Faye Bailey was beginning an uphill battle when she told her mother she wanted to open her own salon. Faye had been braiding and pressing hair since she was 14, but her mother worked as a teacher––and all 11 of her other children attended traditional colleges. After a brief stint at the university, though, Faye could no longer ignore the pull of hairstyling.

Thus, Faye moved from Macon, Georgia to Florida and started studying at a beauty school. Before long, her dream became a reality: she opened All Dolled Up Salons and Stores. Now a chain of five salons, including a braidery house, her stylists specialize in natural hairdos such as loc styling, cutting, and short hair wraps. But they also color, perform smoothing treatments, and affix weaves to natural hair.