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Earlier this summer, Dajiah Blackshear-Calloway, 34, started to notice that her regular clients weren’t visiting her hair salon as often as they used to. The salon, in Smyrna, Georgia, houses two stylists and offers dozens of services that range from $50 natural hairstyles to $745 tape-in weave extensions. Her most popular services are $254 sew-ins, where human hair extensions are woven into braids, and $125 quick weaves, where human or synthetic hair is styled and then glued to a stocking cap. But the prices of hair extensions and hair glues used to create wigs and weaves have gone up exponentially after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a series of different tariffs on China and Vietnam, where the majority of Black beauty products are made. The price of a package of hair imported from Vietnam has gone up to $290 from $190 since May. A bottle of hair glue, imported from China, has gone up from $8 a bottle to $14.99 at her local beauty supply store. Were being impacted at every level, Blackshear-Calloway said. Im either having to eat that cost or pass that expense along to my clients, which affects their budgets and their pockets as well. To avoid passing on rising costs, Blackshear-Calloway is asking her clients to bring their own hair to their appointments. Now her salon is offering a quick weave service without hair for $140, but with hair the price is $400, according to her booking website. She’s also struggling to get products since her wholesaler is delaying shipments as tariff rates fluctuate. Kadidja Dosso, 30, owner of Dosso Beauty, which sells hypoallergenic braiding hair, as well as The Dosso Hair Salon in Philadelphia, has also faced delayed shipments on imports from China. She waited over a month to get $50,000 worth of China-made braiding hair via air freight at John F. Kennedy Airport in June, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced 145% tariffs on the country over confusion over what tariff should apply. “We have to provide more specifics of the products – exact materials, the product use – for it to clear customs,” Dosso said. “Part of the issue was that the same language that we’ve been using for years wasn’t descriptive enough.” She wants to avoid raising prices on her $13 packets of hair, which customers typically buy at least five at a time to complete one hairstyle. Higher costs Tariffs are disproportionately impacting Black business owners like Blackshear-Calloway and Dosso, said Andre Perry, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Many Black entrepreneurs started off with less wealth, Perry said. He said that the wealth gap puts Black entrepreneurs, especially those in low-margin businesses like consumer goods or hair care services, into precarious financial positions as tariffs eat into their bottom lines. Sina Golara, an assistant professor of supply chain and operations management at Georgia State University, said rising costs due to tariffs are “like a tax that you’re imposing on business.” In some cases, it could be borne by the foreign manufacturer, but in most cases, it will also have quite a substantial impact on the domestic buyers and consumers,” Golara said. Diann Valentine, 55, founder of Slayyy Hair, first felt the impact of tariffs shortly after the initial 145% tariff was imposed on China and she faced a $300,000 bill to get 26,000 units of braiding hair out of the Los Angeles port in May. “To lose that kind of money at this stage has been devastating,” Valentine said. Since then she has raised the price of her braiding hair and drawstring ponytail extensions by 20%. She also laid off four employees and is working 16-hour days to compensate in her two Glow+Flow beauty supply stores in Inglewood and Hawthorne, California. Slayyy Hair supplies $8.49 nontoxic braiding hair and $35.99 synthetic drawstring ponytails to TJ Maxx and Marshalls, which have resisted renegotiating prices or delivery deadlines to compensate. “So essentially, we paid more for our ponytails than TJ Maxx and Marshalls paid for them,” Valentine said. She is also trying to renegotiate price increases with Target, where she sells in at least 70 stores in California, Nevada and Colorado, she said. TJ Maxx and Marshalls declined a Reuters request for comment. Fifty percent of the merchandise comes from China, Valentine said, and prices for synthetic wigs, human-hair weaves, plastic hair rollers, rubber bands, combs and brushes that stock her shelves are trending up at her beauty supply locations. “I thought maybe we would see an increase in foot traffic because there would be more DIY hairstyles – more women doing their hair at home,” she said. “But for right now, we’ve only seen decreased foot traffic and also a decrease in frequency of visits from our existing customers.” Struggling salons While beauty product sales are typically resilient during economic downturns, beauty services are seen as discretionary, said Marley Brocker, senior analyst at market research firm IBISWorld. “Tariffs on those imports are going to directly lead to higher costs for those service providers, whether they’re buying directly from overseas manufacturers or buying from wholesalers within the U.S.,” she said. Black U.S. consumers spent approximately $2.29 billion on hair care products in 2022, according to a NielsenIQ study from that year. But higher prices are causing some Black women to visit the salon less frequently. Deiara Frye, 27, of Raleigh, North Carolina, usually schedules hair appointments at least five times a year, but so far this year she’s only gone once. “Due to the cost of everything rising over the years, I tend to get braids a little more often now than sew-ins, or try to maintain my natural hair,” she said. She’s also seeing prices for her natural hair products like Unilever’s Shea Moisture and Procter & Gamble’s Pantene go up. Fewer visits are impacting salons and beauty supply stores. Until earlier this year, Dionne