Davion “Mister A” Anderson grew up in a world the place the whir of blow dryers and the scent of spritz had been as acquainted as toys and cartoons.
“My mom was a hairstylist for the start chapter of my life,” he stated. “I used to be a salon child, ran across the salon, and clearly picked up the habits of what my mom was doing. I took a liking to one thing I didn’t even anticipate to love as a lot as I did.”
That early publicity grew to become a calling. Not simply to do hair — however to heal.
Anderson, proprietor of Opulence Hair Co., has right this moment earned worldwide consideration for his work in restoring confidence to girls battling sickness, trauma, and deeply private struggles with hair loss.
“My mission,” he says, “is looking for out girls who’re coping with sicknesses or troubled occasions — most cancers, alopecia, and even the mom who’s by no means been capable of give herself the pampered remedy. I need to give her that glam.”
Magnificence as ministry
Ask Anderson why his work resonates far past Houston, and he doesn’t point out method first. He talks about spirit.
“Individuals might be gifted,” he says. “Nevertheless it additionally needs to be a spirit that exudes out of you to attach. Some individuals solely join with their arms. I look deeper into the soul of the person, the damage, the place they’re coming from, what they really feel. Then we create this second that’s magical.”
And magical is strictly what number of of his purchasers describe their transformations. Anderson has been referred to as “the person with the magic arms” for his means to take even “two strings of hair,” as some purchasers jokingly put it, and craft a flawless, pure look.
“I skilled an insane quantity of hair loss, and it was so miserable,” stated consumer Shay Younger. “I heard about Mister A and was skeptical that he might assist, however he really restored my confidence. I don’t assume I’ve ever been as blissful as I used to be the day I walked out of his studio with my new look.”
Anderson laughs when requested the place the magic comes from. “Truthfully, I can’t even inform you at occasions,” he says. “You go into your zone, you dig into your present, and once we’re completed, we’ve executed what each I and the consumer wished.”
From Houston to the world
Anderson’s present has taken him across the globe — actually. Purchasers discover him via Instagram DMs, word-of-mouth, and even pastors who need to bless members of their congregations.
That’s how he ended up in Memphis lately for the “Celebration of Survivors” occasion, the place hairstylists, make-up artists, and different volunteers provided makeovers to girls overcoming adversity.
“After I got here to that occasion for my makeover, nobody knew that I used to be in a darkish place, actually depressed, and had contemplated suicide. The brand new look Mister A gave me made me really feel beloved, seen, and valued,” stated one of many attendees who didn’t need to share her identify.
One other standout second for Anderson got here from Houston native Nicole Zimmerman, a stage-four kidney most cancers affected person whose story made nationwide headlines.
Zimmerman had misplaced her hair throughout chemotherapy and by no means obtained the wig she’d been promised. After organising a slow-moving GoFundMe, she felt defeated till a member of the family despatched her story to Anderson.
“After I heard her story, I knew I wanted to assist,” he says.
Anderson started crafting a customized wig for Zimmerman to put on at her deliberate October wedding ceremony. However when her well being declined immediately, docs informed her she wouldn’t make it to that date. She and her fiancé determined to get married instantly at MD Anderson Most cancers Middle.
Anderson dropped the whole lot and completed the wig in three hours.
“I simply wished to make one thing that made her really feel good and look pure,” he says. “Hair is therapeutic.”
Zimmerman married the love of her life, adorned within the hair she’d dreamed of. She handed away shortly after her wedding ceremony, however her story continues to gas Anderson’s function.
A mission that grew to become a motion
In response to the overwhelming demand, Anderson launched Defining Your Personal Magnificence, a basis devoted to offering wigs and cranial prosthetics for girls in want. Since Zimmerman’s story aired, greater than 300 girls — from Texas to China to Dubai — have reached out for assist.
He’s not stopping there.
Subsequent 12 months, Anderson will open a brand new Opulence Hair Studio within the Bellaire space of Houston, backed by his choice to journey to Delhi, India, to construct a manufacturing facility that sources uncooked, single-donor hair. “I wished to carry one thing fully totally different that we don’t have right here,” he says. “These wigs might be coloured, styled, and customised for each race and each want.”
“A lady’s crown is her glory. Once you restore that, you restore her confidence — and her religion.”
– Davion “Mister A” Anderson
His specialty: prosthetics and toppers for girls experiencing hair loss from most cancers remedies, hypertension drugs, years of chemical processing, and different components that disproportionately influence Black girls.
Restoring the crown
For Anderson, hair is way over magnificence.
“It restores first off their confidence,” he says. “It restores their religion. A lady’s crown is her glory. Once you’re capable of restore that — particularly after sickness or trauma — it’s highly effective.”
Ladies cry in his chair. They thank him. They don’t know what to say.
Anderson simply calls it his function.
“Think about if this was your mom or your sister,” he says. “I grew up surrounded by girls. I do know that in case your hair or make-up isn’t trying good, you’re not feeling good about your self. Serving to girls really feel lovely once more, that’s what I used to be meant to do.”
See a few of Anderson’s work.
