Crowned in Salone

About This Experience

Begin your Sierra Leone journey feeling grounded, cared for, and connected. This cultural beauty and self-care experience provides guests with the opportunity to receive traditional braiding services or loc maintenance from skilled local stylists while learning about the cultural significance of African hair traditions throughout history.

Guests may choose from traditional braiding styles, protective natural hair styling, loc retwist and maintenance, simple natural styling for travel convenience, children’s braiding services, and bead and adornment additions upon request. Services are offered in a relaxed setting with music, tea, conversation, and storytelling.

What Guests Will Experience

• Consult with a local stylist about preferred styles
• Learn about traditional African hair practices
• Explore the cultural meanings behind braids, parts, beads, and locs
• Receive recommendations for natural hair care in tropical climates
• Optional traditional beads, scalp oiling, herbal hair steaming, and photo session

The Cultural Significance of African Hair Traditions

Throughout Africa, hair has historically been viewed as sacred. Hairstyles communicated tribe and ethnic identity, age and marital status, wealth and social standing, spiritual beliefs, and community belonging. Braiding has long been a communal practice where women and girls gathered to exchange stories, wisdom, songs, and history.

During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, enslaved Africans were often stripped of their hair upon capture as an attempt to erase identity and humanity. Yet across generations, African hair traditions survived and evolved throughout the diaspora. Braids became a form of cultural preservation, a symbol of resistance and pride, a map of creativity and survival, and a way of carrying tradition forward.

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