Ghana takes hair seriously. Salons and barbering shops are on every street, skills are high, and prices are a fraction of what the same work costs in Europe or North America.
For anyone with Afro-textured hair arriving from a country where good care is expensive and hard to find, this is one of the genuine pleasures of living here.
Barbers
Barbering shops are everywhere — often a single room with a mirror, a chair, a generator for when the power goes, and a hand-painted sign.
A cut is inexpensive by any international standard. Clippers, a razor line-up, and usually a wash.
Finding a good one: look at the heads coming out. Ghanaian barbers are generally excellent with clippers and fades. Once you find one, stay with him; he will learn your head.
Hygiene. Clippers should be cleaned and disinfected between clients, and razors should be new blades from a sealed pack. Watch. If the blade is not changed in front of you, ask — and go elsewhere if the answer is uncomfortable. This is about bloodborne infection, not fussiness.
Salons
Braiding, weaves, wigs, locs, relaxing, natural hair care, treatments and styling.
Braiding is where Ghanaian salons are outstanding, and prices are a fraction of diaspora pricing. Knotless braids, cornrows, twists, and everything in between. Expect it to take hours — a full head of braids is half a day, sometimes a full one. Bring a charged phone, water and patience.
Locs. Well served, both starting and maintaining.
Natural hair care. A growing scene, with salons specialising in natural textures rather than defaulting to relaxer.
Relaxers and texturisers remain widely used. If you have decided against them, say so clearly at the start.
Wigs and weaves are a large market, with everything from synthetic to human hair, and installation is a specialism of its own.
What it costs
Wide range, from neighbourhood salons charging very little to high-end places in East Legon and Osu charging multiples of it.
Agree the price before they start. This is the single most useful sentence in this guide. Confirm what is included: hair extensions, treatment, wash, styling. Extensions are usually charged separately, and you often buy them yourself.
Buying your own hair is normal. Makola and the shops around Accra Central have enormous selections, and buying it yourself is cheaper than buying it from the salon. — Accra markets
Practical
- Book ahead for anything long. Braiding appointments run for hours and good braiders are busy.
- Go early. A braiding appointment that starts at noon finishes after dark, and then you are getting home late. — Getting around Accra
- Bring a picture. Ambiguity about style is where disappointment comes from.
- Eat first. Genuinely.
- Say if it hurts. Braiding that is too tight causes traction alopecia, and a good braider will adjust. You do not have to endure it.
- Power cuts. Many salons have a generator, some do not. A dryer that stops mid-treatment is an ordinary Accra experience. — Electricity and dumsor
- Mobile money is accepted almost everywhere.
If your hair has never been done in Ghana
Water is different. Hard water and the mineral content can change how your hair behaves. Give it a few weeks.
Harmattan is brutal on hair and scalp, from about December to February. Dry, dusty air. Deep conditioning and oiling, which Ghanaian salons do well. — Weather and seasons
Humidity the rest of the year does the opposite.
Products are widely available, and Ghana has a growing natural hair care industry, including shea-based products made locally. Shea butter here is the real thing and costs very little.
For children
Children’s hair is done at home, at a salon, or by a neighbour, and it is a social occasion as much as a service. Braiding a child’s hair for school is routine, and schools often have rules about acceptable styles — worth asking before the appointment.