Open in iTunes  |   Subscribe via RSS

 

April 10, 2008

Black hair salons vital in the community

Download the audio file

[Transcript]

ATLANTA – Amid the daily bustle of a hair salon, black women learn the trade of cutting, curling and styling hair. But new research from Adia Harvey, a Georgia State University assistant professor of sociology, shows salon employees also are learning an even more valuable skill: entrepreneurship. Salons are one of a few businesses that develop entrepreneurship opportunities among black women, Harvey says, making them a crucially important business in the black community.

HARVEY: They are able to develop wealth and translate that wealth into other areas in terms of owning homes and buying cars and things like that, that allow them to generate more wealth. And that often translates to the women who work in the salons with them. This often becomes an entrepreneur adventure that allows other women to find a place where they can work, where they can make more money than they would in other available avenues. (length 0:19)

Many salons owners are working class women who began their careers as stylists working for someone else, Harvey says. But from advertising to finance, salon owners have made it a point to teach employees the ropes of the business, while encouraging them to open their own salons.

HARVEY: “ ‘If you lose a stylist because opens her own business, that’s one less person who is paying booth rent, how do you feel about that?’  And they all said it wasn’t a big issue, there’s enough business to go around, they’ll find somebody else, but it’s it to them worth losing that one person if they were becoming entrepreneurs themselves.” (length 0:16)

Though most salons are highly competitive within their communities, Harvey has found just the opposite effect among black salons.

HARVEY: “That is actually one of the most interesting things that came out of the research, that I actually noticed the opposite effect. You’d pretty much think that at any other business there would be competition that comes out of this dynamic. But I actually asked a lot of women about that specifically and they went really far in the other direction. Not only did they not view other salons or other women as competition, but they really went out of their way to encourage their stylist to go out and own business and move away from just being stylist. Because they really felt that is one of few avenues by which black women could really generate wealth. So their attitude was ‘I have to do something to enable other women to be able to experience this success that I’ve achieved’.” (length 0:37)

Across the board, Harvey experienced that hair salons continue to play a vital role in black communities, as a place where women build close relationships with stylists and participate in thought provoking discussions with other clients.

HARVEY: Often when I went in and observed these salons, countless times I came into situations where everybody in the salon was focused on one discussion and everybody was putting in their two cents and discussing this particular issue or this particular facet of recent news or whatever. I think there definitely is that stylist, customer bond that exists, but I think it’s important to situate that in this longer context that a salon is a close knit and very welcoming and friendly space. So this relationship exists in a space where those types of relationships are encouraged. (length 0:31)

For Georgia State University RadioLine, I’m Michelle Handelman.