Not long ago, women were taught that the answer to their hair troubles was more chemicals, more product, more heat. Now, they’re taking control of their natural hair. Thanks to the internet, they can even discuss their hair types in salon terms, from a straight Type 1 to coily Types 4a, 4b, or 4c.
“We just didn’t know, but the more you know, the more you grow,” says Madonna Pagan. “Women sit in my chair now, and they really know what they’re talking about. They can find what fits their hair type. We were not having those conversations then. We couldn’t flourish into what our hair wanted to be.”
Madonna is a master stylist and an owner of Esencial Healing Hair Bar, offering a fresh approach to hair wellness. In the heart of downtown Lancaster, Esencial offers women’s and men’s services and products for all hair types while specializing in teaching women to love and care for their natural curls.
1 of 2
2 of 2
Madonna has been on a personal and professional journey in salon ownership and hair care. She was 22 by the time she co-owned her first salon. She has learned the importance of developing systems and relying on a supportive team.
“People have different gifts for different reasons,” she says. “That’s how you find the balance.”
That first salon ran successfully for seven years, but soon after Madonna and her partner decided to close, tragedy struck. By then, Madonna had her second baby, Riley, but the little girl would live to be only 4 months old. Little Riley, she says, was “super angelic,” with an aura of peace all around her.
“She changed us right away,” Madonna says.
Madonna now looks back and sees the hand of providence in her decision to close the salon and concentrate on her family. She was able to experience her baby, grieve, and “really find a different side of me. She left me, and I was born again. They serve such purpose even when they’re not here. I can’t go back to who I was, because she’s not even allowing it. I do feel her working from afar.”
Madonna began to focus on her health. She returned to work and rediscovered her creative side at the former Bristle & Prim salon in downtown Lancaster, where a curly culture prevailed. She found herself advising clients who “wanted you to enhance what they had. They wanted to keep their looks. They wanted you to teach them how to work with their natural hair.”
“Once I started to do that, I literally came alive again,” she says. “Even walking in from the parking lot, I felt the magic.”
When Bristle & Prim closed, Madonna and her friend and business partner, Cassandra London, founded Esencial Healing Hair Bar in the same space. The bright, relaxed salon is steps from Penn Square and connects by the back door to Lancaster Central Market.
1 of 2
2 of 2
The doors opened on Thanksgiving weekend 2021. The owners were entering a new age of curly cuts and care. Women themselves, who had been forced by the pandemic to “look like cave people,” were learning to love the waves and curls they never knew they had, Madonna says.
But how to manage those curls? Esencial Healing Hair Bar’s menu of cuts, styling, and color for women and men includes a dry cut with step-by-step style guidance, and a One-on-One Curly Styling Lesson.
In those sessions, Madonna gets to know the client’s goals and life changes that affect hair health, from postpartum limpness to the menopause perm. She shares the importance of protein, hydration, and drying with a microfiber towel or old t-shirt.
“The client is already wowed before she even gets into her service,” Madonna said. “You create the trust. Once you let people know that they can do this and you’re giving them the keys to unlock their day-to-day routine, it’s a shared experience.”
A line of Innersense Organic Beauty products offers all clients, curly or not, a cleaner, non-toxic approach to hair care. In time, Madonna and Cassandra hope to offer an Esencial line that they have been developing.
“If it’s going into your hair, it’s going into your body,” Madonna tells her clients. “What lives in our scalp lives in our body. Life is busy, and we want convenience. I understand that all the time. But
if we just make small changes, we can see some result.”
Madonna loves Lancaster, where she was born and raised, and is a busy mama to two daughters, Amerie, 8, and Reign, 2. Her journey has taught her that she has the grit to work hard. And in the course of achieving her dreams, she is helping women of all races and ethnicities overcome their fear of letting their natural hair shine.
“I love, love, love that so much,” Madonna says. “It helps me and encourages me, too. We grow together into these fearless women, and that’s inspiring.”
Esencial Healing Hair Bar
14 N Queen St, Lancaster, PA 17603
717-295-7600
