Written by: Sandra E. Garcia
Hair can be fussy, uncooperative, and moody. It can be frustrating if you don’t bend, bend, and sit. Hair can be a handful, a waste of time, a hole in money and a drag. Perhaps no one knows this better than black women.
Entrance, stage left: Braids.
and not just Braid. Many black women use a style that is becoming more popular: the so-called knotless braid, which is very different from the traditional box braid.
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In the old style worn by Janet Jackson in the 1993 film Poetic Justice, the style has become entrenched in American beauty culture. Hairstylists who create knotless braids also start by dividing the hair into separate sections, but then braid 1 he 1/2 inch or more of the natural hair itself and add synthetic strands bit by bit. Send it to the newly created braid.
Because hair extensions are not knots, rootsThe lack of knots also means there is no bulk found in box braids. And the new style makes braids flatter. Braids without knots also feel lighter.
“It’s very easy to handle,” said Jamilla Dick-Quashie, 42, a mother of a 6-year-old and chief health and safety officer for New York City’s chief medical examiner.
“It’s so easy when you’re trying to put your hair in a bun or try a braided style with a braid without knots. And you know you don’t feel any tension on your scalp – and that’s a big difference.” .
A client is styled in a knotless braid at Salon Braided in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn on July 1, 2022. (Makeda Sandford/The New York Times)
Until three years ago, the style wasn’t very popular, he said. hair stylist Specializing in braids for black women. Now, at salons like Aminata African Hair Braiding in Harlem, the majority of customers are knotless.
Astou Fall, who has worked at Aminata since 2000, said after customers started asking for knotless braids in 2020, she and her colleagues watched YouTube tutorials to learn how to create the style. said. Persistently, she added.
Fall, 37, from Senegal, said, “It was difficult at first because I’m not used to braids without knots.” “Once I got used to it, I realized it was a little easier than regular braids.”
Stylists have noticed that they can knit more quickly without the hassle of tying small knots at the base. This meant more customers and more revenue: at Aminata, it’s $140 for back-reaching hair, with or without knots, and $180 for waist length.
New styles also drove demand. In the days before knotless braids ran Instagram explore pages, customers could show up at African hair braiding salons without an appointment. Some require a $30 deposit to prevent no-shows. (Aminata African Hair Braids are still on a first-come, first-served basis.)
Meagan Louis, who braids her hair at her Brooklyn salon Soignée BK, says knotless braids are good for a business that started when a new style started to catch on. .
Knotless braids are a good fit for the business Louis started when new styles started to catch on. (Makeda Sandford/New York Times)
She said she never intended to braid her hair full time. After she graduated from the University of Albany with a degree in biology in 2012, she worked as a technician at a medical lab, braiding her hair after shifts to supplement her income.
“I’ll do nine to five, and when I get home, I’ll probably knock out two clients,” says Louis. “I probably do it every other day.”
She did knotless braids for one woman, who introduced her to another client.
“It was becoming more full-time than it actually was. full-time jobsaid Lewis.
However, she was hesitant because her parents, who had immigrated from the Grenadines, wanted her to become a doctor.
“I was preparing to apply to medical school,” Lewis said. Can you make the same amount? “
Eventually, Louis quit his lab job. The possibility that she could set her own schedule and spend more time with her daughter and son, now 8 and her 4, influenced her decision, she said. I was.
“I make more money braiding my hair and I have more creativity,” Lewis said. Yes, it’s mathematical, but here you can be creative and do whatever you want.”
Louis worked from home before opening Soignée BK in February 2020. pandemic hitAs a result, she was unable to see customers for months. During her first few months of quarantine, she increased her media presence in her own salon social. When she announced she was ready to see clients again, she said within two minutes she had booked a month’s worth of appointments.
Now she starts taking new bookings at noon on the 16th of every month and the month fills up quickly. Louis attributes her success to her speed and neatness. The braids she makes have a uniform look, as if they were knitted by a machine.
A scientist at heart, Lewis takes great care not to end up with more braids on one side of his head than the other, a common pitfall. She also requires her customers to have at least four to five inches of hair and arrive freshly washed and blow-dried. (Old-style braids had few restrictions on customers’ hair length.) Louis initially charged her $150 for a medium-sized braid. Currently the price is $350 for him.
She says she prefers braids without knots, partly because it’s a faster process. Some women experienced hair loss when traditional box braids were tied tightly against the scalp.
Coroner’s Dick Quassy opted for the no-knot style because she’s known to be gentle.
Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Charles said his grandmother taught him how to braid his hair when he was three years old. Her skills came in handy when she majored in economics at the University of the West Indies in Cave Hill, Barbados.
“When I got tired of eating ramen, I would knit a few extra heads just to make money,” Charles said. I started getting my hair cut at my sister’s clothing store in a slightly cooler chair.”
After moving to the United States in 2017, she began braiding her hair at a barber shop across the street from where she lived in Brooklyn.
“The barbershop wasn’t the best setting,” Charles said. I had to learn how they operate in America. “
After working at a barber shop for five months, she rented a salon booth. To establish her clientele, she began posting photos of her own work on her social media. Her clients have come for one of her specialties, Stitch her braids, which are cornrows that part her hair horizontally under the back of a braid. Like knotless braids, stitch braids start with natural hair and synthetic hair is fed into the braid, creating less tension. This is because when you braid, you separate the stitches with your ring finger.
“Braids take care of your hair,” Charles said. We start with dark hair, prone to traction alopecia, we have a problem.”
After achieving some success in the rental booth, she started braiding her hair. 2 bedroom apartment.
“We were running it as if it were a salon,” said Charles.
Knotless braids are a new style that’s in high demand at salons in Harlem and Brooklyn.(Makeda Sandford/New York Times)
In 2018, she hit a breakthrough after braiding the hair of reality TV star Tanisha Thomas. Tanisha Thomas posted the results on her Instagram and tagged Charles.rapper soon Cardi B One of Charles’ Instagram followers and then a customer. Charles still braids Cardi B’s hair from time to time, he said.
“Cardi B tends to get fishbowls, which are generally cornrows in her natural hair and then extensions,” Charles said. “It doesn’t pull your hair at all.”
In 2020, Charles was part of the hair braiding team for Beyoncé’s “Black Is King” visual album, and the megastar wore box braids that were longer than her body.
“The biggest influencers are celebrities,” Charles said.
In September 2021, Braided opens, a spacious salon with white paper walls and large bay windows. She also offers knitting classes and sometimes employs students, and with business booming, Charles bought his first home—within five years of his arrival in the United States, he she said.
This article was originally published in The New York Times.
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