Can’t Afford The $100 For A Hair Extension Or a Weave?Company Now Offers Hair Weave Loans For Little As 7%

“We’ve innovated something that has come from right here in the city of Detroit,” -Fred Brame

Domonique Jackson Brame and Fred Brame think they have come up with a sure fire money maker to help women in Detroit who can’t afford the $100 for a hair weave or hair extension by creating the Weave Loan Store with the idea of offering hair weave loans.

The Brames are attempting to capitalize on the $500 Billion market of hair care products aimed at African-American women.

The Brames deny they are preying on impoverished African-American women. They told Fox 2 News in Detroit, “People assumed that it was a certain type of criteria of customers. We have customers from all socioeconomic backgrounds, we have all races.” 

When asked if they felt giving hair weave loans to someone to buy a $100 hair extension was predatory, Fred Brames told the station, “We have rates as low as 7 percent which is lower than some of your local credit unions. There’s nothing that balloons, nothing that’s exorbitant in rate at all. We even have a layaway plan for those that can’t afford, or don’t have the credit criteria”

Not everyone in the African-American community is happy with the business model of offering hair weave loans and have raised concerns, Tonya Garcia, the business editor for the website Madame Noire an upscale website designed to empower African-American women, writes, “You take a loan for a college education, for a house or a car. Not for hair…In the case of a weave, you’re paying for something that has ultimately no greater value than your own enjoyment or vanity.”

Tonya Garcia also expressed concern about the way the idea of hair weave loans is being handled, “To be sure, if you have the means to afford something, you’re going to pull out your debit card or your credit card and make the purchase. You wouldn’t seek out a third party for financial help. In fact, that’s one of the things that raises a red flag for us about any system that promises to connect people with questionable financial histories with companies willing to work with them.”

I can appreciate the Brames’ entrepreneurial spirit and I wish them a lot luck in their endeavor but at the end of the day, if a client can’t afford $100 for a hair extension should they really be financing one?