Queen of the 'fro

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In May 1986, 16-year-old Charlotte Mensah went to work in the UK’s first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon, Splinters.

In London’s glamorous Mayfair, Splinters had earned a world-class reputation and hosted the likes of Diana Ross.

Charlotte says it looked more like a five-star hotel than a salon and that its owner, Winston Isaacs expected no less than perfection from all his staff.

Now a giant of the hair care industry in her own right, Charlotte has become known as the 'Queen of the 'fro'.

She tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about her roots and how training at the legendary Splinters changed her life.

This programme includes an account of racial bullying.

(Photo: Young Charlotte in the salon. Credit: Charlotte Mensah)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast I want to tell you why I love podcasting.
0:04.6	Hi my name is Tommy Dixon and I make podcast for the BBC.
0:08.3	I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book.
0:11.2	But when I started commuting for my first job, I discovered
0:14.0	podcasts. I was blown away about how a creative idea and the right mixture of sounds
0:18.6	could take you into a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that
0:22.4	make you go, wow. And that kind of
0:24.6	inspired me to give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC
0:28.5	training scheme and a whole new career given other people that exact same feeling.
0:32.3	So if you want to hear
0:33.4	amazing stories that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or a click away
0:37.4	on BBC Sounds.
0:40.3	Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:48.0	Today I'm taking you back to May 1986 when one of Britain's best-known Afro-Caribbean hairstylists went to train in the
0:56.4	legendary salon, Splinters, in London's glamorous Mayfair.
1:01.0	She went on to become known as Queen of the Throw. This program does contain an
1:05.3	account of racial bullying.
1:07.0	And when I saw the salad I was like, wow, you could just feel the exclusiveness, you could feel the luxury.
1:17.0	It was like the elevation, it was something that I've never seen before.
1:21.0	The types of women that came in also really made me feel proud and
1:25.6	empowered me to think that I could be one of them. So there was the likes of
1:29.9	Dyna Rors to Janet Jackson to Morris Stewart, you name it. I remember I was quite
	...

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