Purely Natural: Review

On Saturday I went to my appointment at Purely Natural, in Stratford. The salon looked very professional, was clean, light and airy. I'm used to going to salons that look cluttered, dark and dusty. It didn't seem to have that salon smell either and unlike other black hair salons that I've been to (excl Morris Roots), the staff looked like a team and not like individuals who were only renting out a chair and would be working from another salon or from home in a couple of  months time.

My appointment was at 2pm but I arrived at 1:40, and to my surprise was seen straight away. A girl called Danielle washed my hair, and when I say washed, I mean washed. She really got in there, then, after conditioning, checked to make sure that all the product had washed off (something no other hairdresser had done before). Once my hair was washed I went over to a lady called Natalie. She confirmed the style I wanted then asked if it was ok to use shea butter in my hair (as she thought I wanted twist she asked if I wanted them done with gel or grease). When using the hair dryer, she handled my hair with care, starting from the ends and working down to the roots (another thing that no other hairdresser has done). Then she moved on to trimming my hair. I've never had my hair trimmed at a salon before, so I was very nervous because I know how scissor happy some stylist can get. She snipped and then showed me how much she had taken off to see if I was alright with it. My hair looked so much better afterwards, the trim was the main reason why I went to the salon.

Next came the actual styling, I told Natalie that I wanted it cane rowed at the front and the the rest in single plaits. As she parted my hair she told me she was going to do the cane rows going towards the side so that they wouldn't pull on my hairline. She asked me how I usually styled my hair and how long I keep my extensions in. I told her 1-2 months, she was very shocked and said that my hair would be locking up by that point. Natalie also pointed out that the styles I had chosen would lockup a lot sooner than if I had done twist. I was advised to leave them (and extensions) in for 3-4 weeks. This surprised me as I'd always been told that 1-2 months was alright. However,what she said did make sense as the braids around my hairline do tend to lock so I try redo them about one month into the style in order to avoid this.
When my hair was finished she asked if she could use the sheen spray, the fact that she was asking whether or not I wanted to use certain products impressed me. I've never ever ever had a stylist ask me, usually they just use whatever is at their station, like a one size fits all approach to styling.

When my hair was finished, I was very pleased with the results but felt a little bad as I found out that Natalie was supposed to finish at 2pm, and was going to a party (it was now going to 4), and stayed because no one was available to attend to me when I finished having my hair washed. The total cost for everything was £55 (wash, trim and style), just a little more than I'd estimated.

Though they don't use all natural products (neither do I, yet), I would recommend this salon to anyone, I travelled all the way from North London, by bus, to get there and I would definitely do it again.