Mai African Hair Braiding

"Update: Mai’s is the only place in Iowa City/Iowa I trust with my hair. 10/10 every time. I haven't gotten anything done here yet. I met Mai unrelated to hair and she is an awesome person. I asked her about getting my hair done and she told me to come by her shop. We discussed some options for my hair and what my goals were. She was honest and advised me to grow out my hair more because I had broken the hair in some spots terribly. I thought that was odd because I knew women back home that would braid hair shorter than what mine was. I was almost offended b/c I thought she just didn't want to deal with my weird hair. (Side bar: I had been wearing hair puffs and pieces often enough that the hair in the middle of my head had experience breakage). Upon doing my own research, I learned that had Mai just moved forward, done the braids I wanted, and taken my money I could have ended up with seriously damaged hair (breakage to bald spots O.O! My hair wasn't strong enough to support braids and needed time to heal. I took that as a reality check. I come from the school of black women that think your hair stylist should make your hair decisions and you just hand over the money and let them work your magic. I realized that I needed to get to know my own hair because to hair stylists are not like Mai. Finally getting my hair done by Mai this Sunday, for the first time and I am very excited."

"I’ve been going to Mai for braids for over three years at this point. Not only does my hair always look amazing but she’s always so kind and makes the experience positive. After all this time she really knows what i like and makes sure everything looks good. I very highly recommend Mai’s African Hair Braiding."

"I called Mai African hair braiding desperate to get my hair done for a last minute event I had to go to . She was able to fit me in her schedule the next day . I was pleasantly surprised by the shop and the atmosphere. My stylist started on my hair right away and was extremely fast . I saw another client getting box braids and they were the best box braids I had ever seen . I will Definitely be getting those next time . I Highly recommend Mai African hair braiding . Price reasonable , service fast , friendly hair braiders .I left there feeling so beautiful. She’s truly the best in the Iowa city, Coralville and north Liberty area and I can’t wait to go back ."

"The ladies here are really nice and do a great job with braiding. I always get box braids just because that's what I like but I see other people coming and going with different styles that are also well done. They have hair of different colors in the salon already so you don't have to bring your own hair. That being said, it's not as wide a selection as you would find at an actual hair shop so if you have a specific color that's a bit unique in mind you should probably bring your own hair (today in the shop someone was upset that they didn't have baby blue hair and I was like, "that's not exactly a common color.") The other thing I appreciate is that they will have a 2nd person braiding my hair if they're free to make the process go faster. If you let them know you have to be out by a certain time, they'll usually get you out on time. I can only think of 2 downsides to this place. (1) they won't wash and blow-dry for you. Come with your hair ready to be braided. (2) it's a little expensive, but when you're the only good hair braiding place in Iowa City you can afford to have higher rates. Overall I highly recommend them."

"I was on vacation and needed to get my daughters hair done, they were able to get me in the next day and we were in a bit of a hurry so she even brought extra girls in to help get my daughters hair finished fast. Seriously the best braids I’ve ever had in my daughters hair. They use good quality hair and was extremely friendly. The braids were tight, they were clean, they look to beautiful. I would highly recommend"