Asase

I’ve been going to Nilijah for years now. She cuts my 3c curly hair.
Her prices for straightening alone was like 80 dollars or something so I opted for her to just wash, deep condition and cut my hair.
When I got my hair straightened at the place around the way my edges were sharp as if she had cut my hair straight, but she did it curly.
She’s fixed bad cuts, she answers all my questions about my hair thoroughly and when I get my hair done it’s pretty cheap for how satisfied I am. A regular, wash, deep condition and trim is no more than $ 40 not including tip. Add color and it was another $ 40, $ 80 all together not including tip.
I always thought she took too much off for a trim, but now I realize my ends be messed up and it needs it. For me the ambiance and service is in between higher costing chic places and little hair places that only do perms and weave.

I visited this shop twice, both times seeing Nilaja. I have, or had, natural hair. The first time I went there, I was impressed by her professionalism; she did a strand test to see how my hair and skin would handle color, and gave great advice. She didn’t do what I wanted (something simple and easy to reproduce), but I liked what she did.
During that visit, Nilaja tried to convince me to get a texturizer. I refused at that time, because I liked having natural hair. But after my first summer in New York (spent wrestling with my hair in the humidity), and talking to some women who’d gotten texturizers, I reconsidered. I asked her to do it, expecting slightly looser curls, but still CURLS. I knew something was wrong when halfway through the procedure (yeah, I know, I should’ve asked sooner, but I trusted her) I asked what chemical she was using, and she said «Optimum» — an ordinary, fairly powerful, relaxer. She BS’ed that it was the same thing as a texturizer but you just don’t leave it in as long (something I’ve since learned is not true, upon talking with two other hairdressers who I consulted to try and fix things after this visit). When she tried to style my hair afterward, it was BONE STRAIGHT. She kept fucking with it, as if that would magically make curls appear out of nowhere, and finally managed a very slight wave, which she then BSed as «just the beginning; it’ll tighten up later, trust me!»
Two months have passed since then; it’s still bone straight. It won’t hold a curl for more than a couple of days before it flattens out again. Now I’m looking for a new hairdresser to cut this stick-​straight shit off my head so I can start over again with my own normal hair. (If you have recommendations, please send them to me!)
I can’t speak for the other stylists at this shop. I can’t even fully speak for Nilaja; she might be fine with someone whose hair is already relaxed/​texturized. I figure the reason she wanted me to texturize, and the reason she went overboard and straightened it, is because she doesn’t know how to handle natural hair. I don’t know. Nilaja is very nice; as a person, I like her. She seems genuinely concerned for the health of one’s hair. But in my experience, she’s completely incapable of actually giving you what you want — in my case with disastrous results.