This Salon Is a Love Letter to Natural Hair
Piersten Gaines’s natural hair salon specializes in heat-styling textured hair.
The struggle to find a stylist who knows how to properly care for curly or textured hair is a common thread in the natural hair community. More specifically, one that takes extreme care when styling from curly to straight. This styling process is referred to as a blow-out, but for those in the natural hair community, it’s affectionately known as a silk press. Many quick-service salons are often critiqued for having a lack of stylists who are skilled in styling textured hair without causing damage.
This was the motivation behind Pressed Roots, a natural hair salon that specializes in heat-styling textured hair. The salon’s founder, Piersten Gaines, a Harvard graduate, was determined to be the change she wanted to see in the salon industry. On the salon’s website she shares a letter, written for the curly girls and her prospective clients, Gaines stresses the importance of finding a “place that can consistently press your beautiful tresses in a fast yet healthy way.” She explains that the complexities of natural hair and the various curl patterns that exist simply aren’t covered in the standard curriculum at cosmetology schools, thus creating a dearth of stylists on the market who can successfully deliver said services.
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To add to the magic of Pressed Roots, Gaines promises that her team of stylists are able to get customers in and out of the salon in two hours max, a feat for textured hair. She explains that her stylists have graduated from a “Pressed Roots boot camp,” where they’re trained to perfect the silk press style.
Dubbed a “haven for your hair,” the salon hopes to be, through its high-quality hair services, a love letter to natural hair. From 4C, 3A, fine loops to tight curls, the stylists will silk press customers tresses with the utmost care and precision. Through her mission with Pressed Roots, Gaines has managed to secure $3.1 million in funding and the backing of notable names like Naomi Osaka and Howard Schultz. The salon currently only has locations scattered throughout Texas, and appointments can be made on its website.
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