FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #20 Beyond Styling: How Insure Beauty is Changing Hair Care
Natural hair gets the spotlight in this illuminating conversation with Marie Williams, founder of Insure Beauty salon in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Marie shares her journey from a biracial child experimenting with hair techniques on dolls to a successful entrepreneur creating a sanctuary for chemical-free hair care. Her story resonates with authenticity as she describes feeling voiceless in the beauty world growing up, which ultimately fueled her passion for creating inclusive spaces.
What makes Insure Beauty stand out is its holistic approach to beauty. Marie eloquently explains how the pandemic revealed a deeper truth about hair care – it's not just about appearance but fundamentally connects to self-perception, confidence, and how we engage with others. This realization drives her business philosophy, emphasizing natural beauty through protective styling like braids, crochets, and twists while completely avoiding chemical treatments.
The conversation takes an innovative turn when Marie reveals her partnership with Rebundle, offering vegan-friendly hair extensions made from repurposed banana stems. This sustainable alternative eliminates the itching and sensitivity many clients experience with traditional extensions – just one example of how Marie stays true to her mission despite the challenges of starting a business in a new area. For entrepreneurs, her advice is refreshingly practical: don't get caught up in social media metrics; instead, stay consistent and true to your purpose. Whether you're interested in natural hair care, entrepreneurship, or sustainable beauty alternatives, Marie's wisdom offers valuable insights that extend far beyond styling techniques. Connect with Insure Beauty at www.insure-beauty.com to experience their transformative approach to natural beauty.
Marie Williams
Insure Beauty
571-491-7188
hello@insure-beauty.com
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, where we love introducing good neighbors to great businesses, and today we're talking to Marie Williams, owner of Insure Beauty. Marie, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, Dori, for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:I'm looking forward to learning more about your business. So let's start off by sharing with the listeners a little bit about what you do.
Speaker 3:Sure, sure, sure. So Insure Beauty actually is a small boutique hair salon based out of Fredericksburg, Virginia. We specialize in private chemical free, so that means like we don't provide any relaxers or color services. We focus just on natural beauty, natural hair, protective styling, such as braids, crochets and twists, as well.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice. Well, thank you for sharing that. So I'm curious a little can you share a little bit about your background? Tell us, tell us, how you got into this.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, absolutely so. Actually, I am biracial. I'm by descent, and so growing up, I really just never felt like I had a voice in the in the beauty world. It was a little bit of a struggle for us, but I started experimenting on my own. I would work with my dolls. I started practicing on my family, any time or anyone I can get my hands on. As far as braiding is concerned, that's kind of where it started from, and then later on in life, after the pandemic, I really started to see how people also felt disconnected with beauty themselves, and it really reminded me that in the beauty world, it's so much more than just getting your hair done. It's really about the way we feel, our personal connection within ourselves and our overall confidence with people in the world, and that's what inspired me to start Insure Beauty in 2022.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. That's amazing, and I'm sure your clients are so happy that you did. You're providing such an important service. So tell me, do you find that there's any myths or misconceptions about your business or the industry in general?
Speaker 3:Actually I do, and this is a big one for me, actually, okay, that not a lot of stylists, or not a lot of professionals, may be licensed, and that's a big one for us because, and honestly, in some states licenses may or may not be required, depending on the specific needs or the specific type of style the stylist is performing. And so that's important to us because clients don't always have that information and sometimes this can cause a little bit of conflict, I would say, between the stylist and the client. However, that's why I think it's important, it's really important to me as a stylist, as a business owner, to be up front excuse me, up front with our clients, professional, and let them know of not just my background but also to my stylist's background as well. And I think that's where the education comes from, and I think all stylists, whether licensed or not, should have some form of training and also to education to back them.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, so I love that you are taking the extra steps involved to educate your clients. I imagine they very much appreciate that.
Speaker 3:Yes, Agreed For sure, for sure, absolutely very much appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, agreed For sure, for sure, absolutely. So I imagine you are very busy running your business, so tell us what you do for fun when you're not busy.
Speaker 3:You know, honestly, I'm pretty simple, I'm a minimalist, and so I absolutely love to garden, I love spending time downtown, just you know, honestly, just taking a break from it all. I'm a mom as well, and so I definitely love spending time with my daughter. It definitely brings me a lot of joy, for sure. Nice.
Speaker 2:Nice. So can you describe a hardship or a challenge that you've gone through that now that you are on the other side of it, you feel like you're stronger or better because of it?
Speaker 3:For sure. Yes, starting a business is not easy, moving to a new area is not easy, and then when you are trying to do them both simultaneously, it definitely causes a lot of challenges. However, all of this has forced me just to push through and feeling more confident, resilient, knowing that I can do this. You know, someone like me in my situation can definitely do this and be successful. It may take time, but definitely with patience and time, you can definitely achieve this for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so true. Once you go through something and you come out on the other side, you're you're unstoppable. At that point, you know you can do it for sure. Yes, yeah, love that. So, uh, what is something that when you started your business? A piece of advice, or or something that you wish you had known? Or a piece of advice that you have for someone who's dreaming big and wants to start their own business?
Speaker 3:Well, it would be. The truth of the matter is is not to be so caught up in social media. I definitely think we get very caught up in how many followers we have and who likes each and every post and all the things. While social media is extremely important for a new business owner, I think sometimes it could stun our growth. Right, I would definitely say stay true to yourself, to your mission, to your personal purpose and your goals in your business and just stay consistent. Stay consistent, and that definitely would be something I would offer to a new entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:I would agree with that. That's such great advice. Social media, too, can kind of mess with your mind a little bit, especially if you start looking at what your competition is doing. It can like put you in a whole tailspin, right.
Speaker 3:Exactly, exactly, for sure.
Speaker 2:So what is something that you wish the listeners knew about your business?
Speaker 3:that you wish the listeners knew about your business. Well, something I wish that others would know about my business is that we actually partner with Rebundle. Rebundle is a lightweight, vegan-friendly hair extension brand. Now, these bundles are actually made from banana stems and this is like from repurposed banana stems exactly, and so it really helps to eliminate the itching, the burning, the sensitivity that a lot of clients are having. And so just partnering with this brand and being educated as we talked a little bit about earlier to our clients what's actually out there and the alternatives if they are dealing with these type of conditions.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. If the listeners want to learn more about you and want to connect with you, what's the best way to reach you?
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah. So it actually will be just going to our website, and our website is www. insured-beauty. com, and you can go online and book a free online consultation or simply follow us on social media at insuredbeauty.
Speaker 2:Excellent, marie. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today and sharing Insure Beauty with us. I imagine that your clients just love you. Not only are you providing a great service, but you're instilling confidence, and I just love your business model.
Speaker 3:So thank you for joining me. Thank you so much for having us. We appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to fxbgneighborspodcast. com. That's fxbgneighborspodcast. com, or call 540-534-4618.