Thirteen years past in Burnaby’s Metrotown district, when the Okoth family launched its first of two stores, the developing hair extensions industry was aimed almost exclusively at Afro-Canadian women. Bound by an almost singular, ethnic disposition of tight, dark curls, it may stand to reason that the craft of weaving or sewing hair to ones head was pioneered by the black community in an effort to bring some variety to its hair styles.

“In ’93 most of our clients were black,” explains Birgit Okoth, who co-founded Abantu with husband Michael, a decade after their move to Vancouver from Kenya. “We always had a hard time finding hair care products for our two daughters. In retrospect, by first looking out for our own daughters we have in effect been filling a void for the entire black community. We’ve since done great business with the movie industry and professional hairstylists also, who both work with all types of women, but our initial ‘public’ market was always black.”

‘Was’ being the key word here because since the autumn of ‘93 a heady array of hair extension and hair care products have swept the industry and opened everything up to women of all walks and curls. The range and ease of products, in combination with changing attitudes toward hair extensions, wigs and hairpieces, is driving a silent but sassy revolution in personal expression.

“You’d be surprised how many women are wearing some sort of hair accessory,” says son, Mark Okoth, whose knowledge of hair products is as broad as his General Manager duties between the two family stores. “The old notion that wigs and extensions are for old ladies and rich movie stars was never true, and today we see a terrific number of young women altering or accenting their hair styles regularly, not just for special occasions.”

Abantu’s product line has adapted considerably since 2000 (when Birgit pegs the revolution) and in 2003 the Okoth family launched the second store on West 4th in trendy Kitsilano, to meet the demands of a rapidly growing, changing market. Today Abantu employs seven full-time staff in that endeavour and Mark is proud to note that Abantu’s staff know their product. They are essentially professionals in their own right and frankly, they will not tolerate bad hair days. Style is their game and Abantu is built to deliver the possibilities.

In fact, Abantu delivers more than just hair and Mark notes, “We also educate our customers about the different hair extension methods and products, provide specific training on the Fusion Extension System and most importantly, advise how to maintain a healthy head of hair regardless of styles and treatments. That’s worthy of note and should comfort women whose early experiences with wigs and extensions and all too many perms may have damaged both their hair and pride. The range of new products virtually eliminates many former nightmares and Abantu is quick to review all new developments such as the popular 7-piece Clip Extension System, and put the best of them on the shelf. Abantu’s extensive product range is also available online at abantu.com and via mail-order.

“Our web and mail-order business is most respectable,” said Mark, who’s also the current webmaster (since the launch in 2000), “We supply over 200 salons via mail order across North America and internationally, but our individual customers usually prefer to touch and see the hair products before buying. That’s understandable because hair is both a tactile experience and extremely personal.”

To that end Abantu carries an enormous inventory at all times. Consider over 200 styles of wigs alone, in a hair-raising multitude of colours and lengths, in both high-quality, natural, human hair and affordable synthetics, and you get some idea of how much hair is out there. Add to the racks a vast array of fusion hair, weave and clip accessories, applicators and removers, brushes and over 75 brands of hair and skin care solutions, and you have the largest and most stylish inventory in the Lower Mainland.

Abantu’s large stock, fair prices and expertise in the field hasn’t gone unnoticed and over the years some of the biggest stars have graced its aisles including Vanessa Williams, Halle Berry, Lynn Whitfield, Ashanti, Kelly Osborne, Margo Kidder, Darryl Hanna and Pam Grier. Abantu has also played a role in hundreds of movies big and small, just as many local TV productions and supplied wigs for the entire cast of many theatre productions including Vancouver’s popular Bard on the Beach.

For the Okoth family and Abantu’s two locations, there’s simply no slowing down in sight. With darker roots and 13 years of great hair days behind them, the future of hair extensions is bright indeed and infinitely more colourful.

Ray performs wonders with Abantu's own hair models and also works miracles behind the lens for his Vancouver-based studio, Tempest Photo.