Duafe Hair Salon — Attraction in Philadelphia

4/23/17 -I went in to get a wash and trim cut. My assigned stylist was Geneva. She approached me without introducing herself and said "are you here for a trim" and I replied yes. She then proceeded to talk about how tired she was to her cohorts as she looked for a shampoo assistant. I got the impression that she did not feel like doing my hair. I have long and very thick hair. She then takes me to the shampoo chair and I introduced myself to her and confirmed her name, because she never introduced herself. Geneva then began to tug and pull at my hair as she washed and combed it. I could tell that she lacked care and patience for natural hair. After the wash she placed me under the drier with conditioner. At the completion of this I was taken to the shampoo room and she then said that this was a three man job and asked for two shampoo assistants to help to detangle my hair. I was surprised because I had freshly washed, conditioned, and detangled my hair. Various off color remarks and questions were made in regards to my hair. At this moment I suggested that I could help to comb my hair because I know my hair. At this moment I questioned to myself, isn't this a natural hair care salon? I was made to feel like I was in a mainstream hair salon. Thank God for the shampoo assistant 'Lay' who actually had the temperament to deal with my hair. My stylist left and allowed Lay to tend to my hair which was an improvement from Geneva. I asked if this was deterring from other clients and was told that it was a slow day. Once the detangling process was complete, I got to the stylist's chair and Geneva informed me that I would be charged $50 for my trim today rather than the $20 that I would typically pay for a trim. I questioned this and was told to discuss it with the receptionist at the front desk named Lynette. She than said that I had to pay $50 dollars because it took two hours to detangle my hair and stated that my hair was shrunken and matted, all of which were false statements. Lynette continued to insult me in front of all of the clientele and stated that my stylist should be compensated for her time. My response to her was that Geneva, the stylist should have communicated this at the initiation of services to allow me to decide if I would be okay with paying this inflated fee. I then stated that her stylist did not do anything and had left the shampoo assistant to deal with my hair. Lynette then stated that Geneva had to stop because she has back problems. This fell upon deaf ears because as a nurse I cannot just decide to stop doing my job when my back starts to hurt. The incompetent stylist who did more talking than work, interjected to say to just pay $20 for having my hair detangled. I refused because those were not the services requested and I reiterated the fact that I was willing to detangle my hair myself. I have been coming to this establishment for quite some time and never has it taken so long to detangle my hair. Frankly it reflects poorly on this establishment if it doesn't have the product and skilled technicians to quickly and efficiently detangle natural hair. It takes me no longer than 20 to 30 minutes to detangle my hair on a bad day. I then offered $10 to cover detangling, despite my better judgment and Lynette then said that I could keep my $10. I then left out of Duafe with a feelings of disgust, rage, embarrassment, and dissatisfaction. Oh but wait, this horrific experience was not done yet. Lynette (receptionist) followed me outside to further berate me and I felt accosted. I quickly ended our argument before it could escalate further. Despite my being a loyal customer to Duafe, I will not return. I have never seen such a display of disrespect and unprofessionalism in a place of business. The tides seem to have changed but...

My original review was long AF so here are the highlights:

Firstly, the place is gorgeous. Eclectic African masks and special pieces of furniture.

I am a novice to all things salon and initially signed up for knotless braids when I did not actually want any hair added to my braids. The woman who consulted me told me I wanted individuals and my mistake was not showing her the picture of what I had in mind first, so she could have told me it wasn't possible.

I have a lot of long hair. It seemed to constantly be a problem. The girl who shampooed me was audibly a little displeased as she yanked the comb through hair that had shampoo in it. Their products are all made in house, they smell great and are probably all natural, but I have NEVER used a shampoo with enough slip to comb my hair out with and this certainly wasn't it either.

The first thing my stylist asked is if I ever blow out my hair, I told her no. They were busy and she did not seem to be looking forward to braiding all my hair. I told her she could blow it out of if it was easier and she declined, saying she didn't want to put heat in my hair if I usually don't. Appreciated. She detangled more thoroughly and gave me a trim. She cut my hair dry, which I also appreciated.

