She moved to North Texas three years ago and created TikTok and YouTube accounts to post videos of her work. But due to a lack of success, she was planning to move on from braiding hair and returning to school. A couple of weeks into an IT program, her TikTok videos became massively popular, and now Mukendi has one of the largest beauty accounts on the app, with 5.6 million followers and over 133 million likes.
Mukendi describes braiding hair as her passion, but her initial reason for posting consistently on TikTok was because of her now 15-year-old daughter's encouragement.
“I used to hate TikTok so, so much, but my daughter told me that I was going to be a good fit,” Mukendi says. “She said, ‘Mom, just because of the way you are, your character, everything about you, you need to be on TikTok.’”
So that’s exactly what she did. After her daughter created the @beautybyalicedimplz TikTok page, Mukendi posted more on her TikTok than on her YouTube. She was unable to find consistent success in the beginning, but a couple of weeks after deciding to retire from braiding full-time her TikToks found an audience.
“I have three kids and I would do their hair once in a while,” Mukendi says. “One time, I made a style that I had that I’ve never ever done. It was my first time doing it on my daughter’s hair, and that was the video that went viral.”
Despite her current success, Mukendi says that her videos now are similar to what she was doing in the past. Instead of doing simple tutorial how-tos, she uses her personality and engagement with the audience to create a “mix of everything,” as she puts it. In several videos, Mukendi will not break eye contact with the camera and uses a quick editing style to keep the audience engaged.
Mukendi’s most liked video, titled “ASMR braiding video,” was posted last month and currently has 92.8 million views and 7.2 million likes. The account accentuates everything about her content, from her personality to the editing speed to the sounds. She even highlights her famed gum-chewing.
@beautybyalicedimplz #foryoupage #foryou #beautybyalicedimplz #dallasbraider #dfwbraider #trending #viral #fyp #asmr ♬ original sound - Beautybyalicedimplz
Mukendi says the entire process of creating a video, from the original idea to the editing, is all her doing.
“The way I post, I posted [the video] with 100% confidence and I know exactly what I’m doing and the energy I put in is 100%,” Mukendi says. “So to me, I’m excited, but […] it looks like people are more excited about it than me. For me, it’s because it’s something that now I do and something that I love to do.”
Alice Mukendi's Real-Life Salon
In many of her videos, Mukendi’s clients go all-in and actively participate in the animated creation of the content, going so far as to bring gum and eyelashes and being prepared to be recorded. Some even show a tinge of disappointment when Mukendi doesn't press the record button at the start of their appointment“When they come in, that’s what they want,” Mukendi says. “They want to be in my videos, they want to be posted.”
Mukendi’s success on TikTok led to an influx of clients. Up until about five months ago, she was braiding from her own home, but after a negative experience with a client in her home, Mukendi’s fans on social media advised her to open a shop.
The Connecticut native wasn’t too well-versed in Texas real estate and how to open a salon in the area, but she did have a place in mind.
“On my way to school, I used to pass this space where the salon is right now,” Mukendi says.
She wasn’t aware of any other rentals, so she decided to go with a space just off Interstate 820 in North Richland Hills, where she opened “Beauty by Alice.”
With the opening of her salon and the success of her TikTok and Instagram accounts, Mukendi has noticed that her work is being brought up more and more, even by her children’s classmates at school.
But with that popularity came internet vitriol. Mukandi says she also receives negative and racist comments. Nevertheless, Mukendi says she welcomes the interactions because she knows that whether positive or negative, engagement will bring her videos more success.
“Social media is a very weird platform,” Mukendi says. “You need to have people that don’t like you and you need to have people that also like you. So that way, you get comments from both sides.”
Despite her current success, Mukendi says that she has many ideas to move her business forward. She mentions a beauty supply store, an online store and even doing celebrity hair.
“I want to get a chance,” Mukendi says and laughs. “If somebody can look at my videos and [say], 'Oh my God, I need her,' it will make my life.”
