Thomas MacMillan
Halfway through an appointment at Miriam’s African Hairbraidings, a customer decided she’d had enough.
With her hair half-braided, she got up and tried to leave without paying, said Miriam Ndaya, owner of the Whalley Avenue hair salon. An argument broke out and the hairdresser called the police, she said.
The hairdo-gone-wrong happened on Thursday night. At 8:45 p.m. Lt. Ray Hassett was heading up a group of police defusing the situation on the sidewalk outside the salon.
“It was a dispute over hair,” Hassett said. A customer didn’t like the hair style she was being given and the resulting disagreement resulted in a breach of peace, Hassett said.
In the flashing blue lights of several police cruisers, cops talked to two women on the sidewalk who had been involved in the incident.
On Friday, Ndaya explained what had happened. She said she wasn’t in the salon during the incident but had been filled in by her staff.
The customer was in the middle of having french braids put in the back and “corn braids” in the front by a pregnant hairdresser. When the style was halfway done, the customer got up and tried to leave without paying. “She was arguing with the lady doing her hair,” Ndaya said.
The argument got out of hand and staff had to call the police, Ndaya said. No one was hurt.
Ndaya said she’s owned her hair salon for 13 years. Customers have in the past left the salon claiming they have to get money from an ATM and not returned, she said. But she’s never had to call the police on a customer before.
Police arrested the customer and charged her with third-degree assault on a pregnant woman as well as second-degree breach of peace.