User:Charlotte Mensah/sandbox

Charlotte Mensah (born May 1970) is a multi award-winning British-Ghanaian hair stylist and owner/creative director of Hair Lounge salon London

Career
Mensah began her career in hairdressing as a 16 year old working under the tutelage of the Godfather of British Afro hairdressing Winston Isaacs, at his London salon Splinters in Maddox Street W1 during the late 1980s.

By the mid 90's she worked as a freelance session hairstylist and concentrating on building customers, in '99 she successfully received a loan from the The Prince's Trust and along with a grant from the portobello business centre she opened her salon Hair Lounge on Kilburn Park Road, West London. In 2003 the demand for her hair services had outgrown the salon and she had relocate to a bigger salon. She subsequently found another premises on London’s famously eclectic Portobello Road and it has been her home ever since.

In 2005 she presented an idea to the editor at the time at Black Hair magazine and her column 'Natural Fix' was born this step by step feature is now in its 11th year and is published in a number of magazine around the world and has firmly placed her a one of the UK's leading experts in natural textured hair.

Mensah has always had a flair for experimenting with products and has always been searching for a multi-functional oil, it was whilst on a hair education trip to the Serengeti that Mensah found an oil that she had not heard of before but after having a head massage with it she knew that this oil was so very special as it made her hair feel so amazingly good. On returning to the UK she set about working a number of chemists and in March 2016 she launched her naturally sourced product range, Charlotte Mensah Manketti Shampoo, Charlotte Mensah Manketti Conditioner and her hero product Charlotte Mensah Manketti Hair Oil.

As a savvy businesswoman she was approached by The Princes Trust to join their elite team of Specialist Business Mentors, mentoring young entrepreneurs with advice on start ups and expansions for their business within the field of the hair and beauty industry.

In November 2016, Mensah appeared on the front cover of HJI as one of the female hairdresser that they celebrated in hairdressing {{cite web | url = https://twitter.com/hji/status/797087775564689408 | title = Charlotte Mensah

Awards
Mensah won British Afro Hairdresser of the Year in 2013 and 2014.

Clients
Charlotte Mensah has worked with a number of notable clients, including Zadie Smith, Eve rapper, Janelle Monae, Beverley Knight, Lorraine Pascal, Ellie Fanyinka,

Charity
Mensah is a supporter of a number of charities,