Loose Natural Hair - It's Work!

I'm in the middle of two-strand twisting my hair. It's a nightly ritual that I look forward to putting aside when I'm loc'd. I do enjoy my loose hair and my hubby can't stop complimenting me on how healthy and rich it looks. Here's a shot from my birthday.

 He's noticed that it looks better than the first time around and that's because there's just more information out there on how to have a healthy head of natural hair!

But with all that love comes more work. I re-twist every evening so that my hair doesn't mat together during the night. The length is still too short to leave the twists in as a protective style. In my next post, I'll go through my hair care ritual with products.

So back to loc'ing. As promised, below are the questions I asked the Rare Essence Studio salon. The owner, Ms. Essence China Farmer, called me herself and answered my questions on the telephone. It was a great conversation. Again, excellent customer service! Her responses are (paraphrased) in red.

1. I do not want traditional parts. Are you familiar with bricklayering? Can you bricklayer the parts to minimize how much scalp is showing?
We only offer brick layering parts. It minimizes the scalp showing and gives fullness to the hair.

2. If I start with interlocking, can I maintain with palm rolling? Yes!

3. With interlocking, will the locs have the cylindrical 'loc' shape? Yes they will have the cylindrical shape.

4 a) I would like larger locs, what is the best way to maintain them? Interlocking or palm rolling? You can maintain them with either method. 

4 b) I've seen a couple of videos on youtube where people indicate that with interlocking, the locs become thinner. Is this accurate? With interlocking the locs can appear thinner than when you palm roll.

5. What is the cost of interlocking to start? Does the fee start at $60 or is it $60/hour? The fee is $60/hour as interlocking to start is labour intensive. We do offer a time definite guarantee. If we quote you three hours and it takes five, we will only charge for three hours. Cool beans!

 Yes, the questions have 'NEWBIE' written all over them but hey, that's what I am! I'm even more comfortable with my decision to use this salon. They took the time to answer my concerns. Not only that but the owner called. I appreciate the thoughtfulness! It's going to be a pricey endeavour but I can't wait!

Back to twisting.

- kareen