I'm Just A Girl Who Can't Say No...

So I've been laid up with the Fresh Meat Flu for the last few days, major side-effects including runny nose, exhaustion, and near-constant complaining. I know you're thinking, "Hey! Isn't being stuck in bed the perfect opportunity for blogging?", and I feel you - but really, you didn't want to hear about it. Really. Thanks to a couple of immune buddies, some homemade ice cream, and a sh*tload of comic books, I'm on the mend and back at work. Too bad my client wasn't able to show up. Burn, dude! But, as lame as a no-show can be (life happens!) there's a flipside to every coin...

So last Saturday, I rolled into work after spending a very early, very long morning at a meeting for the Derby league. I was stoked to come in and spend a mellow couple hours with some long-time haircut clients. So I get started on my 2 o'clock...when my other 2 o'clock shows. Wha? Yeah. My 2 o'clock dreadlock appointment. From out of town. Who can't come back. Who I've never heard of.
Oh man. Clearly there's been a pretty major miscommunication at some point... what to do? I couldn't bail on my booked appointments, so Brenna and I struck a deal to start a late night dread sesh at 4pm.



This lady has a lot of hair. A lot of long hair. She pretty much made my week when she told me that she wanted "quarter-sized" locks. (Translate that to bigger than normal.) Oh man, her hair dreaded like a dream! (Mad props to Carolyn the Coffee Fairy for keeping that dream alive.) She was really sweet to boot. Even in the larger size Brenna ended up with 59 locks. At 6.5 hours, it was definitely a later night than either of us had bargained for - and it ended up being a 12 hour day for me in the end. But we were both so happy with the outcome, I'm really glad we took the time.



The only real downside to taking the appointment was that I ended up missing Derby practice that night. According to firsthand accounts, it was "the most brutal" seen yet. So it's probably safe to assume I'll get my ass handed to me tonight. If you want to see the carnage firsthand, I'll be showing off my bruises afterwards at The Cobalt for the 4th Team Unveiling Party. Deets here.

Commitmentphobes. I love 'em.

You've read the piece, you know that dreadlocks are kind of a big deal. You gotta palmroll them, and if you want them to look their best, you have to put some effort in. For at least a little while you have to - that's right, kiddos - commit.

If that just brought out your inner Iron Maiden theme song, you are not alone. Dreads are only as permanent as you want them to be, but if you're unwilling to look down the road a couple months, they may not be for you. Love the look, but need to be able to change your mind at a moments notice? Scope out these lovely ladies!



Synthetic Dreads give you the option of immediate extreme length without waiting, and without the maintenance of traditional locks. There is no palmrolling, and no product necessary. You can rock these awesome locks for on average two to three months. When time's up, you can choose to re-tighten them as is, change up the colours and make some new ones, or simply take them out and go back to your own natural hair. It's a great option if you're growing out your hair and want to disguise it for a while - your own hair is hidden underneath, safe and sound from your scissor-happy frustrations! (I feel your pain, friends.)



If you already have dreads and are looking to add some... zazz? (That's for becca. She just loves the zazz.) We can add Synth Dreads as fillers to the base of your existing dreads. It's a great option if you're feeling a little thin in your placement as well - a few synth dreads at the root can really fill in the gaps. I've got a ridiculous assortment of colours in front of me, natural to... not so much.

Still too much of a commitment? Need to be able to change your locks as often as your socks? Come on down to visit and we can chat about a Custom Fall. Double-ended locks on an elastic or a cord to be tied into your natural hair in seconds! Doesn't get any easier than that!

Waiting's for suckers!

So stop me if you've heard this one before:

"I want dreads, but I don't want little stubby ones." (Bummer.)

"I want dreads, but I don't want them to stick straight out." (Total bummer.)

"I want dreads, but I would rather get a haircut from a rusty lawnmower than grow my hair out."

(Okay, that one's a direct quote from me.)

I want dreads, but... But what? All through high school I wanted dreads - but I could never get past the really gnarly 'growing out' phase. That special time when my puffy hair started growing out rather than out. When the celebrity I closest resembled was famous for playing Luke Skywalker. Yeah - that hair. Man, if only I knew then what I know now. So what do I know, anyways?

