Braids and Natural Hair Care

Apparently there is the perception that hair braiding is separate to that of natural hair care like dread locks etc. A good braider is not necessarily good at doing dread locs but in many instances it is not the case. When our company first started a few years ago, we had a shampoo bowl and we developed a strong base of dread locs customers and after moving to another locations we lost the use of a shampoo bowl which resulted in the reduction of our dread locs base; the point is that proper natural hair care requires shampoo and other clean procedures that are not often common in a braiding gallery. At Braids Inc, we once again have shampoo facilities and we are welcoming back all of our Happy To be Nappy Sisters and Brothers for Dread Locs and other natural hair care.

Many Braiders are excellent and starting and maintaining Dread Locs, as well as, styling Locs. Braids falls into natural hair styling since chemicals are not used to create the style, and many salons that started off as natural hair care centers have integrated braids and twists because for those who are interested in transitioning from perms in many instances some extensions are required for the transistion.

African American Braiding Salon

It is clear that a significant majority of the consumers of hair braiding in the USA are African Americans, yet there are very few braiding salons that are owned and operated by African Americans. We must first explore some of the perceptions about hair braiding: Only authentic hair braiding are done by Africans from the continent; not true, since where ever there are people of African decent, there is hair braiding, some places are better than others. Even on the continent of African itself, there are come countries that are clearly identified as "better braiding countries" that others. I would clearly have a preferrence for a braiding from Senegal as oppose to one from Nigeria. The point is that are braiders where ever that are Black folks, some are better than others, and some do some styles better than others: one should naturally prefer someone from Senegal to do Senegalese Twist as oppose to a Nigerian doing the same style for example.

A unique and successful solution would be for African Americans and Africans braiders to cooperate in creating the braiding enterprise with the realization that both groups are bring various strengths to the table.

Co-Existence: Braids and Regular Styling

There is no reason why there should not be co-existence between braids and regular hair styling, in fact, the two should be complementary. I have experienced situation where hair stylist would "bad mouth" braids by saying that it is damaging to the hair but the fact is anything can be bad if it is done in excess -- like braiding too tight, keeping in braids for too long (over 10 weeks) etc.

Braids Inc Franchise

In marketing branding is key and the Braids Inc brand is highly focused on providing quality solutions to a wide range of customers. We have been receiving a number of calls from around the USA with questions as to whether there is a Braids Inc located in there city, well with enough interest we might be looking to offer franchising opportunities in a city near you. Please provide feed back on the concept and visit us at www.braidsinc.com

Braids Inc of Laurel MD

Braids Inc is a natural hair salon in Laurel, MD that is looking for national and international involvement in the braiding and natural hair community. You can visit our website at www.braidsinc.com and blog about our salon.