Did Dominican Salons Not work for you??

[cutiebe2]

I am on the fence about whether or not to try a Dominican salon again. I was in the DR for 4 months and got my hair done twice. The salon was very nice and pretty professional. But even before I left the salon my hair did not have that sleek look that so many rave about. I am 100% natural and I am wonder if it was just the salon or is it that my hair cannot get that straight with a blowdryer.
Can naturals weigh in? What has been your experience?

thanks!!!

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

I actually wouldn't trust a dominican salon to get my coarse coils straight. They tend to use traditional brushes and super high heat and go for speed rather then hair health (in my experience) Our hair actually can get thoroughly straight via a blowout on warm with a brush like this and a concentrator I just did this for my mom on mothers day....but it wont suffice on its own...it has to be followed with a ceramic flat iron for me and my moms hair type.

 

[deltagyrl]

I tried it twice many moons ago and was unimpressed. I was APL at the time.
They got it super straight but my hair couldn't handle that high heat. I also felt like they were raking though my head as if it wasn't kinky... I was cringing the whole time.

I won't be going back but I LURVES their products. Indeed I do.

 

[godsflowerrr]

I have heard so many mixed reviews. I guess it depends on the stylist / salon. I'm too scared to go. Just one visit can result is a SEROIUS hair setback if you go to the wrong salon and they use too much heat.

 

[cutiebe2]

I actually wouldn't trust a dominican salon to get my coarse coils straight. They tend to use traditional brushes and super high heat and go for speed rather then hair health (in my experience) Our hair actually can get thoroughly straight via a blowout on warm with a brush like this and a concentrator I just did this for my mom on mothers day....but it wont suffice on its own...it has to be followed with a ceramic flat iron for me and my moms hair type.

I think this is the case for my hair too. Although they did use a lot of heat (obviously) they did not treat my hair horribly. They detangled with a wide tooth comb (but I made sure to go with my hair detangled some already). They also used Redken on my hair but still the roots were not super straight like with a flat-iron. I may try rollersetting and then flat-ironing the roots (The rollerset got my ends really straight)

 

[SUPER SWEET]

I have heard so many mixed reviews. I guess it depends on the stylist / salon. I'm too scared to go. Just one visit can result is a SEROIUS hair setback if you go to the wrong salon and they use too much heat.

It did for me I have so many broken hairs from the pulling and heat.

 

[CarefreeinChicago]

When I first went natural my experince was mixed my hair looked fire !! But I had a straight piece for about a year afterwards. I have not been back since. Their are better ways to straighten my natural hair.

 

[nc cutie]

My hair looked good for a few days...and then felt like straw.

 

[Lynnerie]

As a relaxed head they worked for me cause all I needed was a rollerset. But I'm natural now and my hair type is a 4 so there's no way I would get the blow out technique. For one, it would take way too much heat to get it straight for my hair type and two, I'd probably have breakage and/or heat damage.

 

[India*32]

It did for me I have so many broken hairs from the pulling and heat.

"

Girl, you an't (sp) never lied. I had a roller set and blow out on Friday, by Saturday, I started seeing broken hairs on the sink then on the floor. I did get my bangs cut, so I thought it was from that, so I later washed, but still had the same thing. I used a protein treatment, from the DR to slow down the breakage, then some Silcon Mix to strengthen my hair back to normal. I guess for awhile, I'll be doing my own. I just invested in a steamer, so I'm sure that will help.

p.s.

I only go to the salon, because I can't seem to style my hair with any bounce. Oh well

India

 

[Diamond75]

It doesn't work for me. I've gone to 3 different salons and even though I wasn't highly impressed, the one place that used a flat iron came out the best.

I don't think for my hair, a Dominican shop is the way to go. I will stick with my stylist, who gets my hair silky straight and full of body.

I have friends who are relaxed and their hair looks great when they leave the Dominican shop.

 

[longhairlover]

the only problem i've had with some dominican salons is some can be rough combing my hair to rollerset, i've found a few good spots in nyc though, and they have worked for me for rollersetting and blowouts, i've never had any damage with them doing those 2 things.

BUT i would never let a dominican salon put any chemicals to my hair, to me they just are not skilled in that manner. rollersets yes anything else no, maybe some can do trims, no offense to them though.

 

[chelleypie810]

In Palm Bch, FL I've had a great experience with dominicans in west palm and miami. I also went to a place in orl. and he did a great job.

