Lela’s Braiding Gallery

Unilocal really needs to have a zero stars option! I am begging you to NOT GO HERE!!!
Please if you value your time and hair stay far away.
I called and made an appt the day before, and was impressed by their booking system and open communication so I thought I’d found a great quality place. I’ve never been so wrong in my life.
I wanted to get Marley twists, and made this clear from my first call. I was quoted $ 150 and told that the price included hair. Once I arrived she told me to get my hair from a box of kanekalon hair. I knew that that wasn’t the right kind of hair to use, but I’m a very shy and non-​confrontational person, so I didn’t argue. As we looked through the box, it was apparent that she didn’t have enough packs of one color to complete the style so she tried to convince me to add a color. I said ok to a bite of red in back.
Then we go in back where it’s warmer to start and I show her pictures of what I want again. Then she starts to comb my NATURAL 4C DRY HAIR WITH A PADDLE BRUSH!!! I yell woah woah woah, but she doesn’t stop, but just says sorry and combs softer! As she gets 10 or so twists in another client comes to be let into the shop. She asks me of it’s ok to do her hair really quick (as she only wants 5 cornrolls) and I say sure, because again I’m slow to complain and passive. I was already annoyed with her not having the right hair, and having to get color in my hair (really who doesn’t have more than two packs of 1b/​2 in a shop!?) but I still agreed to let her stop working on my hair to take another client!
She let’s the woman in and calls her braided who was on her way to see where she is, and luckily the woman shows up in 5min so she didn’t have to stop.
The new braid starts to grease the other woman’s hair as my braider (Ms. Alice, the «skilled one») directs her how to part the girl’s hair! I can’t believe that poor woman was about to pay for someone who is clearly unskilled to do her hair. The girl is clearly confused so Ms Alice tells the girl that she’ll do it and sends the girl to start on my head! I was already upset over how everything was playing out, so I saw a hand mirror and grabbed it (as the room had no mirrors) and saw that the twists that were in were unraveling!!! The inexperienced girl was retwisting them and then braiding them at the bottoms!
That’s when I’d had had enough and started to lose my cool. I asked her with disgust if she was braiding the ends and she said no, while Ms Alice also tried to convince me from across the room that she was just retwisting them. I asked her why we’re they already coming unraveled?! She said because they had to be dipped and I said no, these aren’t Marley twists! She said yes they are, and I said no my twists should be done with kinky hair! So she said if that’s what I wanted I had to go buy it. I calmly said ok that’s fine, let’s take these out and I’d go buy the hair. Then she said there’s a specific type of hair that she used so she had to go to the store with me. I said no kindly, but forcefully and removed the rest of the unraveling twist from my hair and gathered my things and left.
What completely disgusts me about this shop is that they clearly do not know how to braid and still try to charge the price of professionals. The other woman who just wanted five cornrolls left with me because her hair looks disgusting. The braids weren’t tight, and the parting was horrendous.
I left out a few other atrocious actions because I’m frankly tired of typing and if this isn’t going to convince you to pick another shop, nothing will.
I’m not a fan of posting long reviews but I fear the bad karma that will plague me if I don’t warn my fellow ladies about staying clear of this shop.
*please excuse any grammatical/​spelling errors as I’m too lazy to go back and edit*

I had a wonderful experience today. I am always nervous when I go to a new establishment but I instantly felt comfortable. My hair looks great and I am already getting compliments!

I went back since and really just was not impressed with the quality of braiding for the prices (~$ 150 – 170). I’ve just decided to stop having my hair braided because it takes so long to have them put in, so long to take them out, and never even looks great for that long.

