BSL+ ladies: Who Does Hair Themself & Who Goes to Salon?

[Ennyaa]

I do my own. I no longer trust mean stylist . They don't like dealing with long natural hair. They are always trying to talk me into getting a relaxer.

My hair is no where near your length but the one and only time I went to a Dominican salon for a blow out not only did they burn the sh*t out of my scalp with the blow dryer I had to listen to them over and over telling me how I need to relax my hair. The end result was very pretty but I decided it wasn't worth the pain and aggravation. I can't even imagine what it would have been like if my hair had been longer.

I've been mostly DIY ever since but if I DO go to a salon I make sure they have experience with natural hair before I even set foot in there for a consultation.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

Kini, thank you so much for addressing this issue. I am bumping to pose a related question:

For those of you who do frequent hair salons and got to BSL, do you attribute your success to hairdressers, or by your own hand?

I want to know, particularly those who go to Dominican salons. A good friend of mine has been going to the Dominicans for years and her hair is down her back. She told me that her hair was never long until she started going to the Dominicans.

Of course, I'm apprehensive about going to any kind of salon, not only because I have very fine, fragile hair, but because I am also tenderheaded and can't take the torture of heavy-handed stylists who often do not know how to handle and treat my delicate strands.

ETA: Kini, I hope you don't mind me hijacking the thread to ask this question.

 

[prospurr4]

I never go to salons. In fact, I've been to a salon only once in my life. The stylist cut my hair, w/o my permission, and I never went back. Now, at BSL, I do everything at home (rollersets, relaxers, trims, etc.), and I actually enjoy doing my own hair. I hope I never have to visit a salon again.

 

[Cholet112]

As my hair got longer I felt like my stylist had a little hair hate going on. She always want to trim it when it doesnt need it. The only time I go now is for perms/treaments because I refuse to do those myself. And even when I go then her assistant is SOOOOO rough. I think the benefits of doing my hair myself are higher than letting them do it.

Before I found this board my hair STAYED shoulder length. But when I started doing my hair myself and only going every 10-11 weeks for a relaxer my hair went from shoulder length (Oct 2006) to BSL(April 2007). My mom looked at me the other day and said "You are extra beautiful with your long hair. Im proud of you for sticking with this and not being bullied by your stylist."

Now I dont do rollersets because I workout 6-days so its no point. But I do know how to do them and get the Victorias Secrets fan blowing hair (Thanks Macherieamour).

 

[BrownBetty]

I usually only go to the salon for a touch up. Special occasions and when I am in NY I pay for a wash and set. I usually don't have a problem with stylist because I will set you straight in a hot minute. The woman who does my relaxer realizes that I know what I am doing and does not question me.
The place I got to in NY usually they want to suggest some product. On saturday this woman try to tell me that the aphogee leave in was too drying for my hair I should try Sedal leave in instead. She didn't have nothing to say once my hair was out of those roller all smooth and shiny. I don't pay them any mind, just do what I ask.

When I was bras strap (I am almost back there now) I dreaded washing my hair. Forget rollersetting it was such a fight so I would wet wrap and sit under the dry then flat iron. I would rollerset sometimes, usually I would alternate between the 2.

I say try it out and see what happens, if not go to someone else for the wash and set, you might just need to show them you are not playing with them and teach them how to handle your hair.

 

[BrownBetty]

I usually only go to the salon for a touch up. Special occasions and when I am in NY I pay for a wash and set. I usually don't have a problem with stylist because I will set you straight in a hot minute. The woman who does my relaxer realizes that I know what I am doing and does not question me.
The place I got to in NY usually they want to suggest some product. On saturday this woman try to tell me that the aphogee leave in was too drying for my hair I should try Sedal leave in instead. She didn't have nothing to say once my hair was out of those roller all smooth and shiny. I don't pay them any mind, just do what I ask.

When I was bras strap (I am almost back there now) I dreaded washing my hair. Forget rollersetting it was such a fight so I would wet wrap and sit under the dry then flat iron. I would rollerset sometimes, usually I would alternate between the 2.

I say try it out and see what happens, if not go to someone else for the wash and set, you might just need to show them you are not playing with them and teach them how to handle your hair.

 

[Zahrah]

It's been 2 1/2 years since Ive been in a salon. I do miss the pampering. I dont miss the inexperienced shampoo assts. w. the pulling/jerking my head back, the hot blow dryer burning my neck/ears, the stylist trimming ends every 2 weeks & the stylist rushing me b/c she wants to go home and im still under the dryer b/c my hair is thick and her dryer doesnt get hot enough. I gained 8 inches since leaving the salon.

