We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashley Grant and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
Curly and textured hair care is not taught in cosmetology school or part of the curriculum. A stylist is taught how to straighten hair with chemicals, extreme heat, or blow drying straight. Stylist can now get certification after schooling, from curly brands that offer “curly certification” but out of all brands it’s only 2 that offer the certification to say you know how to style curly and textured hair in it’s natural state. These certifications are cool to give a title but in the grand scheme of the history of hair, it’s overdue and shouldn’t be held as a holy grail because textured hair has been here forever!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Wash+Go is a boutique curly hair salon in Redondo Beach, Ca. We educate clients on how to care for their curly textured hair. Your texture, your beauty, your way. Our voice and marketing is inclusive of all textures. Southbay doesn’t have as many curly stylist as further up north. If you have textured hair, finding a stylist near you shouldn’t be so hard. Wash+Go has transparent pricing and easy online booking. You never have to call anyone. There’s no divisive texture or salon policies and the services are the same price for everyone. That’s what sets us apart! What I’m most proud of is bringing the hospitality factor back to the salon visits. Myself being the owner and Senior stylist, I want clients to feel the value of a quality salon visit where we are loving on their real hair in it’s natural state.. I set the standard. Having respect for clients time and making them feel welcomed have somehow gotten lost in this industry. Add the layer of having textured hair and things get too chaotic. Wash+Go was a product of having worked for corporate salons and seeing the divisiveness of salon pricing and policies for people born with curly hair. I got in, behind the scenes for all kind of salons and realized there aren’t a lot of stylist with the type of hair I have or skin as mine with a solid leg in to keep this billion dollar industry afloat. It’s not easy seeing an entire industry being misrepresented behind the scenes. I saw and learned a lot about corporate salon business structure within it all. Lessons I’ve learned is you have to take what you can out of an experience to help you advance and let the rest go. Go advance. I want the world to understand that Wash+Go is a hair experience and movement and it was built on a foundation of hair texture equality and freedom.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
On Sunday we are cruising around the city. Along the coastline through Crenshaw up to Beverly Hills. We go to Natalies for Sushi and Tai. My friends look good but they like to eat! So we are going to West Hollywood for brunch at Marcos one day and Hilltop Cafe another day. Taco Tuesday’s we’re getting dressed and going out. Where? Depends on the mood. We just need good music. End the night with tacos from a truck. We are soaking in the LA culture at Venice and we are sunbathing in Redondo.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband first gets a shoutout for sure. We’re originally from St.Louis, Mo and we came to LA on a hope and a prayer. I even came here first just because I knew it would be a bumpy ride. He held it down with our 2 children while we were in 2 different states. My mom played a part too. It was the longest year of my life! Then the curly and textured people of LA who are discovering Wash+Go. Being in LA, residents could easily flow to the celebrity stylist but they chose a black owned small business instead.

Website: www.washgo.us
Instagram: washgo.us
Facebook: washgo.us
Yelp: Wash+Go

Image Credits
@Shamayim @shadaraholmes.mua