Inspiring Conversations with Tori Thompson of Oya Sunshine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tori Thompson. 

Hi Tori, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have been interested in haircare since I was about 10 years old. My mother, Gladys, would adorn me in braids, replete with bows, barrettes, ballies, and butterflies. My sister, Brandy, was a talented braider, and would do my hair for me but refused to teach me to cornrow, saying she had “magic glue that came out of her fingertips”! I asked my mother to purchase me a life-sized Barbie head and a braiding book from Michael’s craft store, and taught myself. I would cornrow my neighbors’ hair for $10. 

Natural kinky-textured Afro hair was not en vogue in the late ’90s as it is today, and I received relentless teasing for wearing my natural hair in Afro puffs and braids when other girls my age were relaxing their hair straight and wearing extensions. I begged my mother for a relaxer, and she eventually caved. But I had buyer’s remorse, and missed my big poofy Afro! So, freshman year of high school, I cut my relaxed hair off and started over. I was the only female student with an Afro in a school of 2,000 until my junior year, when a couple of my friends, emboldened by me, followed suit. 

My freshman year of college, 2005, at Jackson State University in Jackson, MS, Hurricane Katrina hit. Our campus was inundated with students from New Orleans who relocated after that historical storm. In Louisiana, and southern states in general, dreadlock wearing is an integral part of Black culture and very commonplace. A fellow band student, Travis, after seeing me braid, asked me to retwist his dreadlocks. I declined, not knowing how. He assured me it was simple and allowed me to practice on him. New Orleans students asked him who “twisted him up”, and requested service, too. 

I printed simple flyers in the school library with my dorm phone number, slid them under EVER female door on campus, and offer free braids to a boy who would canvas the male dorms for me. The calls came in. I then searched through JSU’s Facebook members (back when you had to have a collegiate email to join Facebook), and sent a promo message to everyone I saw with braids or dreadlocks as their profile photo. More calls came in. 

By Junior year, I was making so much money braiding and styling dreadlocks that I considered changing my major from Music Education to Business, and sometimes skipped class to do hair! I taught a friend to braid and retwist to take my overflow clients, and graduated with honors. 

I married, moved to Arizona, and started working as a Music Instructor in the public school system. But I always kept dreadlocks as a side hustle, taking one or two clients a week to supplement my teacher salary. 

I divorced in 2016 and decided I wanted to become a homeowner. Teachers make comparably small salaries for the amount of college you need to be one, so I began promoting myself as a loctician and braider to pay down debt, raise my credit score, and save for a house. I went from a client a week to a client a day. My best friend and local business owner, Cyntoni Miller, suggested that I file LLC paperwork so that I could start benefiting from tax privileges of running a legit business. In fall of 2018, Oya Sunshine LLC was born. 

Early promotion was hand-to-hand and word-of-mouth. I’d style my own hair elaborately, and attend First Friday downtown, passing out business cards to dreadheads. I’d also attend nightclubs and do the same, ordering non-alcoholic drinks, introducing myself to every Black person in the room, and leaving by 12:30 am. 

I now am a band director by day, loctician by night, and earn more money washing hair in my kitchen than I do working in public school! I have 300 clients, and a hair education program called Sunny Day School of Locs. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My initial challenges involved washing. There used to be a law in Arizona that recognized African hairstyling such as dreadlocks as an artform not requiring a cosmetology degree to practice, but prohibited hair washing. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to wash their hair properly, and I’d have clients come to me claiming they’d washed their hair, but still had heads full of buildup and dandruff! Styling dirty hair over an unclean scalp is bad practice and can bring about a host of health problems. I’d have to hand them a bottle of shampoo and wait for them to wash it again so as to be in compliance! 

Once Ducey lifted the law in April of 2019, I could schedule the wash-time into the appointment. 

But after I was able to legally wash, I had the difficulty of accommodating exceptional persons during a wash. Most of my clientele is male and over 6′ tall. I am also 6′ tall. Bending them over my kitchen sink would bring them discomfort and sometimes be awkward. People who were under 5’2 would also have difficulty bending over the sink. Persons with short dreadlocks could not receive detox at all. I was gifted a backwash station by DJ Al Page and got it plumbed into my home. 

Being able to legally wash meant I was acquiring more clientele than I could keep up with. I was not “prepared for success”. I double-booked myself several times. In 2019, I was in over my head. Teaching full-time, completing my M. Ed at GCU, and trying to grow a business alone. The last double-booking occurred because I’d accidentally vacuumed an appointment, I’d written on a taco receipt in my car! Cyntoni suggested that I “join the 21st century” and start using a booking platform called StyleSeat, 

StyleSeat was a game-changer. My schedule is now organized, and I have work-life balance. StyleSeat manages accounting, allows clients to book themselves, and even markets for me! Since I live on the far Westside (practically Glendale but still Phoenix), it introduces me to clients I would have never met otherwise. 

My final challenge was the world’s challenge, the Covid-19 pandemic. March-May 2020 was the moratorium on performance of all personal services in Arizona, and we all lost income. When we were allowed to resume, I had to look for ways to promote myself that didn’t involve contact. I threw myself into social media promotion with Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and experienced tremendous results. I even had some clients from other states fly in to get their hair done by me! 

We’ve been impressed with Oya Sunshine LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
They call me Sunshine. Oya is the name of a Yoruba orisha, a deity from Nigeria. She is the Goddess of Storms, bringer of Absolute Change, inner and outer transformation, gatekeep of the cemetery, owner of the marketplace, sentinel between the physical and spiritual worlds. She teaches truth and brings justice. 

Oya Sunshine LLC helps people to complete their own transformation, one loc at a time. I am entrusted with secrets and stories and spiritual sojourns. I heal more than hair. My chair is sacred. 

