Pachudas African Hair Braiding

Pachudas African Hair Braiding is an owner-operated African hair-braiding salon on Independence Avenue in Kansas City’s Historic Northeast, run by a braider named Regina who learned the craft as a child in Africa and opened her own shop on the Avenue in roughly 2017.

Description

Pachudas African Hair Braiding is a small, single-chair-scale braiding salon on Independence Avenue in the Historic Northeast, operated by its owner, Regina.¹ It is one of a cluster of African hair-braiding shops that have opened along the Avenue as the corridor’s East African and West African populations have grown, and it belongs to a category of neighborhood business — personal-services trades run by immigrant women — that is common on the street and thinly documented in the local record.

Regina learned to braid in childhood. “I have been braiding hair since I was little in my country,” she told Northeast News. “In Africa, all of us know how to braid because we teach each other. If someone doesn’t know how to braid, we teach them. I’ve been braiding since I was 10 and I would braid my sister’s hair.”¹

The shop runs on an appointment-first model shaped around the owner’s other commitments. At the time of the 2019 profile Regina was working at KU Med Center and attending school through an employer education program, braiding around that schedule — arriving in the morning to braid a client, then going to work.¹ She accepted walk-ins on Saturdays and Sundays and said she hoped eventually to keep the shop open daily.¹

Regina joined the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, and told the paper that a significant factor was the Titan security team available to Avenue businesses by phone: “I wanted to do that because it’s good to have community. I also have security… It makes me feel safe and to have communication with people.”¹ Her chamber membership is reflected in the chamber’s own member directory.²

Ownership and history

Pachudas African Hair Braiding was opened by Regina in roughly mid-2017 — the December 2019 Northeast News profile describes the shop as having “been serving the public for two-and-a-half years.”¹ She had been braiding at another location before deciding she wanted a shop of her own for the community.¹

Her account of finding the space is direct: “One day, I was driving and saw a sign on this building that said ‘For Rent’ and I picked up the phone and called. The next day I met the woman who owned it and I said I’ll take it.”¹

Regina described the shop in ownership terms rather than commercial ones: “My shop is like my house. I am very, very happy. I put a lot of work into this place. When I first started, I just said ‘I’m going to try and do my best’ and two-and-a-half years later, I am still here.”¹

Services

Braiding and protective styles. Northeast News confirms African hair braiding as the shop’s trade.¹ Third-party listings additionally describe box braids, kinky twists, goddess braids, tribal braids, and sew-ins; these specific style offerings are not confirmed by a first-party or press source.

Links

• Booking profile: https://www.fresha.com/lvp/pachudas-african-hair-braiding-independence-avenue-kansas-city-vwVxo7
• Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce listing: https://nekcchamber.com/members/pachudas-african-hair-braiding-2/

Sources

Footnotes

1. Elizabeth Orosco, “Pachudas African Hair Braiding,” Northeast News, December 4, 2019. URL — Asserts: address 3618 Independence Avenue; open two-and-a-half years as of December 2019; owner Regina; learned braiding in Africa from age 10; previously braided at another location; found the space via a “For Rent” sign; then working at KU Med Center and attending school; appointment-only with Saturday/Sunday walk-ins; recent Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce membership and the Titan security factor; phone (816) 394-5287. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, member listing — “Pachudas African Hair Braiding.” URL — Asserts: current chamber membership listing for the business. ↩