THE DOMINICAN HAIR SALON EXPERIENCE

Copyright © 2008 Aleida Morel, all rights reserved

Dominican women love their hair! And Dominican stylists know how to make it beautiful and healthy. As a Beauty Consultant and a Dominicana, I get a lot questions about Dominican beauty parlors and hair care. My field is makeup and skin care; I'm not a hairdresser! I go to the professionals for that and now I would like to tell you about it. WHAT IS IT LIKE IN THE DOMINICAN HAIR SALON? THE BASIC DOMINICAN WASH AND DRY THE "DOOBIE" AND OTHER SERVICES HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? COMMUNICATING RECOMMENDED DOMINICAN SALONS HOW TO FIND A DOMINICAN SALON IN YOUR AREA

Most Dominican women have textured hair (el pelo texturado), which needs a lot of attention! And therefore almost every Dominicana goes to the beauty parlor once or twice every week. The beauty parlor is called el salón de belleza or la peluquería. In the Dominican Republic, and wherever Dominicans live, the beauty parlor is a big part of our culture. According to Dominican Times Magazine there are 3,250 Dominican beauty salons in the New York metropolitan area! That's a good thing because for our kind of hair, the Dominican hairdressers (estilistas or peluqueras dominicanas) are simply the best. For 500 years, they have been developing techniques of hair care based on the natural tropical products of our country like avocado, coconut, olive, and cinnamon oils; maracuyá [chinola, passion fruit], rosemary, garlic, wheat germ, and aloe, for keeping our hair beautiful even in the hottest and most humid conditions! (Read more about Dominican hair-care products.)

More and more North American women, especially African-American women, have heard about Dominican salons and they want to go there too, because it is really the same kind of hair – a mixture of European, Indigenous American, and African, just like we are! Dominican salons don't like to use hot irons or combs or strong chemicals for straightening, they have their own special techniques that are more gentle for your hair. For example, because I go to Dominican salons, I never need to have my hair straightened with chemicals or hot combs!

If you search in Google for "dominican hair salon" or "dominican beauty parlor" you will find a lot of American women who are so happy now that their hair is finally healthy, growing, strong, and full of shine, thanks to a Dominican salon!

WHAT IS IT LIKE IN THE DOMINICAN HAIR SALON?

In the salon they use the Dominican or Italian or Spanish hair products – shampoos, rinses, treatments, and conditioners – that are the very best for our kind of hair, and also for brittle or damaged hair. Healthy hair is the first priority of the Dominican stylist! She won't put anything in your hair, or do anything to it, that is not going to make it more healthy.

Hint: If your stylist uses some product that does wonders for your hair, be sure to ask her what it is so you can keep using in case you move away, or your salon does!

THE BASIC DOMINICAN WASH AND DRY – LEVADO Y SECADO

What I describe here is how they do my hair in the salon once or twice every week. It leaves my hair smooth, full, and wavy, the way I like it, without strong chemicals. Different types of hair and different styles have different requirements and can take more or less time.

When your turn (turno) comes up, first you have a shampoo (lavado), from a shampooer or from the stylist herself if she is not too busy. Then you have 10 minutes in the dryer (el secador) without rollers to warm up your head, and then you have a wonderful scalp massage (un masaje) to stimulate the roots (estimular las raíces). Then comes the rinse (el rinse), and then (if you need it) the conditioner (el acondicionador) or treatment (el tratamiento) that is right for your hair. And then they put in the curlers (los rolos). Big ones (los grandes) if you have long hair, smaller ones (los chiquitos) if you have short hair (el pelo corto) or you want your hair more curly (rizado) or wavy (ondulado). And then you sit under the big dryer (secador) for an hour! While your hair is drying, you can sleep, or read, or eat, or talk on the cell phone, or chat with the other women, or have a manicure or pedicure, or all of those at the same time! THEN, when you come out of the dryer, they take out the rollers and divide your hair into sections, which they brush (cepillar, and sometimes they pull – jalar – hard), and blow-dry (secar a mano) for half an hour, using a big round brush (cepillo redondo) or other kind of brush, depending on the length of your hair and style you want, and whether you want it to fall inward (hacia adentro) or outward (hacia afuera, “con flip”). And that's it!

