Latifa Natural Hair Salon — Local services in New York

I’ve visited here twice to get my hair done by Onika. Specialty in silk press & weaves. Her price was decent $150 so I booked for a silk press. I was disappointed to find she was tending to another client despite booking an appointment, but I let it go. My hair came out great & she was knowledgeable. I booked a second time & to my dismay after confirming, she rescheduled me due to the shop needing maintenance. The problem was, she only notified me a day before our appointment so I’d already taken my hair out of braids. I asked when’s the earliest she could take me & she dismissively told me I had to wait because she had other clients with first priority. That was shocking because my appointment was before theirs & as the professional should tell all of her clients she will service them in the sequence of who was inconvenienced first. Nonetheless I had no choice but to wait considering I’d already paid a deposit. My hair became a little more tangled because again it’s been out for days without treatment. I obviously wasn’t going to do my own hair because that’s the service I’m buying from her. When I finally did see her, again, I had to wait an hour after an agreed upon time because she was doing another clients hair. When she got me in the chair I was highly irritated because I rushed getting there, having to pay for garage parking (downtown BK parking is cut throat!), after a long days work, to still have to wait. After we were done it was about 8pm I told her to wrap my hair because I’m going to bed & asked her the price. This lady looked me in my face & told me it was $160. Keep in mind I’d already paid a $40 deposit, totaling $200! I asked why considering the last time, I was charged $150 for the same service. She said, because your hair was thick with buildup. I was surprised by the greed & beyond tired so being fed up, I paid & vowed never to return.

To my dismay the next morning as I was getting ready for work, my hair was frizzy. No way did I just spend $200 for a silk press for my hair to look like a blowout less than a day after. I contacted her with pictures & she squeezed me in a day later. While I appreciated the urgency, its annoying I now have to make another trip after an already bad experience. And having it done over put extra stress & tension on my hair. After redoing it, my hair came out correctly but when I washed it out, I did end up having heat damage from having to done twice. I’ll never book...

This is not a natural hair salon it is an African hair shop. My edges are gone and my hair is matted. That picture is my hair that came out from just taking out the braids that were on my edges. They were very picky with what type of hair they braid with. After visiting twice and asking if this hair is fine. They tell me now when I'm sitting in the seat. They say "its plastic", and "no good". I was about to get up and go some where else. But they were like "no I braid really good, this hair no problem". I should've gotten up because they let a young girl braid my hair. She didnt know how to comb my hair. She tried to comb it with a blow dryer comb from the root to the end. But, then an older woman came over and showed her how to comb my hair so I was like okay. Let's just say the box braids took 7 hrs and the parts were uneven and it was sooo tight. They didnt cut the ends good or trimmed it good either. My mom had to do it when we got home. But it gets worst. After wearing it for 2 weeks, I saw my roots coming out from the braid. I took them out the very next day. Let's just say I never seen a box braid technique like this. She took a small piece of the braiding hair and tied it to the root of my hair while it was still out and made two knots. She left it out, not braided and then she took a bigger piece of the hair and wrapped it over the hair and box braided. My edges are gone, my hair was so tangled and matted because of so much gel she packed on my hair. I am so mad and lived. I dont reccomend at all going here. Go to a real professional that is licensed to style natural hair. This is my last time I'm going to an...

I had such a great experience with Onika at Latifa Natural Hair Salon. She applied her expertise to a sew in service for me. I haven’t had a sew in YEARS so I needed trusted hands for my tresses. She came recommended to me by another stylist (hi Steph!) that went to hair school with her. Onika was easy to speak to, offered lots of advice, and before the appointment she was very communicable with me via text message. I have extremely thick 3c/4a hair that can be intimidating to work with but Onika had no reservations. She did one of the fastest, neatest, and most gentle sew ins I’ve ever experienced. I am tender headed, the kind of tender headed where you wriggle in a seat but Onika’s braiding was absolutely painless - I was shocked. And did I mention she’s fast?? Services that used to take 5 hours only took around 3. She also washes and blow dries the hair before doing the install! I am so grateful for her and I will definitely be back. The sew in is holding up beautifully and I feel amazing with it. The salon overall is in a great shopping area and easily accessible via transportation, however they are on the 2nd floor so it may not be wheelchair accessible - call the salon before setting an appointment to double check. The space is clean and the other stylists there also seemed very experienced with their braiding and twisting techniques. I also saw men getting their hair done, so all people are definitely accepted. I’ll definitely be back,...