Super African Hair Braiding — Attraction in New York

If I could possibly give this establishment zero stars, I would.

To begin with, I saw this location, like many other women in these reviews, thru tiktok where it was $200 any style/any length & wash + blow dry. I reach out to Amy whom lets me know to initially come in closer to 7am when the shop opens up but we then changed the appt time to 1pm. Once I arrive, the place is PACKED. Like sardines. I’m taken aback at first but then I get approached by Amy, which is who I ask about the wash and blow dry services and she sends me over to this dark, tiny, open room with no lights all the way in the back and I proceed to wait until someone came. Sonia/Sonya shows up about 10 mins later and washes the front/top of my head twice, leaving the back untouched, wet, STILL TANGLED. She washes me twice and then moves me over to this tiny seat with no type of back support and still, very much packed like a sardine. Sonia then proceeds to untangle my hair from root to ends using the comb attachment piece to a blow dryer without even applying some form of conditioner in my hair. Just straight yanking my hair which becomes worse once she actually begins blow drying. Once we finish that painful ass process, we wait for a chair to open up and then begin to start. Sonia probably completed about 2 rows of braids on the back before she got up and I eventually never saw her again. No communication AT ALL which is the common theme of this business. I sit there in the chair looking dumb and annoyed for about 45 mins before one random braider came and decided to do one singular braid while sighing loudly before getting up and doing another random task like ok girl i guess. At this point, it’s been about 2 hours and there is ZERO communication again. Other women in the shop throughout my appointment complained about the same thing and I truly believe their concerns were invalidated because Amy would claim the hairstyle they chose is gonna take “longer” to complete or everyone is allegedly “busy” lol. If you know your posting content on social media in hopes of getting more clients, at least make sure your team is with the program and understands that time is money and you’ll be losing a lot of valuable clients due to lack of time management and communication on your end as a business.

A braider behind me had just finished up with a girl and Amy then proceeded to tell this braider in her native tongue to finish my braids and you can completely tell the braider did not wanna finish my head based on her facial expressions and body language. At this point, I should’ve just left but I came all the way from Brooklyn which is 1 1/2 hours on the train just ONE WAY so that wasn’t an option for me. The braider ended up still taking me and throughout the time I was with her, it was about 4 times where she would stop braiding and step outside or walk to the back without saying a word for about 5 mins at a time. The final time she stepped out, she came back with food and told me she’s gonna eat her food which is 100% understandable because she deserves a moment, but at this point it was 5 pm and we still haven’t finished with the back section so while I was understanding, I was also very aggravated because I just wanted my hair to be done so I can leave.

About 25ish minutes later, the braider comes back and starts finishing up with my hair by herself whereas I look over at the other clients and I see 3 people on one head, 2 on another and im left sitting there, angry, because an appt that should’ve took maximum 7 hours, ended up being 11 hours. 11 HOURS.

The braids came out okay but I wouldn’t recommend this spot overall, even if the service was $200 or $2. The experience that you will go through is not worth the time, money, or stress that you’ll deal with when coming to this place. I personally don’t intend on coming back AT ALL which might not matter to this business right now, but unfortunately ik this isn’t the first or last time that another person might experience what I did or worse.

If I could give zero stars, I would in...

