Featured Dominican Stylist – Luisa Perez of Luisa’s Hair Salons I, II & III

Have you noticed a lot of negative press concerning Dominican salons “damaging” hair? Most of these negative comments seem to come from “newbies” who have only recently stepped foot in Dominican salons which makes me wonder ‘where the heck are they going’!? I sat down and had a very long talk with Mrs. Luisa Perez , the very first Dominican salon owner in the state of Maryland to address these comments and learn a little more about her and 3 hair salons.

Luisa is pretty much a household name if you’ve been frequenting Dominican salons for any good amount of time in the DMV. Her staple shop on Bonifant St.is still the “go to” spot if you’re close to Silver Spring. But before I talked to Luisa about her shops and years of experience doing hair, I wanted to get her take on the negativity surrounding Dominican salons.

Jennifer:  Luisa, congratulations on being the featured stylist this month. I’m running behind with these features, but I know our readers love them, so thanks for clearing your schedule.

Luisa: No problem Jennifer, you know I don’t mind and thanks to RoundBrushHair for featuring me.

 

Negativity Surrounding Dominican Salons

Jennifer:  Luisa, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I certainly have – the recent surge of negativity when it comes to “Round Brush Hair” the Dominican styling. There are comments ranging from heat damage, and thinning to burning scalps and the overall lack of professionalism. How do you, an original Dominican stylist respond to these comments?

Luisa: Well, I actually share the same concern. I’ve noticed a lot of Dominican salons opening up, and they’re doing well [have a lot of clients], but they have no experience. These salons get saturated with people and the problem comes when they’re asked to go beyond basic wash & sets or blow outs. People start asking for color, perms, chemicals and cuts and they don’t have an idea of what they’re doing but they do it anyway – that’s where we get the bad rep. I know everybody has good intentions; they want to make money and put the word out that we Dominicans do the best hair, but not every Dominican is certified, prepared or trained to do hair. I think consumers need to look out for these things.

Jennifer: What about the women who aren’t getting specialized services like a color or perm? Some of the negative comments are from women who only received a Dominican blow out. Can every Dominican do a wash, set and blowout?

Luisa: Jennifer, you already know from your background, that every Dominican can do a wash and set. We grew up in the backyard doing each other’s hair. It’s a must in the Dominican Republic if you’re a girl to know how to do a wash and set, manicure and pedicure. But not everybody can work a blower which is where the damage can come from. Another thing to keep in mind though is that not everyone is a good candidate to get their hair blown out with the round brush. If you have healthy hair, a Dominican blow out can give incredible shine and bounce to the hair. However, you have other women with not-so-healthy hair (over processed with relaxer, flat-iron or color) that you cannot apply the same amount of force or heat to with the round brush and blower; and not every Dominican is trained properly to deal with those cases.

Another thing I want to point out is that, it’s not always the fault of the Dominican salon. Sometimes, the thinning is hereditary or the damage may come from a problem with the scalp – it can be a list of things. A well trained Dominican stylist will be able to pinpoint exactly what the issue is and let their client know. I have clients that come to me with thinning hair or shedding and I analyze the scalp and hair and fix that issue first – then they can do as many blow outs with the round brush as they want.

Jennifer: So what would you say to the woman who wants to try a Dominican salon for the first time, or try them again after a bad experience but has reservations or are afraid?

Luisa: With the wave of new Dominican hair salons and the lack of proper hair care I’ve noticed that my clients have had to defend me. I had a client tell her friend about me and her friend said “oh, I don’t know, she’s Dominican and I heard….” My client had to say “no, you haven’t experienced a real Dominican salon; you need to go to Luisa’s”. I would say check around and have a consultation first. If they can’t speak enough English to tell you what you need then you need to run out of there because you need to be able to communicate with the person giving you a service. A lot of salons have good stylists with many years of experience who are shy when it comes to speaking English, but there should always be a person there who can translate for them. It all comes down to the consumer doing their homework.  Check for cleanliness, customer service, licenses and always be up-front about what you want and what you’re looking for with your hair. You have to be in control of your hair. Dominicans are still the best for hair care for all types of hair, but you have to do your part too.

Jennifer: How often can someone safely get a Dominican blow out?

Luisa:  Every week. Once you get a good conditioner (a good moisturizing conditioner) and sit under a dryer for at least 10 minutes, when you get a blow out you active your natural oils. It’s not good to get it blown out all the way straight, but a little heat to the root will activate the natural oils in your hair. There’s no replacement for natural oils. If you put oil on your hair, it’ll be greasy, but the natural oils polish your hair beautifully and once a week is good.

Jennifer: I get my hair blown out every 7 days and if I’m in Santo Domingo, every 4-5 days, but what about natural women? Can going to a Dominican salon loosen the natural curl pattern if you go too frequently?

Luisa: No. A Dominican blow out can straighten natural hair and prevent the frizz that normally happens when natural hair is straightened, but it will never take away the curl. If women are noticing less curl, then they need to watch out for what the salon is putting in their hair. There are a lot of tricks out there.

Jennifer: How funny you would mention that. I recently read a blog entry about a woman turned off from Dominican salons because she swore they mixed a relaxer with her conditioner to loosen her curls. So you think this really happens?

Luisa: I’m not surprised. Some salons do that to control the natural hair. I think it’s very unethical and disrespectful. A lot of women choose not to use a relaxer for religious reasons or are just very proud of their natural hair and don’t want to alter that about them. I think it’s a big violation of someone’s pride.

Salon #1 & The Fire On Ramsey Ave.

Jennifer: Tell me a little bit about how you got started doing hair?

