Tuesday March 19th, 2024
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Dafayer: The Egyptian Hair-Braiding Service Making Our Cornrows Tight AF

Now's our chance to get those cornrows we've always wanted.

Staff Writer

You know how when we want to get our braids 'did', you can never find anywhere suitable in Egypt? It’s either they come loose within a week, or the hair dresser or the salon just doesn’t do them. No? No one else has been through that? Well, for those who know just how real the struggle is, those days of compromising are long gone thanks to Cairo's braid experts, Dafayer.  
Operating on Instagram, Dafayer offers all kinds braiding service, from dreadlocks, to cornrows, to dutch braids. Having launched earlier this year, t's all run by two sisters, Aya and Menna Nagi, who work out of shared space in both Zamalek and Nasr City.

“There aren’t many people specialised in braids here," Menna told CairoScene. "We kind of thought, well okay, we'll be the first online account in Egypt to do it. I always used to braid my friends hair anyway so we thought why not? And either way, we try everything on ourselves first.”

Dafayer, doesn’t just get your braids 'did' for you, but they also equip girls with tips and tricks on how to take care of these trickiest of hairstyles. The Nagi sisters also revealed that the most in-demand are Dutch braids, box braids and dreadlocks, which that take the longest to braid though so if you're thinking of going Rasta, clear a whole afternoon.

“Dreadlocks are actually a protective type of braiding," Aya told us. "It's the type of braid that keeps your hair safe from the weather and because you wash your hair less, it falls less. You can also put as many treatments as you’d like and it doesn't show. However,, while dreadlocks can last up to six months, it’s recommended that you don't keep them for more than two months at a time.”Menna and Aya, who have spent time offering their services in Sahel and in Sinai, have even introduced a new type of dreadlocks to Egypt - the twist dreadlocks.

"It's the same idea as dreadlocks except that you twist the braids," explains Menna."But either way, when you have dreadlocks, you need to constantly be doing treatments whether the regular ones or the twisted." 

Check Dafayar out on Instagram.