Maxwell was selling wigs, braiding hair, shampoos, and conditioners out of her mini beauty supply store in Dallas, Georgia, located 33 miles outside of Atlanta, but she shut it down after she started losing foot traffic in May and moved operations into her home. Now she’s relying on orders placed through Uber Eats, TikTok Shop and Walmart.com to sustain her business, but even those sales have slowed significantly, she said. We don’t have the money for advertising, because enough revenue is not coming in to advertise with,” Maxwell said. Tariffs have raised Maxwells wholesale price for China-made braiding hair by 50 cents per pack, she said, and she is now required to buy more hair in her wholesale orders. She said shes struggled to negotiate better prices with her hair wholesalers, who are requiring her to order ore units of merchandise at higher costs. Her wholesaler is asking her to purchase 110 packs of hair per order, when she was previously able to buy 30 packs at a time, she said. For the past two months, we have been basically paying our bills out of pocket because we really have had nothing coming in, Maxwell said. Arriana McLymore, Jayla Whitfield-Anderson, and Julio-Cesar Chavez
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As wildfire crews battled the Dragon Bravo Fire on the Grand Canyons North Rim in July 2025, the air turned toxic. A chlorine gas leak had erupted from the parks water treatment facility as the building burned, forcing firefighters to pull back. The water treatment facility is part of a system that draws water from a fragile spring. Its the only water source and system for the park facilities on both rims, including visitor lodging and park service housing. The fire also damaged some of the areas water pipes and equipment, leaving fire crews to rely on a fleet of large water trucks to haul in water and raising concerns about contamination risks to the water system itself. By mid-August, Dragon Bravo was a megafire, having burned over 140,000 acres, and was one of the largest fires in Arizona history. It had destroyed more than 70 structures, including the iconic Grand Canyon Lodge, and sent smoke across the region. Wildfires like this are increasingly affecting water supplies across the U.S. and creating a compounding crisis that experts in water, utilities and emergency management are only beginning to wrestle with. A pattern across the West Before 2017, when the Tubbs Fire burned through neighborhoods on the edge of Santa Rosa, California, most research on the nexus of wildfire and water had focused on issues such as drought and how climate change effects ecosystems. The Tubbs Fire destroyed thousands of buildings and also melted plastic water pipes. After the fire, a residents complaint about the taste and odor of tap water led to the discovery that the fires damage had introduced contaminants including benzene, a carcinogen, into parts of the public water system. It quickly became obvious that the damage discovered at the Tubbs Fire was not unique. Similar damage and pollutants were discovered in another California water system after the 2018 Camp Fire destroyed much of Paradise, a town of over 25,000 people. The list of incidents goes on. In southern Oregon, the 2020 Almeda Fire damaged water pipes in buildings, leaving water to flow freely. That contributed to low system pressure just when people fighting the fire needed the water. In Colorado, the 2021 Marshall Fire burned through urban water lines, damaging six public drinking-water systems along with more than 1,000 structures in the Boulder suburbs. All six systems lost power, which in some cases led to a loss of water pressure, hampering firefighting. As firefighters worked on the Marshall Fire, water system operators raced to keep water flowing and contaminants from being transported into the water systems. But tests still detected chemical contamination, including benzene, in parts of the systems a few weeks later. Then, in January 2025, the Los Angeles fires supercharged concerns about water and wildfire. As firefighters raced to put out multiple fires, hydrants ran dry in some parts of the region, while others at higher elevations depressurized. Ultimately, over 16,000 structures were damaged, leading to insured losses estimated to be as high as US$45 billion. Water infrastructure is not merely collateral damage during wildfiresit is now a central concern. It also raises the question: What can residents, first responders and decision-makers reasonably expect from water systems that werent designed with todays disasters in mind? Addressing the growing fire and water challenge While no two water systems or fires are the same, nearly every water system component, ranging from storage tanks to pipelines to treatment plants, is susceptible to damage. The Grand Canyons Roaring Springs system exemplifies the complexity and fragility of older systems. It supplies water to both rims of the park through a decades-old network of gravity-fed pipes and tunnels and includes the water treatment facility where firefighters were forced to retreat because of the chlorine leak. Many water systems have vulnerable points within or near flammable wildlands, such as exposed pump houses that are crucial for pulling water from lower elevations to where it is needed. In addition, hazardous materials such as chlorine or ammonia may be stored on-site and require special considerations in high fire risk areas. Staff capacity is often limited; some small utilities depend on a single operator, and budgets may be too constrained to modernize aging infrastructure or implement fire mitigation measures. As climate change intensifies wildfire seasons, these vulnerabilities can become disaster risks that require making water infrastructure a more integral part of fighting and preparing for wildfires. Ways to help everyone prepare As a researcher with Arizona State Universitys Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, I have been working with