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I have always had a problem with hair dressers and the way my hair is done. From making braids smaller than I ask for, to setting the hair dryers to hot, to stubbornness when it comes to doing what I want as a customer. I haff suffered in Nigerian Salons, that is main reason why I decided to go natural and have been praying to God to help me discover a natural hairstyle that will keep me from visiting salons in Nigeria.
I never thought that other woman face the same or have the same experiences until I visited African Naturalistas today. Read below @ilola's experiences:
I use the term, Nigerian, here knowing it is the only country I have visited salons, not that I am particularly picking on Nigerian salons.
I remember when I started
making my hair properly in the year 2001 (yeah, it wasn’t that long ago), I knew I had no choice but to go to salons, cos I knew next to nothing about hair. I did not really have anything against salons then, the only thing I hated was my relaxer days. I relaxed my hair every two months, and I did not look forward to the torture when the hair was ‘relaxing’. The worst part was when I had to go under the dryer. It would get so bad sometimes that tears would start coming out of my eyes. The scalp burns, the heat, everything. The funny thing was that my hair was healthy, according to relaxed hair standards.
making my hair properly in the year 2001 (yeah, it wasn’t that long ago), I knew I had no choice but to go to salons, cos I knew next to nothing about hair. I did not really have anything against salons then, the only thing I hated was my relaxer days. I relaxed my hair every two months, and I did not look forward to the torture when the hair was ‘relaxing’. The worst part was when I had to go under the dryer. It would get so bad sometimes that tears would start coming out of my eyes. The scalp burns, the heat, everything. The funny thing was that my hair was healthy, according to relaxed hair standards.
When I finally gained the courage to cut my hair, and eventually lock it, it was a freedom I had not experienced in a long time. I only had to go to the salons once in a while to lock my roots. The only sad fact was that I knew I wouldn’t be on dreadlocks forever, thus having to eventually relinquish my new-found freedom from salon torture.
When I eventually cut my dreads and went natural, the hairstylists were very reluctant to put weaves my hair cos it wasn’t relaxed. Once my hair became long enough to let out as an afro or put in protective twist, I started educating myself, and eventually said bye to salon visits.
Now that I know what I know, I visit the salon about twice a year, when I have to braid my hair with extensions because I need to travel, or because of the harsh harmattan weather. And trust me, I have come to dread salon visits in Nigeria. These are some reasons why
1. The hairstylists know next to nothing about hair care. The only thing they know about hair is how to make it look nice, and that’s with the use of weaves and extensions.
2. They think you are nuts to carry natural hair, and complain about it. I have since turned the tide around. Once I visit them, I show them pictures of my natural twists, twistouts, etc. Then I start educating them about natural hair, etc. I do this till they shut up, and eventually face their business of making my hair.
3. You constantly have to keep telling them not to pick the hair too tiny and tight. This is because they are more interested in having the braids look beautiful, than they are about having your edges fall off.
4. Many hairstylists can tell enough lies to wake a corpse. Don’t even get me started on this. They would lie that you were the one who told them to cut the extensions into four parts, instead of three, or that they were not the ones who sectioned your hair as big as a yam slice the last time you visited. They just tell annoying lies, and are very deceptive.
5. Many hairstylists are rude. I am sure I don’t need to tell you too much about this. As they feel they are doing you a favour by making your hair. And if your hair is natural, then it is double wahala.
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6. I don’t always leave the salon satisfied. After all their paparazzi about how they would make your hair look nice, I don’t end up liking what they have done to my hair cos they don’t give me the effect I want. I end up leaving disgruntled after parting with money. Read more at African Naturalistas
If it were possible to put one's head on the table and braid, I would have started doing that long ago, and that would have given me all the freedom I so crave for.
I dread visiting our Naija Salons.
You are not alone in this. I have a diary-full of my salon experiences and would actually share. It will make more meaning to go by the style that would give less stress.
ReplyDeleteDobby, please share!
ReplyDeleteI wish a lot of the stylists would educate themselves instead of spoiling the hair of some many women. Can you believe that some of them agree to retouch a woman's hair after 4 weeks only? Really sad!
ReplyDelete@Sizelle, do you know that after buying your hair kit, you need to spend time memorizing the instructions on the leaflet, you also need to be vigilant or they just mix the chemicals wrongly.
DeleteNigerian hairstylist are crappy, they know nothing about your hair. I went to a saloon for retouching and the girl offered to trim my hair, I should have said no... my dear she finished my hair, my hair was already cut in a particular style I.e feathers. I don't know what the babe was thinking she messed up my hair now I have to grow it out and have it cut property. I am currently learning how to wash and roller set my hair myself. believe methyl know nothing about hair you in fact are better than them at the job.
ReplyDeleteThe trimming is what I don't even want to talk about o. Wharra hell?
