Amy African Hair Braiding

Here We go… Oh where do u start. Maybe from initial phone contact… She told me that the store didn’t open until 930, so that’s when she could make my appointment … which was a lie bc as soon as I walked in, all seats were filled already, and I was there at 9:20.
After waiting 25 min, another braider walks in and gives me a promise time of 3p, as she needed the extra hour to «make them all the same size» hmm. Shouldn’t that be the norm? I had another appointment at 2, which I pushed back to 3:30 to accommodate her, I’m coming into town from DC, so my schedule was tight …
Mid way through she stops, to fix a head she slacked on the day prior — a patron came in here ranting about her daughters hair looking unacceptable! I should’ve known. Anyway. At 3p, she STOPS again and goes to sit down and eat, now don’t get me wrong, I know you have to eat, but say something, don’t just walk away and disappear for 20 min! My pressure! she won’t be seeing me again… Time to find another go to braiding spot.

I scouted many places in Brooklyn for price and reputation and this place was reasonable and seem to have a good reputation, having good traffic and word of mouth. So I came in to have twists put in with marley hair. I came in prepared to wait, the place opened at 8:30am and I arrived at 8:45am and they sat me in a chair. I had a very specific look in mind, having done twists with marley hair before. I wanted twists that were not too small (but not too big) with invisible roots and light brown hair with some highlights. I showed the braider a picture and stated what colors I wanted. She stated they did not have my color and showed me the colors they did have. I decided I would settle for what they had.
I started on my hair and the first twists she showed me what she would be doing. I stated that I wanted invisible roots and she stated that she didn’t know how to do it. she did the twists another way, which involved first braiding my own hair, then taking that braid and twistsing it into the twists. I agreed with what would be done and she proceeded to continue my twists. Mind you none of this was in front of a mirror (as if the chairs were purposely positined slightly away from the mirrors) She then proceeded to twists my hair, and was pulling very tightly. Mind you I expect that they would pull the twists a little taute so they will hold, but these were painfully tight. I explained that they were too tight and were hurting and the braider states «your hair is soft, I have to do tight so it wont come out and you dont waste your money». I said I understand but I dont want them so tight. She continued to twists slightly less tight, but still tight. I told her again, and she stated she would change the ones she did, and she proceeded to do the others slightly less tight.
After sitting for a half hour, I leaned over to peak in the mirror and notice that the twists were bigger then I wanted, so I told her they were too big. She said «no you wanted this size» I said no I showed you a picture see?” and she looked at the picture and said” its the same size”, then showed them to the customer beside me and asked her what she thought. The girl stated that yes they were bigger then the picture, so the braider began using less hair on the other twists and stated she will fix the rest. The whole time that she did my twists I had to continually tell her that she was doing them to tight, and all the while she ignored me.
Now my little girl is in the middle of getting her corn braids done with her own hair, so its not like getting up to leave at this point is much of an option. My head is half way done, and my daughters is almost finished. So I told her I want her to fix the twists that are too tight and too big. She stated she would.
After several hours, and continuing with the rest of the tight and heavy twists, still pulling hard around the crown of my head, she finished, and redid the other twists, not by removing the whole twists, but unraveling up to around the top and cutting with a scissor the marley hair, which left frayed tips, that she said she would fix after. It was clear that this woman was not planning on listening.
So with the job done and seeming to be not the best job, but hey I sat there all this time, I paid for my and my daughters service, no tip, and ran out of there, in pain! After getting home, I really noticed how bad the job was! I could see up close that my scalp was pulled so tight that I could see each hair follicle!!! You may ask, why did you pay for the service? Well I’ve had twists before, and realized that they have to twist a little tight, and with the weight, you should expect some discomfort, but after a night, my scalp was in pain, on July 4^th independnce day. Being that it was a holiday weekend, I decided lemme see if the discomfort goes away, and sure enough it didn’t. so the monday after, I went the shop and explained that the twists were poor quality and was actually causing irritation on my scalp. I could not keep them in! The owner stated that why did I pay, why did I wait to come back, I explained that it was a holiday weekend, I told the braider it was tight and its now that my scalp has developed painful sores, but she had not compassion and refused to refund my money.
So now I have no twists, and no $ 120 for a service I paid for. I also have to be on antibiotics for a week fighting infection from the sores (an experience braider should be able to tell that your hair folicles are being pulled). All I wanted was my money back (at least the $ 100 for the service, minus the price of the hair) but with much pleading (explaining that I had to go to the doctor and get medicated) I was denied. Poor customer service, painful experience, and seriously will never get twists done after this!
*My daughter’s hair turned out beautiful, and she is having no problems, having used another braider

Disclaimer: This is based on my experience of this establishment. The experience you may have might differ. I didn’t use any names for the respect of the store.
Once they realize I spoke French they knew I was a force not to be reckon with. I’m very definitely defensive when it comes to my hair because it’s long and nice.
Terrible Fact: I’ve been here since 11:30am and it is 5:00pm and my hair is still getting done.
HairStyle: Marley Twists w Marley Hair
Reason for two stars:
1. My stylist could not stop talking on the phone. She slowed down her twisting from ten braids per five minutes to just three braids per five minutes. Her voice started to echo the salon and it seemed like whoever she was speaking to just said to her «Talk as much and loud as you can without breathing.»
2. Uniformity: She was so busy on the phone she slammed on the hair lotion and it stained my jeans. If you are getting paid $ 50-​$ 300 a head I would expect more of a hustlers service. Tell your baby daddy, girlfriend, husband or whoever you will call them back because you are making money.
3. Natural Hair Care: I never could understand how people of the same ethnicity of me can not take proper care of my hair. Honestly, my hair is a riot. It’s thick and has a mind of its own. So, as a hair stylist your first instinct should not be to comb my hair with a rat tail comb. As a grown woman I should not feel like the way you are combing my hair could be equated to childbirth.
4. Salon Environment: Call me old school but since when are employees eat in front of their clients? I should not be able to tell if you are eating tuna fish, pork chops or Chinese food.
4b. Flies everywhere. It is to the point I don’t even want to bring my purse into my car without emptying it to ensure I’m not bringing it home.
5. Stylist Language: I’m trilingual, and many Africans especially in the braiding business speak French. Keep it cute. I should not hear you talk about other people’s hair, or your family’s business. In the end of day, that girls hair is paying for the light bill honey.

