African HAIR BRAIDING And dreadlocks gallery

HIGHLY recommended! Astou & her employees are very skilled in their work (& they believe in preserving edges); I always get compliments on my hair after I leave the shop (my long box braids are fabulous!). I am a very satisfied customer & this salon is my #1 choice. Keep up the great work!!

Overall I am pleased. I did have to wait before we started and had to come back the next day due to hurricane. But she was very apologetic and accommodating. She was a lot more pleasant than my first experience at an African braid shop years ago. My hair is BEAUTIFUL! And everyone loves it. I hate to sit for braids no matter who does them but I will be back to her!

If I could give no stars I would. I got my hair done the this past Sunday and by Wednesday 3 braids had come out at first I wasn't too alarmed because she told me that the back was very short but by the end of the night another braid had come out from the very top of my head and that hair was not short. I texted her in the morning and told her what had happened and asked her to fix it. It is now Saturday evening and I have had at least 2 braids come out each day. She has not responded to me to try and make things right. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

Updated:

I called Saturday morning and I spoke to Mo and she said it will be no problem to fix it Sunday at 10am. I will keep updating.

Update:

I want back on Sunday and they fixed my hair(mostly)

This was the worst experience of my life. I have been getting Senegalese twist done for years and not one time have braids fallen out of my hair literally within the first week. My appt was for 10 and they didn't get started til after 1130. Then after not even a month I had to take them down. I had over 10 braids to come out and she blamed it on me being natural. Ma'am if anything my natural hair would help it hold more. Never in my life have i not had Senegalese twist last less than 2 months let alone these only lasted 2 weeks. NEVER AGAIN. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Overall, not was I was hoping for when getting Senegalese twists so I won't be going back for those but their box braids look really great. This shop is great for BOX BRAIDS and regular scalp braids not so much for Senegalese twists. I can only speak for these styles since those were the only ones I saw completed during my appointment.

PROS: The owner was really nice and very considerate of my needs due to my condition. She provided foots rest, complimentary drinks and snacks often through out the appointment. The owner also made sure that if requested every client the as much break time as needed, whether it was to go get food, take a smoke break, phone calls, etc. The stylist who was assigned to my twists was thoughtful although slightly inexperienced. She tried to be considerate as possible with the tightness of her twisting. The vibe of the shop is kind of like being at your cousin's house getting your hair done. Everyone is vibrant and the music was very good. They focus a lot on frontal closures and if a stylist is not comfortable finishing a closure, they will let another one finish your hair.

CONS: When you make your appointment, it's not with the owner, who you will originally speak to. I didn't know this as it was my first time going to this establishment. You are assigned a stylist upon arrival. You have to pay upfront before services are rendered which can potentially be a bad thing, especially if you are not satisfied with the finished style like I was. They already have your money so technically you're not their problem. It leaves you without a bargaining chip at the end of it all. I wish you could pay half up front and half when you finish and are COMPLETELY satisfied. While I didn't mind the breaks, some people may not want to sit in a chair/shop for ~11hrs getting their hair styled, which is what happened to majority of the ladies that were in the shop with me. Music was good but I would have preferred the stylist not sing every last song in my ear for hours at a time. It was OK when she first started but the longer I sat in the chair the more annoyed I became. Also she received a lot of phone calls. I understand that she has kids that needed to be checked on but I wish there were a limit to the number of calls/ length of phone conversations you can receive/have while you have a client in your chair. That slowed down progress a little bit. My stylist needed a bit more training on doing Senegalese twists. I asked for medium and they came out rather large and bulky than was I was expecting. She used about ~5 packs of hair on my head which also caused it to really heavy. Another stylist even had to teach/ help to stretch the hair towards the end so my assessment is that the other 4 packs of hair that were already in my head probably not accurately stretched which could of lead to the heaviness. Also some of the twists where different sizes but it was not readily noticeable unless you looked closely. My stylist tried her best but was very heavy handed when twisting. Halfway through the style I had a really bad headache from the constant tight pulling. This shop focuses a lot of the closure, so your hair is very, very full in front and not so much in the back. so it looks disproportionate when you let it all hang down but great when its pulled back. My twists are very tight wound at the roots but got loose at the ends, and with most them not being tied in a knot at the end, some started to come loose the vey next day. Because two people worked on my hair, you can tell that there where two distinct twist patterns upon close review. The owner offered to fix it (the extra bulkiness and twist pattern) but her schedule did not allow for me to come back immediately the next day and with the stress of the hair being so thick, tight, hot and heavy. I ended up taking it all out and consequently wasting $200.

