00:00Community is so important for us at Press Roots.
00:03Everyone here feels really comfortable
00:05with the fact that their stylist knows
00:08what to do with their hair.
00:09But not only that,
00:10they all kind of have the same life experiences.
00:14There's something different about being in a space
00:17where people see you.
00:21My name is Pierston Gaines and I'm the founder
00:24and owner of Press Root Salons in Texas.
00:27I wanted to create a salon like Press Roots
00:30because for people with textured hair,
00:32it's extremely difficult to find quality hair care.
00:35You can't just walk into any salon on the street
00:39and expect that someone knows what to do with your hair.
00:44And I knew I could change that.
00:46As for my own experience,
00:48I've lost my hair, completely gone bald
00:51on two different occasions by licensed stylists.
00:54The first time I was in ninth grade
00:57and the stylist put a relaxer on my hair.
01:00Over the course of two weeks,
01:01my hair just fell out and I went bald.
01:04So I've had a lot of really traumatic salon experiences.
01:08And when I moved to Boston,
01:10I learned about these blowout bars
01:12that have been popping up all over the country.
01:16It was really interesting to me
01:19that people could just trust,
01:21that they could walk into a salon
01:23and anybody could do their hair.
01:26That had never been my experience.
01:28And so I set out to change that.
01:33So the Press Root Salon experience is different
01:36than your traditional blowout bar experience
01:38because it's communal.
01:41Everyone here feels really comfortable with the fact that
01:44their stylist knows what to do with their hair.
01:47But not only that,
01:48they're watching the same TV shows.
01:50They're listening to the same type of music.
01:52There's something different about being in a space
01:55where people see you.
01:58So my past corporate experiences,
02:00my past professional experiences,
02:01I have never been one of many black women.
02:05And so building Press Roots,
02:07it was really important to me
02:09that at a company where majority of our staff are black,
02:14specifically black women,
02:15I wanted them to feel comfortable being at work.
02:19I wanted them to love coming to work
02:20because this is special.
02:21This isn't something that any of them have had before.
02:25And it was very important to keep an environment
02:28that was positive, that it was fun, familial.
02:33And of course, if you have an amazing work environment
02:36and you love coming to work,
02:37that spills over to the clientele.
02:41Mainstream exceptions of textured hair
02:43and naturally textured hair in the media
02:46has been game changing for black women.
02:48And it's really the reason why
02:50Press Roots has been able to exist.
02:53For people to be able to see themselves,
02:56their natural hair represented on TV,
02:59it's just encouraged people to wear their natural hair.
03:01So at Press Roots, you have the option
03:03to go back to your curly, natural hair
03:06after your press wears off.
03:10My name is Jariah and I'm a stylist at Press Roots.
03:12I've been a stylist for almost two years now.
03:15I love the culture here.
03:16We have a very high of B culture.
03:19We're mostly friends more than anything.
03:21And like you said, it is a sisterhood.
03:24My client that's coming in today,
03:26half of her hair is relaxed,
03:27but we're working on transitioning her
03:29to being completely natural.
03:31She's pregnant right now,
03:32so her hair is growing like crazy.
03:33It's doing its thing.
03:35So we're just kind of keeping up
03:36with the health of it,
03:37keeping her trimmed,
03:38so the relaxer is slowly falling off.
03:41Hey, Ms. Chelsea, how's it going today?
03:44How would you like your hairstyle today?
03:47Just kind of like how you normally do it,
03:49but like the little movement.
03:51The big, the big loose curls, right?
03:53Big loose curls, yeah.
03:54Gotcha.
03:55Her hair texture is 4C,
03:56which is very coily, very dense.
04:00The curl pattern is almost non-existent
04:02because it's very tight,
04:03almost looks like a zigzag.
04:05The new growth that's come in is just
04:07a completely different texture from the relaxed.
04:10Specifically for her,
04:11I typically do take about two and a half hours,
04:14but outside of that,
04:15usually I run about 90 minutes.
04:21You can absolutely love your textured hair
04:24and get a blowout.
04:25I wear my hair straight
04:28just because it's easier for me.
04:30I don't have to touch my hair for two weeks
04:32when I wear my hair straight,
04:33whereas if I wear my hair curly,
04:35I am manipulating it every single day
04:37and I don't have the time.
04:38And so it's really about your lifestyle,
04:40what your preference is.
04:41I love my curls and I love the fact
04:43that whenever I wash my hair,
04:45it curls back up.
04:46It's amazing.
04:47I think it's like magic
04:48that my hair has its versatility.
04:50So you can absolutely love your hair texture
04:52and still choose to wear it straight.
04:54How do you like your blowout?
04:55I love it, as usual.
04:57It's so good.
04:58Anything you need me to add for you?
05:00No, it's perfect.
05:01I love it.
05:03No problem.
05:04The diversity of textured hair is just incredible,
05:08which is why it's so hard to make a standard,
05:11consistent service for this demographic.
05:14That's why Press Roots is different.
05:16Our stylists are trained to handle all the different varieties
05:20that come with textured hair,
05:22so that anybody who comes in,
05:24they can be serviced here and they can be confident that,
05:27regardless of which chair they sit in,
05:29regardless of which Press Roots they go to,
05:31that stylist is trained on their hair type.
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