Howard University officially welcomed the C. Alan Grooming Lounge at Charles R. Drew Hall and the C. Alan Boutique Hair Salon at Harriet Tubman Quadrangle during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 24. The two locations, which began serving students August 11, give students access to professional hair and grooming services within the university community.
The partnership brings together the university and the C. Alan Brand, founded by Howard alumnus Chet Alan Bennett, founder of the Bennett Career Institute. For university officials, however, the new spaces are about more than haircuts and styling hair. They are intended to address three concerns they say students face when seeking hair care in the city: affordability, convenience and safety.
Candy Dennis, Howard’s director of student housing and commercial portfolio management, said the idea developed from thinking about what students need for residence halls to feel more like homes rather than simply places to sleep.
“The students deserve to have an ecosystem here at Howard University,” Dennis shared during the ceremony. “Everything kind of comes full circle. You know, when you look good, you feel good.”
Both locations repurpose existing campus spaces. Drew Hall previously housed a barbershop that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened. Dennis said its previous model was limited, with a barber coming to campus only on Thursdays and Fridays.
The Quad salon had been built with the purpose of hair care, but had not been activated. The space was designed in part to give students a place to properly wash and maintain their hair rather than relying on residence hall bathrooms, which Dennis said were not designed to accommodate those needs and can face plumbing problems related to hair care.
Opening the spaces required Howard to address questions involving residence hall access, liability, safety and zoning, according to Dennis.
Cost was also another major factor. Dennis recalled learning from a student intern that she had paid $150 for a silk press. For students unfamiliar with D.C.-area salons, Dennis said finding affordable and trustworthy services can be difficult.
“There is no reason a college student should be paying that for a style that lasts a week or two,” Dennis said. “Affordability, convenience and safety were the three things we wanted to solve.”
The salons will serve all Howard students, not only residents of Drew or Quad, and faculty and staff will also be able to use the facilities.
A nine-person team from Bennett Career Institute will provide services across the two campus locations. The Drew Hall grooming lounge will be led by 2023 Howard alumnus Kameron Davis. Eric Brown III a 2026 graduate and Bennett Career Institute apprentice, will also provide services on campus.
Services will range from hair washing and barbering to grooming, styling, braid downs, natural hair care and nail services. Full-scale chemical services, including color, relaxers and perms, will not be offered; however, students seeking those services can receive student discounts at C. Alan’s off-campus salons.
Dennis said keeping even basic services available was intentional.
“If a student cannot afford a full style, she should still be able to get her hair washed,” Dennis said.
Students will also be able to use Bison Bucks at the locations, making C. Alan the first non-food operator to accept the campus funds, according to Dennis. Families and students will also have the option to purchase service packages throughout the semester, such as multiple haircuts or styling appointments.
The additions have prompted a range of reactions across campus. While some students welcome the convenience of having professional hair care available without leaving Howard, others question how the new salons could affect student-run beauty businesses.
Lauryn Howell, a sophomore biology major from Hobe Sound, Florida, said having the services nearby could make maintaining her hair more convenient.
“As a Black woman who likes to keep her hair done and look put together, I feel like that would be really beneficial, and I definitely would go,” Howell said. “If they make the prices affordable, that would be even better.”
Other students are looking at the new locations from a different perspective: what they could mean for Howard’s existing student-run beauty economy.
For years, students have offered services such as braiding, barbering, retwists and styling from inside their dorm rooms. For some, those services provide an additional source of income while offering their peers lower-cost alternatives.
Adjoa Addo, a sophomore psychology major from Maryland by way of Ghana who does hair on the side, said she sees benefits to having a dedicated salon but worries that it could draw customers away from independent student stylists.
“I feel like people are going to think that that salon is where everyone needs to go,” Addo said. “I just hope that it doesn’t work against independent hair businesses.”
Similar concerns were raised by Amari’e Monroe, a sophomore chemistry major from Baltimore, who said student hairstylists often rely on their businesses as an extra source of income while attending Howard.
“I feel like the hair salon could potentially take away clientele and money for students that use hair as a way to make their own money,” Monroe said.
Jeremiah Keeton, a first-year political science and economics double major from Pearland, Texas, said the salon provides students with another option for self-care but could also disrupt part of Howard’s student economy.
“Doing haircuts, retwists and styling at a lower cost has been a staple of the Howard hustle for years,” Keeton said. “More options is nice, but it does make you wonder what that space could be used for instead of further privatization of the Howard campus.”
Beyond receiving services, Howard students may have opportunities to participate in the initiative through apprenticeships, future educational programming and professional training. Dennis said one longer-term goal is to create a pathway through which students who already possess skills such as braiding can work toward professional credentials.
Dennis said she has seen students operate beauty businesses from their residence hall rooms and believes formal training could help turn their existing entrepreneurial skills into professional opportunities during and after college.
“The students already have the entrepreneurial instinct,” Dennis said. “What they usually don’t have is the credential to go with it.”
Not every student entrepreneur views these new spaces as a threat.
Christian Lloyd, a sophomore biology major from Nassau, Bahamas, operates his own barbering business and said he believes there is enough demand on campus for both independent barbers and the new barbershop/hair salon to succeed.
“I don’t feel threatened by the opening of this shop,” Lloyd said. “I am confident in the reputation I have already established. My work speaks for itself.”
Lloyd said he also sees the new location as a potential opportunity for younger student barbers looking to develop their skills and build clientele.
“Rather than viewing other barbers as a threat, I believe there is room for all of us to build our clientele, strengthen our businesses and contribute to the barbering community at Howard,” Lloyd said.
Chet Alan Bennett’s return to Howard also had a full-circle moment. He earned his master’s degree in education administration from Howard around 30 years ago before opening the Bennett Career Institute, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
“To come back home to the Mecca where it all started for my graduate studies,” Bennett said, was part of what made the opening significant to him.
While the university did not conduct a survey specifically about the salons, Dennis said her office regularly conducts informal student surveys and plans for the service menu to develop based on demand.
“The goal is to provide institutional, infrastructural support for Howard’s legendary beauty culture to thrive and to evolve,” Dennis said.
Dennis described Drew and Quad as exceptions because both already contained spaces intended for these uses, and the zoning process required to activate them took more than a year.
The university is also placing an emphasis on making appointments compatible with students’ schedules. App-based booking is expected to help students plan appointments around classes, internships and other responsibilities, aiming to complete appointments in roughly an hour.
For Dennis, the hope is that new spaces ultimately become another part of students’ everyday experience at Howard.
“Please come get your fresh cut before your interview. Get your hair done before homecoming or your presentation,” Dennis told students at the ceremony. “Use this space, enjoy it, and please make it part of your Howard University experience.”
Copy edited by Sydney Middleton