I had an appointment at 9am, I was there on time. The girl that braided my hair was 1.5 hours late. I had to come back because I had other plans and I based my schedule on my hair appointment. I came back and before she started my hair explained to her what I wanted and showed her a detailed picture. I stated and showed her that my nape and side were difficult because of past experiences with other hair braiders. (my nape is narrow and side are thin) I was getting cornrows/French braids...So she started my hair...she put box braids in the back of my hair? The first three braids were not what I showed her I wanted that was in a picture. My hair was really gapped like I was bald. So I had her take them down and start over. I had to show her how to part my hair and how I wanted it braided (I actually part my own hair). She used extremely to much hair. My hair is not tight at all. And she put brown gel in my hair after the fact and it was everywhere. She should have done some kind of hair product to make the style look more smooth or shiny. I really don't care for how she did my hair but it will get me by until after my cruise. For the price it is decent and I will deal with it but I will never ever be going back to there ever again!

My overall experience with this salon was bad

Date of experience- December 30, 2017

Pros- they tried to be professional and nice to most of the customers that were there that day by calling the customers "clients". She was able to fit me in last minute! Complimentary water

Cons- I tried not to nitpick, but things weren't going well in my opinion. I asked for micro braids and the owner said my hair was too long, because they don't braid all the way down. I said that was fine, and asked about Senegalese twists. She stated that my hair was too short for those twists because they would unravel. I've had Senegalese twists multiple times before on the same length of hair, and that stylist from before did an amazing job. I told the owner exactly that. She still insisted that I get box braids. I shouldn't have agreed to it, but I did because I really needed my hair braided. The stylist who was gonna be doing my hair was late. She is also unlicensed I must add. When said stylist was blowing out my hair she didn't use heat protectant! She didn't section my hair to make sure wouldn't break off, and she was really rough. I started to see smoke coming from the my hair. She continued blow drying on a very high setting without heat protectant which should have been a red flag for me to get up and leave. She started braiding my hair super tight. I asked her if she could not do them that tight, but she continued anyway. She took multiple breaks to take care for her two small kids and eat. I just wanted to get my hair done and leave. She continued braiding my hair which I felt was taking longer than it should have. One of her kids started crying and throwing a tantrum so she picked the small child up and sat her on her lap while she braided my hair. The child started pulling on my hair and the braids!! The stylist didn't do anything about it until I said something! At that point I was getting really irritated with this shop. I asked for a break to go to the bathroom. When I went to the bathroon, it was disgusting. I held it in til I got home. Another stylist, which was the stylist who was doing my hair mom, got into an argument with an unruly customer. When that customer went to the bathroom she started throwing water on the floor as if it was Holy water. That made me super uncomfortable, and I felt like they were super unprofessional about the situation. My hair did not get finished til 9 pm. I got there at 1130. I didn't leave a tip, and I was ready to go. My hair was throbbing from how tight the braids were. Two days later two of the braids came out from my nape along with my real hair! I decided to take the braids down after only one week, because my bun was way too big, and because I'm in the military, I wanted to make sure I was in regs which I wasn't. After taking the braids out last night, I noticed my hair felt brittle so I decided to deep condition my hair. That's when I noticed my tight 4c hair didnt look the same as before I went to this salon. I realized I had heat damage throughout my hair! I will NEVER recommended anyone to go this salon, and I'm glad I didn't leave a tip. In my opinion, it was wrong of the owner not asking the "client" if they were okay with having someone who wasn't licensed to braid their. I should've went to a different salon. A salon that is actually professional and courteous to all it's customers. I would NEVER recommend this braiding salon to anyone. I'm glad I did not leave a tip. They are UNPROFESSIONAL .

I want to say I love these women at this shop. They did an amazing job on my hair. Very neat and it didn't take them to long. I love it very much. I would recommend you to go to this shop . They definitely get a 5 star from me. I love you astou ????????????????????