I recently returned to Lela’s to get my hair braided after using them consistently for 3 – 4 years when my hair was natural. In the past I wore long Senegalese twists. This time I received Yarn braids which resemble dreadlocks. Both styles I absolutely loved and feel as though they did an amazing job. And so did many others as I have always received a lot of unsolicited compliments from men and women. Contrary to what others have wrote, I have never had a bad experience and I have had my hair braided there over 20 – 30 times. I have always been treated professionally and with respect. I’ve never heard any other customers in the shop complain or be dissatisfied with their service. I think it boils down to managing your expectations. This is primarily a braid shop. I would also not categorize it as a salon AKA Duafe. As with any braid shop, I’ve always washed and conditioned my own hair prior to arriving and have expected Lela’s to do what they do best — braid. Whenever I have wanted my hair in a style that is not braids (in other words a style that is not their specialty), I’ve gone somewhere else where that style or technique (pressing naturals, locs, whatever) is their specialty. Some of the reviews remind me of people going to McDonalds and then complaining when they don’t get a fresh burger made from the finest quality ground beef. Not that I am comparing Lela’s to McDonalds, but as a consumer you have to set realistic expectations, take responsibility for your decisions and give fair reviews. If you visit Lela’s you can plainly see that they are a braid shop that will, in an effort to satisfy their customers, provide additional services upon request. Braiding is what they do and that’s clear from the door. Furthermore, I love Alice. As I mentioned, I’ve gone there consistently for years and she has always been professional and nice.
As with anything, go and see for yourself. I also haven’t found their prices to be higher than any comparable braid shop in Philly.
One final comment, in case you’re wondering why I didn’t give 4 or 5 stars, it’s due to parking convenience (weekdays, prior to 6 pm, there’s no place to park longer than 2 hours without a permit) and the fact that the shop needs some sprucing up (which I believe they’re working on).

I also wish I could give them a negative star. I went there in June of 09 for Tree Braids. I was very clear in what I wanted and brought example pictures. I clearly explained I needed a style where my hair was completely braided. I was very clear that my hair is shoulder length and natural. What I was given was not what I asked for and poor quality. I was given circular «tree braids» and interlock in the hair line (even though one of my criteria was to not have any of my natural hair out).
When I made my appointment I asked to have the style curled when finished. The braider made it seem like she couldn’t take the time to curl it when she was finished, even though I had per-​arranged for this to be part of my style I paid for. Unfortunately, I was not able to see what a bad job was done until I went home and the curl fell out. Now I know that «tree braids» are usually done in a straight cornrow style not circular like a sew-​in weave. The interlocking was a mes. My hair immediately frizzed and separated from the inch of interlock. The «tree braids» shed incessantly, whole strand of 22″ hair! It was as if they were not even attached to my head. I spent a little over three-​hundred dollars total.
I called and let them know that I was dissatisfied with the style and workmanship (the next business day), and I wanted a refund or even a different style. I was willing to accept something cheaper or simpler as long as I looked nice for my birthday. They became very difficult to deal with. Over two months I called several times a week where the man that answered the phone, would say anything to get me to hang up. I submitted photos of the style where the interlocking had taken out my edges (after 2 days) and the hair shed, the «tracks» showed though and did not look very nice, I submitted photos of the new style I was forced to get so I could look decent at my own birthday party, I even agreed to accepting a $ 100 refund. The person who did my hair would never speak to me, I was forced to talk to the man who answered the phone and who avoided me like the plague. Needless to say. After I advised the man that their customer services was terrible and their treatment of me was unfair he hung up on me and till this day I have not received the $ 100 refund he promised to mail.

