Plot
Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) is a widowed hairstylist who has moved from Chicago to Atlanta so her daughter, Vanessa (Paige Hurd), can attend a private music school. She's made a name for herself as a stylist, but after her self-centered boss, Jorge (Bacon), criticizes her work, she leaves and sets up her own shop, purchasing a run-down salon by the skin of her teeth by helping out a loan officer.
Upon buying the salon, she runs into instant barriers: loudmouthed young stylists, older clients who are set in their ways, people wary of her ability as a hairdresser and the constant trouble her rebellious sister-in-law, Darnelle (Keshia Knight Pulliam) finds herself in. In a short time, the previous owner's clients become her own and many of her former customers find their way from Jorge's to her salon. When electrical issues arise, she finds that the upstairs renter, Joe (Hounsou) is a handsome electrician from Africa who eventually bonds with Vanessa due to his skills on the piano. Because Jorge is jealous that his shop is losing clients to Gina's, he pays a health inspector to find various ways to shut down Gina's business.
Over time, neighborhood regulars frequent the shop and the varied stylists become close to Gina, as does Joe. One of her former clients from Jorge's even uses her connections to set up a meeting with Cover Girl for Gina's homemade miracle conditioner, affectionately called "hair crack".
Tragedy strikes when the shop is trashed and heavily vandalized the night before Vanessa's big piano recital. When Gina next enters the shop, she finds not only that her staff has cleaned up the majority of the mess and brought items from home so the shop could operate, but that Darnelle has entered beauty school. Shortly, a disheveled woman enters the shop and begs for someone to fix her hair for a wedding she has in a few hours. Soon after, Willie (Lil' JJ) shows Gina the videotape of Jorge and the health inspector. Later that night, Gina goes to Jorge's salon to not only tell him about the tape, but that she knows he is not Jorge from Austria, but George Christie from Nebraska.
Later, as the shop listens to their favorite radio talk show host DJ Helen, they find out she was the desperate customer on the way to the wedding as she gives the shop (and Gina's "hair crack" conditioner) a shout out on the radio.
Read more about this topic: Beauty Shop
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