 

[PJaye]

Being a native New Yorker, I have patronized a host of Dominican salons since the early 1990s and I have come to view them as unnecessary torture mechanisms for the following reasons:


- The shampoos are harsh (there is always a chick that digs her nails into your scalp in the mistaken belief that it is beneficial/effective)
- Your hair is ripped into sections with a rattail comb into an overly tight roller set
- It is standard to have the majority of customers sit under an extremely hot dryer for at least an hour in order to service more customers
- They blow dry your hair while tugging at the roots with a hand dryer that breathes fire while using a generic round brush
- They typically use inexpensive wholesale shampoos and conditioners, coupled with Razac’s Perfect for Perms and some type of oil sheen
- The utensils and tools do not appear to be sterilized often; rollers, combs, brushes and pins pass from one customer to another
- You receive assembly line service with no personalization; the motto appears to be “get ‘em in and get ‘em out”
- The practitioners rarely speak English beyond “wash-n-set?” and “clip ends?” inquiries; for more in depth forms of communication, it is necessary to locate someone who is bilingual so that they can translate your requests/desires


It took me years of enduring this torture to learn that this nonsense was not worth the hassle. The end result of my salon visit would be limp, flat, dry hair in addition to a sore scalp. Furthermore, and here is the kicker, my hair never remained straight 2-3 hours post the salon visit. I would always have to saturate it with some type of moisturizer and put it into a bun in order to avoid a full fledged afro.

It is not my intent to dissuade you from patronizing a Dominican salon, but everyone I know who has frequented them since the early 1990s has limp, lifeless, doobie wrapped hair.

 

[lexiwiththecurls]

When I go to Dominicans my hair is bone straight (without damage) and they dont use a ceramic iron at the end. They do it all with the blow dryer. Could've been that particular salon.

 

[glamazon386]

I was rather indifferent to the Dominican Salons when I was relaxed. I visited quite a few and some were better than others. I would usually go when I was stretching and needed my roots straight. They would always tell me "Mami you need perm and trim" and I'd tell them I'd get one next time. There was one particular shop I did like when I was relaxed. They actually did my last relaxer for me.

As a natural, they got my hair straight but my curl pattern was all weird when I washed it. My curls were noticeably looser and it felt different. It bounced back after I dced a few times but I've never had that problem when I straightened it or one of my black stylists straightened it. The blowdryer was too hot and the roundbrush combo pulled on my hair. They didn't roll my hair. They blowdried it and then flat ironed it. And charged me double the price they charge relaxed heads for a wash and set. That was the first and last time as a natural. I'll straighten it myself before I go back to them.

ETA: I also didn't like the products they were using at that particular salon. They used some cheap shampoo and conditioner. My mom goes to another salon in the same block and she said she likes them better. My moms hair started thinning in the crown due to their techniques. My coworker used to go there too. She had no problems. They're both relaxed.

 

[yamilee21]

I've been to 3 or 4 different Dominican salons in NYC metro area; all were a total waste of time. Insisting that I need a relaxer because I have "pelo malo," being extra rough... because my hair is natural, doing a half-a$$ed job... because my hair is natural, changing the price at the last minute... because my hair is natural, trying to hack my hair off, and the worst part, my hair never lasted a day; one time it started reverting even before I left the salon. I swore off salons altogether the last time - that was eight years ago. (The only other salons I have been to were Haitian-owned, and they were unskilled with natural hair.)

I am always surprised when people with natural hair report good experiences with Dominican salons. Maybe things have changed in the past decade, but I won't bother to find out for myself.

 

[cocoaluv]

When I was relaxed I used to go weekly and my hair always looked ok/good. They complained on how dry my hair was, although it was their products that was making it that way. Also my edges broke off to about half an inch due to their blowouts also my crown.....it just made me want to go natural even more. Plus they always wanted to relax my hair every 4-6 weeks as well as trim ( cut at least 3 inches). I got a rash using one of those pink ear thingies that they use to protect your ear from heat and then a few months later I got a ton of perm burns.


As a natural....I wouldnt even dare. I know they talked about me like a dog when I was 4 weeks post. One look at my TWA would set them the heck off.

 

[TiffanysAunt]

Wow...I was reading this today it's long but, on point
Much Ado About Straightening: Old Black Salons Face New Rivals

Clients Take a Flier on Dominicans, and Stylists Tear Each Other's Hair Out





By COREY DADE

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md.—Delshawn Rollins once trusted only fellow African-Americans with the delicate task of styling and straightening her tightly curled brown hair.
But that meant enduring hours of salon gossip, ordered-in lunch (and sometimes dinner, too) and occasional mishaps, like the time the ends of her hair snapped off after she had it dyed.
View Slideshow



Tim Hussin for the Wall Street Journal Kristin Eweka and Sharisse Hunt waited to have their curlers removed at Sintia's Dominican Salon in Landover, Md.

