ABOUT

“If you look good, you feel good,” are the words which oh so naturally roll off the tongue of women whom seem to be aligned with their sense of beauty. For Darya Johnson, it’s more than just a saying, it is the gel which holds her salon business together; the hairspray which allows her work to shine; the detangler which allows her expertise to comb effortlessly through the thickness of varying personalities that comes with handling many hair types and hairstyles. Sit in her chair and you’ll know that she cares. Become her student and you’ll leave with the skills that over 20 years of experience in the beauty industry has given her. With a main salon in Chicago whilst operating out of Arizona where she now resides, Darya has dubbed her company DarRiah Naturals, which shines a light on her area of specialty.

Darya is a Board Certified Master Cosmetologist and holds an Educators license as well. Needless to say that she is always perfecting her craft. Therefore, clients and students alike receive optimum care. Not only is Darya passionate about continuing education but being an educator as well. Her ultimate goal is to open an online school where she is able to share her techniques and expertise with students all over the world. Darya has also obtained a certification as a first level Hair Loss Specialist and has completed Extreme Lash classes – a premier lash school. Her versatility is unquestionable.

Darya's talents have attracted a diverse clientele, including comedians Adele Givens and Wanda Sykes, former Chicago Bull Craig Hodges and former Chicago Bear R.W. McQuarters. She has also worked with Chicago Bears' Devin Aromashodu, pro basketball players Kendall Gill and Charles Oakley, former Chicago radio personality, Bonnie DeShong, actor Lorenz Tate and Chicago's incomparable jazz vocalist, Dee Alexander, to name a few. Yet for Darya, everyone who sits in her chair is a celebrity and gets treated like one. Darya's commercial credits include work for Chicago, Ebony and Essence magazines, Afrique, Chicago Social and N'Digo.  

To help her clients attain and maintain healthy hair holds first spot in her shelf of products. “That to me matters more than a style,” Darya explains. As a Master Cosmetologist, the highly sought out Darya is able to style hair, create looks that match both the client’s style and face shape, cut, braid and do all sorts of extensions including: weave, sew-ins and more. All her clients love her work. Simply said, Darya is great as what she does and her high referral rate is proof of just that. Her secret to happy clients? A silent prayer. That’s right! “Each time a client sits in my chair, I say a silent prayer that I will give them exactly what they want,” Darya expresses. Need it be said that they leave looking and feeling good every time?