Kemeel Azan was the pioneer of Canada's Black hair industry
August 24, 2023
Soon after migrating from Jamaica in 1957, teenager Kemeel Azan found himself toiling as a gravedigger and railway porter for Canadian National.
His arrival coincided with Canada’s demand for cheap and unskilled labour that led to the introduction of the West Indian Domestic Scheme that allowed 100 women from the Caribbean to enter the country annually.
Azan, who attended Holmwood Technical High School in south-central Jamaica, saw this as an opportunity.
“I figured that these women that were coming would have children,” he told me in an interview. “I also remember taking a woman to a salon where she had to wait in line because there were 15 other women ahead of her and they paid $4 each to get their hair done. At that time, that was more money than I wanted to make.”
Considered the pioneer of Canada’s Black hair industry, Azan died away on August 15 after a lengthy illness. He was 85.
As part of the process to beautify Black women, he trained at Marvel Beauty School in Toronto as the only Black person in his class and was an assistant to popular celebrity hairstylist Gus Caruso who died in 1982 at age 55.
When Azan mentioned to Caruso, who styled the hair of the city’s upper crust of wealthy women, that he wanted to do Black women hair, the Miss Canada hairstylist tried to dissuade him, saying the domestics coming from the Caribbean didn’t have money to support the industry.
Disagreeing, he went to New York in 1960 and received a diploma from Perdue Beauty Salon while learning how to treat Black hair before returning to Toronto in 1962 and opening his first salon, Beauty World by Azan Limited, at 175 Spadina Avenue.
Two years later, Azan relocated to 81 Bloor St. E. which was just a few blocks away from Caruso whose clients included Lady Mounbatten.
In 1968, he bought a building on Davenport Rd.
While looking for a hairstylist in 1971, a Bell Canada co-worker suggested Joan Pierre attend Azan’s Beauty Salon.
For the last 52 years, she has been washing, conditioning and cutting her hair at the mid-town salon.
“I became dependent on his expertise when I cut my hair low,” said the event planner. “He was one of the few people who understood the unique character of my natural hair. Later on, our relationship moved from proprietor/client to dear friends. Always welcoming and warm, Mr. ‘A’ could charm the stripes off a zebra. He just had a way of making everyone who sat in his chair feel extra special.”
Kemeel Azan did not acquiesce to Joan Pierre’s initial request to cut her hair short in 1971. Six months later, he agreed and she has been an Azan’s Beauty Salon client for the last 52 years (Photo contributed)
Azan was also a sounding board for Pierre.
“When I became Executive Director of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, he sat in his office with me and we brainstormed while he waited for his next client after he was finished with my hair,” she added. “He was also there for me when I started my own business in event planning and management. He was one of the key sponsors of the African Canadian Achievement Awards that I produced with Pride News. The community has lost a beautiful soul.”
In 1974, Korah Williams-Harrison took her 16-year-old daughter, Tonya Williams, to the salon for the first time.
“Mr. Azan, his wife and their four sons quickly became like second family to me,” recalled the award-winning actress and Reelworld Film Festival founder. “They were the ones that encouraged me and sponsored me to enter the 1977 Miss Black Ontario contest, something I did not want to do. But then I won and that was instrumental to my career success.”
Trusting her hair to no one else, Azan was a huge part of Williams’ life in the last four decades.
“He always told me to come to the salon to get my hair done, even if it was last minute for auditions I had,” she added. “That was a real treat and he often didn’t charge me. That was his way. He was a kind and generous person. Money was not his driving force. He just loved to see Black women looking their best and hair was a big part of that. As the prominent Black hair salon in Toronto for decades, many Black women over the age of 40 would have had their hair done there. When he put his hands in your hair, you knew you could relax. Sometimes, he listened to what you said you wanted and, other times, he did what he felt was best for your hair and he was always right.”
Kemeel Azan and Eugenie Martin at the second annual Canadian Cosmetology Association for All Nations awards banquet at Ella’s Banquet Hall in 2002 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
With 43 employees, the business was thriving when Azan took a five-year hiatus that ended in 1993.
“I was burnt out at the time and I didn’t have the skills to understand that I could manage my business,” he told me. “I didn’t realize at the time that I was on the threshold of a dynasty and an amazing empire.”
When the youngest of his four sons, Khalil Azan, expressed an interest in learning how to style hair, the family patriarch jumped at the opportunity because he always advocated that those in business should willingly pass on their knowledge and skills.
