My Dominican salon is where my hair started thriving. I had been going to AA salons all my life and never got past shoulder length, and never thought twice about that, figuring that was just the way it was. I was shocked the very first time I got a perm at the Dom salon and the lady didn't trim my hair. She was like, "No, mami, your ends are okay, maybe next time."
I wasn't used to not losing an inch of hair with my touch up. I wasn't used to being in the stylist chair within 15 minutes of arriving at the salon. I also wasn't used to the absence of drama, attitudes and fried chicken, lol. The only black salon I had felt pampered at had cost me almost $150 dollars for a perm and trim -- and that didn't even include a deep conditioning. I could feel pampered for $25 with Marisol and 'em.
My hair took off from there and I haven't looked back. I learned most of what I know about healthy haircare from the Doms: weekly washing, deep conditioning, and rollersetting (saved my hair as I was heat addict); and less trimming. I stick with one girl to do my relaxers, I tip her very generously for the great job she does with it and we're both happy. I only let them blow out my roots because I hated losing body in my hair from a complete blow-out (I wasn't even really thinking about the heat damage) -- I love big, not flat, hair. So I already had a good foundation and simple, effective regimen before I found LHCF even though I love to play around with some of the info I've found here. I do a lot of my own rollersets and deep conditioning at home now, and have even done a touchup or two, but I still love to go to the salon toward the end of my stretch.
The only potential downside I've found is in the area of precision cuts. I'm full APL now, thinking of going a little bit shorter, with some type of precision layers and I don't think my Dom sisters are the ones to give me what I'm looking for. So I think I'll be scouting out some higher-scale black, and possibly even white, salons for a more precise look.