No matter how you feel about the Kardashians, it’s hard to deny that they keep their kids’ hair on point. The social media darlings are always ready for their closeups with tight braids and edges that are perfectly laid – thanks to celebrity hair braider Kia Harper.
Harper has created show-stopping styles for most of the kids in the Kardashian-Jenner clan, including Kendall Jenner’s daughter Stormi, Rob Kardashian’s daughter Dream and Kim’s daughter, social media star, North West.
A Chicago native, Harper didn’t plan to make a career out of doing hair. But when you see her beautiful styles on social media, it’s hard to imagine her doing anything else.
Harper said she fell into the business of braiding while pursuing a career as a singer/songwriter. She moved from Chicago to Los Angeles to shoot her shot at stardom. But when she found herself struggling to make ends meet in the early stages of her career, Harper decided to use her hair-braiding skills to earn extra money. It didn’t take long for her to realize that doing hair gave her a whole lot more earning potential and flexibility to pursue her creative passions, so she decided to make it her full-time job.
“In 2017, roughly four months into braiding on the side, I did the numbers and realized if I braided full-time, I could double my income. Not only that, I could manage my own schedule which would allow me to make more music and do more shows,” she said in a 2022 interview with Voyage LA.
What started as a side hustle turned into a booming business. Harper’s braiding Insta account, @kiaharperbraids, has over 105,000 followers.
These days, Harper’s celebrity clients include singer Kehlani and Toni Braxton’s son Diesel. She says she’s been fortunate to use her celebrity network to cross promote her music and her braiding business.
“I’ve had some crazy luck! Once I decided to just go for it, put myself out there, use all the resources in my network and not care about the outcome, things started to fall into place. I began using my music as background music in every post I made on my hair instagram page. Because my hair page has a large platform and because I’ve serviced celebrities, I began cross-marketing my music with my hair platform and those clients’ platforms. My music has been shared by Khloe Kardashian, Tamika Harris, and Winnie Harlow just to name a few,” she told Voyage LA.
