MACON, Ga. — Charlynn Harris has been helping people look good for over 20 years.
It all started when she watched her grandmother do hair. She quickly found a love for it by watching her grandmother work and has been doing others' hair ever since.
Working at the The Beauty Parlor Salon and Boutique on Napier Avenue, Harris meets a variety of new clients, like Vontressa Salaam.
Salaam, an army veteran, said she originally wore dreadlocks until her hair began to thin.
She noted that she was always a busy woman, and at the time, chalked it up to that.
"It started in 2019," Salaam said. "I thought it was just some thinning, going through some stress."
Salaam heard about Harris, a hair loss specialist, and hoped she could help her hair grow full again and find a solution to her alopecia.
Alopecia is the medical term for hair loss. According to the Mayo Clinic, alopecia can "affect just your scalp or your entire body, and it can be temporary or permanent. It can be the result of heredity, hormonal changes, medical conditions, or a normal part of aging."
"I wanted to provide quality hair care and just continue to educate myself on hair loss so that I could suit my hair loss clients needs," Harris said.
Harris says she wanted to become more educated about alopecia after attending hair school.
She said she took hair loss specialty courses to help her clients with hair loss. Once certified, she became a hair vendor for the VA hospitals because their benefits cover hair loss services, and says many veterans don't know that.
"I would like to help them because most of them are unaware of what the VA has to offer," Harris said. "The services can be very expensive and I want to make them aware that the VA has options for clients who suffer from hair loss that are veterans."
Salaam and Harris, after a consultation, worked together to find a style that would work for Salaam.
Normally not a wig wearer, Salaam said once she found the perfect wig, she knew she would feel like herself again.
"That's going to be perfect. I just saw the dermatologist, they want me to use all these different creams and take these medications," she said. "I can access my scalp on a daily basis and still be able to go out into the world and look like me."
Harris says she doesn't only want to help veterans but help anyone suffering from hair loss.
She's doing a wig giveaway with a consultation, which ends on Monday, Sept. 2. Click here to learn more about her services.