The ability to educate and impart wisdom is an 
important facet of any vocation a person might decide to undertake. A great chef should be able to tell you the ‘when’ and ‘why’ behind every ingredient they use throughout each step of their recipe. An architect’s blueprint is a glimpse into their mind, a snapshot of what they envisioned in the planning stages of their project.
The same held true for Linda Pickney, owner of Brashae’s Beauty Salon and Raimon’s Salon De Beaute, a salon park located in Southwest Houston. Before ever starting either business, Pickney understood the necessity of arming herself with a breadth of knowledge about hair and hair health, and the large part that would play in her having any success in the industry. Which is why even after graduating from Franklin Beauty School in 1979 and starting work as a stylist, she continued to delve deeper into the world of hair and learn as much as she could.
“Hair is what makes a woman feel beautiful,” Linda explained. “So I knew I needed to learn more about hair so that when a lady walked out, she was smiling.”
Likewise, Linda set out to arm her customers and clientele with that same level of knowledge. While continuing to style, she opened Brashae’s Beauty Supply location in 1984. The name would become well-known throughout Houston as a black-owned hub of black hair care.
As Brashae’s displayed success and Mrs. Linda looked to expand, she made the move to open up a second Brashae’s location – only this time, with an accompanying salon. Enter Raimon’s, an expansive complex that houses 40 independent salon spaces to empower stylists to become entrepreneurs in their own right, hosting their clientele within the salon park.
The difference between a standard salon and a salon park, while subtle, is important to note. Whereas your normal salon is a single shop with any number of stylists working in a common area, a salon park is structured more in the vein of a mall, where individual stylists have their own boutique space.
Linda greatly prefers this model, as it offers a level of intimacy for her clients that a regular salon might not.
“I wanted the privacy,” she revealed. “I know from years of doing hair, a lot of women come in with different issues – maybe their hair was thinning from getting older, or they were balding, and they didn’t really want people to see that.”
Building and developing the salon park didn’t come without obstacles.
“We started building in 2006, and we finished in 2010. There were a lot challenges with the city in terms of permits and things like that. And we had a few financial hiccups along the way too.”
Even still, through some faith and a little good, old-fashioned perseverance, Mrs. Linda saw her new store/salon park open its doors, and has only looked back to reminisce on lessons learned and the feeling of seeing a goal come to fruition.
Now on the verge of retirement, she still services a 
small clientele in her salon but would like to focus more on traveling and extending her reach in educating and empowering women of all hair types and textures.
“I just want to make sure women understand the health of their hair,” Linda pledged. “And I want to serve my customers 100%.”
As far as advice for any aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own salon or retail store goes, Mrs. Linda keeps it very simple.
“When you’re the boss, you are the boss,” she emphasized. “There are no days off. So stay prayed up, love people, love God, and love your family!”
