‘One really welcoming building’: New shop opens serving Kansas City’s queer community

It started with body wash.

Christy Vincent came out as gay fairly late in life, at the age of 39. She presents as masculine. But there wasn’t much on the CVS shelves that matched what she was looking for.

“The women’s (body wash) all smelled like flowers and candy,” Vincent said. “And the men’s stuff is made for men, who have a different chemical makeup. Women’s skin is more sensitive — I would break out every couple of days when I used it.”

So she started making her own body wash. The scents are woodsy and natural — sandalwood, tobacco — but gentle on women’s skin. She called the product line MOC BOD, short for “Masculine of Center, Big on Dapper.” Soon, she was shipping her products to women all over the country.

In February, Vincent and her wife, Charlie, expanded the body-wash concept into an actual community space. MOC BOD, at 5507 Troost Ave., is a shop offering services that cater to masculine-presenting women. It’s also just kind of a queer-friendly hangout spot, with couches and games.

“There are a lot of masculine-presenting queer folk who have uncomfortable experiences or are even denied services when they try to get their hair cut short, or get fitted for a suit,” Charlie said. “So the idea is to centralize those services in one really welcoming building.”

So, in addition to selling things like lotions and pet accessories and jewelry and home decor, MOC BOD also subleases space inside to a tattoo artist (Tay Johnson), a hair stylist/barber (Meagan Kramer) a massage therapist (Arlene Williams) and, as of this weekend, a tailor (Rebecca Hernandez).

“Tay has given so many first-time tattoos,” Vincent said. “It can be intimidating to walk into a typical tattoo shop. Here, there’s couches up front, you hang out, and you know right away nobody is judging you.”

Plus, added Charlie, “Tay has her own private room, which a lot of tattoo artists don’t. So, she’s done a lot of work for the transgender community — scar-covering tattoos related to top surgery and things like that. We have a lot of trans youth customers coming in for haircuts and clothed massages too. Everybody here is very aware and sensitive to body trauma.”

MOC BOD isn’t just meant to be a hangout for the LGBTQ community, Charlie said.

“We encourage allies to come in as well,” she said. “We especially want queer youth to see that there are people out there that aren’t queer, that aren’t in the community, but are supportive.”

“And we’ve been seeing that,” Vincent said. “We’ll have families in here — somebody’s getting their hair done, somebody’s shopping. And maybe they notice they can get a massage next time if they want. That’s kind of the business model we’re going for.”

Hours vary for the shop’s service providers, but retail hours at MOC BOD are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays (except Tuesdays, when they are closed) and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.