If you don’t want to read the long review, in short DO NOT GO HERE TO GET YOUR HAIR BRAIDED! I have gotten my hair braided for over 25 years and this stands out as one of the worst experiences. Again:
** DO NOT GO TO ALICE OR THIS BUSINESS TO GET YOUR HAIR BRAIDED — YOU WILL BE UNHAPPY**
I am so mad at myself for not thoroughly reading all the reviews before coming here. Such a bad experience from beginning to end. I don’t even know where to begin to express my disappointment with this place/​
One of the reviews here said they specialized in tree braids. I’ve never had them and I called to ask about getting them, price, what type of hair I should get, etc, because I know that some stores advertise tree braids but are really doing other styles. I spoke with Alice and she was the one who ended up doing my hair.
When I went to buy the braiding hair, I could only find good quality hair that was wefted. I brought it to her and told her I could return it and go with her to get something else but she’s like, «no, no, no, this is really good hair, etc., etc.» Fast forward a few hours and she’s like, «You know, with this hair, it’s so „soft“ you’re going to have to be very, very careful with it so it doesn’t come out, blah, blah, blah…» And I don’t even say anything because at that point, I’m extremely annoyed, as just before, she had went to the door, and I had a chance to check her work.
Now, when I came to her, I made it clear that I wanted all my own hair braided inside because I am a fitness instructor and I can’t be rocking two textures, or leaving my natural hair out because it will get damaged. Yet, when I checked what she was doing with the braids to cover the «tracks» of the tree braids, she had only braided about ¾ of an inch (my hair is past shoulder length). So I protest and her attitude swiftly switches from cooperative to annoyed, and I didn’t want to get her any more mad so that she wouldn’t do a good job, so my attitude was: just fix it and make it right.
Another issue was that she had told me on the phone that tree braids took 3 – 4 hours, and some other styles would take a lot longer, but she didn’t care how long it took, because she wanted to do a good job with whatever I wanted done. Well, after I pointed out the flaws, all of a sudden, she kept complaining how long the job was taking and how she has never spent this long on tree braids (it took less than 5 hours from the time I came in till I left.)
So as soon as I get home, I am trying to tie my hair up in a scarf, and a braid comes out as I am running my fingers through it with MY FINGERS! This is no less than 4 hours later. I go back two days later, when I had time to get it fixed, and as she is giving me a hard time, I start looking in the mirror and noticing that about half the braids on the side where the braid fell out had not been braided all the way down.
So now in fairness, she had other customers there, and I was clearly unhappy. She starts fixing it, but still has an attitude about it. And I say to her, «Look, I don’t want to be here either. You told me you were an expert with tree braids, I even tipped you after and asked if you wanted to take pictures so you could show your clients what it looks like» (because when I asked her for pictures, she had nothing but stock photos). Well, this set her off — she never asked me to tip her and you can take back your tip, I don’t need your tip, etc.
Anyway, I leave there, and I’m skeptical so I go to a woman on South Street who had braided my hair a few months ago to see if she could fix it or what she thought I should do. She starts going through the hair and shows me how at the end of the tree braid, Alice had just left my own hair out, and so it was just hanging out there to get damaged (which I’d explicitly told her about). She also discovers another two braids that had fallen out and starts tightening up a bunch more, but tells me not to expect it to last more than a week or two given how poorly she did the «invisible braids» in the front (meant to hide the corn rowed/​track like tree braids). So I call Alice and tell her I want my money back and she is like, I’m not talking about this on the phone, you have to come here, and she’s hangs up on me. I call her back and I’m like, I have to be at work, I can’t come there, and she hangs up on me again! Anyway, I realized she wasn’t going to give me my money back willingly, so I went there so I could talk to her and get a chance to record her belligerence — as I fully intend to take this woman to court.
The bottom line is: (1) Do not go here. I paid this woman $ 200, or $ 40/​hour, for no reason, and wasted $ 150 worth of really nice human hair in the process. (2) I am no longer going to let these unprofessional braiders get by with this crap. I fully intend to take her to Small Claims court and explain to a judge why she doesn’t deserve to refund my money after not providing adequate service.

This had to be the worse hair experience I have EVER had in life. So, I have been getting my hair braided for about 18years in the DC/​MD/​VA area and have always been satisfied with my hair even if it was not EXACTLY how I wanted it. Since I moved to Philadelphia 4 years ago I have never wanted to get my hair braided here because I do not like how they do the Senegalese twists. HOWEVER, this time I did not feel like going back to MD and I decided to be open minded.
So I chose Lela’s based on the fact that it was like 1 of 3 salons who had a website and whose phone was not disconnected. So I get there and it is nothing how they described (see Jessica S.‘s post). She starts to go my hair in some weird way but I did not complain because I wanted to keep an open mind. So about 5 hours pass and she is done and I absolutely do not like it but the girls in the salon thought it was so beautiful for some reason. The braids were not professionally done at all.
1. She didn’t clip the stray hairs
2. when she put the ends in hot water they came out rattey looking and tangled
3. I told her no longer then my bra and she braided them all the way to my butt
4. All the braids where different sizes and lengths which made it look like a child did them
5. I wanted the end out but she left at least 6 inches of braid undone when it really should only be 2 or 3 at most
6. At the top of my hair it looked as if I was balding because of the way she parted the hair randomly and not in systematic rows
…wtf ?
But whatever, I just wanted to pay and get out of there because it was hot and it smelled of pee. So not even 9 hours later a braid unraveled, and then another, and then another. So I call and she tells me to come back in the morning.
When I get there she says nothing is wrong with my hair… and the owner could not stress this enough. I tell her it was not professionally done at all and I don’t want this anymore and I deserve my money back she tries to convince me (along with her client) that my hair is fine and I need to get used to it. So, again I just wanted to leave so I let her redo the braids that unraveled and she was supposed to braid the ends so no more unraveled after that. So 2 hours later I leave again.
I get home and I see that the top of my braids look like I got them done 4 weeks ago because my natural hair was poking out. Disappointed, I just put moose on it to lay it down and tried to convince myself I was fine… 4 hours later, what do you know … another braid comes unraveled… AND ANOTHER. Pissed, I called and the owner to tell her I want these braids out of my hair and I want my money back and she said I couldn’t come until Monday (it was Friday when this happened)… I said «no I am coming tomorrow.» She said «fine come at 4pm.»
I get there at 4 and she tries to tell me I should have come at 10am when the lady that could have done my hair was there –_​_​_​– I would not have come at 4pm if she had told me 10am… Anyways I tell her I want my money back, these braids are horrible and I am tired of coming to this shop everyday to get them redone. She proceeds to argue with me about why I should not say the braids are bad because they are fine. I continued to tell her there is no way professionally done braids should unravel everyday since I get them done. We go back and forth and her husband finally says «Do what the woman wants and settle this.» Finally, she was said «Fine you want it out, we will take it out but I can’t give you all your money back today… maybe Monday and actually you should have paid with your credit card because we do not have cash.» At this point, only GOD was stopping me from lashing out at her… I calmly say «Ma’am you told me your credit card machine was broken when I tried to pay credit when I got my hair done, so you can go to the atm like I had to do.» She gave a million excuses why not, and I finally just said «fine» to shut her up and take out my hair. Luckily, some customer came in and paid cash so she gave me about 65% of my money back.
The kicker, after all her arguing is that as I walked out of the door, she tried to hug me and say if I needed anything to call her LOLLLLLL… yeah… ok…
Needless to say I would never rec commend you get your hair done here if you are used to having your hair done well… EVER EVER EVER EVER