The process of hairstyling is an ancient therapeutic ritual. In some pre-modern cultures, an entire day of the month was set aside for women to bond while styling their hair. Black America continues this tradition today in our kitchens, studios, salons, and barbershops. Customers enter as clients and exit as friends. 

The sun shines AFTER the storm. 

Oya Sunshine LLC is unique in its devotion to education about hair and scalp health. I specialize in dreadlock detoxing, which is a deep-cleansing process to remove hidden dirt and buildup from inside of locs, and easing symptoms of scalp disorders such as seborrheic dermatitis, extreme dandruff, and yeast infections with all-natural methods. I am known for being the “detox lady” in Phoenix. I offer a relaxing spa-like environment in my home, attracting clients who may have embarrassment about their dandruff, or simply prefer privacy unavailable in a salon setting. My clients get walked and talked through the entire detox process and taught which types of fruit oils, essential oils, and products could benefit them. 

EVERY service requiring a wash includes a 10-minute hair steaming, which is very beneficial for hair health in our arid climate. Longer Aromasteam treatments are available as an a-la-carte service. 

I blend custom products for my clients and am beta testing my own line of hair products, Sunny Loc Moisturizers. The base is aloe vera juice, olive oil, avocado, tea tree, and vegetable glycerin, with 5 distinct essential blends dedicated for different hair types and scalp conditions. These are not “growth serums”, but clients have reported reduction of dandruff, itchiness, and irritation, resulting in less breakage from scratching and healthier hair after regular usage. 

I am most proud of the Sunny Day School of Locs. Being a kitchen braider literally changed my life, from being a broke teacher to a financially solvent woman. I wished to help other women better their lives in like manner, and developed curriculum to do so. 

I offer several 1-day classes. 1-to-1 classes started from a running joke in the Black community of women having their “Black Card” revoked for not knowing how to cornrow hair. They are offered to anyone of any ethnicity who wishes to learn to braid or retwist dreds. Kinky Coily Workshop is for non-Black parents of Black children to learn to style our uniquely textured hair. Daddy-Daughter workshop, the brainchild of Brandon Luckette, teaches single fathers how to care for their princesses. 

I also offer in-depth courses. Loc’ Em Up is a 3-week course that teaches the basics of loc maintenance and braiding. Loctastic is a 7-week course that teaches intermediate styling techniques and extensions. Be Your Own Boss course, which includes advanced styling, learning my detox technique, loc combining, social media marketing, walks you through the LLC process, and the basics of accounting and tax management as a small business owner. I have had the privilege of helping 2 Valley Women start their own loc businesses (Jo Barbee of Betty’s Botanicals, Sereena Tucker of HouseOfHer), and several others are set to start in the spring of 2022. 

I am dedicated to furthering my own craft through annual professional development. Last year, I studied the Wicks technique under Val Flores of TuffCutz Barber Shop in Pahokee, FL. Wicks are jumbo-sized combined locs, also known as “bonks” or “congos”, popularized by Haitian American community in Florida and gaining appreciation across the country. I am currently receiving training to be a certified Trichologist under Dr. Kari Williams of Los Angeles (Ph.D. of Trichology, owner of Mahogany Hair, and inventor of the Goddess Locs hairstyle). 

Sample Menu of Services: 

$30 Aromasteam Treatment 

$40 Detox Only 

$65+ Loc Wash, Retwist and Style 

$85+ Loc Detox, Wash, Retwist 

$100+ Interlocking 

$75-175 Loc 2-Strand Twists 

$125-200 Starter Dreds 

$250-$450 Instant Locs 

$600-1200 Wicks 

(+ indicates base price) 

Sunny Loc Moisturizers: 

$8, 4oz 

$14.99 8oz 

Sunny Day School of Locs: 

All Classes include materials and mannequin head 

$399 4-Week Course (basic) 

$599 6-Week Course (intermediate) 

$899 10-Week Course (advanced, includes Marketing, LLC Startup Info, Small Business Tax and Accounting For Kitchen Braider Dummies) 

$80 1-to-1 Lessons 

$100 Daddy-Daughter Workshop 

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Ahhh, the natural beauty of Phoenix! The brilliant sunrises, sunsets, blue skies palm trees, and mountains never lose their luster. I am an avid hiker and hit a mountain at least once a week. My upbringing in Ohio, a VERY flat and snowy place full of cornfields, pumpkin patches, and apartment complexes, makes me appreciate the Valley all the more. 

Phoenix’s proximity to so many other major cities and attractions is also a plus. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Puerto Penasco, Sedona, the Grand Canyon. Adventure and excitement are merely a road trip away! 

What I hate about Phoenix, like, REALLY grinds my gears, is the traffic. God-awful traffic. Epic-poem traffic. Rush hour starts at 2 pm and ends at 7 pm. I have to leave super-early to be punctual with clients who request house calls. 

Oh, and dating. The dating scene is so bonkers here that I wrote a book it! “#ThisIsWhyImSingle: A 30-Something’s Chronicles of Dating While Black in Phoenix,” available for purchase on Amazon, Oya Sunshine LLC, and GrassRoots Bookstore in downtown Phoenix. 

Pricing:

• Loc Wash, Retwist, and Style: $65+
• Loc Detox and Retwist: $85+
• Instant-Locs: $250-450
• Wicks: $600-1200
• Be Your Own Boss 10-Week Course: $899

Contact Info:

• Email: thisiswhyimsinglesunshine@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.styleseat.com/oyasunshinellc
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oyasunshinellc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oyasunshinellc
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086PQX49B/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_QZJJXZRAAV7A86JKTGRC

Image Credits
Roosevelt Watts, Jr.