Black Butterflies in Chesapeake, VA

Visited this salon a week ago for starter locs. Not gonna lie, I was a little late cause I got the location confused, but the person doing my hair--Tiff--didn't really seem all that bothered. I told her I was new to locs and I just wanted to have a conversation on loc maintence/how she's retwisting, what she retwists with, how long locs can take to dread etc. Right off the bat, she tells me: "didn't you do any research beforehand about locs?" Um yeah, I did, but I'd think a loctician would know more than some internet article? Anyway, she starts doing my hair and instead of navigating me through the process of what she's doing, she goes right in and starts comb coiling my hair with GEL. I'm not a fan of gel, nor was I aware that she was doing coils; nevertheless, I figured gel would be helpful for the sake of maintaining the locs and I thought that coils would look like locs so it wasn't all that bad. The REAL kicker was the fact that she would DRY DETANGLE my hair. Immediately sirens went off in my mind; like , you're combing dry hair without product/water? Hair breakage central. I asked her, "hey, could you apply water or product first and THEN detangle?" Her response was dismissive, that she was "already" doing it, mind you, she was only using water and gel for the comb coils NOT the detangling portion. Also she had apparently ordered food because when it came to the office, she immediately stopped doing my hair, went to the back of the salon to munch on her chicken and I KNOW it was chicken because she started eating it while doing my hair. I don't know about you, but chicken grease and hair grease doesn't sound like a good combination. After about two hours, she finishes my head, I leave and about a few days later, I start noticing the back start to unravel. Now from my research, I knew this would happen but when I asked her about the potential of my hairstyle unraveling, she said that it "wouldn't unravel any more than a normal style". Sure. Whatever you say. Only reason why I'm giving three stars is because my hair smelled really good after leaving the salon; she used rose water I believe and tea tree oil on my head so I looked and felt good. The parting was good too, but that's about it. If you're looking for a decent starter loc place and you're comfortable with a little unprofessionalism, then this is your place. Though for $95, maybe more professionalism should've been present.

Waist of my time. Appointment made -same day - to get loc maintenance and style. I was there but my loctician (Tiff) wasn't. I waited for while until finally I asked if she'd be here anytime soon. Left for coffee - told I should have time. Came back only to be told by loctician she couldn't take me because she had other appointments lined up back to back. Was also told "first of all, you were a new client so I didn't know if you'd show." What? Then why schedule me then? So I took my time to drive here, wait and still left with no service. Only reason I rated one star is because I did get a chance to see work other stylists were doing while I was waiting and it was pretty impressive. Next time consider taking client's number so you can call them if you're going to be late and then they won't have to guess how long it'll take before you're back.

These ladies KNOW what they are doing in this place!!!! I wanted a place that specializes in natural hair...I found it. Thanks Toya!!! I hate going places and people say yes, I specialize in natural hair...what you want me to do?? ummmmm....take care of my hair! Help me grow it! If I knew what to do I wouldn't come to you! Toya looked at my hair, told me what I needed and recommendations between visits...that's hair care!

Found Michelle on styleseat while I was living in Virginia, she's amazing she washed and retwisted my yarn locs. She was so warm and kind and quick! Whenever I'm in town I'll be sure to drop in!

I found Black Butterflies Loc Salon in 2011. They are awesome. They were very helpful and have a way to start your Locs without cutting all of your hair off. The sister loc technique is superb. The price is very reasonable too. I have now relocated to Northern Virginia. I thought that I could easily find someone to tighten my locs in this area, but to no avail. All of the folks I have found either only do twists, or one guy I found was wonderful-except the area in Wash DC was so horrible, I was afraid I was going to be robbed. I witnessed an attempted holdup while just getting out of my car; and the one other person I contacted charged alot. So with that said I don't mind driving to Chesapeake VA a few times a year to get my hair tightened right, not breaking the bank and spend some time with my daughter. I highly recommend anyone transitioning to Locs to please call Black Butterflies. -V. Kelly