Sh*tty Hawkins Presents: The 90's Pt. 2

March 9, 2020 crown bflo

In collaboration with Buffalo Iron Works + Hand of Doom Tattoo, we held the FIFTH edition of our dance party fundraiser for The Pride Center of WNY! Huge thanks to all involved in planning, and most of all the attendees + community members spreading the word of Sh*tty! We have some big plans this year: working on our .org website as well as planning the steps to form a Non-Profit Organization to further this mission! Love is Love. Hair is Hair. Expression is Survival.

Event photos + video by Chris Ferg! :

Remember to tag us in all your pics:

@crownbflo #crownbflo

@shittyhawkins #shittyhawkins

Crown Turns Two

November 8, 2018 crown bflo

T W O .

Wow. Thank you. Two years went incredibly fast. Nostalgia is hitting us hard this week as we look over old blogs, camera rolls, and re-live the nightmares of construction. So much has led up to who we’ve become today. It’s great to call 500 Seneca our home.

We’ve created memories, crafted transformations, celebrated our city + the arts in so many ways. This journey started with a group of like-minded people in the industry, and has doubled in the time since opening our doors. Every day feels new, but it’s like the crew was always together.

Two years of memories are a lot to go over in our minds: from our grand opening party, to our fundraising ventures, partnering with Lockhouse, planning an expansion in less than two years, making friends overseas in the GDY community, traveling together, learning together- we could go on forever.

The best compliment we continue to regularly receive is that it feels comfortable in the shop. That is exactly what we strive for alongside our craft: a home for all to express themselves.

This week, our friends + guests helped form a list of memorable moments during our beginning…

Some of our faves were:

“Putting the coffee bar together.” -Danielle (Thank you for helping, there is always a coffee waiting for you!)

“I love your Instagram giveaways! Dustin won his very first Father’s Day!” -Sara (Congrats again, Perry’s!)

“The best parties in town.” -Ally (Thanks for helping make all our fundraisers a success!)

“Baby Powder.” -Jordan (We’re still sorry!)

“Loved seeing the crown crew at Pride- great float, great energy, great hair!” -Kate (Thanks! We love breaking our industry standards down + standing proud! #hairishair)

“Coming in and having Monster sleep on my lap or Bogan spin my chair around!” -Jean (Miss you, mamma!)

“Nana drinking Fireball at the opening party” -KTB (See the Media page, lol.)

“When Grace bleached my hair + burned my tan off…” -Fred (That icy hairline look…)

…That IG Ask-session was hilarious + emotional.

We are just so thankful to get to do what we love doing together, and make a difference in the world. Giving back is what we do. Breaking the gender-based price structure of the hair business is what we do. We’ve even seen some other locals adopt our pricing values since we opened, and that is a true step toward changing this industry.

2018 was especially crazy with our Ignite Buffalo opportunity! Because of Ignite, we have been able to bring on two new crew members, schedule education with both national and local instructors in the fields of hair and business, had a mini-renovation to boost productivity, expanded hours of operation, boosted marketing strategies, and streamlined the efficiency of our systems and operations. We’re so proud to be part of that Buffalo million.

Thank you to all our families, guests, supporters, friends far + near, Ignite alum, mentors, brands who have supported us since the beginning… We can’t wait to see what the future brings.

*header image by Evan Duckett, soon to be in Oxford Pennant form.

*images collected via life since we opened.

Sh*tty in the USA

September 17, 2018 crown bflo

On August 18th, 2018, we held our second official fundraiser for the Pride Center of WNY in partnership with Lockhouse Distillery. We had another amazing turn-out, even on the night Beyonce was in town! A total of $1696 was donated to further the work of PCWNY.

The night was so special. Going with the 1970’s beach party theme, we featured Buffalo’s own Deadwolf + DJ CropTop (Alison Pieroni) to keep everybody moving. Veronica Lace mc’d again, judging the party’s most exciting moment- the winners of the dance contest! Our Qween + King absolutely killed it out there on the dance floor, complete with a costume change!

The magical good vibes continued all the way into the cobblestone street, where the BuffaLove Bus had set up camp to capture all the moments we wanted to remember forever. (If you need a wow-factor for any event, look no further!)

We couldn’t have done it without our wonderful partners in fundraising, Lockhouse Distillery! Reann Nye once again created a stunning poster for this event. Even Second Chic and BKind City as well as one of our hair care brands, Surface, made generous donations in the form of party favors, costume needs, and contest prizes.

Now, let the nostalgia begin…

sh*tty hawkins : recap

March 11, 2018 crown bflo

WOW. What a turn-out, Buffalo! First of all, we'd like to thank EVERYONE who had a part in this amazing evening. The attendance and themed dress was beyond our dreams. Cheers to a community partnership with the team at Lockhouse Distillery ... We raised $1879 for the Pride Center of WNY!

The idea behind this night began organically on Thanksgiving Eve 2017, and materialized into more than we could have imagined. Crown has always rallied against the gender binary. Along that subject line, the concept of a Sadie Hawkins Dance of the past seemed innovative at that time, but still limited people to the binary. LOVE IS LOVE, a dance is a dance, fun is fun... So we wanted to turn even the SH format on it's head: hence the name "Shitty Hawkins".

Running with the 80's DIY dance party theme, we hand-made a lot of the decor, spread out take-home goodies like shampoo, hair oil, and safe sex kits. We had about 350 people in attendance, all singing and dancing until we were one big sweaty mess. Kudos to Tommy (aka DJ Whackbeatz) of Lockhouse for giving us the soundtrack to the night, and to Veronica Lace for judging our dance contest. We crowned a "Sh*tty Qween" + "Sh*tty King" and showered them in gifts. Casey, Pat, Chad and everyone behind the scenes at Lockhouse- You made everyone feel right at home. All-around, a perfect night! We can't wait until our next community event!

pride 2017

June 6, 2017 crown bflo

We're elated to have been part of Pride Buffalo 2017. Never in our lives has there been a more important year to be out in our community supporting one another.

Pride in general is close to our hearts. We support acceptance, solidarity, safety, openness, and education. Social obstacles have hindered so many we love. Time to show all the love we have to give.

Crown is the first gender-neutral-priced hair space in Buffalo. (Will the industry ever change?) It's baffled us for years that stereotypes have dictated pricing. No stylist wants to explain to a guest in their chair that their receipt may state the wrong pronoun, or why their gender gets auto-priced. A bunch of ladies get fades just as a bunch of guys out there have long hair. Why does classifying only as "women's cut" or "men's cut" dictate whether someone pays $50 or $30?! Insane. We sculpt hair on a head, when it comes down to it. Who people choose to identify as should not dictate their service cost automatically, period. It should be all about the work involved.

We chose to celebrate diversity + strength on Sunday, June 4th with our best friends. Thanks to Nick for driving the rainbow pony truck! Thank you also to our goodie bag sponsors goodDYEyoung, Wella, Bona Fide, Stupid Rad Merch, and Planned Parenthood. Two of the few hundred goodie bags tossed out last Sunday contain $50 gift certificates. We wonder who got them!

These are some of our fave photos from the day. (Last photo is from the Buffalo News.)

Buffalo, we love you.

It's cool to be kind.

<3 crown crew.