FroChic

So last weekend I went to go have my hair done (it’s been a minute). I am not a fan of doing  hairstyles on my locs because I just don’t like how tight and painful the hairstyle is for the first couple of days and let’s just say me and pain are not friends…Anyway, my roots were starting to grow out quite a bit and my locs were starting to look messy so I knew I HAD to do something soon.

Just as luck will have it, I was walking in the mall with my sister minding my business when this lady with a huge afro ran up to me and asked if I don’t want to come to their salon, Afro Image to have my locs done. I was like “ummm…” “nah…” but she kept saying how quick it will be, etc. (And I’m all for quick hairstyles). I told her I’d see. And needless to say, I went to the salon an hour later.

Boy was I glad I went! Turns out the lady who came to me is the one who does the styling on locs. They gave me such good treatment – I was sold! She washed and conditioned my hair, and massaged my scalp while at it (bonus point!).

What I also liked more about the experience was the advice she gave me on taking care of my locs (the real reason for this post). I thought I knew a lot about locs but she really gave me a few good pointers that I thought I’d share with you guys (this can also apply to loose strand naturals).

Advice from a hairstylist:

1. Let your locs just be. Stop focusing on length and how long they are growing each month because then you won’t see any progress. She says just keep twisting and styling as per usual and don’t measure them or anything, before you know it, your hairstylist and people around you will be telling how long they’ve grown. So let your locs do their thing.

2. Wear a headscarf.  I’m sure we’ve seen a lot of Rastafarian ladies wearing headscarves and i think their locs grow pretty quickly, long and thick. She says the trick is in the headscarf / doek. What the headscarf does is to help your locs retain moisture and it protects the locs from constant manipulation. In other words, the more you leave your locs alone, the more you will see results. Also to prevent hair line and nape hair loss, she says you need to bind the scarf just below your nape, i.e. the scarf mustn’t touch your locs at the back and I’m sure that also applies to the front of your head…I love wearing head scarves but I’m not sure if I can wear one everyday though.

3. Hair dye makes your locs weak and  to look dull (and I do love dying my locs, lol!). She says the best dye to use is the original black hair dye or rather just don’t dye them at all. The lighter dyes tend to strip the locs of it’s moisture and shine. I guess this one makes sense, since dyes can contain chemicals that can be quite harsh to our hair. I think I’m going to take her advice on this one and see how it goes.

4. Don’t put too much hair product on your locs. Stick to one brand/hair product that works for you. Don’t pile on different types of products on your locs (I’m guilty of this). She says locs are actually low maintenance, you don’t need too many products and it’s best to apply a light oily spray every other day. So you don’t have to spritz your locs everyday. She recommended that I use Sta Sof Fro’s Moisturising Spray for dreadlocks (I haven’t yet come across this spray before). However, I’m still happy with my JO’M braids and dreadlocks spray. I’ll try out the Sta So Fro once my JO’M spray is finished.

So at the end of the day, the best you can do for your locs  is to just let them be and you’ll see, they’ll will GROW Do you agree ladies?

Side note: I’m hoping for my locs to grow to this length one day so I can finally try out this fab hairstyle  Aren’t her locs  just gorgeous??!