Hey ladies,
As some of you may know, last Friday I took a trip to a salon called Purely Natural. I thought it would be nice to go down and try something new – a flexi rod set. Now since I’ve been natural (3 years now) this was my second time going to a salon. This being because, I just find no-one knows my hair like I do. However, being a salon that caters exclusively for natural hair & locs I’d like to believe I’m in safe hands. I’ve also heard some decent reviews so I thought why not give it a try.
Unfortunately I’ve given my overall experience 5/10… it wasn’t that great.
Look at those ends *cries*
My reasons:
Customer service is key and it’s the little things that matter. At the other salon I went to, the stylist took her time to ask how I was, offer me a drink, talk through the current state of my hair, my hair needs (basically a consultation) and also explained the procedure of my treatment and introduced me to my stylist. At Purely Natural there was none of this. I hate hate hate walking into a salon and the atmosphere is unwelcoming. That’s enough to make me uncomfortable straight away and question whether I can trust my hair in your hands.
The young lady that ended up washing my hair for me was lovely but she was still learning and no offence but if you’re going to have a stylist that’s training (on someone’s head!) there should be another stylist to oversee what she’s doing. Once again, I hate having to butt in and tell a hairstylist to do this and not do that but I was left with no choice.
She washed my hair well but I could feel she was creating tangles as she was going along. I said nothing because I thought hmm maybe she’s really good with detangling…until I saw her bring out a fine tooth comb. Yes, a fine tooth comb. Then I knew it was a wrap, I had to say something. She got another comb and then tried combing from the roots instead of the ends…at this point I wanted to scream.
After, I was directed to the chair where I would be having my hair set in the flexi rods. As I sat there, I saw her bring out a blowdryer…then she turned it on. In my mind I thought surely she’s not putting that straight on my head without sectioning it, detangling it properly (since it wasn’t done well during the wash) and putting some sort of heat protectant in…surely not. Once again, I was wrong. It has to be the worst blowdry ever, no product, my hair was flying everywhere. I really did want to leave at this point.
Another stylist seeing that I was uncomfortable then took over to flexi rod my hair. She was nice but clearly in a rush so my hair did not come out as I desired at all.
Once I was done and I looked in the mirror I thought maybe this isn’t that baddd. However the lights were now dim as they were closing. When I did get to see my hair properly first thing that came to mind…’What a waste!’ especially as the next morning my hair was back to normal.
In addition, all over my head I had knots, knots and more knots from where the shed hair wasn’t properly detangled and removed, so it latched onto my hair. As a result I had to get the scissors out to cut most of them out as there was no way of even trying to undo it.
So there you have it…my experience.
I was pretty upset seeing as I know and have seen how good they are with braided styles.
…*sigh*…
This was the result I wanted…
YAAAS!! I hear you on this one for sure! I wasn’t very impressed with the customer service or the way my hair was handled either. For asking out my hair from cainrows, the woman used a fine toothed comb, a FINE toothed comb!! It felt like my hair was ripping out! I was hinting it was hurting but she didn’t even pay attention and like you I didn’t want to be telling her her job. If I have to do that, I shouldn’t be paying! My sides are now a mess and I’ve lost a lot of hair there
(((((
My friend wanted me to let her know my experience and I was going to blog about it. I’ll refer her to this post too so she can get a holistic understanding.
Sorry for the rant, great post though!
This sounded horrific! I really feel for you. One of my friends went there and had a very similar experience even though there were very good reviews about them floating around. I really feel that natural hair salons have no excuse to not know how to do something basic like detangle hair. With soooooo many youtube videos and blogs I don’t understand why they are still making such mistakes.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I don’t often comment on things like this, but unfortunately I have had a similar experience at that salon and thought it might help some other unsuspecting soul. I went there for a braided hairstyle which looked beautiful however th treatment of my hair was awful and I have been left with a head full of splitting hair shafts.
My hair was blow dried roughly win no heat protectant, a fine tooth comb was used for styling and dragged from root to end taking most of my hair with it in the process, when I challenged the stylist I was told that it was ‘dead hair’ – wtf??
I basically now need to undergo a period of intensive protein treatments to try and baby my hair back to health. Never again.
So disappointing that there are still no
Ditto to all the experiences shared.
My consultation was basically one of the staff feeling my hair, she then consulted another person (who I thinks runs the salon) who then told her what to tell me!?! How are you going to give me a proper consultation/recommendations if you don’t take time to ask me questions, feel my hair and take time to assess my hair.
My protein treatment consisted of ORS Mayonaise Treatment and a dash of olive oil and being put under a hooded dryer. I could have done that myself.
Detangling was not a pretty sight. My hair was blowdried without heat protectant. I was disappointed, but I’m more angry with myself for not speaking up or leaving.
I went there last summer to wash and trim my hair. The stylist blow-dried my hair straight, with NO HEAT PROTECTANT. My hair has not been the same since, I’m still nursing it back to health.
I thought a salon experience was supposed to be professional and enhance your hair care regime, this did the opposite.
I desperately need a trim but after last year’s fiasco I refuse to go back and can’t find a natural hair salon that I trust will do the job properly. The joys of natural hair.
That sounds horrific
I sorry it was so bad!
@Kemi – have you ever thought of self-trimming?
Sorry to hear about ur experience. I’m guessin the other salon u went to before Pelumi is Adornment 365 in Brixton. That is the only natural salon I can trust. I went their last year to cut my hair down into a short style and my experience was really good. I also recieved a consultation, they talked me thru every step of my hair: washing, conditioning, moisturising etc. They really know how to handle natural hair. They were really polite and I felt comfortable knowing that my hair was dealt with who specialises in cutting. They even recommended a remedy for my dry scalp and it actually worked. I have always been sceptical about black salons if I don’t personally know the owner. I don’t regularly visit salons at all but if I need a treatment, cut or trim in the future I will definately be going back to Adornment.
I had an appointment booked with them for this afternoon for a consultation, trim and style.
I’ve only been natural for a few months and can’t really afford for my hair to go through something like this. I’m at a really delicate stage of my hair journey where I’m only just getting to know my hair. Something like this could all but have you running back to the weaves you came from.
I hadn’t heard anything myself about the salon, a friend had heard things about it and recommended we go. She’s since cancelled for other reasons, but then she aaw this.
I do want to point out that it wasn’t just the original blog entry that made me cancel my appointment, it was also the other comments. I’m really happy we’ve got blogs like these where we can share our hair experiences, good and bad, with others.
This is why I prefer to go to White / Middle East hair salons, they are more professional. A lot so-called Black salons are a joke.
Oh dear! That is so disappointing to hear,,,i guess we hear of Natural salon and we get excited thinking they know how to treat our hair…
The only thing we can do is to open up our own salon as we would know how to treat the clients and their hair or have like a son guide directory with reviews.
That is one of the bad effects in salon. I do personally go only to my trusted salon, our hair is important and it is not easy to grow hair fast.