by Andrea Butler

Created on: February 03, 2009

The air is thick with the smell of fried hair grease, food, and chemicals entangled with the exuberant laughter and chitchat of stylists and clients alike. CeCe Winans' Throne Room is radiating from a small stereo in the back room, and several people join in the singing. "I'll be right with you," says stylist Michelle Payne, as she delegates one client to a shampoo girl and situates another under a hooded dryer. Still, several more are being washed, relaxed, weaved and braided.

It's a typical Saturday afternoon at Utopia hair salon in Stafford, VA, as the stylists scramble to attend to every client. The clients don't mind the wait though. They don't expect to go in, get their hair fixed and leave in anything less than three to four hours. For one thing, styling Black hair is an elaborate process. Transitioning from shampoo to style alone may take up to an hour. Besides, at Utopia, and other Black hair salons, the waiting area is where much of the conversation begins.

"Last Friday, I went in at 1:00. I didn't leave out that place till 5:30. We just got to talking," says Erica Neely, a client of Sonji's in Gastonia, NC.

When a Black woman goes to get her hair done, it's not only to keep her Afro puffed, her braids tight, or her new growth in check. It's for the overall experience of the beauty shop; where the community of women, with its roots in slavery, is continued to this day. "When Black women find a beauty shop, it becomes like part of their extended family," says Sherilyn Thompson, a client of Creative Hair Fashions salon in Atlanta, Ga.

For Black women, the task of doing hair and getting it done has always been an all day event. Since girlhood, Black women have grown accustomed to having their momma, "Big Momma," aunts and other female family members fix their hair.

So, while waiting for stages two, three, and four, if necessary, to be done on their hair, clients pass the time by listening to music, flipping through magazines, eating, and of course, talking with sister so-and-so. No topic is taboo and no one is a stranger once inside the beauty shop. It's a place where Black women can let their hair down in more ways than one. "In Black hair salons, conversation is more friendly," says Michelle. "Black women are friendly people and we love to talk." Talk is like the side dish that enhances the flavor of the soap opera, CD, running water, and styling equipment being served in the background, and everyone is given a taste.

The beauty shop is so essential to the

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>