 

[MissScarlett]

i do my hair myself, i always have. I can count on my hands the number of times i've been to the salon EVER in 31 years and that is 9 i've gone to the dominican salon twice but seriously i'm too impatient to sit that long
after i learned to take care of my hair including giving up relaxing b/c all that was doing was making my curls looser, my hair was even more frizzy so i said ok i'm going to take the time to come up with my own system.

my hair is BSL now but its been WL before, i just typically like my hair to stay between bSL and WL. i'm sure if i went to a salon regularly i would not have as much hair.

Ya'll remember Jayne Kennedy???? She was my hair eny growing up and I remember reading an article about her that said she has always done her own hair even when she was a sportscaster/anchorwoman. she said it wasn't about the money or the stylist, she just knew her hair and how best to take care of it.

 

[caribeandiva]

I wish I could be in this convo maybe next year

me too. maybe in the next 3 years in my case.

 

[caribeandiva]

Awww, Guesswho, I didnt mean to make anyone feel excluded! Im sorry!

In retrospect, i should have just asked EVERYONE, not just BSL and longer. Im sure this is an issue that we ALL deal with, and i really do welcome all opinions.

Im gonna go add an edit to my original post.

ok then. i do my own hair. i went to salons for years and my hair went for bad to worse and from short to shorter (all that damn cutting!). I don't need nobody telling me i need to cut my hair so it'll grow or that i need a perm. i avoid salons like the plague. My hair does come out when i do it myself anyway and it's way cheaper.

 

[CAPlush]

ok then. i do my own hair. i went to salons for years and my hair went for bad to worse and from short to shorter (all that damn cutting!). I don't need nobody telling me i need to cut my hair so it'll grow or that i need a perm. i avoid salons like the plague. My hair does come out when i do it myself anyway and it's way cheaper.

Cosign! I can jack up my own hair, in the privacy of my own home, for free And I get to avoid all of that maddening salon jibber jabber, ignorance, and random insults.

 

[Bosslady1]

I use to go to the salon but finding this site (that has soo much information on "do it yourself" methods) made me decide to take my hair into my own hands. I have been doing my own hair for the past 6 months now.

 

[mermaid]

Ladies, I want to know how many of you do your own hair at home...... and how many of you still go to a salon for your roller sets?

I've almost always done my hair myself (braided extensions, double process color, single process color, relaxers -back when I used them- deep conditioning, presses; all me, baby!!). Just never got into the whole salon thing. I think in my entire life, I've been to a salon 10 times.

 

[chica_canella]

I went to my new stylist twice but no more. I got so many split ends from the blowdrying that now I am going to go back to my braids.

 

[nicki6]

I do it all myself. I use to be 'ole faithful' with biweekly salon visits until I actually looked at pics and realized that my hair was perpetually the same length for at least 3 years! My stylist was cutting my length after every relaxer

I haven't been to a shop in over a year and my hair has never been longer

 

[Radianthealth]

It has been a little over a year since I have been to a stylist. I am happy about my choice. I am inspired to try to rollerset my hair tonight

 

[cocoberry10]

I usually do it myself, but sometimes I go to the Dominicans.

 

[SouthernTease]

Wow, that's interesting to see.
Maybe I need to take heed.

 

[ajoyfuljoy]

I really don't trust other people with my strands. If I find a good stylist then maybe I'll become a regular at the salons. But at this point in my life, I'm falling in love with increasingly becoming better at doing it myself. It's very liberating!

 

[septemberbaby]

I'm only neck length but I can tell already by the way my hair is being handled that I'll be doing my own hair. After my last wash/set at the Dominican shop, I will be doing my own at home. These are the reasons why:

1. The poo girl was way to rough around my edges, she focused only on the front and top of my head. She never touched the back, especially the left side of my nape.
2. Similar problem with the conditioner, she barely put any on the back and my nape area. The top & front was coated the most.
3. Stylist kept asking me why didn't I want a trim. Because I said so! *eyeroll*
4. My hair was much, much, drier later on that day.

So, I can do my own wash, deep conditions and rollersets at home. It'll take longer and my rollersets won't be that perfect but my hair will be clean and handled with care. And it won't be dry in a couple of hours.

I don't have to worry about telling the stylist "no, I don't want a trim".

I'll just go to them for retouches and to get my roots blown out the more the more NG I have. That's it.

 

[krissyprissy]

I basically maintain my own hair, but I will not do my own relaxers. Its just to much trouble because of the length and the speed of getting finish before burning. I wash and condition my own hair weekly at home.

