Akisha Simon: Flawless

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She had her first client by age ten, while at primary school, when her elder sister, Nikeisha, decided to allow her to experiment on her hair – if she completed her chores.

By secondary school, Akisha "Ackie" Simon was in demand, but underpaid.

She completed secondary school and began working in administration at the South West Regional Health Authority. Even, then she said, people would compliment her on her hair style or her makeup.

Simon, now 29, decided to pursue cosmetology, as it came so naturally to her. Fear of failure, though, she said, saw her sit on her talents for years.

On December 16, 2017, Simon put herself out on a limb, invested all her life's savings "and then some" and launched her salon The Flawless Look, by Ackie, at St Clair Street, New Village, Point Fortin.

Her launch, she said was simple. She used a well-put-together video and social media and, in no time, her salon had gone viral and the calls kept coming in.

She also recently launched her first line of wigs, The Flawless Collection.

Simon, who was fondly called "Little Bits" as a child, because of her small stature, recalled being determined to become internationally accredited.

The wall directly behind her client's chair, tells of her determination to make herself as marketable as she could. That wall boasts of individual certificates all completed at Pivot Point International, in specific areas in hairdressing and makeup. Yet another wall holds, Simon's diploma in cosmetology, completed in 2015.

The weeks before Christmas, didn't just mean an increase in work for Simon, it also ushered in her one-year anniversary.

And while, Simon seems to be in high demand for her "flawless look" and popular custom-made lace front wigs, she will be the first to tell you, it was not an overnight trip to success.

"I was afraid that being so way down in south and even my location inside a village, had me worried that I wouldn't be able to build a sustainable client base. But one thing stood out for me, was my own determination to go to whatever distance required of me to get my makeup done. It had me thinking if I would be willing to leave Point Fortin to head up to Cascade, St Ann’s at Deon Samuel's to get my own makeup done, then maybe, just maybe, others would do the same for me once I offered a certain standard and kept it," she reasoned.

Simon said Samuel's techniques intrigued her and her interaction with him evolved into student-teacher. Learning from him, she said, taught her how to develop her own style, just as he had.

Simon, said, she knew she had to stand out.

Her interaction with her customers is warm, her trademark smile envelopes her face when they express their satisfaction. Simon uses a ring light to take photos of the end product, so clients can see their hair-do in the best light and at the best angles.

"I am by no means a photographer, but I intend to maintain a particular standard. It's what I was taught at Pivot Point. To put my absolute foot forward at all times," she said.

Simon, though recalled detractors discouraging her choice of career. Some, she said, fed into her fear that the market was over saturated with hair dressers and that she had wasted too much money in pursuing her dream.

This fear led her to put down the weave needle and pick up a makeup brush for a number of years.

"But my heart wasn't into it. It just made more sense at the time, because it was easier to go to clients to do their makeup than to try my hand at a salon, when I didn't have the resources or courage to start. So I went all over the country doing make-up, from individuals to entire wedding parties, but it wasn't fulfilling," she said, as she engages a client sitting before her.

Simon said she didn't just want to offer her clients a space to get their hair done, she wanted to offer them an experience.

Unending support from her mom, Pearl, sister Niki and brother, Kenwyn, she said, led her back to her chosen path.

"I wanted to offer high-end settings with the best products on the market; Where I know they would want to come back because the place looked exactly how I envisioned it. I could have opened where I lived before, but it just didn't feel right even when I would do the hair of close friends and family. It just wasn't me," she said with a wistful smile.

Even then she said she held back and never posted her work on social media, because she did not have a place of her own.

However, little did she know that her work was being marketed via "word of mouth" and her customers were referring her to others.

Now Simon is up until the wee hours of the morning perfecting her craft and giving her clients – who come from as far away as Arima, Mayaro and Port of Spain – that "flawless look."

Jaynette Lougheed from Rousillac said she was impressed with Simon’s work on a friend’s hair. He had no idea at the time who Simon was, but decided to make the trip to Point Fortin just to see" who was slaying those wigs".

Lougheed self-consciously joked that at the time she made her own wigs, "but nothing even a fraction as good as what Ackie was making, there simply was no comparison".

"I had chosen to do my own wigs then cause I didn't want people experimenting on my hair. Then I saw my friend and I had a wow moment. It really was that good. Then I met (Simon) and her infectious smile and knew my days for doing my own wigs were over. The thing is she is not just about doing your hair. She treats your hair. Her knowledge of her products and products related to hairdressing and make up is simply amazing," she said, laughing.

Simon noted that while she knew a lot of persons in the industry would shop at popular suppliers of beauty products, she has opted to go directly to distributors.

This, she said, is all in keeping with Pivot Point's teaching to offer her clients the best products, even if its costly to her. As for the economy and how it has treated her, Simon said, "if your product or service is good and that standard is maintained, customers leave with a satisfied smile, then you should press on."