Arikesbraids African salon Pittsburgh, PA 15102

"Ruth is a hair magician! I’ve been coming to her for about 18 months and I’ve never been disappointed. She’s punctual. Her shop is clean and bright. Best of all, everywhere I go, people ask about my hair; even weeks after it’s been installed! She’s pure magic!"

"Really great service here. My 10 year old son decided he wanted "braids". Probably not the best choice with the length and texture of his hair but the stylist went above and beyond to make it happen. Great communication before, during, and after the process. Couldn't be happier with our experience here"

"I’ve been getting my hair braided for about 14 years now about 3-5x a year and Arike braiding is the best I’ve been to! I always get compliments on my braids wherever I go. It’s easy to book appointments, she is very professional and she always does her best to get you the exact vision you want. I’ve been doing the knotless style instead of box braids and my scalp is nerve sore after an appointment and since coming to her I’ve never har a braid fall out. I came across this page from another girl who tagged it and booking is the best decision I’ve ever made. She is very flexible and is also always willing to squeeze me in or try work with my availability. I’ve been coming for about 2 years now and I’m extremely satisfied! Best braider in Pgh"

"What ever you do, DO NOT GET THE PASSION TWISTS! This salon is really good at braids and have a good social media presence, but I got passion twist from them yesterday and they were terrible. I had to remove them from my head the same day. I sent them a picture of what I wanted and they didn’t reply (I assumed because they were able do that style). Then when I got there, that said that the picture I showed them was crochet and not passion twists. So I said Ok and told them to do it like the picture THEY had on their website when booking. My passion twist looked nothing like the picture they placed on their site. THEY LOOKED RAGGEDY! The stylist didn’t even bother making sure the ends were even and that there was no frizz. I think Arike did the passion twist in that picture but I had someone else. My thing is, if you don’t know how to do passion twist well, SAY THAT. Or if only one person knows how to do them, let the customer know. I even bought the hair they told me to buy because they weren’t willing to use other brands. They were very nice to me but definitely fumbled in the complete customer care area. My advice is, get their other styles they offer and make sure the stylist you’re working with has actually done the style before. I will not be returning. You are better off watching a tutorial and doing them yourself."

"I asked for Extra Small Mid Back Knotless Braids and they gave me Medium Waist length Box Braids instead! I requested specifically the style they had on their instagram and the braider lied and said she could do it. After I got there, she told me that she couldn’t do Mid Back she had to do Waist length and charge me more for it ($385!). I said ok because it was late and she was trying to intimidate me. Shortly after she started, I noticed that the parting was large and couldn’t possibly be small enough to accommodate the volume of the hairstyle I requested, but she told me it would look full when she was done. Then, I went to the bathroom and saw that she was doing BOX BRAIDS on my hair and pulling my baby hairs so tight the skin was swelling and hairs were starting to rip out. I told her this and she said that on natural hair this is how knotless braids look and if I want to be natural then I should expect that. This is a lie because I’m Nigerian and have been natural my whole life and getting my hair braided for years and knotless is never supposed to look like box braids. Lo and behold, when she finished (well after 7 hours), the braids on my head were extremely tight medium sized box braids, not what I asked for. She charged me $385 for hair I wouldn’t pay more than $100 to get done. The first picture is what I asked for (you can see the title says Ex Small on their instagram) and the 2nd and 3rd photos are the big box braids she gave me. This style is going to weaken/rip out my edges which is why I requested specifically extra small knotless. She read all my messages and did not reply, so I have disputed it with my bank to get my money back and received my refund that way. If you see the other poor review, you can notice this is a pattern. Please get your hair done elsewhere for your sake, your money’s sake, and your hair’s sake."