...Stray From Their Usual Hairdresser: Ouidad, NYC

Every black woman I know has at least three to four places to go when it's time to get their hair done.

The black salon
The "Dominicans"
The Africans
and the "Oh God, this costs a GRIP" spot but WOW my shit looks great!

Presently, I find myself at a crossroads.

Don't know if you know this, but black hair and water do not mix. Not sweat, pool, ocean... nothing. It just doesn't go well. It just...doesn't. And weaves, (for the last time people) are EVIL and should be destroyed. With that being said, here's my adventure for the month.

Thanks to my thighs developing dimples...(cute on the face, not cute on the ass) I decided it was time to hit the gym...and hit it hard. HOWEVER, the cut that I'd gotten for my birthday from "The Black Salon" wasn't equipped for my new work out.

So I decided to get my original hair texture back...which is half "Freddy" from "A Different World" half "Lauryn Hill" from "The Fugees". This, wasn't going to be easy.

Because what I learned is, as you get older, not only do you get grey hair on your coochie (it's the truth...trust me..) your hair texture changes. Along with your ability to lose the five pounds you just put on last week. (Summabitch...)

So. Since I'd rather be thin than have hair...(that's real) I figure, OK. It's time to cut the relaxer out.

(Play that dramatic chipmunk thing one more time.)

So anyway... I've got two options.

Extensions till my hair grows out... or cut out the relaxer all together, deal with the "Florida Evans" I rocked when I first did this, and keep my eyes on the "Scary Spice" prize. (Oh...Lord.)

I chose Flo. Reluctantly.

Thankfully, I'm in a different tax bracket than I was when I first did this, so I hit Ouidad.

If you've ridden the West Side Highway to the GWB, you've seen the ads. Women with insanely curly BEAUTIFUL hair on a billboard...looking stunning. Funny enough, the headquarters are based in NYC. So why not.

I book an appointment, and and at 5pm on a Friday, I head to the home of curly hair located on 57th Street, which means, yeah. I'm paying a grip for this. I'm fully prepared.

When you walk in, the first thing you notice is Ouidad, The Salon is pleasantly...sparce. I mean, there were clients in every single chair, but never did you feel croweded, or rushed.

I was greeted with the smell of GOOD hair product, not burned, over processed hair. Sade was singing "Paradise"...everyone was dressed in black. The earthtoned colored walls soothed me and every woman who paid her bill looked EXACTLY like the women in the billboard. Hell. Fuckin'. Yeah.


After donning my "Ouidad" smock, I'm introduced to Ana. A smiley Dominican woman who leads me to the back of the massive salon and asks me to tell my hair story.

Before I do, she stops me...

"Wait. I already know. You had natural hair, but it got too hard to manage, so you straighted it. Then you started to work out, and your style didn't hold, so you decided to grow it out again and your relaxed hair began to break off...so now you're here. Right?"

...Wooooow.

Ana then identified the PART of my hair that was corse...fixed it.
Deep conditioned it. Talked shit with me. Talked shit about everyone else.
Explained EXACTLY how to do my hair tomorrow. SHOWED me how to apply product.
Told me what I needed and what I didn't.

At 7pm, I was done...and fucking GORGEOUS. With HAIR knowledge. It was like paying for a hair class.
(Did you know you're not supposed to wash your hair for one week after relaxing?)


Sure, she cut off a couple of inches, but may hair is so easy to manage and CUTE. Sexy. Grown up.

And though you may only see white women in those adds... yes. There were a lot of them there, and they came out looking GORGEOUS. But don't get it twisted. Oh yes, they do the fuck out of some black hair. Curly that is.

Cost: (gasp) $300. (But that's for a cut, and two treatments. I don't regret it.)

Black Factor: Ana's Dominican. Do I need to say any more?

Go back?: Hell...yes.

-Nye

www.ouidad.com