• More photos and interactive graphics

Fed up, the 35-year-old respiratory therapist last fall pulled out a flier she had for a new salon that promised to "work magic" using "Dominican styling." She was in and out of The Hair Co. USA, which displays the Dominican flag in the front window, within two hours, sporting a straight, feathery "do" for $20 less than she had been paying her old stylist.
"My hair has this flow," she says. People ask where she has it done.
Armed with a blow dryer and brush, deft wrist action and shrewd promotional tactics, immigrants from the Dominican Republic are snipping away market share from African-American stylists whose mastery of black women's hair ensured for generations that their customers wouldn't, or couldn't, leave them. Promises of seemingly healthier hair, swifter service and far lower prices are wooing away a growing number of black women.
Ms. Rollins and most other African-American women require a chemical "relaxer" to straighten their hair and get touch-up treatments every six weeks or so. She and many other customers say another benefit of the Dominican technique is that it extends the life of straightening chemicals, thus reducing the frequency of application and potentially harmful effects.
The defections have infuriated African-American stylists who insist that their methods are safe and that they are more highly trained than the Dominicans are. "It's hard enough in these times, but they are undercutting our prices, even passing out fliers to our own clients," complains Atlanta hairdresser Jannifer Jackson, whose cancellations and no-shows began piling up once a Dominican salon opened about a mile away last summer.
Emily Martinez, a stylist at Sintia's Dominican Salon in Landover, Md., demonstrates the Dominican blowout.


Many traditional black stylists accuse Dominicans of misrepresenting their services as "natural" because nearly all Dominican salons perform relaxer touch-ups. Traditionalists say the "Dominican blowout" technique can cause severe hair breakage. Both sorts of stylists wash, set hair in rollers and seat customers under big dryers.
African-American stylists typically use a curling iron to unfurl the hair, while Dominicans use a two-handed method of unraveling the strands with a round brush, followed by a blow dryer in the other hand to smooth the curl to a straight finish. Dominicans do so by pulling from the hair root, often forcefully. That, along with applying the second round of intense heat, leads to breakage, say black stylists and some customers.
"Bad Boy" Romeo Crews, a prominent and outspoken black stylist in Atlanta, has no fear of the blowout. "Let me tell you," he says, "they are helping my business because people are coming to me after the Dominicans make their hair fall out."
Dominican stylists deny the accusations. The majority of Dominicans are themselves black, and like African-Americans, they developed their skills by styling their own hair. "We have stylists—black stylists—all the time calling and asking to come and train with us," boasts Alfredo
Rhoden, co-owner of Dominican Hair Salon by Massiel in suburban Atlanta. The financial impact of the Dominican incursion on black American salons is hard to gauge. Sales volume isn't tracked by the race or ethnicity of salon owners. But industry experts, salon owners and stylists say the impact is indisputable. A fixture in New York City since the 1980s, Dominicans now are rapidly expanding to other U.S. cities.

U.S. salon services generated $50.3 billion in 2009 revenue, mostly from small, independently owned shops, according to industry research firm Professional Consultants & Resources. Most black salons are independently owned, with self-employed stylists who rent booths from shop owners. Black women overwhelmingly outnumber other consumers of "ethnic" hair products, which recorded a 3.2% sales increase in 2009, to $1.5 billion, despite a decline in sales of hair-care products overall, according to consumer research group Packaged Facts. U.S. sales of all hair-care products totaled $9.7 billion last year, says market research outfit Kline & Co.
New Jersey stylist and barber Gina Brydie formed the National Black Cosmetology Association last year to help salon owners strengthen their businesses against the recession and the increasing Dominican competition.
"We have Asians coming in with the beauty supplies and Dominicans coming in and taking over our industry," says Ms. Brydie, 39 years old and 20 years in the business. Salons and barber shops are a proud touchstone for blacks in part because they were among the earliest black-owned businesses, providing one of few paths to economic advancement after slavery. By the early 1900s, black entrepreneur Madame C.J. Walker had become a self-made millionaire by making hair and beauty products for blacks.
Now, rather than trying to beat the Dominicans, some African-American business owners are joining them. Jennifer Drew started RoundBrushHair.com in 2007 to help Dominican salons market to blacks after she switched to the blowout and saw curiosity budding among black women.
The RoundBrushHair.com database has grown to include several hundred Dominican salons, from Sun Valley, Calif., to Chicago to Boston. Almost all opened in the past five years, Ms. Drew says. It includes 80 salons in metropolitan Washington, 95 in Georgia, 15 in Charlotte, N.C., and seven in Houston.
"Some black stylists hate on me, think I've crossed over to the other side," says Ms. Drew, who also sells hair products manufactured in the Dominican Republic to black-owned salons.
The salon to which Ms. Rollins defected is doing well. Owner Monica Clark, who is African-American, opened the shop in 2008 as a traditional black salon. But business was slow and when faced with closing a few months later, she replaced her stylists with Dominicans, brushed up on her Spanish, redecorated, reduced her prices by $10 and renamed her shop The Hair Company USA Dominican Hair Salon. She's playing merengue music now on the stereo. She says client volume has increased by 60% and sales have tripled.
Write to Corey Dade at [email protected]

