District residents open up about salon prices

Charlotte Miller recalls the first time she went to a Washington D.C. salon to get her hair done and being in disbelief when she was told that the salon would charge her $55 to get what she refers to as a “simple wash and trim”. Miller recently moved to the metro area from New Jersey and says at home [in New Jersey] it is about $15-20 to get the same thing. Since it was so expensive to her, she did not get her hair done until she went home again because she refused to let a hair cut, cut into her wallet. Miller’s experience seems to be the story of many women across the metro area being that they feel that many salons here are too expensive.

District resident Roschel Williams moved to the area almost a year ago, but makestrips to Queens, New York every three weeks to get her hair done. “I don’t get my hair done here because it is way too expensive and you don’t get your money’s worth, said Williams. Besides the prices, Williams feels that women are also limited by the types of hairdressers available, and with that unavailability, the area is losing a lot of business with her being an example.

A woman in the Super Hair Braiding Salon in Prince George’s County stormed out after arguing with a stylist about what she was told it would cost for her to get micro braids. She angrily pushed open the door stating that it was ridiculous for the establishment to be charging clients $180 not including the braiding hair for that particular style of braids when she usually got it done for $120 with the braiding hair included in Philadelphia. Miller would agree that there are many other women like the one who wanted to get her hair done at Super Hair Braiding Plaza who are just frustrated by what she thinks of as the lack of customer concern by some salons. She says it is unfortunate that women in this area are so limited when it comes to salon selection and feels that is part of the reason that many of the establishments overcharge because they know clients have close to nowhere else to go.

So what are some area salons doing in order to appease their customers and put less pressure on their pockets? District salon Joya offers 2 for 1 specials on things like chemical services where if you and a friend go, both of you can get a chemical service for $ 85, which is $42.50 each. They also offer a special on wet sets, blow dry and curl, and weaves on certain days. Other area salons offer student discounts in addition to specials like Unbeweaveable Wednesdays and Super Saturdays. For District resident Krystal Robertson these specials do not make much difference and so whenever she needs her hair done she either does it herself or it is done by one of her friends. “Buying a $7 box of perm and applying it myself beats sitting in a salon for hours and paying $60 any day, says Robertson”

Jenel Williams, a long time resident of the area says although she may be accustomed to the prices she still feels area salons are too expensive because when she travels to other cities across the nation the difference is more than just a few dollars. She does not like how expensive the salons are and so her family members usually do her hair for her, but she is not surprised that the cost of hair styling in the area would be that much more expensive than other cities because everything else like food, rent, and transportation is as well.