A student-led initiative to include more skin and hair products for people of color in the Devil’s Den (D Den) has quickly led to action from the college convenience store. 

Danielle Paz ’21 stated that within a week of reaching out to Lori Coleman, interim director of the Dickinson College Bookstore, with her product requests, new hair products including shampoos, conditioners and brushes have been stocked.

“[Coleman] was just very willing…and said that it was very easy to reach out to their catering and ask for different products,” said Paz.

Other products that the D Den is working on stocking includes lotions, leave-in hair products, cocoa butter and brushes and combs for men’s and women’s hair.

“A lot of the products that we have there now are mostly for white hair and straight hair, and it’s been noticed that even though it’s a very small issue and very easily remedied, that Dickinson hasn’t necessarily taken the time to do that,” stated Paz.

Coleman described Paz’s initiative as “not an uncommon request,” and added that there had been a similar request a few years ago as well.

“We do not have access to every product offered on the market, but do our best to honor any request,” wrote Coleman in an email. The D Den does receive regular requests from students, but Coleman recommends that students seeking particular items bring it to the attention of a staff member so that the inquiry can be forwarded to the appropriate buyer.

“A lot of students don’t necessarily ask for those changes because they’re not conscious of the steps that you have to take for them,” said Paz. Speaking on the quick success of the initiative, Paz said, “I just want it to be motivation for other students to ask about what they want.”

Students have already responded favorably towards the availability of new products, despite the project starting just one week ago.

“Personally, as a Latina who utilizes these products, having access to now purchase hair products for my hair on campus is important because why wouldn’t our campus supply products for all students?” stated Allie Perez ’22 in an email. “The college should meet this basic necessity for all students (we don’t all have the same hair.)”

“I think it’s creating a consciousness that these small things really do matter and they really do change how people feel valued in their own schools and people respond to a new place like Dickinson if they have products that cater to you or don’t,” Paz stated.

“The campus strives to grow into an ideal space which includes diversity, that being said, providing for all students is not only allowing us to purchase our products in campus instead of other stores, it’s beyond that,” said Perez.

“It’s just a small thing to make everyone feel included and represented,” said Paz. “people are really excited about it because we don’t have to go all the way to Walmart to get the products that we need on a day-to-day basis.”

Paz stressed the importance of encouraging students to reach out to the areas of campus where they have ideas or requests.

“I want to emphasize for [students] to ask, because I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of small things throughout campus that I guess a lot of people sometimes are scared to ask about, and a person like Lori just really opened her arms like that, and there’s a lot of people here who are like that, who you can approach and they’ll make changes very quickly,” she said.

The assortment of products available at the D Den are reviewed each semester. “Slow moving” products are either eliminated from the store or discontinued by the manufacturer, said Coleman.