 

[BillsBackerz67]

waaaaaayyyy too much unnecessary heat to yield the same results with a blow dryer that's 1,000 degrees cooler

 

[aminata]

I've had no luck at Dominican salons. I've been to one in the DVM metro area a couple of times no luck. That said--I always requested the head styist--but always had someone else work on my head. My hair was straight--but not styled. I'd style it at home without my success. The second day my hair would look a mess!

I think the technique is heat intensive--and if the stylist is not careful you could have major heat damage if done on a regular basis.
So yeah, I haven't had the best of luck in my Dominican salon experience. But a fellow natural LHCFer has had great results--Sunshine one--maybe she will talk about her experiences.

 

[aminata]

double post

 

[BostonMaria]

I am on the fence about whether or not to try a Dominican salon again. I was in the DR for 4 months and got my hair done twice. The salon was very nice and pretty professional. But even before I left the salon my hair did not have that sleek look that so many rave about. I am 100% natural and I am wonder if it was just the salon or is it that my hair cannot get that straight with a blowdryer.
Can naturals weigh in? What has been your experience?

thanks!!!

if you were living in the Dominican Republic when you had your hair done then maybe the humidity caused the reversion. I used to live down there and I know the daily 90 degree weather is no joke. I can't keep my hair straight in the summer, let alone down there. Could also be that they had hard water, didn't use enough heat or a combination of things.

I personally don't go to the salon anymore, but if you do try going on a recommendation. Don't pick a random salon just because they're Dominican. Bring your wide tooth comb, a leave-in and a heat serum just in case. They'll think you're annoying LOL but your hair will thank you. HTH.

 

[LatterGlory]

They are very good at straightening hair. It looked long and silky when done, but I suffered permanent heat damage.

 

[Carrie A]

I went a few times when I was relaxed. I liked the fast service but I agree with the too much heat concerns. I noticed my hair getting dry and the salon was smoked out. That's when I stopped going. Now that I'm natural I def wouldn't go there.

 

[bluediamond0829]

nope not anymore not for me----when i first went yes my hair came out beautiful but now no its too much heat and it doesnt take much to get my hair straight.

I love the idea that they do rollersets but other than that i cant do all the heat...

 

[Country gal]

I am not a big fan. I went once and my hair smelled so bad afterward.

 

[xcuzememiss]

i used tooooo love to go to them every week and a half for my wash and sets.. recently in nyc the prices have gone up a bit.. i really cant get a $10 wash and set anymore....... but besides that.. im going to one now where they do practice lhcf techniques .. but the price is a lil too much.. if it was cheaper id be in there every week. i usually go to get relaxers and thats like every 3.5 to 4 mos. it really depends on who though.. i just cant run into any random salon because there from DR. b/c they can still rip through my hair.. use dishwashing liquid and cheap mineral oil conditioners..

 

[RossBoss]

I've been to 3 or 4 different Dominican salons in NYC metro area; all were a total waste of time. Insisting that I need a relaxer because I have "pelo malo," being extra rough.

See, aint no way I'm putting up with this disrespect but I can believe that many Black women would, after all, that is one of the main reason Korean owned B&Bs are able to thrive in our areas. The salon I go to is owned by a Black American but my hairstylist is Jamaican....I couldn't be happier....

 

[lux10023]

im bias since my AA fam owns two salons..but i will say...

the amount of heat used on one day to get your hair looking nice for one day doesnt make sense for me--the big complaint is how can i recreate the look of sleek/str8 hair after leaving a dom salon...

doms salons use double heat--heat under the blow dryer and heat again to flatiron or blow roots str8--imho thats wayyy too much heat--then again a stylist cant do what you dont allow them too

now AA salons get backlash for lackluster service but i will say thats a salon to salon basis--if you go to a salon ONE time and receive lackluster service why would you go back?

there are some fierce AA salons that do wonderful work---i dont complain about prices in AA salons either--their about their profit so i get it

i also feel like if YOU know healthy hair practices and you sit in a salon chair and someone is doing something you dont like---then you should say something----

i dont go to salons like that anymore--moreso because i can pretty much do everything myself with the exception of applying a relaxer


the language is also a prob for me--i have to be able to discuss with you my hair needs..we both need to speak english well to do so..i need a lil more than a si mami si mami every time i say what i need done
i feel stylist now r lazzzzzyyyyyy they dont wanna work with long ethnic hair--and thats both AA/Dom....