For Black women, hair appointments are sacred. They’re supposed to be therapeutic, transformative, and, at the bare minimum, drama-free. But for one Birmingham woman, what should’ve been a routine braiding session became a full-on nightmare.
In a now viral video, Jessica Odom shared her experience getting her hair done at Mama Gifted Hands salon in Birmingham. After confirming a price, style and appointment time, Odom was excited to get a fresh set of boho knotless braids (for those who don’t know, braids with curly hair pieces). Though she was initially impressed by the customer service, things shifted when it was time for Odom to pay and leave for her appointment. After paying the stylist the $200 they had agreed upon over text messages, the braider demanded an additional $50, for the use of human hair, which Odom never requested.
@mamaj.o.91 Story time! My visit to @MAMA GIFTED HANDS..how it started vs. how it ended! #birminghamhairstylist #birminghambraider #birmingham #bohoknotlessbraids #boho ♬ original sound – Pastormikejr
“I just wanted to get my hair done and go home. I looked in the mirror, I loved my hair,” Odom recounted to WRBC, recalling the owner’s attempt to bargain the original $50 request to $30. “She told me to just give her $30 dollars and I can leave – or if not, go sit in the chair and we’ll cut the hair out,” Odom said. “I said you’re not cutting my hair out and I’m not giving you anything extra. I paid your $200, I’m leaving. She was like you’re not leaving so she turns and locks the door.”
The two’s verbal exchange became physical when the salon owner grabbed the client’s hair, refusing to let her leave.
“I got locked in the building, and I was told that I could not leave and that the service I received was actually $250,” Odom explains in the video. “When I tried to leave, I was pushed back in, and my hair was pulled. They pulled out my real hair while doing this.”
Odom says they held onto her hair for 30-40 minutes until the police arrived. Upon their arrival, the hairstylist reportedly tried to accuse Odom of punching her. However, after police reviewed security footage, they informed the salon owner that she had assaulted her client, and had to let her go despite her request to cut out the human hair pieces to forgive the $50 charge.
“I did not try to escalate the situation,” Odom told WVTM. “I just tried to de-escalate, and that is also what made me pull out my camera. Because it’s like, if I try to record this, then maybe they won’t try to go to the extreme. I don’t know if they had weapons — guns. They could’ve done anything to me, especially locking me in the building not once, but twice. I didn’t know what to expect, and I feared for my life, honestly.”
With more than a million views on TikTok, Odom’s story has clearly struck a nerve, reigniting long-standing conversations about professionalism and accountability in the beauty industry. Because while the salon was once considered a sanctuary for Black women, lately, for far too many Black women, those salon chairs feel less like comfort and more like a gamble
