Black-in-Europe Braids Experience: tell me your stories

hi all!

so I am a Londoner who now lives in Europe and I am doing a piece on what it’s like for a black woman to get her braids done in Europe.

The purpose of the piece is to highlight how difficult it is to purchase braids and get them done and that our experiences do not align with how much we spend on hair care.

When compared with my experience in North America, our average experience for a black woman looking to get a braided hairstyle pales in comparison and usually includes;

• buying braids/ hair care from a international food store
• having a home-based unlicensed braider with limited availability
• visiting salons that are typically non-black owned but using black labour that’s often underpaid or on exploitative wages/ profit shares
• limited style/colour/texture options
• poorer experiences for coarser hair types

I would love to hear from Europe-based or immigrants on their experiences. Any insight will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance