By Samantha White
Gay hair, fades, braids and weaves – Shocantelle Brown has everything you need to be gay chic.
"I do the frontal-hair that gay men like. If they want to use it to check men out, they can – because they can hide behind it and be discreet," she says.
And for the lesbians? "With lesbians, the hair is a lot simpler. They like to do all black hair with a patch of white in the front, kind of like Cruella de Vil."
The hairstylist extraordinaire and entrepreneur is taking the Cooter County hair industry by storm with her two salons, I Be-Weave and Fades and Braids. She's also the only salon in town, so that helps. But she is definitely making her mark by styling most of the residents; Brown assists the queens and queers in her town as long as they come with their fabulousness already intact.
She says, "I don't like to help anybody be fabulous and fierce if they're not ready. So, they sit in my chair and we pray together for a look.
"Like, I had this one girl come in who wanted a birdcage on top of her head. So we took a titanium cage and wrapped hair extensions around it and stuff. And we put a bird in it and put it on top of her head; it looked like a nest."
The "artist," as she refers to herself, says she is a religious person and was ordained by God to start doing hair.
"I was seeing some disasters on some fades and weaves, and I'm a religious person and I got a calling to help them," Brown says.
The Cooter County native is one of many crazy and quirky citizens of the Kentucky town: Trudy and Tina James, Tikka Marsalla Greenwood, Paul Mean Dilly, Nancy Higgins and Kitty Litre are just a few of her quirky neighbors.
Lakeesha and Boneeva are two of the town's ghetto fabulous hairdressers who work for Shocantelle at Fades and Braids. And when you're done getting your hair did, you can stop by and see Tatianna who "will stuff and buff your beaver" and get a "vagazzle."
Brown will bring her hair expertise to Ice Nightclub in Hamtramck on July 23, when she'll also debut her new single, "I Be-Weave." It's a rare treat for her Detroit fans that only get to watch her on the Internet; Shocantelle rarely leaves her small Kentucky town.
"I have not been out of Cooter County, and I never been to Detroit, but I'm excited. I'm looking for Aretha Franklin," she says.
"We're going to have fun at Ice," Brown says. "Imma do some hot dance moves, and I will be passing out free combs and talking to people about the possibilities for their hair. And we gon' get our drink on."
The Cooters aren't the only ones who love Shocantelle; her gay fans everywhere have embraced the stylist for her sass and knowledge as a weave connoisseur.
"I guess they love me because I love them," she responds when asked why she believes she gets so much love from the gays who go to her to maintain their fabulousness and watch her on her YouTube channel or at http://www.cootercounty.com.
"They're fierce and fabulous and we need more of that in the world. We don't need anymore of these uptight mother fuckers."
The God-fearing hairdresser also has some words of inspiration for her gay fans that aspire to be like her one day: "Gays are so creative. I mean, I'm creative. But I be-weave everybody has the ability to do what they want. If you can be-weave it, you can do it."
And we, of course, do – Detroit is sometimes referred as "the hair capital of the world" for its many salons and weave shops, and when Shocantelle is clued into that fact she enthusiastically asks, "Really?!" taking a pause to absorb it. Cooter County may have to fight to get her back from us.
Shocantelle Brown
July 23
Ice Nightclub
11425 Joseph Campau, Hamtramck
http://www.icedetroit.net
