EASTPOINTE, Mich. – Detroit’s very own Lizzo won big at Monday’s Emmy Awards. Her show, Watch Out For The Big Grrrls, won in the best competition program category. RuPaul’s Drag Race has won in that category consecutively since 2018.
The head of hair for the series, Chantelle Johnson-Mosely, was born and raised in Detroit. She has a salon in Eastpointe and shared with Local 4 how the red carpets never come before her passion for building up and styling the hair of people in Metro Detroit.
“We’re going to cut that dead hair off, but I’m going to get you some new hair growing,” said Johnson-Mosely.
She’s done hair since she was a child, as her grandfather was a cosmetology instructor.
“When everybody else was at the mall, I was literally at someone’s house doing some hair, making some money,” Johnson-Mosley said.
She was just a teenager when she got the chance to style artists’ hair on tour in Detroit. Now she has a list of celebrity clients.
“I’ve worked with Gabourey Sidibe, and I’ve worked with Lizzo,” Johnson-Mosley said.
Not only has she styled Lizzo’s hair for significant moments like an appearance on Ellen, but Johnson-Mosley was also the head of hair for Lizzo’s Amazon Prime show, Watch Out For the Big Grrrls.
The show was nominated for six Emmy Awards.
“It taught me to make sure that I teach people that no matter what your hair looks like, no matter what, you’re beautiful,” Johnson-Mosley said.
It’s a mission the Detroit native does not take lightly, whether the client is an A-lister or not.
“We talk about everything from what shampoos you’re using to what you did to get into the space that you are in,” Johnson-Mosley said. “I do that with the celebrity clients as well.”
Before she washes their hair, Johnson-Mosley takes an extra step for clients dealing with hair loss or hair growth concerns and performs a scalp evaluation.
“I work with a lot of people who lost their hair due to tension, alopecia cancer, different versions of alopecia,” Johnson-Mosley said. “I check follicles to make sure that follicles are still there, and if the follicles are there and active, I help people grow that hair back.”
Stephanie Logan is one of those clients; she has Psoriasis and had postpartum hair loss.
“It’s already hard for a woman to lose her edges because we already feel some type of way, but on top of that, to have dandruff falling out your head on your clothing all the time sometimes you just don’t feel like leaving out the house,” said Logan.
Logan has worked with Johnson-Mosley for the last several years to get her hair to the healthy state it’s in today.
“It’s so empowering,” Logan said.
So while Johnson-Mosley has had the opportunity to empower women all over the country, it’s in Metro Detroit where she really wants to make a difference and change lives.
“Detroit is my home,” Johnson-Mosley said. “Detroit is where I’m from; it was where I was born and raised. My clients have made me; Hollywood didn’t make me.”