I went there twice first to get a sew-​in which was okay, and the second time I went to get the «Tree Braiding» and I have to say my hair was nice the person who did my hair name is alice, but there are a couple of flaws that will make me not return anymore. The flaws were it seems like she’s the only one there 90% of the time, which means your wait time is way longer or she’ll ask you to reshedule because she’s by herself. It took her 9 hours to do my hair on a 4 hour job, because she kept stopping working on other customers, I made an appointment twice to get a touch up and twice she told me to reshedule. I paid $ 250 for the tree braiding which is i think is was over charged but it does last for about 3 to 4 months, but she doesn’t offer a free or discounted first touch up which i think she should since you paying $ 250 dollars. Lela’s charges the touch up based on the time spent doing the touched up and the type of braid. So there’s no set price. So my touch-​up ended up costing me 60 dollars which she wrote down on a piece of paper to tell me, Maybe she didn’t want another customer to hear what she was charging me. I thought that was weird when she could have just told me, that looked suspicious to me.

I am reviewing Lela’s based on my experience with loc maintenance. I’ve found the staff to be very courteous and professional. However, my satisfaction with my hair has been in the low average to average range and could easily be improved. It’s too bad that my suggestions/​needs seem to fall on deaf ears. First suggestion, do not make appointments that you cannot keep. It is unfair that I make an appointment but am made to wait because someone with a braid service walks in earlier in the day and you haven’t completed her hair by my appointment time. It would be better to just say you don’t take appointments for shorter services than to stand me up. Second, no matter how tight you twist a loc, you must use clips to hold them down. I was very clear about my active lifestyle and the fact that the coils were not holding. However, this information was disregarded leaving me with uncoiled hair in less than 3 days. Third, yes, product will help to hold the hair longer but there is no reason to lather my hair with product. The product doesn’t dry completely under the dryer, leaving me to dust off the buildup from my hair.
As a previous poster mentioned, this shop’s knack is really in braiding, particularly tree braiding. You might choose to have your locs or natural hair serviced elsewhere.

