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By Wendy Sturges | 7:00 AM Jan. 27, 2020 CST

Owner Debra Dickey has been using low-chemical hair color for more than a decade at Sweet Seven Organic Salon.

Dylan Skye Aycock/Community Impact Newspaper

Sweet Seven Organic Salon, Debra Dickey

Debra Dickey has been doing hair for 25 years. After many years working for Aveda, she opened Sweet Seven Organic Salon on 8th Avenue in 2004. But about eight years ago, it was looking like she was going to have to find a new profession. Debra began developing asthma symptoms, and her doctor told her the chemicals she had been using at her salon were the culprits.

Since Debra loved her job, she wasn’t one to go quietly into the night. She started doing research on more natural products until she discovered Organic Color Systems out of the UK. It has the lowest chemical content of any professional hair color on the market, so it is healthier not only for Debra, but for her clients as well. “I think it’s really important that people pay attention to the chemicals they are putting on their hair and scalps,” Debra says. Organic color also lasts longer and makes hair shinier than most other products.

The hair color she uses isn’t the only thing different about Sweet Seven Organic Salon. Debrais the only stylist at the salon, with an apprentice who just started taking haircuts, so the atmosphere is intimate (not to mention it doesn’t smell like chemicals!). Debra takes pride in really listening to her clients, and while she likes to stay up on trends, she typically appeals to a more balanced clientele. She also houses a small wellness center including two Ayurvedic practitioners who offer consultations on natural healing and a neurofeedback practitioner who offers holistic psychotherapy. She loves supporting local artisans, so you’ll often find locally made jewelry and other items in the salon.

If you like to be conscious of what’s in the products you use and how they affect your body, don’t let hair dye be the exception. Visit sweetsevenorganicsalon.com to book an appointment with Debra and start treating your hair right.

After nearly two decades working in the hair industry, Debra Dickey said she noticed herself developing asthma symptoms. Her doctor told her she would need to stop using products with strong chemicals right away.

“My doctor looked at me dead in the eyes and told me that the chemicals used in hair colors caused this problem,” Dickey said. “At that moment, I felt like I was going into shock. Hair color was my whole career.”

Dickey said she wasted no time and began immediately researching more natural products available to stylists as well as how she would incorporate them into her business after years of working with traditional hair dyes.

“Out of pure desperation, I had to figure out how to keep my business alive,” Dickey said. “After learning more about what harmful chemicals were legal to use in the U.S. versus in other countries, I knew I had to do something to stop that cycle and switch to something more natural.”

Now, about 12 years after her asthma diagnosis, Dickey uses low-chemical hair dyes on her clients at Sweet Seven Organic Salon, located in Fort Houston near Berry Hill. As the only employee, she offers haircuts, color and other salon services in a space free of chemicals, such as ammonia.

“I’m always up front with my clients that professional stylists have to work with at least a small amount of chemicals to know what the end results are going to be,” she said. “I think they are surprised to find out that low-chemical lines last much longer on hair than one would think.”

While Dickey said giving up her career as a hairstylist was not an option she even considered, she originally planned to make a living in the fashion industry. However, she said she considers working with hair to be a form of fashion.

“I never thought I was going to be a hairdresser when I grew up,” Dickey said. “I always thought I was going to be a fashion designer, but I’ve come to realize that hair is also fashion ... It’s sculpting, it’s cutting and it’s designing.”

Although hair styling was not her original career path, Dickey said the job is rewarding.

“I hear a lot of wonderful stories from clients, but I also hear about the sad things that are a part of life,” Dickey said. “To make someone feel better before they even walk out of the door is a reward that I wasn’t prepared for when I started this career.”

June 30, 2014

 Photo by Eric England.