For business partners and wife duo Christin and Ashe Brown, the relationship each had with her own hair texture growing up became the catalyst for the establishment of Full Spiral Salon, which opened its doors in March 2021. As a youth, Christin denied her natural texture, spending much of her teens in and out of beauty salons. “I grew up getting my hair braided, pressed, weaved and relaxed from a very early stage in my life,” Christin remembers. Ashe lived on the other extreme; she embraced her natural texture due to a life-altering experience. “She was diagnosed with cancer at age four and lost the majority of her hair,” Christin says. The experience led her to hold on to her natural regrowth—and never let go. “So when we met many years later, it was our two completely different backgrounds that gave us firm ground to learn from one another and run with the experiences that life had to offer,” Christin says.
For business partners and wife duo Christin and Ashe Brown, the relationship each had with her own hair texture growing up became the catalyst for the establishment of Full Spiral Salon, which opened its doors in March 2021. As a youth, Christin denied her natural texture, spending much of her teens in and out of beauty salons. “I grew up getting my hair braided, pressed, weaved and relaxed from a very early stage in my life,” Christin remembers. Ashe lived on the other extreme; she embraced her natural texture due to a life-altering experience. “She was diagnosed with cancer at age four and lost the majority of her hair,” Christin says. The experience led her to hold on to her natural regrowth—and never let go. “So when we met many years later, it was our two completely different backgrounds that gave us firm ground to learn from one another and run with the experiences that life had to offer,” Christin says.
And run they did, offering on-location hair and makeup services for 14 years, six of which Christin had a private one-on-one studio. But the pandemic pause gave them some time to reflect on what they truly wanted. “With Ashe’s herbal apothecary and my naturally textured clients, we knew that we needed to be under one roof—and that’s exactly what we did,” she says.
The duo’s dream setup became Full Spiral Salon and Pura Luna Women’s Apothecary, a lush retreat filled with crisp greenery set against bright white walls and warm terracotta tiles. “We wanted our space to be a legit mash-up of who we both are: Plant mama meets urban modern. So you’ll see a whole plant wall accented with a neon pink sign quoting ‘This is where the magic happens’ and it’s so us,” Christin says. More magic can be found in a spiral-shaped living art piece that coils over the shampoo area. “It … represents who we work with and this is their home. The fact that our salon is called Full Spiral Salon is a homecoming to us 14 years later, finally being in our space together as a collective. The spiral is not only a symbol of that unity, but it is also the representation of the natural textures that need to be seen,” says Christin.
Catering to curls and kinks of all kinds is Full Spiral Salon’s ethos. “We made the decision to focus on natural textures because although 65 percent of the world is naturally curly, it’s still the texture that is the most misunderstood and underrepresented,” Christin laments. “We felt that if people knew of a place where they could go and feel more like their true selves, the world would have to catch up.” Christin brings a background of DevaCurl Academy training to her Santa Barbara curly clients as well as a well-rounded staff that reads like a texture dream team: one braids and protective style expert, two curl specialists and one non-curly specialist. “In most salons, you have the opposite. Most of the staff is very skilled in working with straight hair, a ton of blow-outs and, maybe if you’re lucky, one stylist that works with wavy hair once in a blue moon,” Christin says. “We wanted our salon to cater to the people who have the most trauma and difficulty when walking into a salon environment. Don’t get me wrong—we all know how to slay some straight hair because that’s the majority of what you’re taught in school. But for us, the big takeaway is, ‘Can you slay all textures?’”
Though non-curly clients are welcome, Full Spiral doesn’t offer any straightening services—no chemical relaxers or silk presses. Instead, staff educate clients on “loving and understanding their natural textures,” Christin says—a lesson that Ashe taught Christin when they met all those years ago.
The apothecary plays a role in curl love, too. The duo see Full Spiral Salon and Pura Luna Women’s Apothecary as intrinsically linked sisters; the businesses work together to bring a holistic approach to beauty. “The goal here is to bring our guests back to the ancient wisdom that was a major part of our cultures long ago. It’s getting our guests to get back in touch with who they are externally, but also getting them in touch with their ‘soul-self,’” Ashe explains. “This is where a lot of the healing comes from that then transpires into what they see on the outside. When guests leave the salon and apothecary, they truly leave lighter and freer because they’re ready to do the work on a bigger level. It’s empowering to witness daily.”
While the two witness these daily transformations, Christin hopes Full Spiral Salon and Pura Luna Women’s Apothecary reaches well beyond their Santa Barbara doors. “Our goals for our business is to leave a legacy and a huge imprint on not only our guests, but on the industry of natural hair and natural healing as a whole,” she says. “If we can accomplish this, then it was all worth it.”
Christin and Ashe’s Top Two Tips for a Smooth Salon Opening
- Get a team who is really behind your growth and expansion. Make sure who you hire truly holds the vision of your bottom line and isn’t just in the business to make money.
- “We run staff contests and do group dinners every now and then to remind ourselves that we’re all on the same team and we’re growing together. Connection is important to us, so even if it’s the monthly meeting but with tasty treats and tons of laughter, it’s a win,” says Christin.
