Dominican Salon in the East Village

free2bme

Well-Known Member
In my never ending quest of finding a decent salon with reasonable prices south of 42nd street, I decided to give Beautiful Hair Salon in the east Village a try.

Brownrelaxed hair spotted the salon a few weeks ago and gave me the details.Their sign says $18 for a wash &set. I got a deep condit., rollerset.

Pros:

1. they were very time efficient. They started doing my hair at 6:50 and I was done by 8:05. (including deep conditioning)

2. they use decent products (even tho I brought mine)
Nexxus, Salerm, Biolage, Sebastian, dominican conditioners...

3. they were pleasant & friendly and had a decent command of english

Cons:

1. when blowdry a la domincan style, the blowdryer was unbeleivably hot and she attempted to blowdry each section over and over again. I had to say enough. I guess she thot the staighter the better. after that she offered to use the curling iron /images/graemlins/confused.gif

3. When it was time to settle my bill, it came to $23. I asked why since the sign said $18 was and sets. She said she charged an extra $5 for deep conditioning but I brought my own products /images/graemlins/confused.gif

4. I hate it when more than one person works on me. One lady washed, conditioned and rollerset my hair. Another lady blowdried and wrapped it. I don't get the opportunity to truely evaluate their work individually. By the time I tipped both of them my $18 wash set became $28. Still not bad by any standards but not what I anticipated.

All in all it wasn't a bad experience. I can see myself going back when I don't feel like schleping to Harlem or paying midtown prices.
 
Hi free2beme,

Thanks for the indepth post on this salon. I don't like the idea of a few women doing your hair and tagging on that extra price for deep conditioning either.

I do like the sound of their own products though which is a good sign. Did you see anyone else having wash and sets too? There is a D salon that I just discovered 5 mins from my home and I made a point of asking if they deep condition. When they said yes I asked if its extra cost to which they said its $10 (for using their own products) but nothing if they use what I bring. I've made a point since being on this board of asking questions now. Plus I told them to just wrap after removing rollars and put me back under the dryer. These are 'precautionary' steps when testing out a salon for the first time I think.

Still I do like the sound of the one you went to and I'd just do the same of asking for a wrap after removing rollars instead of the blow dryer. I'm REALLY impressed by how quick they were though.

How do you like the hair?
 

free2bme

Well-Known Member
My hair seems okay. It's still in the doobie. I'll let you know how it look when I let down the wrap.
 

Tracy

New Member
Alright you two...here I go /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Can we PLEASE be realistic.....????

$28 dollars for servicing the hair in ANY way by New York standards is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. There are places that are cheaper of course (mostly Dominican Salons in Harlem or Brooklyn) but they are areas where I am sure the rent is not nearly as expensive for the salon owners. But they have overhead. Paying $18 for a wash and set (even with an added $5 charge) is not much money. Something has to happen to make that price possible.

Dominican salons are able to keep their costs down by doing a few different things. One of them is not taking appointments in the strict sense of the word (so even if you call and say you're coming - it's not the same concept as making an appointment with a person and being charged $100 and change for the privilege of having one person work on you - which we all know you guys all LOVE the idea of /images/graemlins/wink.gif ). This means they have to use the manpower they have in the most efficient way possible for them, so that everyone gets their hair done in a timely fashion. Sometimes this means that the person that washed you is now washing someone else (or that they are only responsible for washes while there are others that do rollers) and that would mean that in order to have the process continue on YOUR hair you would have to WAIT (and I'm sure that would garner complaints as well) for them to be finished and get back to you. The object, I can assure you, is not only to maximize profits, but to move through the clientele as quickly as possible so people aren't kept waiting. If they only had one person per head, they would NEED to take appointments - and that would mean that they only had the potential of making $28 roughly every two hours for each stylist that was on duty. That's not exactly a profitable way to do business in 2003. They aren't exactly a rollersetting charity girls! /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

As to the conditioner charges - again - even if you bring your own stuff - you want to go under the dryer and that costs THEM MONEY in the form of ELECTRICITY which means an extra 5 bucks on an extremely low bill. To me, should not really be a problem. Even if you brought your own conditioner.

