Ask a New Yorker: I’m sitting here with Josephine, the owner of Elia on the upper west side, a Dominican hair Salon! If you go to Google and search “Dominican Hair Salon”, Ask a New Yorker is the third result you get, due to this thread, the most popular thread on AskaNewYorker. So, we thought we’d visit a Dominican Hair Salon to see what this is all about. Josephine, please tell us about your salon?
Josephine: Elia opened its doors at the end of 2005. We cater to professional women who are looking for a place where they can get the service and the attention that they would at a high end salon. But instead we are more of a local salon.
Ask a New Yorker: What is a Dominican hair salon?
Josephine: Well, the difference between a Dominican hair salon and a mainstream salon is that Dominican stylists specialize in curly, wavy, pretty much course hair. What we do is we have a unique technique with our blowouts where we can take the curly, wavy hair and make it extremely straight and silky. And it has to do with the round brush. It’s a round brush technique which was developed back a long, long time ago. It was developed in the Dominican Republic and Dominicans have been using this technique for years.
Ask a New Yorker: Afros. I love afros. I think they look really cool. Why not just keep the ‘fro?
Josephine: The word afro certainly ties into our culture. Dominicans are a combination of other people. Were mixed with the African cultures, the Carribean, people from all over the world. Well, since I was a little girl…well, the whole thing about having straight hair has to do with status. Economic status. Back in my grandmother’s days they used to take rocks and wet their long hair and place rocks on the hair with the sun beaming down and while it was drying it would straighten the hair. But that’s my grandmother’s story which I don’t really believe.(laughter)So straight hair and being lighter skin…well, now of course fashion has embraced all types of hair styles.
Ask a New Yorker: You have beautiful hair. I’m curious what would the natural state look like?
Josephine: My hair would be a combination of all the above. My hair has the tendency to become frizzy at times, wavy at times and even course. It depends on the weather. If I go to the beach a lot it becomes course. If it’s very humid it becomes frizzy. So I have what they call combination hair which most Caribbeans have.
Ask a New Yorker: Where is the best Jerk Chicken restaurant here on the upper west side?
Josephine: I don’t know about the best jerk chicken but I can tell you about Haitian restaurant in the neighborhood. It’s called Krik. It’s absolutely amazing. You must order their steamed fish with their own Haitian spices. It’s absolutely amazing. So I totally recommend that for anyone visiting or for people who live here. The owner, she’s a lovely women and her name is Maude. Ask a New Yorker: Great recommendation. Is there anything else you would like to share?
Josephine: Well ,I would like people to know that although where on Amsterdam Ave, this area was once considered not a safe area. In the last 3-4 years a lot of new businesses are happening here. The rents are more affordable, but not for long, as we are up and coming . The good thing about the neighborhood is that you still have that sense of community. It’s cleaned up quite a lot and it’s safe.
Ask a New Yorker: Last Question: What’s your pet fish’s name?
Josephine: (Laughter) He’s a cutie. Does he have a name? No, we don’t have a name for him yet.
Ask a New Yorker: How about Josephine or just Joe?
Josephine: Maybe Joey.
Ask a New Yorker: Joey it is. Thank you so much for your time. You have a lovely salon!
Email:hair@eliasalon.com
