I just remembered this post that I had on my other blog which I have since closed down about my experience in a salon in Switzerland. I wanted to share it here because it is hair related and today being #TBT, it fits right in. I wrote this article in November 2013, and it shares the details of my experience at a salon in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Not sure of the title, because the salon visit really felt like being at any salon in South Africa aside from the fact that everyone spoke in French except for the manager/owner who I think was Nigerian and she spoke English, so my stylist and I did all our communication through her 🙂
Firstly I started by visiting the salon on Thursday to try make an appointment for Saturday, because I wanted to do braids (which take very long), I was told that someone has already reserved for braids on Saturday, but I must leave my number and they will contact me if there are any changes. On Friday, I received a green light call that I could come on Saturday 🙂 at 10:30. As I was getting ready on Saturday morning, I received a call from the salon reminding me of my appointment (which is extremely professional, this has never happened to me before, I am usually the one chasing after the stylist).
When I arrived at the salon, the lady who was meant to braid me was busy with someone else, but changes were made quickly and within 5 minutes I was seated on the chair ready for my braids. I showed my stylist a picture of the type of braids that I wanted and she started the process. Every so often, the owner of the salon would come around and offer us ice-tea and sweets which again was a nice touch.
As I mentioned earlier, the salon really did feel like I was back at home; there was the gospel music in the background and the usual chit chatter amongst the stylists. A few unusual (to me) things happened though: a total of 2 white women came through to get weaves on their hair, like proper weaves that us black women do, it was the first time I had seen such. And there were 2 guys that came to get their hair relaxed :o, I’m all about ‘each to their own’ but men who relax their hair are a bit of a no-no for me.
Besides the exorbitant price that I paid to get my braids, I had no complaints about the salon. Later in the evening I got a few missed calls from them, and I presume they were calling to do a post appointment check up, which would be such a nice touch, because sometimes it takes a while for a person to realise whether they like their new hairdo or not. Another thing I like is that I was done in 6 hours – considering that my last braids took over 10 hours to do, I was happy about this timeline!
Lungi's healthy hair journey 
Great that you had such a good experience. Yes, a lot of guys here in Europe wants straight hair. Most of them use the flat iron though. Ihave many male Caucasian friends that flat iron their hair every morning.
How much did you pay?
It was such a shocker for me because I hardly see it here at home.
I paid CHF 170 which was hella expensive! But I did not have a choice.