As for the blowdrying and the curling iron fiasco - you guys need to understand across the board that if you are going a Dominican Salon that this is the way they do hair !!!!! They rollerset it, they go over each section with a blowdryer to get it as straight as possible, and if there isn't enough curl toward the ends for the patron's taste they bump the ends. They do this because that is how the majority of Spanish women do their hair - and it is what they require - relaxer or no - when they come into the salon. In fact - most BLACK GIRLS want it that way as well. They provide the service that is in demand. It is routine for them. If it's not what you want, and you are familiar with Dominican salons and their way of doing things, then it seems to me that all that you need to do is exactly what you did - say no thanks. Now that you know that this is the way they do it - you can tell them next time that you want a little blowing only, or none at all, or only the roots, and they will comply.

With this salon it sounds like you got speed, a reasonable price, a prime location, and people who did what you asked them to do. I'm not sure what y'all are looking for in a salon but it sounds to me at this point like we're being a little too persnickity when it comes to certain things.

Again - they can't just give the service away to you, and they do things the way they do things - which you either like or you don't. It's a toss up - but it seems silly to keep going to Dominican salons and going "they used the blower..." when we know that that's what they do..... /images/graemlins/confused.gif
 

Ennyaa

Member
Well Tracy why don't you tell us how your REALLY feel? /images/graemlins/grin.gif lol

Ok so here's a question for you and anybody else who might know. Are there any decent Dominican salons in NJ? I work in NY on 31st street on the west side, but I'd still rather get my hair done in NJ. I love the salon I go to currently for my texturizers, but that's only every 12 weeks and in between it would be nice to go someplace that doesn't charge an arm and a leg.
 

NayNay

New Member
I go to Mirror Image (110th & columbus) and there it is the same set up. U go to the sink and someone washes, someone else rolls u and if you want to choose who does your blow out, u can-I usually do. Also there if you do not want a blowout they will just take the rollers out and wrap it-don't forget your bobby pins. The last time I requested just for my roots to blown out and that was all they did and then they wrapped me. I liked it MUCH better than bone straight. My hair is thick and blowing it out makes it straighter than a relaxer makes my hair!
They only charged me $20 and they don't charge extra if you bring your own conditioners. I have NEVER paid more than $23 and I have hair past my shoulders. My girlfriend whose hair is bra strap length and she has a ton of hair gets charged around $30!
I like the spot but u have to REQUEST to stay under the dryer longer for a deep condition...it is not "the standard"! My biggest dislike is that fight!
 

azul11

Well-Known Member
oh wow i am glad to hear more positives about this place. i have gone for roller sets there and have taken my mother there and her hair came out shiny and bouncy and my hair came out flowing. i am going to get a relaxer there and although i am a bit nervous i have seen them do relaxers and they are good at not overlapping from what i have seen and they use lye relaxers which is a plus to me. do you know people who have gotten relaxers there? i plan to go this sunday i have a 5 dollar off coupon for the weekends for relaxers so i would like to know. God bless you all.
 

Tracy

New Member
I know....I'm the worst. All opinionated....LOL! But I mean it all in the most loving and sisterly way possible. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

Y'all just be frustratin' sometimes! I'm as serious about my hair as anyone else but sometimes I feel like we get a little unfair about what we expect - from products, hairdressers and more....

But I can understand the way people feel. I hope I didn't come across as too %&$*^y. Y'all know I love ya! /images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Ennyaa

Member
*pattin you on the back* We know Tracy, we know.
Actually I was over here crackin up with a visual of you with your face all scrunched up typing like a madwoman. hahahahahaha
/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Point well made Tracy.

I have to say too, there's another salon around 44th and Lex which is 20 on Tuesdays and 30 all other days for wash and sets so these ARE good prices for the locations. (I've not been to this one yet).

Like I said before, if you say in advance what you want and don't want then you should be fine anyways.
 
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