As you admire the otherhairstylesin the room, you feel connected to the otherBlack women and girlsthere with you.
Naturally, they’ve evolved over the years to cater to specific textures and techniques.
you might find salons that specialize inwig installation,extensions,natural hair, and more.
Channing Smith/Allure
Sometimes, they’re living in ahair desert, where access to a qualified stylist is limited or nonexistent.
And even when thereissomeone around, you may run into a whole other host of issues.
In many cases, you might wind up volunteering your entire day when you book an appointment.
“And I don’t have time for that.”
White’s salon specializes inblowoutsfor textured hair, promising a far less stressful experience.
White is sure to emphasize that Paralee Boyd is a silk-press specific institution.
A blowout is done with a blow-dryer and round brush.
“There’s a difference between [the two].
That’s what I want women to understand it isn’t the same and that’s intentional.”
Unfortunately, Gaines is right.
Each of these founders has heavily invested intraining their hairstylists.
That’s why consistent and cohesive staff training is so important.
Some would travel to New York or even Houston for an appointment.
It starts with training stylists on the Pressed Roots way of doing things.
“We can all empathize with each other.”
Pressed Roots' playlist has daily themes like Trap Tuesday and Throwback Thursday.
“It’s a novel experience, but at the same time, it brings you back.
It’s nostalgic to what that old-school salon vibe kind of was,” she says.
Pressed Roots opened in March 2020, closed due to COVID-19, and re-opened two months later.
“I took for granted how new we would be in this market,” White shares.
The doors to Paralee Boyd first opened in 2012 in Southfield, Michigan.
Ten years later, those doors are now in a whole new city and state Dallas, Texas.
(The original location and its second Detroit spot were closed during the pandemic.)
The Paralee Boyd method “is meant to get you out,” after all.
However, quick styling doesn’t mean you won’t get a check-in call after you leave the chair.
Kaytranada played in the background.
“We don’t get that a lot.”
“We don’t want the hair salon to be your country club,” she says.
“And so I didn’t raise my prices for seven years.”
The closure of her first two locations hasn’t been a setback for White.
Ebony Knight got into the hairstyling business because she needed to pay the bills.
She started with the women in her neighborhood before committing fully and getting her cosmetology license.
In 2013, she opened her salon suite, Majestic Hair Studio.
Three years later, she pivoted to doing silk presses exclusively.
Now, she’s the one-woman show behind Textured Press.
The studio started as a pop-up.
“When I opened up [I understood] that I had to hone in on my niche.
Though she had to go back to working solo, it was almost a blessing in disguise.
Those tutorials helped her develop a deeper relationship with her online community.
“Now they feel like, ‘That’s my girl.
She carried me through the pandemic.'”
At 23, Kali Sterling was already a hair salon owner.
An unlicensed one, sure, but an owner nonetheless.
Three years later, she got her physical salon space: Kali’s Hair Studio.
By 2018, though, Sterling focused her business on what was paying the bills: silk presses.
Today, the salon also offersmicro-linksand basic hair coloring services.
Training is one part of the business while cultivating a space is a whole other portion.
Sterling is also keen on honoring Black hair culture in every aspect of the salon.
“Madam C.J Walker is everywhere in my salon.”
“There’s so much money out here for everybody.
Black women deserve to have reliable salon options so that they can be pampered in peace.
