Good Hair: Natho Masisa braids a customer's hair (ANDREA PARK)

Even on a Monday morning, Majesty Salon in Chaoyang District, Beijing, is bustling. Nearly every seat is occupied and the salon bustles as six stylists wash, snip, blow-dry and chit chat with customers. But the chit chat is in French and English as well as Chinese, and the blow-drying is accompanied by braiding, dreadlocking and hair relaxing. Majesty is the oldest salon in Beijing to specialize in African hair.

Jerry Darwin moved to China from London in 2005 to learn and practice traditional Chinese medicine, but the entrepreneur in him re-emerged in Beijing. Darwin, whose parents are from Trinidad and Ghana, owns several businesses in Africa under his company Majesty International Group, and found himself itching to open a new one in Beijing after his arrival.

“When I came to China, I had cornrows and it wasn’t easy to take care of them here,” he said. “I saw the needs of Afro people in Beijing and I wanted to support the Afro community here.” Darwin opened the doors to Majesty Salon on July 3, 2008. Since then, his salon has encountered difficulties: The salon was relocated in 2009, and obtaining materials and supplies specific to African hair textures can be challenging, not to mention expensive. But Darwin said the struggles are worthwhile because he believes he is providing an important service in China.

Due to the unique texture of their hair, many members of the black community in Beijing had to either keep their hair short or wait until they visited their home countries in order to get their hair styled. Braiding long hair can take several hours, and many women like to use hair extensions and weaves, which can be extremely labor-intensive. At Majesty, a teenage girl sat patiently as two hairstylists braided purple hair extensions into her natural hair. “This will take three to four hours,” said one of the stylists.

Maria Kargbo, a singer from Sierra Leone, said when she first arrived in China six years ago, she tried Chinese hair stylists with little success. “They were really trying,” she said. “But they don’t know how to cut African hair. They would try to braid my hair, but it wouldn’t stay in.” Kargbo said that because she is a performing artist, she changes her hairstyle very often, but she waits until she has time to see Natho Masisa, head stylist at Majesty. “When I was doing Miss World in 2009, I wouldn’t get my hair done until I got to Beijing to see Natho,” she said.

Masisa said that as Beijing’s longest-standing African hair salon, Majesty attracts customers from all over China, including people living in Shandong and Hebei provinces and even Shanghai. Masisa used to style hair in Kinshasa, Congo, when she was approached by a Congolese businessman to work in Beijing. She moved in 2006, and began working at Majesty a year ago. “I like Beijing,” she said. “I now know how to speak some Chinese and in Congo, I only did Africans’ hair, but now I do Chinese people and European people’s hair, too.”

Surprisingly, Majesty has a significant number of Chinese clients. Many of these customers have dreadlocks or braids, but some just come for simple haircuts and hairstyles. “My Chinese customers ask a lot of questions because they’re curious about African hair,” said Masisa. “For me, it was different to style Chinese hair, but I learned it quickly.” Similarly, the Chinese hairstylists at Majesty have learned how to work with African hair texture and have even begun learning how to braid and dreadlock hair.

Darwin said that by catering to both the Chinese and Afro community, his salon has become a hub of cross-cultural interactions. “We are breaking ground here. We bridge the cultural gap through hairdos,” said Darwin. As if to prove his point, a young African woman walked into the salon with a friend and first-time customer: A Chinese woman came to the salon to get her long hair curled - Beyonce-style.