I wish I could give negative stars, or, better yet, I wish assigning a rating of 7 sad faces was an option. This place deserves ‘em all.
After I expressed dissatisfaction to the owner she said «what can I do to make it better, I don’t want you to go talking bad about us.» But at that point there was nothing she could do:
Sad face #1)The website (
) advertises a salon and spa. The real location is a small, dingy, gated store front in the hood.
Sad face #2)The first thing one of the women inside asked when I got there was whether or not I had washed my hair already. Mind you, I made an appointment at a SALON to get my hair done. On the phone I said I wanted «loc maintanence.» Typically, you don’t expect service providers to ask YOU if you’ve already done half of the work you’re paying THEM to do. I said «no.» She replied, «oh, ok we’ll wash it then. you’ll have to pay extra.» I agreed. Maybe their regular customers know something I don’t know.
Sad face #3)She leads me to an old, dusty and dirty make-​shift back room where she wraps (literally, mind you) a small thin kitchen towel around my neck and proceeds to wash my hair. *(please note that she washed my hair with my shampoo and conditioner which I usually bring to salons to show what I’m using so they can assess how to approach accordingly– locs can be fickle that way)
Sad face #4) she washes my shoulder length dreadlocs for all of, say, 6 minutes (not nearly enough for the thinnest of white people hair– let alone 5.5 year old thick dreadlocs) and then starts drying them with another stained, white kitchen towel that smelled like it had been wet and then thrown in a corner for all of eternity. I told her the towel smelled horrible and she denied the stench and told me that my shampoo was what smelled bad. WTf?
Sad face #5) she began to twist my locs without any clips and she used a RUBBER BAND with SOMEONE ELSE’S hair knotted around it to separate my hair. I told her that there is no way my hair is going to stay twisted without anything to hold it in place and she said she «does all her dreadlocks customers this way.» Stupidly, I let her continue
Sad face #6) I sat under the dryer, she kept asking me if I was dry yet as if she was in a rush to get me out
Sad face #7) she unraveled my locs and my hair looked horrible. It was fuzzy and there were literally big patches of wet, goopy gel EVERYWHERE. Her response, «the gel will go away when your hair dries.» I wanted to get out of there.
As I stood there, in the middle of the hood, bewildered, fuzzily-​goopy haired, and on the brink of tears, I was not interested in getting into an argument with the 3 African ladies in there trying to convince me that my hair was done well. I knew I had stayed, let her finish, and I owed them money at this point
I paid, told them it was the worst I had ever seen hair get done. The owner «discounted» $ 15– the price of the «wash» I had received earlier because she acknowledged that my «stylist» had used a dirty rag to dry my hair.
Truthfully, the girls in there who were getting their hair braided seemed pleased, their hair looked nice and their braids seemed to be getting done relatively quickly. This place is not a salon. It’s a braid-​house.
If you’ve ever been to 125^th street in Harlem where rows and rows of store front spaces hold hundreds of West and East African women ready, willing and able to hook up your braids on the cheap– then you’ll know what type of establishment this is.
Take your non-​braiding business elsewhere

I go there regularly… the staff are nice, the prices are fair because you get quality work… I have gotten the tree braids 2x… which look great and more natural than traditional sew in. but if you use a straight hair it will shed a lot… this happened the 1^st time to me. and they understood and gave me a discount on the next set of tree braids… but with TB you can use the hair only once. and iv’e got the Indian unprocessed, which was very expensive so now I have a sew in… they did that too… and its very close to my hear almost undetectable, not bulky at all… in fact i need a touch up and will be seeing them this week… I highly recommend this place.

Lela’s is the best braiding shop I have been to in the city. Was it the largest? No, but it wasn’t the smallest either. I’ve seen them work on 5 people at once, max. Was it the cheapest? No, but it didn’t kill me either. Did the staff remember me after a 6 month absence and treat me like I never left (read: cheated on them with another, more expensive salon?) YES, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Location: The shop is located on Market, right under the 56^th street El (blue line) stop. Super easy to get to. That being said, its a busy area under the elevated El tracks… during the day, safe enough, late at night not so much.
Time: Go on a weekday and like any other braiding salon, you can get two sets of hands working on your head. At one point, I got micros in 3 hours. When I went on a Saturday morning, my kinky twists w/​extensions took 5 hours.
Quality: High. I can’t speak on the hair they stock in store, because I used to bring my own, but the braids (or twists or locs) that these ladies did lasted for about 2 months with little sign of wear, at the 2.5 month mark things get rough. I should mention that I do not sleep w/​a scarf on my head and I wash my hair twice a week when braided (or twisted or loc’ed.)
Price: I actually stopped going to the salon to save money. I usually got micro or kinky twists w/​extensions and it costs $ 150 — $ 200 (w/​tip.) Yes, you can find cheaper places.
Why 4 stars? The prices could be a bit cheaper. Also, the credit card machine doesn’t always work. So you should either bring cash, or be prepared to walk to the ATM around the corner.