If you go into the little shop that sits at 413 East Tennessee Street, chances are you’ll be greeted by “resident bodyguard” Ron Brown, or hairstylist and mother to everyone “Momma D’’, or maybe, if you’re lucky, owner Inga Carroll-Harden herself.

The colorful, vibrant salon seems to buzz with community. Friends of the shop stop by to say hello, and regulars waste no time making themselves comfortable in the place that has become a second home to them.

There are memories of clients ingrained in the store itself. Pictures of new and old friends hang on the walls, and furniture gifted by clients still have a home in the salon. For the past fourteen years, Inga’s Lashes and More has become a community in and of itself.

Inga’s passion for beauty began at Florence’s Burrell Slater High School. She would spend class breaks working on classmates’ eyebrows, sometimes getting a tardy slip for her work. It never crossed her mind that her side hustle would turn into a plausible career. She always had a business mindset. In trade school, she had attended business classes rather than cosmetology.

It is hard to believe that Carroll Harden’s business began over six hundred miles away in Detroit, Michigan. It was the nineties, and false eyelashes were all the rage in the city. Her mother figure in Detroit, Inda, had taught her the basics of lashes with standard strips. Once she gained familiarity with strips and wanted a more permanent look, Inda taught her how to use individual eyelash extensions.

Her days were spent working in a substance abuse clinic, but by night, she was an eyelash specialist. Friends would call her to bars and clubs to work on them. Lunch breaks mirrored her high school experience of bathroom cosmetology. Her business spread through word of mouth, and eventually she had enough confidence to rent out a booth in a barber shop. Lashes were still something people were skeptical of since the practice didn’t require a license. Though, with the growing popularity of lash applications, it was a profitable business. “[Lashes were] a big thing in Detroit,” Carroll-Harden said. “It was like putting your clothes on in the nineties and early two-thousands.”

She began gaining more lucrative business when a famous local rapper named Smiley was a customer. She gained television appearances with celebrities while in Detroit and was able to branch out with her mentor, Inda. The two rented a booth at Michigan’s Gibraltar Trade Center and named their joint business I & I Enhancements — Inga did eyelashes and Inda worked on eyebrows. Lashes became her life. Even when she did modeling gigs, she would give eyelash extensions. Sometimes she would sleep through the days, wait until clubs were active for the night, and leave flyers for her business on parked cars.

“I hustled so hard at the beginning,” she said. “If I could do it differently, I would have hustled smarter instead of physically. I was everywhere, but I was young. I wish I could have made better connections and locked down those connections to help me grow.”

Eventually, Inga decided to bring her business to the Shoals. The South was relatively untouched by Detroit’s lash craze, but she saw the opportunity to start something big in Florence. She began working out of her car, driving to different salons to prove her talents were worth hiring. She managed to garner some supporters and soon moved to her own space, which became Alabama’s first lash bar. Within a year of renting 413 East Tennessee Street, she was able to buy it and the lot to the left of her (which now houses The Eclectic).

Her mother encouraged her to expand beyond just the two of them working there, and over time the salon began buzzing with many different cultures and ethnicities. Inga doesn’t want her salon to be defined by one race. She has had many different people from many different backgrounds as clients and employees alike.

Being a double minority business owner, there were definitely roadblocks. People were hesitant to believe that she would be able to run a trustworthy business, but she had enough confidence in herself to push past all of the doubt and negativity.

“The bottom line is they didn’t want to take a chance on me as a Black woman. That was hard,” she said. “For other
generations to see us doing this, it makes other young Black kids say ‘Oh, I can do that’. I want to do the best that I can to show the generations coming behind me that ‘Hey, you can do this and do it better!’”

She began seeing herself in her school coach, who was a Black woman named Coach Ford. Upon her move to Detroit, she witnessed many Black people running their own businesses that inspired her to immeasurable degrees. She always tried to be a good role model for young minorities wishing to become business owners, and she still strives to accomplish that to this day. She wants to be the inspiration that others were to her.

“A woman as a business owner is harder because we’re looked at as ‘we can’ but we also can’t,” Carroll-Harden said.

“It’s how far you can go for people to take you seriously, but I have had some of the best, best, best clients come here.”

There are plenty of clients that hold a special place in her heart. Mary Anderson Stults had been a regular at Inga’s salon since its infancy. Stults was her angel on Earth, she said. There are pieces of her all over the salon, from sofas to tables to the jacket that Inga wears. It was commonplace Inga Caroll-Harden is the owner of Inga’s Lashes and More, which is located in Florence, Ala. on Tennessee Street. for her to call and offer to buy gifts for Inga’s three children. Even after her passing in late 2019, Inga still has things to commemorate her in the salon. She, like many other clients, has become family to Inga.

Inga’s life wouldn’t be complete without her family. From her mother Dorothy (also called Momma D by staff and locals), to her aunt, to her three children, her support system is strong. Her son, Christian, recently signed to play football at Bethel University. She was pregnant with her 14-year-old daughter Kira (who currently plays volleyball at Florence) when she opened up her salon. Her youngest daughter, 11-year-old Angel, is her “supermodel”. They all make good grades and are her world. All three children hold an importance in her life, with drawings from their childhood behind the salon’s front desk.

“The customers that I’ve had have all become angels to me and my family. Every day that this door opens and someone comes in or leaves smiling is a blessing,” Carroll-Harden said. “We have had so many prayer circles here with random customers that I know. God dwells here. He sends people to remind me there are people that I need to pour into.”

Inga’s clientele also includes celebrities. Beginning with Smiley in Detroit, her reach has expanded in the past years. Most notably, she has a close friendship with Bill Cosby and rapper Snoop Dogg’s late mother, Beverly Tate. Carroll-Harden and Tate became amiable
when the latter visited the Shoals. In no time, the two were chatting in the salon and Tate eventually stayed over at her mother’s house. Afterward, she insisted that Inga call her “Auntie Beverly”.

To up and coming business owners, Carroll-Harden says, “Don’t quit. Try hard. Don’t listen to the naysayers because when I first started someone told me to get a ‘for sure job’. I didn’t listen and here we are. Ask God to guide you your entire way.” Inga’s Lashes and More is more than just a salon. It is a community full of friends, family, and for many, a support system. Carroll-Harden’s talent coupled with the special atmosphere is what truly makes it one of the Shoals’ hidden treasures. Everyone is welcomed and embraced by the love that is palpable in the space.