Luisa:  I started doing hair like most Dominicans back home, I’m originally from San Pedro (where all the baseball players come from) and came to the states when I was 16 years old. I went to school here and knew my passion was to work with people. For a long time I wanted to be a surgeon, but with the money that it cost to become a doctor I decided that if I couldn’t be a doctor that I wanted to make women beautiful. I decided to go to cosmetology school and after graduation I started working with a company called Delta Hair Design, it was owned by The Hair Cuttery, and in 2 weeks my clientele grew to about 50 people just from working with 5 or 6 clients the first week. We’re talking about the 1980s, so no one knew about the Dominican way of hair styling in Maryland. I give Black stylists respect because they are the best at cutting hair and working with the curling iron and you come out looking fabulous. Back then, I combined the Dominican way and the Black way of doing hair which made me popular. So after about a year of working with that company I decided to open a little salon in Silver Spring Maryland which was the very first Dominican salon. I had 3 styling stations, 3 wash bowls and the lines for service were around the block. It was around that time that I was featured in a few magazines and newspapers and I think that’s what triggered the Dominican salon mania here in the DC/MD area which was around 1992.

Jennifer: And you still have that salon in Silver Spring right?

Luisa: Well, I do have a shop in Silver Spring, but the very first salon which was on Ramsey Ave. burned down.

Jennifer: That’s RIGHT!! How could I forget! What’s the story behind how the shop burned down?

Luisa:  I wasn’t even here when it happened can you believe! I was in the Dominican Republic being trained when I got a call saying “your shop burned down” I was like ‘oh my God, what happened?’ Well what happened was that my shop was under a dental office which had a subcontractor that worked with a gas cylinder (or something) and that gas cylinder ignited an electrical fire. I flew back immediately and saw that everything was lost – everything except my clients. I didn’t know what to do, I was going crazy. By this time, my sisters had salons too, so I was lucky enough to have Carmen help me out.

Jennifer: I remember that! Your salon was cramped inside Jaselvis Hair Salon on Flower Ave.

Luisa: It was crazy. I would use the salon in the morning and then she would use it in the afternoon. I started seeing clients at 4am all the way to 11-12pm when Carmen came in with her crew – it was terrible but I was blessed.

Jennifer: How long did you work inside your sister’s salon?

Luisa: I was there for about six months. To my surprise, my next door neighbor over on Ramsey Ave – he was the neighbor from hell; I thought he was the most horrible person in the world; we constantly butt heads – called my husband shortly after the fire. He said to my husband “I know Luisa hates me, but I know how much of a hard worker she is, so ask her if she would like to lease one of my spaces on Bonifant Street”. I couldn’t believe it, but to this day he’s still my landlord. I was really blessed; we just built up the new salon, moved there and it’s still my #1 salon today.

Luisa’s Hair Salon II & III

Jennifer: In addition to the downtown Silver Spring salon you also have one in Layhill and most recently Columbia, Maryland. Tell me a little more about the services you provide in your salons.

Luisa: In addition to the Dominican blow out, we specialize in color, weaving and keratin treatments. We do Brazilian, extension, fusion, clip and braid weaving with human hair. We’re probably #1 in the keratin treatments, a lot of our clients have the Keratin, and the one I use is 100% natural so you don’t have to wear a mask or have fans going.

Jennifer: Do you think Keratin Treatments are a fad or are they here to stay?

Luisa: I think they’re here to stay. Keratin Treatments don’t always have the best reputation but it’s all about the information you receive. I use a Keratin Treatment in my hair, but it doesn’t have formaldehyde or thiogloycolate, it’s pure 100% Keratin. Most of my clients use it too.

Jennifer: How long have you been using the Keratin Treatment in your own hair and what made you decide to get it?

Luisa: I’ve been using this Keratin Treatment in my hair for about 3 years. I got it because of the Dominican weather, I travel to the islands a lot and when I’m there my hair turns into the hair from hell. It’s frizzy and acts completely different. Having the Keratin prevents the frizz while I’m over there and for here, it just makes my hair grow grow grow.

Jennifer: When a client walks in asking for a relaxer do you recommend a Keratin Treatment instead?

Luisa: No. I would never recommend a Keratin to take the place of a relaxer because the Keratin we use is 100% natural. Relaxers are thioglycolate-based, that’s what breaks down your cuticle to make it a straight pattern. When a thioglycolate-based Keratin is combined with that then you cannot use a relaxer, but when the Keratin is 100% natural – just a conditioner (like the one we use) then you have to aid that with a relaxer. Now, my clients don’t get full straight relaxers because I don’t believe black hair was ever meant to be completely straight and the more straight you make your hair the more hair you lose with time. It’s better to keep as much texture as you can, so I recommend texturizers to my clients.

Jennifer: Now when you say a texturizer, you’re talking about the application of a relaxer for less processing time right?

Luisa: Exactly. Texturizers are great because on days when you want natural hair you can wear it in a curly bush and when you want it straight you can come to the Dominican salon. It’s not that way when you have it completely straight, because with straight hair you only have the option of wearing it straight or in a pony tail.

Jennifer: Well, I’ll have to talk to you more about your Keratin Treatment/Conditioner off the record, but thanks again for sitting down to talk with me as the featured Dominican stylist. In closing, is there anything you would like RoundBrushHair readers to know?

Luisa: Hair is an investment and you should treat it that way. When you get a trim, it’s an investment…when you get a color – it’s an investment…when you get a relaxer – it’s an investment. Your hair is the frame of your entire face, why would you risk it by going someone that doesn’t know what they’re doing? Treat your hair like a savings bond that you need for retirement. You don’t just risk it by putting it into anybody’s hands, because if you do, you risk your entire investment on one mistake and you’ll be an unhappy person.