The hair salon is a place that has long since equaled dread for many ladies. Hours upon hours spent sitting and basically doing a whole lotta waiting. Under the dryer for twice as long as it takes to dry your hair. Stomach growling from pure hunger. Kids ringing your phone wondering if you’re still alive. And husband furious that you have been MIA for nearly 8 hours on a Saturday.
Raise your hand if you can relate to one or all of the above. My hand is super high in the air right now. This is not by any means to discredit the professional stylists who keep to their booked appointments, show up on time and treat you like they respect your valuable time.
This, unfortunately, is about the opposite experience which a lot of us go through much too often. While witnessing a woman completely break down and lose her cool in the salon one such Saturday, I began to wonder how much time was really too long to spend getting a fresh do.
There is time associated with having any service performed. We all know and expect that, but are our expectations too high?
One thing I know for sure, we should not be in the salon for 6 and 8 hours. That is ridiculous by anyone’s standards. Let’s examine some of the standard services you may go in for and how long they take. Then we will remove any factors that could extend that time frame and see how quickly you could get in and out of the salon in a perfect world. Ok? Let’s go!
Wash, condition, set and style.
I think it’s fair to say that longer hair for any service will obviously take longer than that same service would on shorter hair. But, all other things being equal, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to thoroughly wash, rinse and apply conditioner to the hair. Without deep conditioning*, you should spend about 3 to 5 minutes with the conditioner in your hair and then have it rinsed out.
We are at approximately 25 minutes on the high end of things.
The time it takes to set the hair will definitely depend on length. With a short cut, you would get your hair molded and wrapped before going under the dryer. That should take about 10 minutes. Then, depending on the density and thickness of your hair, you would be under the dryer from 25 to 45 minutes. Let’s go with 45 minutes, which puts us at a total of 1 hour and 10 minutes.
For long hair, you may get a roller set. That takes more time to complete that a short wrap, so we’ll allow 30 minutes for rolling the hair up and 1 hour to 1 ½ hours under the dryer. Again, thickness and density play a part here.
So for long hair, we are at about 2 hours and 25 minutes on the high end.
Now, let’s pretend that you are actually taken from under the dryer when your hair is dry and not 45 minutes after the fact. In that case, if you have a shortcut, your hair would be styled at this point.
2hrs
Five hours and over
Over 2
2 hours
Two hours and if they arent finished in time the priced should start decreasing every 30min you are in their chair. I bet you they will get them out those chairs on time…
It depends on what you are having done and your stylist. If he/she is professional and does not over book, and does not do things like put you under the dryer unnecessarily, you should not expect to spend more than an hour or two. If you are getting microbraids or something very intricate, plan your day around your appointment.
2
Anything over a 1.5 is TOO long for me!
I’ve been in the hair salon for 9 hours and I wasn’t getting braids so I could of just went to work
Two
2.5 hours
Two hours is to long. But then it depends on what u getting done.
More than 3hrs, then I’m Pissed!!
When I wore a pixie, I found an awesome stylist who specialized in short cuts and the longest I was ever there was 2 and half hours. She was really good about getting me in and out.
I think 2.5 hrs for a pixie is to long
2 n a, half max
3hrs
I’ve been in a salon for 5 hours. I’m mixed with Afro American and Vietnamese. I have a mixed hair. I live in Australia. Most stylist aren’t familiar hair texture. I found one person who is.
I dye and put a texture manageability system in my hair. So it takes a bit of time.
A whole day, just for a perm and trim, for hair shorter than 3 inches.
2-5 hrs, or open to close. Especially if you have an appt and on time. Some not all stylist spend more time talking, running errands or personal issues other than taking care of clients in a timely manner. When I had got a natural afro dude took so long to cut and dye my hair I was leaving at closing. Arrived on time, well I never went back.
Two hours. Period.
2 hrs
Depending on your stylist and what you are getting done and hair length and texture 2.5 – 3 for me if getting braided again depends the girl that used to do my hair was amazing never over 3 hours for any style and I have a lot of thick hair
Anything over 3 hours!!!
2 hrs…..
4 or more hours
2hrs
5
My limit is 1.5 to 2 hours. That all day thing is for the birds especially if all you have is 2 clients. Since going natural I havent been in 6 years because of the slowness. I do my own and my daughters.
3 hours or more
My appointment was at 2oclock, I have a pixie cut AND I AM THE ONLY CLIENT! 5 hours later I’m STILL HERE!!!!!! ????
