From a small room on Boylston Street to two salons in Massachusetts, Bold Skin Babe has seen dramatic growth since its opening in 2020. Offering a range of beauty treatments, the local business specializes in the care of melanated skin, providing everything from facials to waxing. However, it is the sense of community that the salon prides itself on that keeps customers and aestheticians alike coming back for more.
Akou Diabakhate, a model and founder of Bold Skin Babe, initially started the company to address some of the issues she experienced when getting her own makeup done as a model.
“When I would go to a show, it was impossible for them to find my skin tone in a foundation,” Diabakhate said. “So they would use lighter shades on me, and then I would look two-toned in the pictures. And then I was like, ‘If you have great skin, can we emphasize that the most … so you don’t have to cover your skin with makeup?’”
Originally from Senegal, Diabakhate decided to attend cosmetology school in Massachusetts to learn more about her own skin and how to provide better care for melanated skin after her experience with cosmetologists as a model. Diabakhate graduated from cosmetology school in 2019 and opened her first location of Bold Skin Babe on Boylston Street in 2020, which she staffed by herself. Even though it was a small operation, the store was attractive to both aestheticians and customers who felt alienated by the beauty industry.
Sara Volmar, a master aesthetician at Bold Skin Babe, was one of the first people to join Diabakhate’s team in 2020 and has remained at Bold Skin Babe ever since.
“When you come in, it’s a spa, but you see a whole bunch of people who look like us and who are going to take care of you and you feel more comfortable because it’s a whole space,” Volmar said.
Business boomed for Bold Skin Babe when it received a SPACE Grant from the city of Boston, allowing Diabakhate to open a larger location in Downtown Crossing.
“Putting a business in Boston is never easy, especially if you’re a woman and a Black woman and an immigrant,” Diabakhate said. “But at the end of the day, if you believe in your power and your capability to do what you’re supposed to do, then you don’t have to worry about that. So it was not easy, but we made it happen thanks to the city of Boston.”
Diabakhate said she has seen an increase in the demand for her service, finding that clients will travel from as far as South Carolina to come visit Bold Skin Babe. However, Diabakhate has also developed a loyal customer base in the city of Boston, including Melanie Tribble, a mechanical engineer at National Grid.
Originally from Bolivia, Tribble found herself only getting facials done when she traveled back to her home country every two years. It was when Tribble met Diabakhate in a dog park that she decided to give Bold Skin Babe a try.
“I just didn’t trust the businesses here,” Tribble said. “I was very protective of my skin, so when I found Akou and I saw her skin and how she worked and how other aestheticians were doing their work, I kind of took a leap and started going there, and now I go every month.”
Diabakhate didn’t always work in the beauty industry. Prior to her roles as a model and entrepreneur, she worked as a translator in Senegal. Diabakhate credits her success in the beauty industry to her experience as a translator.
“There is a beauty in translation because you’re transforming something in one language to another language,” Diabakhate said. “That helped also with my clients because when I talk to them, I talk to them in a way that they could understand me. They can understand what I’m trying to explain to them without using scientific words or terms.”
Bold Skin Babe has carved out a space in Boston for clients to receive quality beauty care catered to their skin tone and type and for aestheticians to practice their craft in an environment that feels safe.
“The friendship that we have and the way we can all lean on each other, especially being Black women in the same industry, has been a really dope experience,” Volmar said. “I know that that’s not something that you get everywhere.”
