Charm's African Hair Braiding & Weaving — Local services in Austin

I had hoped to like this establishment, but should have listened to the reviews. I was not miffed by the contact via text or the implication that the "owner" gave the impression she would be braiding my hair and when I showed up someone I had never talked with performed the service. I was reassured by the owner that the quality of the shop and stylist had changed with new management. I took the time to explain my concerns with previous encounters with other hair braiding stylist--braiding too tight, lack of professionalism, and overall disregard for customers. I was reassured this was not the case.

I arrived to a shop that was less than stellar and had no soap in the bathroom. The experience was pleasant enough. The stylist reiterated what I had told the owner about my concerns. She asked questions and led me to believe I was in good hands. The braiding experience was okay. She did make it a point to braid every single hair (including the fine hairs in the front) and grasped the front tighter than I would have liked, but, at the time, it did not seem like it would create any issue. My only complaint was that I was not told it was a cash only salon, and I had to go get some after the service was completed. The owner contacted me to see how my experience went. I explained it went well, I liked my hair, but I had concerns about the tightness in the front.

After a few days, I noticed bumps and irritation. A few more days after that I noticed my hair was coming out by the root in the very areas I had mentioned to the owner. Much to my chagrin, all the promises and customer service she had assured me of were no where to be found. The owner's response was always "This is the first time hearing of one of our customers has bumps or irritation" or "I have not had a single complaint about my stylist that did your hair braiding tight." In addition, she "offered" to fix it, but with "all the issues" she wasn't sure that was something she wanted to do. I replied back but have yet to hear anything.

While my situation could have been an anomaly (I highly, highly doubt it), customer service could and would have fixed this issue.

The impression I received after this encounter is that this salon operates to get people to come in and get services performed at least once and then move on to the next. There is no customer service or commitment to forging lasting stylist relationships.

For the sake of your hair--DO NOT GO...

I liked my experience with the stylist there. My one complaint is that I came in earlier during the week to get my hair box braided and the the owner and another customer convince me to try crochet braiding which was the same price as what I wanted for. So this very well is my fault, but triedon't it. I did not like how she crocheted my hair the braiding pattern was all uneven, the back of my hair was not braided properly, nor was the front of my hair so ultimately I did not like how the crochet braids came out. So about 2 Days Later I went back and got my hair rebraided the way I originally went in there for and the owner said she would give me a discount and only took $20 off so I ended up paying almost 260 for box braids in one week. I felt like my discount should have been a little bit more.

I love the way my braids look now so the quality of work is good, but I do believe I should have gotten a bigger discount especially since it's been two days apart and I was very very very unhappy with my...

Pros: Great Customer Service was offered water and chips for free. The owner went out of her way to make sure I was very comfortable.

Cons: Took a total of 7 and a half hours for two stylists to finish senegalese twist on my head. Neither stylist handled my natural hair (4C) Very well, instead of wetting it to pull it apart the stylist practically ripped my hair out of my head. The outside, which was done at the beginning were alot smaller then the inner braids. Towards the end the stylist used bigger chunks of my hair to create the braids and as a result the senagalese twist came out a lot thinner. I paid for waist length hair but the hair was not twisted all the way down, so i really paid extra for nothing.

All in all I do not believe ill be returning to this shop...