Las Vegas Aces Center Earns Off-Court Income With Hair Extension Business

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Some people talk about starting businesses. Las Vegas Aces center Kelsey Bone said she woke up with the idea of launching a hair extension business in 2017 and a month later Halo Hair was born.

 

Bone, a six-foot, four-inch former number one draft pick of the New York Liberty in 2013, invested $30,000 to launch Halo Hair, which sells six different hair extension styles and a dozen different lengths.

 

While WNBA player pay has received much attention lately, the 26-year-old Bone has quietly worked off the court for slightly more than a year to generate outside income via hair extension sales. Sunday was a tough day for Bone and the rest of the Aces, as the Las Vegas Sparks came to Mandalay Bay Events Center and outscored the Las Vegas squad, 35-15, in the fourth quarter en route to a 99-78 drubbing of the Aces after three close quarters. A starter, Bone played 13 minutes and 22 seconds and made two of four shots for four points and grabbed five rebounds.

 

A former 2015 WNBA All-Star, Bone is a Las Vegas resident who was acquired by the Aces in February. She works with another employee running Halo Hair and keeps her inventory in a spare bedroom that was converted into a space Bone has dubbed the “hair room.”

 

“We survived year one,” Bone told LVSportsBiz.com about an hour before the Aces hosted the Sparks. “It’s a super saturated market.”

 

Bone was not expecting to make a profit her first year with Halo Hair, understanding that the business’ first year would be devoted to what she said was a “learning experience.”

 

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The former Texas A&M player who was 2013 WNBA’s number five overall draft pick said she has learned several things in the business world.

 

First, Bone learned how young and national her customer base. She said the biggest demo is minority millennial women in the 16/18 to mid 30s range.

 

And she’s been trying to get a handle on marketing her product. When it comes to social media, Bone said older customers learn about Halo Hair from Facebook, while her younger clients find about the product from Instagram and Twitter.

 

“There are so many ways to reach people and the challenge is to find that platform in today’s society,” Bone said. Bone noted the “body wave” extension has been her best seller in fall and spring, while the curly wave has been a big seller in the summer.

 

Bone is in the process of changing her vendor to a supplier from India and she hopes to revamp the product line in August for a back-to-school sale. Customers can buy Bone’s hair extensions through the internet, but she did say she’s considering opening a bricks-and-mortar retail shop one day.

 

Former WNBA player Rushia Brown, the Aces player program and franchise development manager, said she wants to check out Bone’s products.

 

“I’m interested in trying it out,” Brown said before the game Sunday.

 

Bone is also known in the WNBA for being the league’s first player to kneel during the playing of the national anthem at the start of games to protest racial inequality. Bone continues to kneel before Aces games.

 

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After the loss, Aces coach Bill Laimbeer called out Aces star forward A’ja Wilson for not being mentally engaged in the game and was disappointed in her head down mental lapses during the loss to the Sparks.

 

He did say the re-branded team, acquired by MGM Resorts International from the San Antonio market, loves playing in Las Vegas. Laimbeer said Sunday’s crowd was great and one of the biggest in the season.

 

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