Becoming an African Hair Salon Entrepreneur in the United States of America

Abstract

African beauty salons are important institutions within the African and African American community and can be found in nearly every city and community where African immigrants have settled. This study utilizes content review and a single case study to explore the pathways to African women's entrepreneurship and business sustainability within the care industry of hair braiding. The authors applied the push and pull theory to illuminate the “non-choice” of salon entrepreneurship for educated African immigrant women. In general, the study shows the efforts of one entrepreneur to fit the unique exigencies of (African) hair braiding to local (western) business requirements. The study identifies how better accommodation of those exigencies would less inhibit this form of African women's entrepreneurship in general and thus benefit local communities at large through more sustainable service delivery, increased revenue flow, and infrastructural support for immigrants in general.