colleagues and fire and water systems experts on strategies to help communities and fire and water managers prepare. Here are a few important lessons: Prioritizing fire-resistant construction, better shielding of chemicals and, in some cass, decentralizing water systems can help protect critical facilities, particularly in high-risk zones. Having backup power supplies, mobile treatment systems and alternate water sources are essential to provide more security in the face of a wildfire. Emergency command protocols and interagency coordination are most effective when they include water utilities as essential partners in all phases of emergency response, from planning to response to recovery. Fire crews and water operators can also benefit from joint training in emergency response, especially when system failure could hinder firefighting itself. Longer term, protecting upstream watersheds from severe fire by thinning forests and using controlled burns, along with erosion control measures, can help maintain water quality and reduce water pollution in the aftermath of fires. Smaller and more isolated systems, particularly in tribal or low-income communities, often need assistance to plan or implement new measures. These systems may require technical assistance, and regional support hubs could support communities with additional resources, including personnel and equipment, so they can respond quickly when crises strike. Looking ahead The Dragon Bravo Fire isnt just a wildfire story, its also a water story, and it signals a larger, emerging challenge across the West. As fire seasons expand in size and complexity, the overlap between fire and water will only grow. The Grand Canyon fire offers a stark illustration of how wildfire can escalate into a multifaceted infrastructure crisis: Fire can damage water infrastructure, which in turn limits firefighting capabilities and stresses water supplies. The question is not whether this will happen again. Its how prepared communities will be when it does. Faith Kearns is a scientist and director of research communication for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative at Arizona State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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The biggest tech event of the year is likely just several weeks away. In early September, Apple is expected to hold its annual event, where the company will preview its lineup of the upcoming iPhone 17 series. For people itching to buy a new iPhone, this event cant arrive soon enough. But when will Apple hold its 2025 iPhone 17 event? And what can we expect to see at it? Heres what you need to know. When is Apples 2025 iPhone 17 launch event? Apple traditionally holds its annual iPhone launch event in early to mid-September. But the exact date usually remains a mystery until the last week of August, when Apple sends out its event invites to the press. Until those press events go out, no one knows exactly when Apple will hold its iPhone 17 event. However, the last few years of events give us some clues. Apples 2024 iPhone launch event, which introduced the iPhone 16 series, was held on Monday, September 9. Its 2023 iPhone event was held on Tuesday, September 12. Its 2022 iPhone event was held on Wednesday, September 7. And its 2021 iPhone event was held on Tuesday, September 14. The company is usually careful to avoid holding the event just a few days after Labor Day, as they want to give journalists the time they need to travel out to Cupertino after the holiday. Apple also generally avoids holding the iPhone event on a Thursday or Friday. Instead, they prefer doing so on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, so they can benefit from the intense media coverage of their new products for the remainder of the week. Since Labor Day falls on Monday, September 1 this year, Apple is unlikely to hold the event on September 2 or 3. Given their preference to avoid events on Thursdays and Fridays, it’s likely that Apple will postpone the 2025 iPhone 17 event until the week of September 812. But which day, exactly? Apple seems to most often prefer Tuesdays for its iPhone events, so my best educated guess is that Apple will hold the 2025 iPhone 17 launch event on Tuesday, September 9. But we wont know for sure until the company sends out press invites next week. Apple usually kicks off its iPhone event at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, and theyll likely stick to that timetable this year, too. What will Apple unveil at its 2025 iPhone event? This years iPhone event may be more interesting than those of recent years because Apple is scheduled to introduce an entirely new iPhone. The company is expected to kill the iPhone Plus model currently in the iPhone family lineup and instead replace it with the new iPhone 17 Air (which might alternatively be called the iPhone 17 Slim). As the name suggests, the new iPhone is expected to be the thinnest iPhone ever. In addition to the iPhone 17 Air/Slim, Apple is also expected to introduce updated versions of the iPhone, including the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max. However, the speculator in me says Apple might also introduce something else along with the new iPhones: a name and numbering change. Earlier this year, Apple announced it would renumber its myriad operating systems. The ones that ship this fall will all be labeled with a two-digit year designator. For example, instead of Apple debuting iOS 19 this fall, it will debut iOS 26the number representing the year 2026 (similar to how cars introduced in 2025 are branded as 2026 models). I think its possible Apple could also switch to a year numbering system for their phones. If thats the case, we could see the iPhone 26, iPhone 26 Air/Slim, iPhone 26 Pro, and iPhone 26 Pro Max (or iPhone 26 Ultra). But again, thats just speculation. Well have to wait until next months iPhone event to know for sure.
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