My cousin and I made an appointment for 9:45 in the morning and got to the braiding shop at 9:30. When we got there the shop was packed and busy. Didn’t think much of it due to the fact we had already scheduled appointments beforehand and they were “confirmed”. So I was thinking we’d be helped soon by someone. Someone did ask what we wanted and we told them that we had appointments scheduled, and they asked for proof of text message saying appointments were confirmed and we showed proof. The lady then says cool and helps us pick out our braiding hair and we waited to be serviced at that braiding shop for over an hour. My cousin and I start getting a little iffy because we traveled quite far and were on a tight schedule due to living on Shelter Island and having to worry about catching a limited amount of trains back home. I made sure they were aware of that, and told them we needed to be done by 4pm. So we and another person get sent to the other hair braiding shop in the Bronx and there we wait 2 more hours. There were three braiders and two of the braiders took my cousin and the other person. While I had to wait 3hrs instead of two. I asked multiple times when someone would braid my hair, at this point I was getting worried about the time crunch because it was now 12pm and we had to catch a 5:30 train and I have a lot of hair and am aware of how long it takes to braid my hair (most braiders spend about 6hrs or more) to braid my hair. I tell the braiders again about our time constraint and they tell me over and over, “someone’s coming” and that I’ll be out by 2:30-3pm. I wanna trust her because I had high hopes for the place given the reviews I seen on tik tok but my gut knew that my hair was not going to be finished on time. But was hopeful anyway because we had traveled pretty far and I didn’t come there for nothing. Someone finally comes to braid my hair around 12pm and they were supposed to wash and blowdry my hair as well. Only ended up getting it blow dried and it was poorly blow dried as well. The last finally starts braiding and I’m watching the fine of course, and am a little hopeful that there’s a chance she can finish it before 4pm. Until she started taking multiple breaks on her phone and even took a break to eat at around 2:30ish and we weren’t even halfway done with my hair yet. I say something again reminding her that I have to leave at 4pm trying to put it nicely that I need her to start braiding my hair again without being rude and being as nice as possible while also making sure I’m getting my moneys worth but at this point I was highly irritated because I had already waited 3hrs for someone to even start braiding my hair. Eventually 3pm rolls around and she still had the top of my head to do and I knew she wasn’t going to be able to finish it before 4pm so I ask her if another braider might be able to help her finish my hair so that I can be out of here at 4pm and no reply. I then ask again and once again no reply. So I say again, when 4pm comes I’m leaving wither to finish my hair or not. 4pm comes and my hair still isn’t finished so I get up and ask what I owe, because I now need to leave and no responds to me. I ask again, and try to clarify that I am now leaving and am asking what I owe for whatever they did braid of my hair. And then one of the braiders asks me “what’s wrong” as if I didn’t tell them already multiple times. I then pay 200 dollars for whatever they did do and honestly thought it was bs that I had to pay 200 dollars for braids with parts that aren’t even neatly parted on a brick layer formation. The sizing parts also were more of a small-medium size when I asked for small. I paid the 200 dollars anyway and took the braiding hair because I was honestly so done with the whole situation and needed to go home before I was stranded and not able to make...

Horrible customer service! If I could give zero stars, I would. I have been going here for about 12 years. I have sent friends, strangers, and family to this place because it felt like home. Over the last few years, the attitude and work ethic has changed. Anta used to do my hair beautifully and now seems money hungry. I like my braids long, and every time I go, I ask the same thing how much because I like my hair long,and lately it seems to a problem. The last time I paid 250 plus tip, my hair wasn’t even long the way I liked it. So I stop going to her. Whatever they ask me to pay I pay with no hesitation, because I understand that they all have to make a cut. Why have me pay for long box braids, and then you give me whatever length you feel like giving me and have me pay for long box braids. Last week I called Baba on a Wednesday and asked her to do my hair. She said no problem, and I confirmed the night before because I have to pay a toll to get out to Harlem. I called her at about 8:55 to said I’ll be 5 minutes late because I was looking for parking, and that’s when she informed me she booked two heads before and she was not going to be able to do my hair. I felt disrespect, and I asked her why she would make me drive so far to come here to tell me she couldn’t do my hair. All she could say was I’m sorry I didn’t want to lie. She could have said something to me the night before when I called to confirm that she had another head the following day, which would have given me time to find another place or person not five minutes before. I also went in June to get my kids hair done, and they told me two braiders would be there, and when I got there, the braiders came in and went to do other people's hair, and when I asked Anta what was going on she just gave attitude and started to speak in her language. If my kids had been around that day, the amount of cursing I would only god would have been able to tell me. I walked away and said nothing. Over the years, they don’t want to talk to the people who have been coming to do it for years because they know we know their prices, and they want to charge way more for styles that don’t cost much. They will never build client relationships that way, and they will not last that long. Not to mention the quality of their braids has changed over the years. I will never go back to this place ever again. They are money-hungry, rude, and liars. They have no regard for people's time, and all they want is your money and give you a half-done job. When Amy, the owner, is in Africa, they lose their mind about the prices and the quality of work they do. It isn't very pleasant. Amy, the owner, can genuinely thank Anta and Baba for ending our over-a-decade-old relationship. They will never do me, my 3 kids, or my 2...