The Play Room At Braids of Natural Art

We had our first visit here this weekend & it was an awesome experience! The staff was friendly, courteous & attentive. They are great with children. The entire process went by very quickly even with the back to school rush. My 6 year old daughter’s style came out beautiful and she absolutely loves it! She was surprised that it didn’t hurt and she got to play while getting her hair done. She is excited to come back to her «kids salon» in 2 weeks & we’ll definitely be getting a membership. I would recommend to anyone.

Ms. Zakee and her team at The Play Room — Braids of Natural Art are truly talented and gifted persons with a gift to work with any child, whether new or returner. Although I prefer to have the same braider to do my daughter’s hair, I usually have the same above average quality (takes time to detangle with low heat blow dry, no crying from tender head, great braid designs, etc.) executed each time I go. I have appreciated that the owner will ensure her team is aware of each child’s unique needs. For example, my daughter’s scalp is very sensitive and can bump easily and Ms. Zakee always double-​checks to make sure the staff know the best way to braid her hair. I have never had a problem with automated billing and love the early morning appointments (as early as 5am!!) which has come in handy when needing to travel out of town for vacation. I will be a repeat customer for years to come!

I purchased a groupon to use at this location, keep in mind that my daughter is only 2 ½ and has never been to a salon. She did very good sitting there getting her hair blow dried, which i think caused her to get tired during the braiding process. My only issue was the fact that the person that was braiding her hair took some time braiding her hair. She was being trained that day and the other young girls that work there talk so low i could barely understand them when they were speaking to me.
I would definitely take my daughter back again…

Fortunately, my daughter’s hair was beautiful… unfortunately, I would never go back! The entire first-​time experience is too long to note in its entirety, but here are key details:
— Since it’s at a high-​rise, parking is limited; we were directed to park around the corner in the paid parking lot for the hospital. Not only is it paid, it is CASH ONLY; however, the salon (as stated on its website) has a NO CASH policy, so I had to go to CVS across the street for cash since the ATM in the high-​rise was not in service.
— Upon arrival, we had to sign in at the security desk on the first floor of the building, take the elevator up and figure out where the suite is located (not easily determined) and knock on a locked door. Not bad in general, but it adds to the time…
— A young lady opens the door but does not greet us and I just guessed where we were supposed to be seated, although from reading the website I assumed someone would be ready to get started with us since we were right on time (8am). There was one stylist working on one client and she was nowhere close to done, so guess our stylist is on the way!
— I finally ask when we will get our turn and was told other stylists are coming… it’ll probably be a little while. In the meantime, I’ll go to CVS and get the cash for the parking lot.
— After we return, the owner (Ms. Zakee) arrives and another customer after her, whom she proceeds to begin working on… so, I inform her that we’d been waiting (close to an hour now) and ask when we will get started. She says that customer has a standing appointment with her and someone will start with us shortly. Who and where are they? I let her know I need to be at work by 11:00am and she responds that they will have us out by 11:00…well, I’m not taking my child with me to work, so obviously I will need to be done here BEFORE the time my shift begins! Not cool… so now I’m making calls to see who can pick her up in case I have to leave early…
— I also mention to Ms. Zakee that with their website being so thorough, it would make sense to make mention of the parking situation on it so that folks won’t be caught off guard with not finding a close spot or having to pay cash to park. A little defensively, she says there was nothing she could do about that because she doesn’t have control of the parking lot. o₀
— I’m ready to leave, but only stay because I have paid for this Groupon and it’s a Saturday and my child needs her hair done post haste, so we are kinda trapped. Fortunately, I’ve found someone since then to provide our services but with just a little more thoughtfulness and better customer service, we likely would’ve become loyal customers here. Ms. Zakee finally apologized at the end of the appointment, but the damage had been done. She seems like she is nice and I must say every stylist whose work I witnessed seemed quite talented (sigh), but I needed better and at least to be acknowledged. And yes… I did make it to work on time, but barely!