About Braiders
Braiders is a directory of braiders and braiding salons across the UK. We started it because finding a good braider is harder than it should be. You should not have to scroll Instagram for hours, or travel two cities over on a single recommendation, just to get your hair done.
Why this directory exists
Anyone who wears braids in the UK knows the drill. Instagram works if you already follow the right accounts and hashtags, but it is slow, scattered, and skewed towards the braiders who post most often, not necessarily the best ones near you.
Word of mouth works if you know other braid-wearers in your area. Plenty of people, especially outside the big cities, do not.
General salon directories are cluttered with places that do not really do afro and textured hair, so finding an actual braider takes longer than just trying somewhere new and hoping for the best.
Braiders.co.uk fixes this. It is a UK directory built for one job: helping you find a braider who does the style you want, in the area you live, with real prices, real photos and real braiders.
Whether you are booking your first set of knotless braids or you have worn braids your whole life, you should be able to find your braider in a few minutes.
What we do
We list UK braiders and braiding salons by city and by style: knotless braids, box braids, cornrows, crochet, passion twists and more.
Every listing includes the basics, business or working name, area, the styles they do and how to contact them, and braiders add their own portfolios, prices and booking links.
We also publish plain-English guides through our journal: what each style costs in the UK, how the styles differ, how to choose a braider, and practical advice for people at every stage, clients and braiders alike.
What we don’t do
A few things we want to be clear about, because communities like this one have been let down by platforms before.
- We don’t take a cut, sell data, or fake editorial. No commission on bookings, no selling client data, no paid placements dressed up as editorial. Featured listings, our paid tier, are always clearly marked.
- We don’t certify or rank braiders. Where a listing shows a Verified badge, it confirms the business is real and the work shown is genuinely theirs. It is not an accreditation or a quality score. Who you book is your call.
- We’re not a booking platform. Book a braider through the directory and that is a direct relationship between you and them. We make the introduction; they do the work.
- We don’t extract value from braiders’ work. Braiders own their photos, their words and their client relationships. We display content with permission and remove it on request, no questions asked.
How we work with braiders
Free listings get on the site in two ways:
- Braiders who add themselves, via our submission form, with full control over what is published.
- Braiders we have added from public information, business or working name, area, the styles offered, and a small number of photos sourced from publicly visible Instagram profiles, with the original creator credited.
If you have found your business listed and would rather not be, remove it here or email us, and it is gone within 3 working days. No friction, no questions.
Braiders who claim their listing get full control over the content, photos and contact methods shown. Featured subscribers add more photos, prominent placement and direct booking. Details on the For Braiders page.
Who’s behind Braiders.co.uk
Braiders.co.uk was started by me, Len Johnson. I’m Black British: my parents came to the UK from Guyana, I grew up here, and braids have been part of my family for as long as I can remember.
My daughters, my sisters, my nieces, and now my umpteen grandchildren have worn braids on and off since birth. So, finding a good braider, and knowing what a fair price looked like, was a running conversation in my house for decades.
I’m a web developer, lecturer and SEO by trade, not a braider, and I won’t pretend otherwise. The craft belongs to the braiders.
What I can do is build the directory my own family could never quite find: one that organises real braiders by style and area, credits their work, and puts them in front of the people looking for exactly what they do.
So, this is built from inside the community it serves, for that community, not by an outsider cashing in on a culture. If you want to know more about who runs the site, or to talk about coverage, partnership or anything else, get in touch. We reply personally, usually within a day.
Editorial is researched and written carefully, and we welcome input from braiders working in the UK. Where individual writers contribute to a piece, they’re credited by name.
Respect for the community
Braiding is a Black cultural heritage practice. Styles like cornrows, and many of the braids on this site, go back generations, carried and refined within Black communities and by the braiders who serve them, many of whom learned their craft through community knowledge rather than formal training routes. It is a heritage I have grown up inside – more than three generations of my own family have worn these styles.
We approach it with that respect. We use the plain language braiders and clients actually use. We do not traffic in stereotypes, and we do not romanticise or flatten what braiding involves, the time, the cost and the skill. We try to write about styles, prices and choices the way people in the community talk about them.
If we get something wrong, tell us. We would rather hear it and correct it than leave it sitting on the site.
Getting in touch
For anything, questions about the directory, feedback on the site, removal requests, press enquiries or partnership ideas:
- Email: via our contact form, or privacy@braiders.co.uk for data requests
- Instagram and TikTok: @braidersuk
We respond to most enquiries within 1 to 2 working days. Removal requests are actioned within 3 working days.