Welcome to Dear Madame Walker Hair Salon! I am Kelli Ciera, co-owner and cosmetologist. Currently, we are creating magic in the beautiful Colorado Springs, where every service is professionally performed with passion and pride. Allow our team to enhance the beauty you naturally posses! You deserve to be pampered and its our pleasure to make the world feel and look beautiful, one guest at a time!

2021 Interview

Dear Madam Walker is a multicultural salon, and it is more so a love letter through our pioneer, Madam CJ Walker, who paved the way for hairstylists and entrepreneurs. We’re Hub for all hair types, whether you are natural, chemically processed, or whether you need to protect the style to protect your natural hair. We’re a One-Stop shop for all those things.

Our signature service is the rose silk treatment, which is our spin On the silk press. We prepare the hair well to receive the heat. That’s necessary for a silk press. The basis of a silk press is always heat intention. Before we go and put all that heat on the hair and provide that tension, we make sure that we offer steam treatments, have protein treatments, have deep penetrating masks, and shine treatments that complement the silk press. Our product line caters to that also. We also do twist-outs, updos, Locks, and protective styles to put your hair up because Colorado’s Winters is so harsh. We are really big on educating our clients through Services and consultations on maintaining your hair when you can’t get to us. That’s the service that most clients seek us out for.

I have a habit of talking through everything while I’m working with you. I’ll take a product I use, and I put it in your hand. I’ll allow you to feel it. I let them smell it and read the ingredients on the label to know exactly what I’m putting in their hair. The last thing I would want is for you to be allergic to the ingredients.

What advice can you give to upcoming stylists and stuff like that on the importance of doing consultations?

Consultations are extremely important Because clients’ expectations don’t always equal reality. It will save you so much time when you are doing a service. If you get a client that you’ve never met, and they come in, and they say, “I want my hair to look just like this.” If you have never seen their hair before then, you can’t guarantee something that you have not done—so being able to bring them in for a consultation even if they are coming in about 15 minutes before the service. You can examine the hair and give them options for what you can offer going forward. We can build our way up to the style that they want. That is especially important because Colorado is such a revolving door. We have people that are coming from all different types of climates and different states. They had different hair types. If we skip the process of getting to know the client and snow their hair, we are putting things on there that are not compatible with what they’re trying to achieve. So, consultations are the foundation for every Client stylist relationship. If you skip a consultation, you’re doing a disservice to yourself and your client.

Tell us about your product line?

Our product line is called the Dear Madam Signature Collection, and our leading product line is the Royal silkening treatment, the perfect foundation for any style. Whether you are going into a protective style, your hair naturally curly, preparing your hair to be pressed, chemically treated, the royal silencing treatment. But the main thing that it is good for is preparing your hair for heat. It comes equipped with a shampoo and conditioner, leave-in, a 10 in 1 treatment, and shine spray. All of our products have a heat-protecting agent in them, preparing your hair for heat from the beginning.

Tell us three things about your salon that would make somebody choose you?

We operate in Dynamic transformation. It does not matter what Walk of Life you come from, what you do for a living, what you look like once you come in, we do everything that we can to make you feel comfortable. When somebody walks in, we have a habit of feeling what you need and ensuring that we provide that. The second thing is we are a One-Stop shop. So no matter what you’re looking for, we offer it. We service the whole family. I have a habit of bringing in a stylist that has specialties. So, what I can’t provide, someone else in our shop can. Third, We’re natural givers. We are really big when it comes to community, family, building other females to be like-minded, being entrepreneurs, and being the best version of yourself. We are building up each person that is in our chair outside of just a hairdo.

——-

2019 Interview

Where did you get the inspiration to do hair?

So my name is Kelli Ciera. The name of the business Dear Madame CJ Walker, LTD. I’m a fourth generation cosmetologist, my great grandmother and grandfather, my mother and father, were all cosmetologists. It was something I tried to avoid, but I really couldn’t shake it off. So once I turned 18, I started doing hair at the salon.

Where did you the get the inspiration for the name Madame CJ Walker?

I wanted something bigger than myself. Madame CJ Walker is an inspiration to me. She was the first self-made African-American, female millionaire and she lived right here in Colorado.

What are some successes or things you’ve been excited about since starting your business?

We are huge on preserving the integrity of your natural hair, but that doesn’t mean just natural styles. We have somebody here that can cater to a little bit of everything-natural hair, braids, locks, relaxers-we have a stylist who can do it. We’re trying to expand, not just hairstyles but other stylists who are going through the journey of Cosmetology. Once you get out of school, it’s tough to find a position, so we bring graduates here, then train them to start their own business. It’s unrealistic to think the stylists who work in my shop will work at my shop forever. So we teach them how to market, brand, and build an empire. So no matter where they go, they’ll be able to rebuild clientele, because they’ve already been successful doing it. I also enjoy teaching ladies how to take care of their hair. It’s dry in Colorado, so there are specific things we need to do to have healthy hair. So being able to tell clients what products to consider using to figure out what works versus what looks good is also exciting for me.

Can you tell us a little about Colorado’s hair culture?

Colorado is a little slower, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because it gives you the room to hone in on your craft and grow without the pressure of trying to compete in the industry itself. We can pay attention and cater to a client’s individual needs well.

What is your specialty when it comes to hair?

I’m still trying to target a specialty because I do a little bit of everything. I’m known most for seamless sew-ins and the silk press, but I’m still trying to figure out just what my thing is. I love the industry, period. As I become more of a veteran in the game, I’m starting to like working with natural hair more.

What are some valuable hair care tips?

Your real hair is something that is never going to go out of style. When it comes to extension services and other services that come and go, it’s all a little trendy. The one thing that remains constant is healthy hair; sometimes extensions can help protect hair. So if I’m constantly working to treat your hair, it makes the need for extensions optional, everybody can benefit from the use of extensions.

What are the top three tips you would give when it comes to caring for natural hair?

Consistency with moisture, especially here in Colorado Springs as the climate is extremely dry. A lot of times the damage we think we see in our hair is a need for moisture. Realizing the balance between moisture and protein is essential. You have to pay attention to your hair. Whatever you’re doing to care for your hair, make sure you’re doing it consistently. If you can’t keep up the consistency, then make sure you find a hair stylist that knows your hair.