DeleteOh man, I can remember at least five bad incidents I had at Nigerian salons! They can be so frustrating!
ReplyDeleteI will blog about it soon.
Please do! we will come and read.
DeleteRight from the day my mum gave me freedom to do whatever I wanted with my hair,I opt for low cut with baby curls that I do myself and other times dread locs.Now that am a mother and barely have spare time,talkless of time to waste,am carrying dread locs and yesterday made it 3years old.I can style it anyhow I want,I braid on it and I fix on it.I hate dryers so I wash at home myself and wrap with a towel overnight.Am enjoying my freedom from relaxers
ReplyDeleteYou are completely free dear. Enjoy your freedom.
DeleteHello Ajoke,I am on dreds too. Recently came to lag, bt hv nt been able to get a dred stylist. I am desperately in need of 1. Are u in lag? If so, cn u direct me to a stylist?
DeleteI laughed as I read esp No4 & 5. I also have ahd experiences but I am more on natural than in weaves and extensions. RIght now, I am rocking low cut ...wash and dry everday..shikenah!
ReplyDeleteI do admire beautiful hairdo and wish to have them sometimes, but when I look at my receding hairline, I kukuma repect my hair and waka pass o jare...ahahaha.
Simply Mee will not kill sombori with laughter o. Your own is even better naa. The receding line chose that style for you, and not the non chalant attitude of some lady working on your head.
Deletebtw, SM, this your profile pics that are just changing like this, me likey o.
Aunty Eya,u have forgotten to mention how they can waste time?one person,who is the best stylist,(usually sometimes a gay male) will be making 5pple's hair at a time.dats also why they don't do it well!
ReplyDeleteu have to lie sometimes that u are going to be d bride at a wedding before they will devote time to do ur hair!
On my, how come I forgot the time wasting? I do almost everything in a hurry. Time is too precious to me. Even my meals, I look for methods that won't keep me long in the kitchen.
DeleteWhen I think of going to salons, I dread the long hours that will be spent there. Sometimes, even without planning to do my nails, I end up polishing or fixing just to convince my tired self that I'm doing something and not just wasting time.
They have no sense of urgency!
How about how they 'retouch' your hair from ROOTS to TIP! Everything, they just cover your HEAD, yes, head, including your ears and forehead and neck, and dress, with relaxer. They do not care about your natural hair, they just want show the expert braids and weave attaching skills. I always get frustrated with them. Once you have dandruff, they want to scratch your scalp out, afterwards they add sulphur creams. What they dnt know is that my scalp is tender and sensitive, and also the dandruff is due to dryness and sulphur creams are dry-ish.
ReplyDeleteThen the one of picking every hair and making it too tight. One day out of frustration, I almost asked the braider why she no pick my eyebrow join since she wanted to pick even the smallest unpickable hair. I know how to make hair and my sister does so we were doing each other's hair when she came to stay with me but now she has gone for nysc :-(
Yes dear, the whole head turns white, just because one is retouching. Do they even spend a second to read instructions? They just feel like they know it all. When you try to ask questions, they answer in a way that suggests... " why are you asking? what do you know about hair? Don't you know we are experienced hair stylists?"
DeleteEven when I insist on leaving the tiny hair strands on my hair line untouched, it is like a waste of time and energy. They pick everything. Before one week, these hair starts breaking hence, receding hair lines almost every where in our dear country. Most women can't do without fixing styles that cover the hairline because, "careless hair braiders" have chopped up everything.
The few good ones cannot do everything naa, ahnahn!!!
Interesting how people speak terribly about Nigeria and anything Nigerian even when they have nothing to compare it to. I used to live in the UK and you need to see the much damage that was done to my hair just because the don't understand Negro hair and those that understood like the Jamaicans were just in a hurry to make the hourly money for the day. I am back in Nigeria and my hair has improved tremedously. The thing is you don't take hair seriously enough, yet you expect magic. If you won't go to a quack doctor why won't you take your time to look for a good hair person instead of expectig magic and bad mouthing Nigerian salon.
ReplyDelete@Nife, I think you are one of the few lucky ones here. Please stay with that your hair stylist o. Changing may not be fun. There are more quacks than seasoned hair stylists even in beautifully decorated expensive salons.
DeleteLet's face it, many clients are very stuborn, I have seen several cases whe the hair person is advising against something and the client gets irate and says "its my money I am paying" a hair dresser will say "aunty, don't braid this time so you can save your front hair, you have just retouched brainding immiddiately will ruin your hair and tender scalp" but the client will refuse and you hair gets damaged and you say Nigerian salons are bad!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Nife, "many" clients, NOT ALL O!
