Eloms African Hair Braiding — Local services in Charlotte

HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE. My expierence was horrible at this place. I had to drive 45 minutes- hour to get to this salon. When I arrived there , the lady scheduled me to come at 4. I come in, and had to wait on another client until about 6. That already caused irritation having to wait two hours. Next when I got into the chair, the elder woman began to comb my natural hair with a fine tooth comb. Natural women know you can not comb through 4c hair with a comb of that particular type. Only wide tooth combs are gentle on the hair and appropriate. When I get into the braiding chair, I tell the woman what length I wanted my braids and I also told the owner when she came in. I established that I would pay the extra amount for my hair to be a certain length because I know that's how most braid shops work. (I still had to basically pay the full price because of the length even though the back of my head was shaved into a style & there was no actual hair a few inches down in the back of my head.) The first initial braid was wrong, that's how I knew it wasn't going to be pleasant. I told her I wanted the hair down past my bra and she did the first braid about 4 inches past my ear. Way too short and not even enough to cover the back of my head. I stopped her and said this is too short and she responded with "Oh that's right, you want long. I'm sorry" & took the braid out. Mind you I had just told her and the owner 15 minutes prior to her beginning my hair. Next, she began to braid and she did a few the length I wanted them and then halfway through began to rush and shorten them up. They were drastically & noticeably shorter than the others and it was not neat at all. I called another braider over for her to look at the braids and to tell her that they did not come together and look even like most braids. She began to argue with me about the hair and said in French, (not knowing I could understand) , that I was a "complicated customer". All the women in the salon and the manager began to speak in French when someone had an issue or a complaint which I didn't understand. Why speak in another language knowing that would make customers uncomfortable especially after dealing with my situation? At one point, the manager even started speaking in a vigorous angry tone and even pointed at me several times ! She was pointing her finger at me across the room while I was in the chair. I was so uncomfortable . How do you treat customers like this after they pay hundreds of dollars? If I'm paying all this money for my hair, I at least want it done right. I also at least want to be treated like a paying customer and not be uncomfortable. (Also, I'll never understand having to sit there for 8 hours when only 65% of my head had hair on it and the other section was cut.) After I threatened to leave because frankly after a few hours of sitting, getting my head yanked, and not knowing if she was doing the braids the length I wanted, I was too through. The elder lady apologized and then she stated she would do my hair correctly, but I literally had to watch her do every single braid and compare it myself to the last braid to make sure it was some correlation. I knew the braid wouldn't be the perfect size and length everytime but I had to make sure one was 10 inches down my back while the other wasn't 5. It was a hot mess. Having to watch and keep an eye on EVERY single braid. I got so irritated and after some time, the elder lady braiding even began to get rough with my hair, pulling my braids hard and yanking my hair. It was the absolute worst hair braiding experience ever. I spoke to the owner and asked if I could have some money back or something for the distress and she said no. I would never go back to this salon again. There are other braiding salons in the area where a customer would get treated with respect and also be...

Update: *Update the actual manager of Eloms reached out to me and apologized for how his contractors handled the situation. He made some effort to make it right- whatever that means considering I now have a HUGE BALD SPOT. He did refund my money which was the absolute LEAST he could do. Getting my money back doesn't replace my hair!

I cried all the way home looking at the gaping hole by the edge of my face. I can cover it if I wear my hair in a particular fashion but if I want to wear it half up, or even swooped to the side, or when I take out the braids this fall, what am I going to do then??? (view the pictures to really understand.)

While I appreciate the manager returning my money, that was expected without question, and even more so, my complaint is not about the money, its my HAIR. I specifically said NO TIGHT BRAIDS and ONE night later here I sit with a huge hole in my hair line. So, even with my money returned, WHAT am I supposed to do now? Look at the photos- what they did to my hair is atrocious!)

Last, I should have mentioned in my original review there is a woman named Clementine who works there and at another shop. She is very nice, very polite, and was the only contractor who apologized and genuinely seemed to care (prior to the manager coming in, by the way. Unfortunately she wasn't a manager so her hands were tied, but she at least tried which is more than I can say for the scam artists who HID my torn out hair). Since she was not the one who actually did my hair there was very little she could do, but she did express remorse over something that wasnt even her fault. So, Clementine is the only hairdresser I would try ever again and she has her own shop. Google it and go there instead.

