Caring for Crowns and Communities: How Carol Thomas Is Utilizing Hair to Assist Girls Heal

By Tracey Khan

In a sunlit salon nestled on Carlton Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Carol Thomas has spent the previous 20 years doing extra than simply styling hair; she’s been nurturing spirits, rebuilding confidence, and providing girls an area to really feel seen, celebrated, and complete.

Thomas, the founder and proprietor of Simply Becausehair salon, has quietly constructed a legacy rooted in care, neighborhood, and compassion. For over 20 years, she’s been serving to girls—whether or not longtime purchasers or strangers in shelters—reclaim their crowns, each actually and figuratively.

“I discovered numerous fantastic classes from my mom,” Thomas says. “Many needed to do with how I deal with my fellow man and girl. Quite a lot of that’s what helps form the salon and our normal philosophy and care.”

And care is on the coronary heart of all the pieces Thomas does.

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Magnificence as a Bridge: Empowering Girls in Shelters

One in all her most impactful initiatives is her long-running work with girls dwelling in transitional housing. Since round 2017, Thomas has partnered with native shelters in Brooklyn to supply haircare, facials, and make-up providers for these girls, a lot of whom are survivors of home violence, recovering from sickness, or just attempting to rebuild after life’s curveballs.

Every month, Thomas and her group welcome a small group of girls into her salon for what she calls her Sunday Collection—a day of pampering and sisterhood. No event obligatory. Simply therapeutic, pleasure, and a renewed sense of self-worth.

“We weren’t doing this for birthdays or weddings,” she explains. “It was only a day to remind them how stunning and precious they’re. Hair, make-up, just a little facial—it means all the pieces once you’ve been by means of a lot.”

A few of these classes have been emotionally heavy, significantly with older girls who had suffered strokes, misplaced jobs, or have been dwelling with trauma. Whereas Thomas says she needed to step again from a number of the extra emotionally demanding work for her well-being, she continues to assist a close-by mother-and-child shelter, providing haircare and feel-good moments to girls who usually go unseen.

“You by no means know the place life may take you,” she says. “So for those who might help somebody—even within the smallest manner—it is best to.”

The Simply As a result of Philosophy

The mission behind Simply As a result of is easy but profound: magnificence must be accessible and empowering, simply because you’re human. That ethos extends past the salon chair. Thomas has reworked her area right into a neighborhood hub the place magnificence meets mentorship, creativity, and confidence-building.

She beforehand ran the Promenade Queen Challenge, a beloved six-week program that supplied mentoring, life abilities classes, and full glam makeovers to highschool ladies getting ready for promenade. This system, which ran for six years earlier than proms turned extra commercialized, included all the pieces from visitor audio system and private improvement classes to donated robes and customized portraits.

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“I advised them, ‘Hold this portrait in your dorm room. Have a look at it on daily basis and remind your self of the queen you’re,’” she recollects. “It’s about planting these seeds early.”

Crowns on the Runway: Her Annual Hair Present

Thomas can also be the visionary behind a yearly neighborhood hair present, set to return this August. Open to women ages 3 to 18, the occasion offers younger girls an opportunity to shine—actually. Members are handled to elaborate hairstyles, make-up, customized outfits, and the total runway mannequin expertise, with household and buddies cheering them on.

“A few of them have by no means been pampered like that,” she says. “It’s greater than a vogue present. It’s a celebration of their individuality, their magnificence, and their price.”

And the transformation doesn’t cease on the occasion. Thomas usually sees the ladies sustaining their look, carrying themselves with newfound satisfaction, and embracing a extra optimistic self-image for years to return.

Giving Extra Than Glam

Thomas’ strategy to hair isn’t just about tendencies—it’s about transformation. Whether or not it’s serving to girls who’re struggling or quietly dressing youngsters in her mom’s faculty together with her circle of relatives’s garments, giving has at all times been in her DNA.

“I most likely go overboard,” she admits with fun. “But it surely’s who I’m. I used to be raised by a mom who believed in taking good care of individuals. I watched her do it with out fanfare, with out anticipating something in return. That’s what I’m attempting to hold ahead.”

Now, along with her salon and neighborhood initiatives, Thomas has launched an all-natural hair care line, ‘St Charles pure Hair Care’, named after her late father, combining her experience in styling together with her ardour for wholesome hair and wellness. It’s yet one more manner she’s extending her attain and influence far past the salon chair.

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Trying Forward

As Simply As a result of continues to develop in presence and goal, Thomas stays targeted on what issues most: uplifting girls, one crown at a time.

“Magnificence is highly effective,” she says. “It could possibly change the way in which somebody walks, talks, and thinks about themselves. And if I might be part of that shift—even for only one particular person—then I do know I’m doing what I’m meant to do.”

In a world that always calls for a purpose for all the pieces, Carol Thomas reminds us that generally the perfect issues—care, magnificence, compassion—must be supplied simply because

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