In a corner shop at the Bel Air Shopping Center, 1999 Highway 80 West, there's a quiet—yet totally unintended—sociological experiment underway, wrought at the skilled hands of Kirti Naran, 31 (pictured, left) and Rina Patel, 26 (right).
When Incense Salon & Boutique opened last year, the sisters—born in Coventry, England, but in America for 24 years—had in mind a place for the Indian community to shop and get their hair done, men as well as women.
"There was no place to get traditional clothing," Patel said, "without having to go to Atlanta, Chicago or Dallas—no last-minute shopping." Naran added, "With the older generation, many don't speak English, so there's a communication gap" at the barber or beauty salon. The sisters, supported 100 percent by the Mississippi men they married, picked the logical Highway 80 site next door to Patel Bros. Groceries, and opened for business, filling their shop with a rainbow of traditional Indian clothing, jewelry, incense and two salon stations.
Trained in a barber program at Hinds in the early '90s, Naran skillfully moves from customer to customer. "Our hair's different; we don't use clippers on men like barbers here who want to buzz. We cut with scissors. Americans see this beautiful long hair," she explained as she layered a young mother's wavy hair, "and want to take six inches off—before you know it, it's gone."
Patel, who is also a surgical tech at River Oaks Hospital, works alongside her sister, threading the eyebrows of one woman after another. Not a peep comes out of those used to the swiftly moving cotton thread and fingers flying around their faces. A novice to the process talked the whole time: "Did your mother teach you? This feels like waxing." Naran quickly pointed out, "One difference between waxing and threading is that wax sticks to the face," and her sister added, "Waxing won't get all the fine hair." The sisters learned the technique from a lady from Bangladesh two years ago.
Which brings us to the sociological experiment. Of the customers in the shop Saturday afternoon, the ethnic mix was much like it is each day—75 percent American, 25 percent Indian. Their business, intriguing to Americans, is reaching beyond the surface of fashion, engaging people in an exchange of knowledge in a steady way, beneficial to all involved. The sisters are pleasantly surprised at this outcome and proud to be making an impact.
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