You know the one.

You booked an appointment weeks in advance, paid your deposit, cleared your schedule, and then two hours before, you finally got the address. Only to find out it is forty-five minutes away on two buses and a prayer.

Or you got the message. The one that starts with "hey girl" and ends with your entire Saturday cancelled because your stylist had something come up. No notice. No apology that meant anything. Just you, rearranging your life around someone else's lack of professionalism.

Or you found yourself sitting in a basement, someone's actual basement, trying to convince yourself the environment did not matter as long as the braids were good. Telling yourself it was fine. It was not fine.

Or you made it to the chair, showed your reference photo, explained exactly what you wanted, sat there for six hours, and watched something entirely different take shape in the mirror. Not even close. And you said nothing, because what was the point, and because you had already paid, and because you just wanted to go home.

We have heard every version of this story. From friends, from family, from women who slid into our DMs with experiences that made us angry on their behalf. And if we are being honest, we have lived some of them ourselves.

These are not horror stories. They are Tuesday. They are the standard that Black women in this city have been handed and told to be grateful for.

That was the gap. And that gap is exactly why Azohra exists.

Azohra Beauty is a hair and beauty studio at 17 Stephanie Street in the heart of downtown Toronto. We specialise in textured hair treatments, protective styles, makeup services, lash services, hair treatments, all delivered in a space designed to feel as exceptional as the result.

Every detail of Azohra was built intentionally. The booking system is transparent, you see every price before you confirm. The deposit system is fair, it protects your time and ours. The studio is calm, beautiful, and professional, because the environment you sit in for three to eight hours matters. The aftercare is thorough, because the experience does not end when you leave the chair.

We use premium Black-owned professional haircare brands, including Cécred, Pattern Beauty, and more, because the products we put on your hair are as important as the hands that style it.

And every appointment starts on time. Every single one.

I have been obsessed with hair since I was old enough to sit still for a style. Which, if you ask my mother, was not very long.

Growing up, I was in a salon chair every two weeks — watching, asking questions, memorising techniques. By the time I was a teenager I had taught myself how to braid, how to do extensions, and how to care for textured hair properly. My friends figured this out quickly. Suddenly I was the one getting called after every bad appointment in the city.

"Didi, she ruined my edges."
"Didi, it looks nothing like the photo."
"Didi, my stylist just cancelled — can you help?"

I fixed a lot of hair. I heard a lot of stories. I took a lot of mental notes.

Then I moved to Toronto — one of the most diverse, most cosmopolitan cities in the world — and looked around for a proper Black hair studio downtown. There was not one. Most of the options were in someone's home or basement. Which is fine for some things. A four-hour braid appointment is not one of them.

So I did what any completely reasonable lifelong hair obsessive would do.

I built it myself.

Azohra is the studio that should have always existed here, professional, elevated, and designed specifically for us. Because we deserve spaces that reflect how extraordinary we are.