DeleteO! Certainly not all clients
DeleteLet me even go the case of hair relaxer and hair dye. Most people just pick relaxer and want to stay longer so the hair will relax better or want to stay longer so the dye can set longer, some women want to relax every 2weeks! So that they can fix a particulat weave, all these against the advice or the hair dresser. Now tell me, should the hair person drag such a woman to the wash basin? Then when your hair finally thins and falls out then you blame the salon. Some of us think we know too much and don't even want to be guided by the salon. So whose fault?
ReplyDeleteNife, you are saying this cos you are lucky to have found a good hair dresser. If I had a good hairdresser, why will I complain. Yes I know a lot of clients are terrible. Some retouch and want to fix immediately, some change relaxers every month, some relax one part of their hair because it will show in the hairstyle, some want to stay two hours for a kit that said 10 minutes, forgetting that the hair cannot relax more than it can in 10 minutes. But, the truth is, many hair dressers do not know how to treat the African hair right. Many of them are not even educated and dnt follw instructions, they rely on 'experience'.
DeleteIs it crapiness alone? Exorbitant prices nko? One day, i went 2 d salon with a friend to colour our hair, i did highlights while my friend did full colour. At d end, we asked 'how much?' D lady said 20k!!! I threw tantrums, at d end, we parted with 16k. I was so pissed, spending dt much on highlighting! Now i av my dryer, curlers, straightners etc...i can't shout abeg!
ReplyDeleteWhy won't they call any amount they like eh? I remember growing up, there was something like a price control system in this country. Nowadays, "it's charge as you like" who cares?
DeleteYes, the charge as you like thing is not nice. What some do is that they size you up and them give a price and the next time you come, you'll see someone else do a similar hair type or treatment and pay less. Me I am an Alaroro, I dey haggle anything even for supermarket I fit begin drag price
DeleteBut to compare Nija and UK hair is a lot cheaper here. In UK you'll pay around 50 to 60 ponds for something that will cost about 3k in Nija.
DeleteYes Nife, their prices over there are just outrageous. You and I also know that the Nalja Hairstylist does not pay rent in pounds. Cost of living here is also far cheaper. *wink wink*
DeleteThank you Nife, it happened to me too many times. Even with all my bargaining and all, they insist it's the last price, only for me to look with my side eye and see someone pay less for that same style. They know what they do, so, they don't even open up the notes to count.
Delete@Shayor: please be easy with the straightners o!, it's a very able hair destroyer.
ReplyDelete@Ahdaisy: you are correct that I am lucky to find a good hair dresser and here in Nigeria. I am also glad that you noted the undue stuborness of some clients. And true a again, the African hair for both men and women is still an enigma to many people. Have you heared the story how Wole Soyinka began keeping his fro? He was living in USA and everytime he went for a hair cut, they either did it wrongly or made him pay too much or both, then he became fed up oneday and went on with his fro that we see today
ReplyDeleteLool! So they are the reason for that his signature hairstyle? Very interesting.
Delete@Ahdaisy: yes o, so he said in one of his interviews. I think it was on Moments with Mo
ReplyDeleteHahaha! I watched that interview too.
DeleteEya, you live in Abuja, i will introduce you to a good salon. Its better than the ones i have tried in a while. Its not so cheap but it would be worth the money. Meg O.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you Meg O! Thank you!
DeleteAtimes when I watch some cable channels like Style Network and see how hairstylists take time to care I wonder if some of our average stylists ever take time to watch or even read online to improve their skills.
ReplyDeleteI believe God will uplift my level so I can stop patronizing all these backyard stylists and have professionals care for my hair
@Debbie, you are lifted, it is just a matter of time.
DeleteHi Ladies,
ReplyDeleteThe key to saving client's hairline and making sure they have healthy natural hair even though they wear extensions lies with salon owners/educated salon mangers and the way they educate their staffs.I am saying this because i run a specialty salon in Johannesburg South Africa by specialty i mean we specialize in weaves and wigs only ,natural hair treatments(Protein / Moisture balancing & Hot oil treatments) no Relaxing.I must say it takes a lot to educate adults who think they know.
Hi, very interesting trend of comments. However, can someone recoomend a good salon or stylist that can retouch one's hair properly? Would appreciate that if I could get recommendations from a not to expensive salon oh!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh! My sentiments exactly. This is why I have not set foot in a Naija salon in about 3 years now. If I cannot do the style by myself I will not wear it. I have had too many bad experiences. Burns, bald spots, arguments, altercations... even fever from overly tight braids! So yeah, these days, its buns, cornrows and wigs, twist outs etc... basically styles I can do for myself. I am not natural but it amazes me how much hair dressers complain about natural hair, I mean seriously? This is how the hair grows naturally out of our head and you, a hair dresser is complaining, it makes no sense. Hairdressing school course 101 should be natural hair care. IJS. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete