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| THE HAIR LIST : You've found it! AA Abroad's one-stop-shop for black hair salons and supplies around the world. Let's build it together! THE HAIR LIST Add a Salon, comment, or review to the AA ABROAD BLOG | Africa | Asia | Europe | South America & Caribbean |
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| CHAD Kempinski Hotel N'Djamena Quartier Diguel Est
BP 6473 N'Djamena N'Djamena, Chad
The small salon in this hotel
includes both hair and nail services and is mainly staffed by Ethiopian women. It's not a bad idea to make an appointment. You can make a day out of it: the same women also offer amazing massage services inside the spa area, which includes a well-maintained sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and gym. There are also two reasonably priced restuarants/bars in the hotel. | JAPAN Total Beauty Care Salon The New Sanno Hotel 4-12-20 Minami-azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan 81-03 34402577 | FRANCE Boutique de Josephine 33 Rue de la Carreterie Avignon, France Combination supplier/small scale salon, very small, Cameroonian run, also sells small quantities of African dried goods such as rice and seasonings. | ARGENTINA Afro Hair Avenida Monroe 2573 Open Tues-Sat 9 a.m.-7 p.m. www.afrohair.com.ar DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Renaissance Jaragua Hotel and Casino, George Washington Ave. 367 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 1 809 221 2222,Toll- free: 800-331 3542 Full-service, upscale, relaxing, cuts, color,conditioning, and, of course, the famed Dominican blowout. |
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| NIGERIA The Nail Studio 9 Bishop Aboyade Cole St, Victoria Island Lagos, Nigeria This salon is principally staffed by Lebanese stylists and their Nigerian assistants. Many women in Nigeria (both Nigerian and Lebanese women) wear hair extensions, so the stylists are experts in putting in/styling weaves and blow-outs. The salon is frequented by expatriates and well-off Nigerians, so the stylists are accustomed to working with different hair textures. You can order food and fresh juices from the bar downstairs and eat while you're having your hair styled. Also located downstairs is a large nail service area. Neither place accepts appointments and you should expect a wait during the weekends, holiday periods and if there is a special event in town (i.e., a big wedding or concert). Eyebrow threading services are also available and are the best in town. A normal wash and set is approximately USD 20.00, as is the price for threading. | | FRANCE Look Metisse 75 Rue de la Carreterie Avignon, France Supplies range of black hair care products including relaxers, oils, and hair extensions also attach extensions. | |
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| | UGANDA Garden City Mall, Yusufu Lule Rd, Kampala, Uganda Full-service, upscale, relaxers, cuts, and conditioning. Pearl Royal Beauty Parlour (ground floor, Ruwenzori House, Lumumba Ave., 041 254534/342037, Kampala Uganda Full-service, upscale, relaxers, cuts, conditioning. | | ITALY Coiffure Rome, Italy Full-service salon, seems to be Ethiopian- run. They're touchy about photos but appear to offer range of straightening/ conditioning services. | |
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| Lugogo Mall, Kampala Uganda Full-service, upscale, relaxing, cuts, conditioning. Also, full mani-pedi, all very reasonably priced. Sheraton Hotel Kampala, Uganda Full-service, upscale, relaxing, cuts, conditioning. Full mani-pedi-reasonably priced but a little higher than Lugogo Mall. (Great after a swim in the Sheraton pool. You can also take a sauna in the women's locker room and get a reasonably priced massage in the salon.) | | | |
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For additional salon listings and general hair-chatter check out the sites below: Cairo: Dubai: Japan: Multi-country listings: Mumbai: Nigeria: Paris: Toronto: Sweden (make-up and hair) UK: Zurich: Australia: - Life in general+brief hair discussion)
Tips and Articles for Natural and Relaxed Hair: Question Hub: The Search for a Salon in Avignon, France Don't be afraid to check with the locals to help you find something you need abroad. It's one of the best ways to get a real feel for a place and pick up useful recommendations. In my quest, for black hair products in Avignon, I checked with one of the employees at my hotel who I thought might be black or part black about whether she knew of any hair salons in the area. She told me at first that she wasn't sure where I might find it because she had a personal hairdresser, but as she thought, she remembered the location of what I assumed, must be a black salon. (The day before, I asked a hurried black French woman on the street who didn't have time to go into details with me, though I thought she had mentioned a street that sounded like Carterre or something similar.) The woman at the hotel pored over a map for a few minutes, then pointed me in the direction of Place Carnot, and ultimately, Rue de La Carreterie, a small street where I later found that small quantities of things Africaine could be found. (I found this to be true in Italy as well--when I found black hair supplies it was often on a street where several similar shops and African grocery items or fabrics could also be purchased.) Look for the signs below for Place Carnot and Rue de la Carreterie and you'll be heading in the right direction! 
Rue de la Carreterie 
After a few wrong turns and a conversation in broken French with a confused but pleasant salon employee in Place Carnot, I finally bumped into an African woman on the street who I asked if there was a coiffure close by. She asked in French if I was looking for an African salon and I said yes. I was relieved when she announced amiably that I was on the correct street and the salon was only a few blocks away. Encouraged that I was headed in the right direction, I pressed on until I noticed the sign for the shop below from across the street: La Boutique De Josephine. And while I haven't been able to find the word in the dictionary, I have a feeling that it's the "defrissage" advertised in the window that I was looking for. BULLSEYE: La Boutique de Josephine, 33 Rue de la Carreterie, Avignon, France  Once inside the shop, I met the exhausted, but amiable Josephine whose small salon appears below. As you can see, her work station is small, but serviceable. Josephine braids hair and gives relaxers and she had both lye and no lye relaxers in stock. While our conversation was a little frustrating, both because she could not quite understand who I was, what I was saying and what I wanted !), she also failed to understand that, in fact, my own hair was quite ready for a relaxer. (In addition to searching for information for the site, I'd also hoped to get my hair done!) After a few rounds of "Pour quois vous" and realizing that my eurail train would be leaving in a few short hours, I opted not to get my hair done at Josephine's salon, though it did appear to be the only actual salon on the street, and seemed to be known and used by black women in the area. If you're in Avignon and need a salon, I'd suggest at least checking it out. If your French is better than mine, you may not have any difficulty explaining the service you want. Boutique de Josephine  Josephine, a Cameroonian, also sells African foods including rice, flour, and spices and other items pictured below. 
A bit farther down the street from Josephine's salon is a black hair supply shop called Look Metisse where they specialize in braids and hair weaves and also sell extensions. I walked in to find a French woman chatting comfortably while a black stylist attached her extensions. Look Metisse, 75 Rue de la Carreterie 
You'll find everything in Look Metisse from Revlon relaxers to Luster's pink moisturizer... 
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