Photo by Joselyn King Zach Zdonczyk with Luxury Lifestyle cuts the hair of his son Zamari during the Textured Expo Wednesday night at Bridge Street Middle School.

WHEELING – The Textured Expo isn’t just about hair anymore, but about beauty services, building confidence and maybe even inspiring a new career.

The fourth annual Textured Expo took place Wednesday night at Bridge Street Middle School.

“I changed the name from the Textured Hair Expo to the Textured Expo because we are including so much more than hair at this point,” explained Unique Murphy, the Communities In Schools social worker at Wheeling Park High School who organized the event.

“When we originally started this expo four years ago, our focus was hair. That was the biggest problem. Kids couldn’t do their hair, their parents couldn’t do their hair or didn’t know how to do the different styles. They didn’t have access to different products.”

But Murphy continued that she wanted to keep the expo “fresh,” and this year invited experts not just on hair but on nails, skincare and fashion.

“I wanted to include those businesses because you get to see a new perspective, see what else our community has to offer,” Murphy said. “The name had to be inclusive. I just couldn’t call in a hair expo and have all these other organizations included. It didn’t make sense.”

Among those in attendance was Siyan Lopez, president of the Black Student Union at WPHS.

“It’s so important for people in the Black community to know how to take care of their hair, and it’s important for the public to know about hair health,” she said. “That’s what this event is about. It is about education and it is about community.”

Lopez said she received education in doing her hair from friends and social media.

“I learned some from my family, but not styles and that kind of stuff,” she continued. “I wanted to know how to do more with my hair, and really take care of my curls.

“Events like this are what really brings girls back to loving their natural curls. It gets lost – that love for your hair.”

Much of the emphasis at the expo on Wednesday actually turned toward careers in the beauty service industry, and many of the vendors and experts present actually weren’t much older than the high school students present.

Kyra Creighton, owner of Klawz by Kyra, said she became interested in nail care as a career when she did her friend’s nails before her prom and discovered she had a gift.

“My fiance said ‘you’re really good at this. Why don’t you go to school to make it your job?’ So I did,” she explained.

Creighton has now been a nail technician for about three years.

“I can’t really draw, but I’m creative,” she said. “I like doing crafts and things like that. This is just another way to put out my creativity. I couldn’t see myself doing something else ever again.”

Ashley Byrd of AB Artistry was excited to assist anyone who asked with “tricks to help their textured hair.”

“I always felt that I wanted to do this ever since I was 12 years old. I love making people feel better about themselves,” she explained. “If I can enhance that with hair and makeup, that’s what I love to do.”

Byrd said she learned beauty tricks through trial and error, and by age 12 she was cutting her mother’s hair.

“We didn’t have YouTube when I was growing up,” she explained. “It was very difficult, and a lot of that was practice on my own.

“Once I got good at it and started working on others, that’s when I knew I wanted to do it.”

Friends Carson Namack and Jaylen Rouse are now working as barbers after encouragement from local barber Chad Stradwick. Both are now employed by Stradwick at his shop, Stradwick’s Fade Cave in Wheeling.

Rouse said he was influenced by Stradwick, who also is his uncle. He previously attended West Virginia University with hopes of being a sportswriter.

Both Rouse and Namack went on to attend barber school

“I decided college wasn’t really for me, and I found this and I love it,” Rouse said.

Namack was one of Stradwick’s customers when they discussed his becoming a barber. He had been a football player at West Liberty University until he was injured and looked for another outlet.

“It’s a great job,” Namack said. “You get paid well, and you get to be in a barber shop all day.”