Appt at 9:00am and not leaving until 10pm (and no extra hair) all my hair✋????
I experienced before yrs ago and never went back. The hairstylist had a lady to shampoo her clients hair.
Um hmm so you don’t want to go out with wet hair.
Cassandra Taylor-Hood , WTF..THAT’S LIKE BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER AND TWO SNACKS ????????????????♀️????????♀️????????♀️????????♀️
4 hours
All damn day
Depends on the service
Up to 5 hours exspecially if u have a appt even if u do a walk in it shouldn’t take that long no matter if u get a sew in or braid i know both those take a minute to do
Al Page 5 hour braids about to be some jumbo braids ???? maybe those new crotchet braids in medium
After 3hrs.
It all depends on what style you’re getting. You can’t tell someone an hour is too long when they’re getting something done that causes to take more time than that. There is no right or wrong answer.
I started walking out when they dont see me in a timely manner and I have an appt. Beauticians love to overbook. I’m like not at my expense, especially when im paying you
Tiara Tunstall-Sigmon I remember one time I had a 10am appt. I walk in and she has two other people in front of me. I stayed for a while to see how she would juggle us all, and after an hour she still had not seen me, I walked out that mofo. And she had the nerve to look at me like I was crazy when I grabbed my purse and got up. You wont be getting my hard earned money today1
Real talk me to
Here in Ohio they’ll hurry up and wash you so you can’t walk out lol
Then they try to keep your “non-refundable” deposit …
This is exactly why I haven’t stepped in a salon in over 10+ years. The last straw was when they shampooed me, wrapped me up and sat me back out front until a dryer opened. After 20 minutes and me watching as women were getting up from the dryer and other women getting put under the dryer, I go ask when will I get my turn. Come to find she actually said while laughing, oh I completely forgot you were up there. She was working on another clients head!! I didn’t utter a word. I kept eye contact with her as I took the towel off, took the tissue wraps off broke eye contact, turned around and walked out. I never said another word. At that time they weren’t taking deposits. So I didn’t pay anything and I never looked back.
I have been doing my own relaxer ever since! I also learned how to do braids and now I don’t even go to get that done.
#wegottodobetter
Depends on what you want done. If you came in with a nested up tangled mess looking for a wash, treatment, blow out, trim, fresh grey touch up and style, you can’t be upset that this whole new you took 4 hours to create. If you want a weave and you’re walking out after they worked on your head and stopped to answer calls and chat 6 hours later, I get you ????????♀️
1 hour for me
2hrs for me
Depends on a LOT of variables.
Idk.. I get my hair cut short???? and being that I having thick hair im in there for 3hrs.
2hrs is all I can stand
Barber for me – 15 min, lol
Depends on the services but 2-3 hrs is ok. Anything else is ridiculous.
1.5 to 2 hours only! Especially since my hair is not down my back NOR is the stylist will be installing any tracks or weave.
#OhHellNaw
Depends on how juicy the gossip is????????????????????????????????????????
3-4 hours MAX
My hair down my back though and I usually do an oil treatment
Anything longer and that’s ridiculous
2 hours, I have too many health issues to do any more
Doobie – 2 to 3 hours
Weave, depending on style – 6 to 8 hours
Jasmine J. A. Jones I love the fact you call a hair wrap, a doobie. I grew up calling it that too. Latina household!! I remember the first time I went to a salon in the late 90’s the girl look at me strange. After a 5 minutes of explaining every one understood ????????
I did from 9:30am-3:20pm and had to warn her I had to get my kids from school. Still was late getting them. Ridiculous, ain’t went back yet. I don’t mind waiting but damn, finding a great stylist is hard.????????♀️
If I’ve booked my appointment for 11am and I arrive on time I expect to be seen within a reasonable time frame from arrival (11.15am at the latest)……I don’t expect to arrive ten minutes before my appointment, be left in my seat , jacket still on, no acknowledgment from my hairdresser, waiting around for at least an hour & a half before I’m seen, have 1 person wash my hair then they disappear and I’m left for another hour before anything else is done because she’s busy working on someone else’s hair and by the time my hair is done I’ve been in that saloon for an entire day!….This is why I stopped using salon’s over 20 yrs ago because the service is ridiculous, they treat the customer with ZERO respect, they’re constantly over booking appointments because they’re hopeless at working out reasonable time frames needed to do each customer depending / based on what the customer is having done , they’re inconsiderate and think no apology is needed (never offered anyway) when they are running late & have kept a customer waiting hours, they are normally understaffed hence why you see 3 hairdressers trying to work on several heads at once.The salon’s are greedy for the money but offer an abysmal service and expect customers to accept this crappy service and winge about “supporting black owned businesses “?….. well I did support them for many many years and for that I received crap service, and endless hours waiting to be seen and entire days wasted ..I use an independent hairdresser now (she’s a young black lady just starting out on her own) and I’ve never been happier!…..if black businesses want our support they need to up their game and get their act together instead of running salon’s like a part time hobby!