The rudest most unprofessional hair salon I have ever been in. The owner is very abusive and demeaning to her clients. I witnessed it with other clients and then she did it with me! Needless to say, don’t get your hair done here. Over priced, slow and unprofessional. I have visited Fanta on the corner of Flatbush and Caton on the 2^nd fl which was a much better experience.

DO NOT GET YOUR HAIR BRAIDED HERE PLEASE GOD!!! I always go to Fanta on Flatbush and Caton Ave and decided to give amy a try. I took my 2yr old neice to get her hair braided. She literally has a handful of hair on her head and no edges. It took them 5HOURS to do a style that I do at home. The owner was arguing with a customer earlier it was very unprofessional and uncomfortable. The lady was trying to explain how she wanted her hair and she jumped all over her! I initially asked her how much for a kids style $ 15 – 25 style she said it depends what you get. We got corn rolls with a small amount of hair added. Keep in mind I get all my nieces hair done all the time; kid prices are not the same as adult prices. They told me to give them $ 50. I said $ 50 is a lot for an infant hair style. The owner went crazy on me!!! Yelling and putting her finger in my face. we got into a screaming match! She states how she’s a mother and her rent is $ 2000 a month for her shop. Then stated «just say you don’t have the money». Then they moved to throwing me out the shop! Literally putting there hands on me. It was ridiculous!!! I have no idea how they are in business!!! As I was being physically being thrown out!!! I had to throw $ 40 in the shop door as the door was being slammed in my face. This situation could of easily had law enforcement involved. It’s not worth it ladies.

I’m pretty sure only the owner speaks English so tell her what it is you want & she’ll translate to her workers if she isn’t the one servicing you
soooo first, there are 3 good workers there. the best is the owner the first chair. if you want great & fast service, she’s the go to peRson, TRUST ME! So the first, third & fourth chair are good. I wouldn’t go to anyone else. the majority of them can not speak english, so make sure what it is you want is what you’re getting because there is a chance, they don’t understand.
My Experience
First i get there, the owner welcomes me, very nice lady and lets me know I’ll be seen shortly. i immediately take a seat and wait patiently. i thought she was the one that was gonna service me so as i watch her do someone else’s hair, i get excited b/​c i see the great job she’s doing on her client. its my turn and this lady who does not speak english, very pregnant & timid approaches and lets me know she’ll be doing my hair. I immediately cringe. not only was she a very slow braider, for two hours she’s been braiding my hair the wrong way. i felt like she was doing it wrong so i excused myself and took a look in the mirror, i was mortified. i tell her she’s doing it wrong and she tries to tell me, what she’s doing looks just like the picture. i was getting, poetic justice braids. i couldn’t believe it. i go to the owner and voice my displeasure, she assures me she’ll fix it and do it herself as soon as she finishes her current client. very accommodating. One thing i didn’t like was her trying to convince me that what was on my head was what i wanted and it looked good. she also tried to convince me to keep what was on my head and she’d finish the rest because it wouldn’t be seen by others. i shut that shit down immediately and told her she had to do the entire thing over. i get in her chair and she does my hair and in 3 hours tops i was done. i was appalled. she was great, very very very fast and my hair looks wonderful. i couldn’t be happier. to make me happy she did my hair as long as i wanted it, down to the crack of my ass. It normally costs $ 150, i paid her $ 120 and left. normally i tip but i was too pissed to even bother

This place gets two stars because 1) they were nice and 2) I saw them doing someone ELSE’S hair and it looked good. Now to my experience…
I made an appointment for 9am… when I got there they asked me to come back in 15 minutes because they were cleaning the shop. I’m pretty sure the cleaning should’ve happened BEFORE my appointment but whatever. Once I got back, they began mopping and another person asked me to wait b/​c she wasn’t done. You’ve got to be kidding me. I appreciate a clean and orderly shop but it would’ve been nice if it didn’t mean I had to wait outside. They finally got started on my hair (35 minutes late) and I showed them a few pictures of what I wanted. I’m pretty particular about my hair… don’t want the braids/​twists to be too thick b/​c I hate the heaviness it causes. I let them know no less than 4 times, that the twists they were doing were too big. Another person translated and seemed to get what I was saying… they all assured me everything would look as I wanted it to. Not so. Once they finished, the twists were still too thick and I was too exhausted to deal with them anymore. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t look bad… but they aren’t what I wanted and that’s what annoys me more than anything. There was a rotation of 3 – 4 different people working on my hair at one time… and that means that there are at least three different «styles» of twists in my hair. Some of them are braided towards the bottom, some were singed (I specifically told them NO lighters!) and some are regular. I don’t understand it and of course I’m bothered. If they can’t make everything look uniform, why have so many different people working on one person’s head? It looks weird.
The price wasn’t bad…$ 100 for just below shoulder length senegalese twists but will I go back? Nope… I’ll continue my search for a shop that can give me what I want.