PBN BUSINESS WOMEN AWARDS 2020 WOMAN TO WATCH, SMALL BUSINESS: Michelle Murphy | Roots Hair Salon
BEAUTY IS HARD WORK. Just ask hairstylist Michelle Murphy, who remembers her nascent years working “as many hours as they needed me to work” at Blue Sky Spaworks in Warwick.
The days were long, but so were the bonds she formed there. Murphy has cultivated a faithful client base in her nearly two decades of experience. Some of her return customers are practically family.
“I have people who have been with me since my son was born [18 years ago],” Murphy said.
At 17, Murphy began attending Warwick Beauty Academy. After a few years apprenticing, she began her hairstyling career proper, renting a chair for almost 15 years.
Murphy’s warm feelings for her craft are visible in her business, Roots Hair Salon in Cranston, which had its grand opening in December 2019, revitalizing the spot Salon O previously occupied before it shuttered last summer.
Murphy had been with Salon O for seven years – just one of the salon’s 20-plus staff that counted stylists, colorists and nail techs among its ranks. In addition to threatening livelihoods, Salon O’s closure would have broken up a seasoned team of beauticians.
“For people to be displaced, and try and find a place to work, I think that would have been traumatizing,” Murphy said. “I jumped in and said, ‘Hey, we have people that have all been together, and we want to stay together.’ ”
The future seemed grim, but there was a possible solution. Owning a salon was a “forever dream,” Murphy said. She admits the massive Oaklawn Avenue building was not the space she dreamt of buying all those years. But things “happened quickly,” Murphy said, and she soon found herself leading Roots Hair Salon.
Seventeen of Salon O’s stylists returned to work at Roots, and Murphy added six new hires. The celebratory mood, though, was halted when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived a few months later, temporarily closing Roots’ doors through the spring.
“I feel like I’ve been so lost over the past month and [a] half,” Murphy said. “[My customers] are so special to me. They’re kind of like extended family. You really form a special bond with people.”
Those “special bonds” include the camaraderie among stylists. Though Murphy is proud to realize a lifelong wish, Roots is not about her own ego.
“It’s about all of us as a group,” Murphy said.