I say this because as nice as the manager is, until he gets new workers or finds a way to hide the bald spot his current workers created, Ill never go back and highly recommend that you shouldn't go either. Read the reviews. The manager can rebutt all he wants, but there's obviously a problem here and now I get to live with the consequences. Yes he's down a couple dollars (my refund worth) but I'm BALD right by my face. So who really got screwed here?

Original review: Ive visited twice to have my hair braided- a style I wear every summer. The first experience was okay- a few braids came out within a week but I let that go. I went back yesterday and had the braids redone. I specially told her to NOT braid my baby hair because braiding too tightly on baby hair pulls it out. Sure enough, that SAME night a braid came out and pulled my hair out with it. I now have a very visable bald spot!!! I returned to the shop the very next day with the braid and my hair that was pulled out and showed them by bald spot. They tried to tell me that was a braid that came out and didn't contain any of my hair! I know my hair, it was obviuosly not the braid hair they use. Im biracial and my hair is very fine and curly. They were straight lying and then "hid" my hair that had been pulled out, picked up some extension texture hair from the floor underneath another chair ( yes I WATCHED them do this) and tried to tell me that was my hair that was pulled out that I handed them. I mean really. Luckily I took pictures. Then when I asked for the owners number the workers refused to provide it. They offered no recourse to fix the fact that they damaged my hair! Worst experience at a...

Let me start my review by saying my hair looks nice and I have received compliments on it! However, I would not visit this braiding location again.

Firstly, this shop uses extremely too much jam gel, ecostyle gel, and holding spray. I have had beautiful Senegalese twists several times and the braider did not need to use any type of holding product to create a beautiful, strong hold. As I was getting my hair done I noticed the braider kept dipping her hands in a liquid and reaching into a jar of jam. I looked around and noticed 2 other women getting Goddess braids and once the braiders were done they would scoop a handful of ecostyle gel into their heads. It was so gel much the hair looked wet.

Secondly, I said several times to not twist my hair too tight especially around the edges. The first twister was painless, but I still felt the twists were tight and secure. However, she only did the back half of my head. An older woman replaced her and did the front half. I told her several times to not twist to hard. Throughout the process she would ask me was it too tight. I repeatedly told her yeah and she would apologize. I had a headache and she wasn't even halfway done. She noticed my pain through my facial expressions and said "i don't like to see that face" and "it will be over soon if you just cooperate." When it was over she insisted on pulling my hair back into a style despite arguing about the pain. I noticed she kept trying to rub her fingers through my head so I turned around to tell her to stop. Luckily I did because she was scooping to handfuls of ecostyle gel to rub through my twists. I sternly told her no. She actually argued with me (the paying customer about it.) Afterward she began spraying my hair like crazy. I began to smell holding spray and realized she was doucing me holding spray so I told her to stop... again she detested.

Thirdly, when I got home I noticed that my twists were much longer than I asked for and the braiders did not knot the ends of the hair. I called and was assured it could be fixed. I asked several times was she sure it could be fixed. I was told yes just come. When I got there the older woman who finished my hair told me the issue was she didn't have a razor before and told me to go get a razor from the store. I said seriously? I said are you even sure you can shorten my hair and knot it, she said yes and rushed me off. I waited an hour for her to finish another young woman's hair. When she began and i told her to let me see her cut one twist before she goes to chopping. She looked confused and began to tell me she couldn't fix it as I had ask and she couldnt knot. I said that's not what you told me. She went and got another braider. As she walked back she began complaining of being hungry. The lady explained (as I had figured) they could only cut/clean the ends of my twists because cutting it at the length I originally desired would mess the twists. In addition they don't knot the ends of hair. I allowed the older woman to clean the ends and re-dip in the hot water. She then began spray like crazy. I had to tell her to stop spraying the holding spray. When I got home my hair was so crunchy and hard I had to wash the twists. I smelled like a walking can of holding spray.

NEVER AGAIN!!! Wasn't worth the $185 (w/ tip), gas, and time I spent...