THE "DOOBIE" AND OTHER SERVICES

Of course the Dominican salons have a lot of other services too: trimming the ends (cortar las puntas, I do that every 2 or 3 months), relaxing or straightening (alisado), hair cutting (corte de pelo) and styling (peinado), coloring (tinte), streaks (mechas, rayitos), highlights (reflejos), extensions (extensiones)... they like to work with you to create what you want, as long as it is not something that will damage your hair. When the stylist and the customer work together to create something new, they both get excited!

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? – ¿CUÁNTO CUESTA?

To save money, many customers buy the hair products they prefer directly from the salon or from my website and bring them each time they have their hair done, and that way the salon visit costs less. Prices vary from salon to salon, and can change from time to time, and also depend on your type of hair and how long it is. But for now, at least, the Dominican salon is a Great Bargain!

COMMUNICATING

In the Dominican salons in the USA, they speak Spanish of course, but they know the English hair terminology. If you know some Spanish, it will be helpful, and for Spanish hair terms you can consult my ENGLISH-SPANISH HAIR SALON GLOSSARY. But anyway, if you show them a picture of what you want in their sample book (muestrario) or a magazine (revista), they will know how to take care of you, and they will do a very good job because they want you to come back again and again, and you will, and soon it will feel like family. Communication comes naturally because for us women, hair is the universal language!

RECOMMENDED DOMINICAN SALONS

Martha's Unisex Salon	2 Saint Nicholas Terrace	Manhattan NY 10027	1-212-280-1200
Iris Unisex Salon	1195 Sherman Avenue	Bronx NY 10456	1-718-590-9995
Yani Vanet Beauty Salon	209 East 165th Street	Bronx NY 10456	1-718-588-5102
Elaine All Nails	209 East 165th Street	Bronx NY 10456	1-646-579-6871
Melany's Unisex Beauty Salon	1131 Sutter Avenue	Brooklyn NY 11208	1-718-235-9188
Yenni's Grand Salon	601 North Main Street	Waterbury CT 06704	1-203-591-1786

The majority of Dominican salons are excellent but for me Iris's Unisex Salon and Miguelina's Yani Vanet Beauty Salon, both in the Bronx (New York City), and Martha's in Manhattan, are three of the very best. In Connecticut I recommend Yenni's Grand Salon in Waterbury.

I have been going to Iris ever since I came to this country, and Miguelina almost as long. They are very near to each other and to the 167th and Grand Concourse subway stop, so if one is too busy I go to the other. Both of them are like a second home to me, where I can relax and laugh and be myself among friends. The stylists are friendly and nice and they are VERY good to my hair! In fact, they care about my hair as much as I do, and that is saying a lot! Every week we work together to create new and different and exciting looks for me, and every time I go Iris or Miguelina, I know that I am going to feel Very Good when they finish with my hair. And every time I leave those salons, I feel happy. And beautiful!   Take a look!

HOW TO FIND A DOMINICAN SALON IN YOUR AREA

Hint: If you are planning to move and you want to be near a Dominican salon in your new location, you should check these maps first! Good choices would be New York City (Bronx or Manhattan); Boston or Lawrence MA; Providence RI; Miami FL; Northeastern New Jersey (Bergen, Passaic, Paterson, Union City, Newark); Sleepy Hollow or Haverstraw NY, Philadelphia PA.

To search for a Dominican salon near you, enter the location into this special Google search box. You can put the city or town and state (you can use the 2-letter abbreviation, for example “bronx ny” or “new haven ct” or “marietta ga”), or a zipcode, or anything else to identify the location.

Then to get a different set of results, do another search in Superpages.com (telephone book business listings); this search finds all the salons in or near the location that you give that have "dominican" in their name. Put the city and state (for example "union nj") and/or a Zip code (CLICK HERE for help):

If you have any recommendations of your own, send them to me and when I have enough of them, I will list them here. And for your cosmetic and skin care needs...