to have a safe space for their hair and beauty needs.

 We will spend the money specifically on the renovations involved to expand the salon space.  The monies will go directly into:

• building permits
• engineered drawings & site design plan
• construction materials and labour
• on site laundry
• improved hair drying & steaming equipment
• advanced natural ingredient & curly hair training for our staff
• the chance to create new Canadian made skin & hair products

We could not be prouder of our team.  Noëlle Smith started this business in her living room.  As a proud woman of colour she has had gorgeous thick curly hair her whole life, but has been told to straighten, tame and “control” her hair since childhood.  We want to take the shame away by teaching every child, every woman, every person to embrace their natural beauty.

Noëlle Smith is our founder, natural product developer & senior curly stylist. Noëlle's specialty is prescribing natural products for your hair & skin issues. "

My favourite thing has been high end customer care, providing the best organic, natural skin & hair products while empowering my clients with the knowledge of how to choose safer products and how to use them. I have self funded every aspect of my company, continuing to be successful through breast cancer, raising a son on my own and through several recessions. Our curly salon needs an upgrade to keep up with the demand and we hope you can help. Thank you for your time considering a donation to our campaign"

 Sarah D’Angelo is a senior curly hair specialist and curl coach. Her expertise can help you love your curls for all the years of your life. Ask her anything about curls. 

Sarah says: “Variety is the best part of specializing in natural texture for me. No two people who sit in my chair have the same curl pattern, density or porosity. I love customizing each service to the specific needs and challenges of the beautiful clients I meet everyday”

          Rachael Dayman is a licensed hair stylist and a curly hair specialist at ellënoire. Her talents have built up a strong clientele and she is a hair colour expert. Rachael says: "Cutting curly hair is more rewarding than cutting hair in the way I was taught in hair school. I love that we help people see their real selves rather than changing their natural hair texture to fit a fake ideal from a famous model in  a magazine photo”

Quite simply THANK YOU! A journey like this is fully supported by you, our supporters and customers.  To think that starting a curly hair product and skin care company would be this rewarding, challenging, fulfilling, hair wrenching and exciting (with some VERY nervous moments) is an understatement.  Your generous help, wisdom, advice, positive comments and dollars have truly made a massive difference in ours and our clients lives.