Ms. Charles’s first memory of getting braids, at age 4, was painful. She was at home in Tobago, and she recalled her sister pulling her hair. As an adult, she visited salons that were cluttered and dirty — it made her dread going.
It did not have to be that way, she thought. In September 2021, Ms. Charles opened her salon in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, offering a variety of braid styles, including straight back feed-in braids and braided updos.
Her reach grew to include braiding hair for the rapper Cardi B and the reality TV star Tanisha Thomas. Ms. Charles was also part of the hair-braiding team for Beyoncé’s “Black Is King” visual album.
In New York City, knotless braids — which are faster to braid, feel lighter and have grown in popularity — can vary from $200 to over $650, said Safiya Warner, a celebrity stylist. Pricing depends on the length and size of the individual braid and color blend, as well as whether the packs of hair used for the dangling curls in the boho style are human or synthetic.
Ms. Charles said she requires customers to bring in their own packs of hair for boho knotless braids if they prefer human hair or a human hair blend over synthetic hair, because of the cost. A pack of human hair ranges from $50 to $200 depending on quality, she said.
Customers can pay more than $1,500 for knotless braids that are very small and long, said Ms. Warner, who also worked on the Beyoncé project and with Madonna.
Those who spend less may go to more crowded salons with less experienced braiders, she said.
And the price for braids in general has risen as women offering the service do the work full-time instead of as a side gig, Ms. Warner said.
Previous generations of braiders mostly came from African countries, she said: “It was a way for them to make money fast so they can build something in America.”
Before opening her salon, Ms. Charles, who studied economics and law and learned how to braid as a young child, worked as an independent braider at a barbershop and then from her two-bedroom apartment. She said she realized that many of her clients would bring laptops to work during their appointments. She noticed that they wanted a quiet, comfortable and tidy space, and appointments that began on time.
Those ideas seeded her goals for her own place, Braided New York. She had her staff members trained on creating a welcoming, calm environment, and reviews the new trends with them monthly. She decided to use velvet and wood in the salon to nod to and celebrate the different textures of Black hair. Instead of asking her clients to hold the braiding hair, she bought hand-shaped holders ($220 each).
“Black people that get braids can be afforded luxury as well,” Ms. Charles said.
Business picks up in the summer, she said, while December and January are slower. Since she rented the shop three years ago, her rent has gone up to $3,500, from around $3,300, and electricity is now around $300 to $400. Hair mousse, which she purchases every two months in bulk, now costs $60. Holding spray, which she buys every six months, costs $40 in bulk.
“Sometimes I would end up not making anything off of one person because I have to provide everything,” she said.
Ms. Charles said she might have to reassess her price point if electricity and other costs keep rising. “I feel like it’s only fair to increase when everything else is going up,” she said.
Produced by Eden Weingart, Eve Edelheit and Dagny Salas. Development by Gabriel Gianordoli and Aliza Aufrichtig.
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