I showed her the picture of what I wanted. Chunky braids with a rectangular part. She told me off the bat it wasn't possible without extra hair and that my braids would be a little thinner. Understood. What I should of said is what I /didn't/ want: a million tiny braids that would be a pain to take out. She stops about halfway up the back of my head to turn me around and give me a mirror. You already know there were a million tiny braids. Again, they were busy and I wasn't about to waste her time and mine being /that/ client and asking her to redo them. So I nodded and smiled. Live and learn.

When she got to the braids around my hairline, I asked her to leave the hair around my ears out of the braids as it has always been thin and I didn't want any extra stress on it. She paused and seemed to think that was a bad idea. I asked if she could braid hair into it and she used a few lengths of natural hair to fill in three braids that were lacking. She didn't have to do that and it was really nice of her. I'm sure they worked that into my total somehow but it's whatever

Over the 4 or so hours I noticed a lot of whispering about their clients behind their backs, maybe that's regular salon behavior but it made me uncomfortable. Even their receptionist made audible comments about me "not having money" when my credit card got declined because I forgot about an emergency medical bill I charged on it. Everybody knows the professional thing to do is talk about clients AFTER they leave, not within earshot. Come on now lol.

Overall, I won't be going back. My stylist was perfectly talented but I paid A LOT of money for a hairstyle I don't love. The stylists are all jovial with each other but the gossiping was unattractive. I get that sometimes you need to vent to your girls to get through the day but they weren't even remotely slick about it. You can get your hair braided just as well somewhere else, for much cheaper if you don't mind sacrificing the...

Just know that they might not show up.

You cant make everyone happy when you own a business. I chose this salon because it has consistently great reviews, but this wasn’t my experience at all.I was ghosted by the salon and whether it was the actions of one individual or the salon deciding they were not going to service my hair I should have been notified. I’m going to attach screenshots because it is absurd and frankly its rude.

I reached out to Duafe and scheduled a virtual consult Thursday December 9th. I was super grateful that they offered this as i do live several hours away. I had my consult with Syreeta who felt the job could be done but she needed to decide who would actually do it. I was also told that I had the option of breaking the job up into multiple sittings on different days or doing an open to close visit. I already knew that the job on my hair was probably going to be between 800 to 1k. She didnt mention price but i knew it would be up there. She asked that i reach back out the following week and schedule another virtual consult and by then they would have assigned the person who would do my hair.

I waited two weeks instead of one simply because i had food poisoning. But i reached out scheduled a consult for December 24th. I took what was available on the calendar. Unfortunately no one showed for the scheduled consult. I knew it was Christmas Eve so I wasn’t upset, i figured that the calendar probably wasn’t updated. I reached out via email asking that when they got back in someone could schedule me for my follow up virtual consult. Let me be clear, yes i actually needed two virtual consults and it was their idea. My hair situation unfortunately is a complicated one.

December 28th I get a text from Janelle who knew nothing about the situation. I let her know that a stylist never showed up for the virutal consult on the 24th and she stated that they left at 2pm that day and apologized. I explained my hair situation and the prior conversation that was had with syreeta.

December 29th Janelle texted me saying that a stylist named Michelle would be giving me a call that evening or the next day. NOTHING. Not a call or text.

I figured since its the holiday season and New Years maybe they are just busy ill give it some time. I reached back out January 10th asked if anyone was going to be reaching back out. No Reply.

Reached back out one more time January 24th , stated that i was checking back in one more time and that i had not heard back since December. I asked that if the salon had changed their mind about servicing my hair that they please just let me know so I can find another salon. I wasn’t rude or disrespectful at all.

People have left great reviews but unfortunately this was not my experience at all. I dont know if there was a staff issue and the person texting me is no longer there or if they in fact did change their mind about my hair..all i know is they wasted my time, which i value more than money and that is not okay. Just in case there is any doubt I’m attached screen shots of the appointments and the text as you can see...