La Pearl Beauty Emporium Inc — Local services in Philadelphia

I went to La Pearl for 5 months. Nikki does very good sew ins, and great blow outs. She's also good for conversation. However, she does have a little bit of a short fuse/small attitude if you show even the smallest bit of concern about a service, which often caught me off guard and surprised me that she was a bit quick to get annoyed. It was never to the point where it was a blow up, however.

La Pearl is bit overpriced compared to other salons. However I stopped going to her for mainly two reasons: 1) the wait time is way too long for a professional person and 2) I didn't think she cared about natural hair or maintaining hair texture.

1. Time: When I went, Nikki was typically the only stylist working on clients, so services took longer than the normal time. I've gone for a shampoo and style on a weekday and have spent over 4 hours at the salon for the service. This didn't seem to bother me as much until one day she stated that she would never go to a stylist that takes more than 4 hours for certain services. She then followed this statement up with "my services take longer because it's just me here and I do everything." She made it clear during the conversation that she doesn't care whether or not her clients wait long. Why make your clients endure something that you yourself wouldn't? And seem not to care? Why overbook to the point that clients are at your salon waiting for hours on end for simple services? On a weekend, if I went for a wash and blow dry, i've been there for up to 3.5 hours (10 am to 1/ 1:30 pm).Also, if you want to do a sew in, she only has certain times. If you want to go any time after 4:30 on a weekday for a sew-in or to put in a couple of tracks, the ONLY time slot she seems to ever have is 7 p.m. Which is fine if she could finish by 10 or 11, but I was in the salon until 1 am multiple times. She's pushed those late appointments back about an hour and a half before because she had other clients to take care of. I was pretty understanding but It's exhausting for a working professional so I had to head to salons who were better for my schedule.

2. Hair Care: As said in the beginning, she is great with straight hair and sew ins. However, I think she cares more about making natural hair manageable than actually getting the results the client wants. I had some heat damage at the front of my hair when I came to her so she suggested I get a keratin treatment to manage my hair while the heat damage grow out. I believed she was more informed than me about the benefits of keratin but I realized later on that she wanted to be more manageable rather than healthy. My hair got a little thicker when I went to her but I also noticed more split ends, damage at the ends, and weakness in parts of my hair other than the top. My edges also got thinner while going to her salon. I'm not sure if it was because of the keratin or the amount of heat she used on my hair. On natural clients, she uses a large amount of heat (puts you under dryers and steamers multiple times in an appointment -- even without deep conditioner-- and then puts a hot comb and straighter through your hair wet hair without, from my view, product). I also witnessed her tell a natural client who wanted to keep her natural hair texture the way it was that she has to blow dry her hair (use heat) in order to achieve a twist out. This is not always the case and defeats the purpose for people who are natural and want to revive their curls and texture.

While the services were good, the overall experience is not for me. If you want a nice sew in, have relaxed hair or consistently straight hair, and have time to spare then you have nothing to...

Just came in for a trim, but went away feeling extremely uncomfortable. I do my own hair and wear natural styles, but felt like I was being told that I take poor care of my hair before she even touched it. This never happens to me. My hair wasn’t tangled, I just have a lot of it and needed a trim but she made it seem like it was my responsibility to detangle hair before an appointment. I take great care of my hair and felt that the customer service was really bad. Anyone should know that hair is detangled wet, and she said she doesn’t do detangling which shows it’s not a good place for people who wear their curly patterns out. I wouldn’t recommend this place to people who wear natural styles, unless you want to get talked down to.

Response: The consultation was inappropriate and poorly handled. “Do you normally show up to salons like this” “when did you do your hair last” “why are you getting a trim-because it’s nappy” telling me my hair is nappy before even touching it, borderline harassing me about how I take care of my hair. Accusing me of having tangled hair when I do my hair weekly is a sign of a hair salon that is ill equipped to take care of textured hair. If you do hair, do hair. Don’t up charge clients for having it. You never touched my hair so it wasn’t tangled, it was just lazy service. And I would hate for another woman to have this experience. And you’re not sorry because you pocketed the $45 deposit gladly. Worst service ever and no place is more deserving of one star than this. And I never received an intake form but was rudely told off for not checking my spam. Your whole response is trying to save face. You don’t need to reconsider how you inform clients before an appointment you need reconsider how you talk to people. Again, hope anyone who reads this goes somewhere else if they have...

I’m very disappointed. This was my second visit. I’m natural and use nothing but wide tooth combs and then a fine one on wet hair to detangled. One keys (i apologize for misspelling) used a paddle brush and was ripping my hair apart when dry. I don’t know how i sat in the chair. I’m more angry with myself after i saw how impatient she was. I asked for a trim. I came in with my hair mid back- past my bra. And I left with my hair barely at bra length when I checked at home.

This is just a tip in general: don’t make the last appointment of the day and watch while someone trims. I’m not sure i will return. Otherwise she is a nice lady. But the detangling is something I would never hurry or use a paddle brush for to the point of pain. And the trim was a cut and shape was not something I needed right now.

I’m not sure what was miscommunicated but this was a learning experience that I could have avoided by being my vigilant.

Edit: A response to owner and follow up to perspective customers: I wouldn’t be able to retain the length I have or had if I never detangled. The difference is I expect a stylist to take their time and use a wide tooth comb and or finger detangle. Instead of ripping my hair apart like it’s time to open presents. Just asking “does this hurt” and not changing tools or pressure is laughable. If anyone arrives with dreadlocks (which my hair definitely was not- It was slightly matted from product used the day before to detangle) it would be your responsibility to kindly help detangle or kindly reject the task. My head still aches this morning. I wouldn’t recommend anyone here for natural hair services if you have long hair that commits the cardinal sin of matting...