De Lux Gallery
“I’m one of the oldheads around here,” says Glen Ettienne, owner of De Lux Gallery, a natural hair salon in Fort Greene. Reminiscing back to 2000 — when he moved to Brooklyn from his native Trinidad, then working as a barber at a salon called Black Roots — he describes a pre-gentrified Fort Greene vibrant with Black-owned businesses and a thriving community of young writers, musicians, filmmakers, actors and visual artists.
“A lot of trendsetting stuff was going on,” says Glen, 50. “People weren’t wearing name brands too tough; they had their own thing. And a lot of those people wore their hair natural, when it was not otherwise common to see that walking down the street.” Inspired by the neighborhood, Glen changed his repertoire from fades and shape-ups to specializing in loc care and maintenance. In 2006, he opened De Lux Gallery, a unisex salon catering to healthy natural hair in all styles.
Glen’s decision to specialize in natural hair care nearly 20 years ago was not only a business move. In those days before the Natural Hair Movement (and before YouTube tutorials), it was also political. “We celebrate our Black people here,“ he says of services including locs, twists, braids and masterful cuts. “We encourage people to love and appreciate the hair we were born with.”
“We celebrate our Black people here.We encourage people to love and appreciate the hair we were born with.”
This energy is reflected even in the physical space at De Lux Gallery. Bright red and yellow walls, with green accents — painted to reflect the colors of various African flags — are adorned with art featuring icons like Kathleen Cleaver, Jimi Hendrix, Muhammad Ali and Harriet Tubman. Over the sounds of intermingled conversations, reggae pulses from the speakers. “Neighborhoods in Brooklyn are all starting to look and feel the same,” Glen says. “I’m trying to hang on to the flavor of Fort Greene.
One reason for De Lux Gallery’s longevity in a Fort Greene that’s very different from when the salon first opened: Glen and his team of stylists are enormously knowledgeable in natural hair health and remarkably talented at what they do, be it starter locs, creating super-defined curls, or the perfect tapered cut. “I have clients who have been coming to me since I first moved to New York,” says Glen, who honed his natural hair skills at three other Brooklyn salons before opening De Lux. “This place is like home.”
704 Fulton Street, 718-522-3324, De Lux Gallery on Instagram
