Hair Salons

Hair salons are everywhere. They are on almost every block in the city of Dakar, but they are almost all very small shops. I don't know the cost of having one's hair done at one, but it must be inexpensive, as so many women have their hair done. At least two of the ladies (Diana and Georgina) from church own a shop. I don't have pictures of their shops. Georgina's is one of the larger ones, with about 6 or 7 hair stylists. Her shop is located in 1/2 of the bottom floor of the family's house, and her husband, David, has his store in the other 1/2.

There is some training for hair stylists, but I don't know that it is required. There are no inspections of the shops. I was told that it is just up to the individual customer to decide which shop meets her standards of cleanliness.

In poorer areas such as the villages, there are few hair salons. Almost all of the women there wear the head scarfs (foulards) or they have their hair cut very short.

The first photo shows a tiny but clean looking shop within sight of the church building. When looking at the photo notice the small added building on the front of the larger building. That added portion is the total beauty shop. It has barely room for one hair stylist and one chair!

Do you think that the following shop would meet U.S. standards? The majority of shops look similar to this one. Would you like to have a manicure here??

The next one is much nicer, but still nothing like we are used to in our country.

I posted this next photo earlier, but these young women were coming out of one of the nicest hair salons. It looks as if two of them work there.