In the Dominican Republic, the hair business is taken seriously, and I mean s-e-r-i-o-u-s-l-y! Native Dominican women are obsessed with straightening their hair. Curly hair is called pelo malo (bad hair, in Spanish) and it’s not exactly embraced by the culture (last time I checked). Therefore, hair salons tend to be jammed on a daily basis, especially during the weekends, because keeping the hair straight and healthy is absolutely important when going out to parties or even church. Most women in the Dominican Republic  chemically relax their hair, or have experimented with hair relaxers at some point in their life. It is because of this straight-hair obsession that they have developed some of best hair-straightening techniques out there.

The history goes far beyond than this simple story telling (I recommend reading about it, by the way), but the bottom line is that they do appreciate a healthy hair and they just want to look good at all cause. Can’t blame a chica for wanting that!

Below is a list of Dominican hair salons in Philadelphia and South Jersey metro area. For those of you with curly or kinky hair, it could be a fabulous idea since they work well when it comes to conditioning and straightening the hair. Just remember that, as it happens everywhere else, not every hairdresser can meet your standards. So I suggest you try at your own risk.