His motto was ‘Come let me teach you everything I know, then pass it on’.
“I have four sons and only two of them (Michael is the other) are in the business,” said the one-time financial adviser to former world sprint champion Ben Johnson. “I wanted all my children to be hairstylists because it’s a career that provides an opportunity for self-employment where you could be your own boss. It also allows for creativity. I have a great ability to teach and I fell in love with my passion again.”
Kemeel Azan with Canada’s first female five-time Olympian and Canada Soccer President Charmaine Crooks at the 2016 Ontario Black History Society Black History Month launch at the Metro Convention Centre (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Over the years, Azan styled several celebrities, including Maya Angelou, Diahann Carroll, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Charles Oakley.
A devout man of faith in later years, he served on the Eastern Canada Church of God of Prophecy (ECCGP) national finance and steward committees and was the Director of the Finance and Stewardship committees at the Toronto New Covenant Cathedral where his brother-in-law, Bishop Shelton Beneby, is the senior pastor.
“He was pivotal in the reconstruction of the present sanctuary,” said Beneby.
His wife, Shelly Ricketts-Beneby, said their mother – ECCGP Pastor Emerita Lily Ann Ricketts who passed away in November 2019 at age 100 – spent many years praying for Azan to turn to God.
“He eventually did,” she said. “He was a very kind and caring person.”
Kemeel Azan (r) and close friend Denham Jolly (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
To whom much is given, much will be required.
In the 1980s, Azan collaborated with then First Lady and 1964 Miss Jamaica Marie ‘Mitsy’ Seaga to start the Human Employment & Resource Training (HEART) College of Beauty Services.
“He was one of a kind,” Seaga said in a Facebook post.
Azan sent goats to Jamaica to support the country’s agricultural initiatives, sponsored students and various organizations in Canada and was a mentor to many young people, including DAYO Media & Communications founder & managing director Dayo Kefentse.
“When I walked into his salon as a young journalist,” he saw an opportunity to uplift me,” she said. “When I was hosting television segments, Mr. ‘A’ didn’t hesitate to have his hair salon serve as an official sponsor. When I was considering buying a property and unsure about whether to proceed, he encouraged me to go for it even going as far as to sit me down in his office and perform calculations to show why it could eventually work in my favour. He was right. When I was unsure about my hair, he sat me down to discuss several options that allowed me to walk out feeling confident and pretty.”
To mark Azan’s Beauty Salon 50th anniversary in 2012, Kefentse led a team that produced an event to mark the golden jubilee.
In 2012, Kemeel Azan celebrated his 50th year in business with his staff (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
The entrepreneur, who enjoyed breeding and training horses and travelling the world, has been recognized with several awards, including Harry Jerome, African-Canadian Achievement and Ontario Black History Society Rose Fortune.
Kemeel Azan was the recipient of a Harry Jerome Award in 2013 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
In September 2011, Azan was celebrated at the Multicultural Beauty Group dinner.
Analysis in Hair Creative Director Gloria McLeod organized the event.
“As our fearless leader, it was important that we honour Mr. Azan,” she said. “He set the bar extremely high for his staff and, in doing so, paved the way for other salons to look up to him and what he was doing. He provided an incredible service because he believed the community deserved it. He gave his life to this industry and I am so proud that we had the opportunity to honour him. Mr. ‘A’ will always be A+ in my book.”
Gloria McLeod organized an event in 2011 that celebrated Kemeel Azan (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Historian Dr. Sheldon Taylor said Azan’s is an important cornerstone in the Black community.
“When a Black person said in the early '60s that he was going to start a business, people would have thought he was crazy because our people did not have any access to capital and there had been few lasting success stories to show black entrepreneurial progress in Canada,” he noted. “On Saturdays, women lined up to get their hair done at his salon and he used a lot of his money to buy houses in Yorkville close to his business that he later sold.
“To see him at his craft and how he worked with Black women hair and how he respected that as a particular science was a sight to behold. He also understood the history and saw the connections with people like Madam CJ Walker (the hair care entrepreneur was America’s first self-made Black woman millionaire).”
Azan, whose body was cremated, leaves to mourn his wife of more than six decades, Madge, and their four sons -- Khalil and Michael who have been running the salon since their dad became ill, Tony and Omar.
