Her curiosity revealed a gift: LaSondra Stanford is helping others excel in cosmetology

By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus

LaSondra Stanford, 54, has spent more than half her life behind a salon chair, but she says her career in cosmetology has always been about so much more than styling hair. It’s about learning, teaching and building friendships.

As her salon — Hair Divine on West Mobile Street in Florence — turned 20, Stanford wasn’t just about celebrating two decades of being in business for herself. It was a milestone that marked both her staying power as a stylist and her evolution from eager student to guiding teacher.

“Now it’s my turn to pass on some of what I’ve learned,” she said.

Stanford’s journey into cosmetology began out of resourcefulness and a desire for independence.

“I got started as a teenager because I wanted to try to do my own hair,” she said. “When I got into it, I found that I really liked doing it.”

At 16, she was taking classes with her first mentor, Jeanette Custer, who went by Mrs. Martin at that time, in a career readiness program at Florence’s first vocational school, the former Burrell-Slater High School.

What began as a curiosity quickly revealed itself as a gift.

By the time she graduated, Stanford had logged enough classroom hours to sit for the state cosmetology board exam. In 1991, she earned her license and was ready to enter the workforce. However, she wasn’t quite ready to step out all on her own just yet.

Rather than taking the leap to open her own shop, Stanford’s first job was at the House of Vogue, a downtown Florence salon owned by Betty Hooks. It was there that Stanford learned the discipline of building clientele and the importance of persistence in an industry where reputation is everything.

“It gives you more hands-on experience,” she said of the decision to start work under another experienced cosmetologist. “You know, they can help point out tricks of the trade and things you might not know just starting out. I still tell people, it’s best to work under someone more experienced. As you grow and mature, you pick up little techniques and secrets that you may not learn on your own.”

Stanford said she worked with Hooks for a few years but wanted to further her education and expand her practice even more. She found her way to MUC-KO Beauty College, operated by Hattie Thompson.

Thompson was no ordinary stylist. She was the only trained trichologist — a specialist in the science of hair and scalp health — in Alabama at the time. Under her mentorship, Stanford gained a deeper understanding of the biology behind beauty.

“Trichology goes deeper,” Stanford explained. “We do scalp exams. It’s more focused on the therapeutic side than the styling side.”

Though her heart leaned toward styling, the training taught her how to recognize conditions like alopecia, understand how medications or genetics affect hair health, and advise clients realistically on what styles their hair could or couldn’t support.

“A lot of times people just want the style,” she said, “but if you don’t know the health of the hair, you could be causing more damage. As a cosmetologist, the last thing you want to do is damage someone’s hair.”

She credits Thompson not only with teaching her advanced techniques, but also with modeling what it looked like to run a business. Thompson developed her own line of hair products, which she sold across the country.

“She was an inspiration,” Stanford said. “She showed me you could take what you know and build something bigger out of it.”

After years of learning the ins and outs of business ownership from others, Stanford’s dream of running her own salon came into focus while she was working under the late Sarah Frances Smith at Mademoiselle, another West Mobile Street salon.

“Mrs. Sarah Frances owned the shop, but you’d rent your own booth or space there, so it was like your own business within the shop,” Stanford recalled. “While I was at Mademoiselle’s, the building across the street became available. I was like, ‘Lord, I don’t want to have to get a loan. Please, just open up the door.’”

Those prayers didn’t go unanswered.

“The owners agreed to rent and release it to own,” she said. “I thank God. We opened up our doors in 2005, and by the grace of God, in four years it was paid for.”

It was a wish granted, though not without its challenges. Soon after opening, Hair Divine’s location raised a few eyebrows. Stanford said she remembers being questioned on the decision to start a business in West Florence rather than downtown, or near one of the city’s busier highways.

“I love it here,” Stanford said emphatically. “People will say it’s a dangerous area with crime, but I don’t see it. I’ve never seen it. I’ve lived on the West Side all my life. It’s a community, and I’ve always felt safe here.”

Despite the obstacles, Stanford’s business thrived as she continued attracting clientele and building something of a “hidden gem” on a quieter side of town.

Armed with a new business license and her advanced degrees in cosmetology and trichology, Stanford still wasn’t done learning. As Hair Divine was finding its footing, Stanford was also feeling called towards a new role.

Encouraged by another former mentor, Callie Bankston, Stanford enrolled in the Cosmetology Instructor Training program (CIT) at Northwest Shoals Community College.

“I just wanted to do more than stand behind the chair,” Stanford said. “Once you gain knowledge, you naturally want to share it with others.”

She began teaching specialty classes in up-dos and weaving in 2005, the same year she opened Hair Divine. Over the next 15 years, she served as an adjunct instructor at NWSCC, eventually teaching required courses in braiding and other hairstyling techniques.

She loved watching students discover their strengths and realize cosmetology could provide more opportunities than they imagined.

“Cosmetology is a trillion-dollar business,” she said. “It’s not just hair and nails. Even if you’re behind the chair, there are so many other avenues you can take. It’s unlimited what you can do.”

Stanford left Northwest Shoals shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, but she returned to teaching last fall. These days, she can be found two or three times a week at Modern Hair Academy in downtown Florence, where she teaches natural hair care, braiding and weaving.

Her craft has become a family affair.

It was Stanford’s nephew, Keandre Cole, who encouraged her to join the instructors at Modern Hair Academy. Cole was speaking from experience when he urged his aunt to take the position. A barber and shop owner himself, when he’s not at Elite Barbering & Beauty, he’s also teaching students at the hair academy.

Among Stanford’s students are her daughter and niece. Karmin Stanford-Lovelace is apprenticing under her to specialize in natural hair while Cortesa Cole is enrolled in courses at the academy.

But her reach extends far beyond relatives. Through her classes, she is passing along techniques she once learned from women like Custer, Hooks, Thompson, Smith and Bankston — keeping their legacies alive through her own.

Faith has also been a driving force for Stanford, both personally and professionally. Her husband, Rev. Michael Stanford, pastors two AME churches in the area — Nichols Chapel and Hopewell. She serves in ministry alongside him, and she often views her salon as an extension of that calling.

“I tell people all the time, I need to pray over you,” she said with a smile. “Clients will say, ‘Oh, you’ve got growing hands.’ But no, I can’t grow anything. God can.”

Over the years, she has found that clients often come in for a style but leave with encouragement. The salon chair, she says, is as much a place of ministry as the church pew.

Two decades into running her own business, Stanford said she has often thought about stepping away from the salon chair. But every time she tried, she felt pulled back — to her clients, to her students, and to the profession she loves.

“Doing both keeps me inspired,” she said of balancing salon work with teaching. “With all the different trends, there’s always more to learn. When I started out, I had people who poured into me. Now it’s my turn. If I can help someone else find their way in this business, then I feel like I’ve done what I was supposed to do.”