1 hour for me.
If it can’t be done in an hour I don’t need it
8hrs is too long. I don’t have that much hair and it was just a bit much.
6 hrs
90 mins by then i had made up my mind no one is getting a tip!
Thanks to my stylist I am usually there no more than an hour. Anything over 2 hours is to long for me because the service I go in for is very limited.
It depends on what you’re getting done, 2hrs is all I can stand.
A good stylist knows how to book her/his clients regardless of what they are getting. You should never have to sit and wait. When you arrive for your appointment you should be sitting in the chair getting prepped for the shampoo bowl. My stylist has a huge clientele and she books everyone 2 hours out. So no one sees the next person nor are you sitting on top of one another. I love it.
Tee Nacheal This is one of the reasons why my hair is now wash and go.
Pauline Howell it took me a while to find her. I’ll never go anywhere else.
Was in one a entire shift. I then decided to go natural!
Depends on the service. Braids take 8hrs.
I had a barber that was 2 hours late… a barber. Like a dumbass i waited and what was supposed to be a 5pm, 45 min appointment, had my son and i there til almost 8. Never saw him again.
Also i walked out on a lady who took another customer before me when they came in after me. She had me waiting already (no big deal, i had time), then told that walk-in i was first…. then, while i’m STILL waiting, takes care of that customer as soon as they walk back in, before me. I got up and left.
The braids i get take 4 hours. As soon as they are finished, the braided tries to take a break, no ma’am, i will not be here all day. Finish my hair so i can leave.
Anything longer than 90 minutes IMO.
Back in the day my hair dresser would be like come on let me shampoo you and then have you sit there with your hair wet so you wouldn’t leave.
It got so bad I starting doing my own perm at the house so when I got there she had no choice but but get me shampooed and under the dryer lol.
Now I am natural just get blow outs no time under the dryer life is good. In and out in less than 2 hrs
Over 3 hours
It depends on what you are getting done
4 hours
Waiting or actually getting your hair done?????
No longer than a Dr. Appt. 2hrs max. Geeze.
No More Than 2 Hours
7 hours is my cap I gotta go.
Wow, it defitnatley depends on the service…
All day
They should have to take a time management class. You cant work on 3 people at the same time. When you go to a franchise, they have you in and out. I feel like the beauticians dont even care, that they leave you waiting.
I went natural for this reason so I wouldn’t sit in the salon all day… Even when I was the first one in, somehow I was still there until 3… Now I even pick braid hairstyles that I know will only have me in the chair, 2 hours-3 hours top… ????????????
Stylist that overbook do not care about their clients. They only care about the $ your going to put in their pockets
Every black hair salon takes to damn long ????????♀️. So we make time for them ????????????
Two hours the max
I stopped going to a hair salon after waiting for 8-10 hours each time.
There’s a time period!?! ????????????????????
Yall complaining… and I love it. The conversations are so intellectual and the networking is fun! It’s lively even on my stylists slow days. I went from natural to locs in the same shop. ????????????
Some of ya’ll should just get a fade ????
3 hours
These responses ???? the time you spend in a salon is dependent on service.
Wash and blow should be 45 mins
Wash blow and straighten 60 mins
Treatment & silk press 120 mins
Relaxer & style 90 – 120 mins
Smoothening systems 120 – 240 mins
Colour 90 – 300 mins
Weave 120 – 180 mins
Braids 300 – 480 mins
Cornrows 30 to 120 mins
I ensure my clients are seen at the time of their appointment and I dispose tardiness.. Clients love walking in and being seen promptly and if there is a delay due to unforeseen circumstances you apologise to the client and start them ASAP (no more than 15 mins after walking through the door)
2 hours