Tara Taylor runs a three-part business out of a single chair. She’s co-owner of The Braiding Lounge Salon, a chemical-free hair studio she opened with her sister in Halifax’s North End, after working as a stylist on and off for years, while raising children and juggling other responsibilities.

PUTTING DOWN ROOTS

In the spring of 2022, Taylor moved into a commercial space on Gottingen Street with the goal of opening an all-natural salon with her sister, Deidre Dorrington. The Braiding Lounge opened that September—bittersweet timing as their mother had passed away the previous April, but they moved forward, glad that she’d had a chance to see the plans. Taylor and Dorrington put $10,000 of their inheritance towards getting the doors open.

The building’s owners contributed too, putting roughly $80,000 into the build—a cost tenants usually cover themselves. “I think it was because we were the only Black business amongst the businesses they brought in,” says Taylor, adding she believes that was “their way of showing allyship.”

There were other changes before opening day, too. Dorrington had gotten married and moved to the United States, though she continues to own 44 per cent of the business and manages the books.

Despite her sister’s move, Taylor still had plenty of company on opening day: her church community, choir friends, the neighbourhood in general—and of course, her other family members. “It was really beau-tiful,” she says.

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