 

[beana]

My sister relaxes my hair and i maintain it in between touch ups. I've thought about going to the salon JUST for touchups in the past, but my sis does a great job, works just as fast as they do, and is much easier to pay off

My hair is soo much thicker since ive completely stopped going to the salon... Rollersetting is a breeze for me and everyhting takes about 21/2 hours (wash 2x's dep condition, detangle, rollerset, dry) which is about the same in the salon and i get sole discretion over how long certain treatments stay in my hair. One of my biggest pet peeves was everytime i thought i had built a decent relationship with a stylist, she'd start trying to hood wink me... Like the last time i went to this dominican stylist.. i had been going to her for over a year for my touch ups and an occasional rollerset... but that wasn't frequent enough for her.. she wanted to see me EVERY week. anyways i asked for a pentraitt treatment and she put Razac tx in my hair and still tried to charge me an extra $5 for the penetrait, mind you the whole 16oz bottle of Razac costs $5.. i politely tried to tell her i knew it wasn't pentraitt and that i wasn't paying for it.. and lets just say that was the end of that stylist.

If it wasn't a haircare mishap it was a snide remark.. when i realized i was PAYING for people to talk doodoo about me, is when i said forget it!!!! Plus all the damn tugged and pulling, insisting on certain services was just too much.

 

[winterinatl]

Kini, for the most part I do my own hair, but on special occasion I go to a black stylist (not Dominicans) for a rollerset.

There is just too much for me to rollerset, but I want to learn how.

The last time I went in I got a great relaxer service, but the set was all wrong. That lady was acting like I had some special kinda hair that didn't need product, I think she was making assumptions based on the length. Anyway, I feel you.

No more dominicans, they can be really rough!

 

[Daisimae]

It is absolutely amazing that I would even be thinking of doing my hair myself on a regular basis.

I have been going to a salon ever since I was four years old. When I wasn't going there, my Mom did my hair for me. She washed, pressed and curled every month from the time I was six until I was 12. She rolled it up for me every night. I got a relaxer when I was 12. She still washed and conditioned it weekly and rolled it at night, until I was 15.

Ever since then, I have gone to the salon every two weeks. If I didn't go it was because I was dead broke, with no wiggle room. When I did my hair myself would pick up and walk off my head, until I took myself back to the salon. The only reason why I ended up doing my hair now is because DH has been out-of-work since the end of Feb and I could not justify spending money on a salon right now. I've been fortunate to have good stylists, who listen to me, treat my hair gently and do what I ask them to. I can think of four right now who I could call.

DH is going back to work on Monday, but, I am not calling my stylists. The one thing that kept me running to the salon was rollersets. I couldn't do them, now I can. Since I am starting out when my hair is short, I'll get used to it being longer gradually. It won't hurt my arms as much. I like doing my hair when ever I want to, in what ever I choose or choose not to wear. I like using the products I've discovered here and being able to DC with EVERY wash. I hated seeing my bill creep up $5 because I got a 5 minute conditioner, $10 for a deep conditioner or $20 for a hard ApHogee treatment, when I know the actual conditioner cost very little. I HATED having a washed out plastic cap, that had been used on someone else, put on my head. I hated having to make the first appt of the day or else be stuck in there all day.

My new goal is to visit the salon no more than ten times a year, down from the 25-30 visits my stylist is accustomed to. Five times to get touch-ups, four times for professional coloring with an extra visit thrown in for a special occasion.

 

[tsturnbu]

I used to go the salon every 2 weeks, but I stopped when i npticed my hair begin thinning. now, i wash, condition, and then airdry. I then detangle when slightly dry, and then flat iron the top layer when its completely dry. this method has save me money and hair. whenever i went to the salon, i alwyas lose alot of hair when they are detangling my hair preparing for the rollerset. my hair is very thankful.

 

[seymone]

Not BSL yet, but i do my hair myself.. Twice a week.

 

[cherriamber]

I picked other because I do my hair at home and I go to the salon once a month to get a dominican blowout

 

[VelvetRain]

I do my hair at home. Only go to the salon at touch up time. Virtually every 10 weeks.

 

[Evazhair]

I voted other. I only get touchups/trims at the salon. I agree with many of the ladies who self maintain .Trust, if I can do it you can. I have learned to be patient and take my time. You can duplicate the salon results at home, its all about products and letting your hair get totally dry before you take all of the rollers out. I too love my "home salon time", in my tank/skirt. I don't answer my phone, and watch a movie, or am on the computer. When I don't feel like doing it, I just take longer.
Kudos to the ladies who self trim/ relax.

 

[LovelyLionessa]

I do my hair myself, touch ups, trims, rollersets, you name it I do it.