By T. Scott Boatright
Freedom can come in many forms and ways.
So, it is only fitting that in the midst of the city of Grambling’s biggest day of observance of Juneteenth, with much of the city congregating on Main Street for a parade and other festivities, a smaller ceremony celebrating a different kind of freedom was held nearby inside Heavenly Hair Beauty Salon.
Juneteenth commemorates the effective end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth (short for “June 19th”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed.
Saturday afternoon, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held inside the Heavenly Hair Salon for its latest addition that will offer a different form of freedom — a little peace of mind in troubled times — as the grand opening of Jonetta’s Locs of Love Wig Parlor located inside the beauty salon was celebrated.
It is a specialized shop established in large part by the More Than Conquerors Breast Cancer Support Group to provide wigs free of charge for breast cancer survivors as well as those patients currently undergoing chemotherapy.
“Unless you’ve experienced it, been a woman to lose every hair on their body to chemotherapy, you don’t know what it feels like and what it can do to you during an already hard and emotional time,” said Rixie Thompson of More Than Conquerors. “And getting to wear a wig and feel you look like you should that can be very important to some of those who are battling or have battled breast cancer. So, this is a freeing kind of thing, letting breast cancer patients be who they want to be, and that is very important.”
Jonetta’s Locs of Love Wig Parlor is named in honor of the late Jonetta Collinsworth of Lincoln Parish, who passed away in 2009 while battling breast cancer.
More than 200 wigs donated by Collinsworth’s daughter, Tamishia Moats, a Louisiana Tech graduate and wife of former Louisiana Tech and NFL running back Ryan Moats, has provided a good start for Jonetta’s Locs of Love.
Moats said it is all about honoring her late mother and her legacy.
“I was always committed to do something for her legacy and I’m so grateful to Ms. Rixie, who went through the same fight with my mom, and all of the others because I’m running around all over the country so much,” Moats said. “They’ve kept my mother’s and the legacies of many others that were a part of the group alive. And that’s very important.”
Moats said the wigs from Jonetta’s Locs of Love are either human hair or premium, high-quality synthetic hair and that some type of fundraising event will be held annually to maintain the supply of wigs for Jonetta’s Locs of Love.
She also said the caring approach the shop will take toward its clientele is an important part of what Jonetta’s Locs of Love has to offer.
“When my mom first lost her hair, she had not worn a wig,” Moats said. “She had never worn weaves or anything. She didn’t like them and said they were too hot. But I remember going to stores to look with her at wigs and the workers weren’t very friendly. And when people are going through chemo, they’re dealing with a lot at that time. So, when we opened our store in Frisco (Texas), we made sure to make everybody feel welcome.
“I didn’t know what my purpose was in all this when it all started. My background is in sports administration. So, I asked myself, why am I here? And when the clients started coming in, I realized that this was my testimony. So, every day I’m listening to people. It starts with breast cancer. But a lot of times it grows into other things and problems, people who just are just looking are looking for a friendly face willing to listen.”
Counseling, educational seminars and financial support from More Than Conqueror are among other resources that will be available through Jonetta’s Locs of Love.
And while the shop is Grambling based, it is willing to provide help to breast cancer patients and survivors across the nation.
“This isn’t only for Grambling, this is for the entire United States,” Thompson said. “We ship wigs anywhere in the country as long as it’s going to someone undergoing chemo or a survivor who lost their hair during their fight against the disease.
“All they have to do is get in touch with the More Than Conquerors Breast Cancer Support group and we will be there for them.”
For more information, call 318-278-0346.