Human Hair Dreadlock Extensions! I really wanted long hair, but could not get there myself. I even tried regular human hair extensions, but they weren't for me. Too much daily/nightly maintenance for someone's who's essentially a wash n' wear kinda gal. So we pulled out my new extensions, and we kinda recycled 'em. What sounds easier - 5 gazillion pieces of long hair? Or 50? No contest, right? When I started my locks, my hair was about 4 inches long. Really! People who had seen me just days before had to do a double-take, they are that natural. No one could tell where my lock ended and my newly aded length began; not even myself. Long hair and easy styling? Yes, yes, and yes. Please.

How's it work? Well, this is something I usually take on over a couple days - the first one for natural locks, and the second for adding length. Most often, the appointments are roughly equal for time, about 6 to 8 hours (or about 1.5 seasons of Metalocalypse with bonus features. And singalongs.) Your new length is woven in the same method as your new dreads are started (or as I've tuned up your existing locks) using high quality human hair, so the join between your natural and your new long lock will be undetectable. There may be a slight colour/texture difference in the first weeks, but with a few washes and palmrolls, that dread becomes one unified felted lock fast.

This is serious rockstar hair! And it's without a doubt my favourite service to provide in the shop.

If you're interested in Dreadlock Extensions but aren't sure if they're for you, stop by the chair for a chat. Consultations are always on the house.

"You can do that?"

Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, your hair can get a little out of hand. I'm not talking "loose hair, a little bit of joining" like my last post, I'm talking "Oh wait... why do I only have one dreadlock now?". There is a crazy amount of misinformation on the subject of dreads, and you need to be discerning about who you listen to. You would not believe the insane theories I've heard surrounding starting dreads and maintaining them. (I'm not going to get into it right now as that would deprive me of an excellent rant subject for a later post, but as a general rule you can safely avoid vehicle fluids and food, all right?)

Today I want to explain what goes into Dreadlock Repair and Reconstruction services. It's one of the more "wow! awesome!" services offered at the shop - it makes a huge difference in how people look at their hair. R&R is a step up in intensity from Root Maintenance, and it covers a whole lot o' dissatisfactions we see regularly. In repairs, I'm looking for folks with semi- mature/mature dreads who have neglected to maintain them, or worse - were never told how to by their stylists. Besides reattaching broken locks and strengthening weak spots, I can fix these common dread problems:

Matting between locks

Major joining

Undreaded sections

Irregularities in shape

Before

After!

In cases of Reconstruction, I'm looking at newer, immature locks. Most often they've been started at home, and just aren't as radtastic as my client would like. I start by resectioning, and reweaving from top to bottom to create tight, easier-to-maintain locks. It's tough to tell from the picture, but there are sections started in here - only problem is that they're waaaay too small. Sounds like a great idea at the time, until you have to individually palmroll 100 dreads. I'm not gonna say you won't... but I will say that most won't.

Before Reconstruction

After Reconstruction

And even after joining up most of her dreads, she still had about 50! After a few days the gaps become less visible, and the tightly woven locks start to lay flat. You have an almost-new head of dreadlocks! If any of these pictures look familiar, come on by to chat about it. I'll see what I can do!

please excuse all the wacky formatting, but i've been fighting with blogger all freakin' day. sorry about that migraine, kiddo. 

Dreadlock Maintenance: Oxymoron?

Yeah, don't think I haven't heard that before. And yeah, some people are content just letting them do their thing, but don't feel like that's your only valid option. Fact is, dreads don't start out perfect. More accurately, they don't stay perfect. They move, they change, they bunch up, they shrink, they expand. All the time! That's totally fine, and 100% normal. If you got your dreads started with me, I know you've gotten the palmrolling spiel and I've put the fear into you about not doing your homework... but we're just rolling into Fall around here, and for those folks who've neglected their noggins for the sake of sun and fun? It's time to pay the piper. (Psst - the piper is me!)

So, why do you want to come in and see me? (other than my sparkling wit and dazzling smile?) Root Maintenance is like the cleaning lady you only shell out for once a season. Sure, you're not getting out of doing the dishes or vacuuming - but it's nice to hand the heavy lifting to the pros once in a while, right? Maintenance is especially helpful to the newly dreadful, but I've got plenty of long-time clients who come in when they need to spruce up a bit. When I put in a set of locks, I recommend seeing that person once every 3-4 months for the first year, and as needed after that. When you come in, I'll be working in 3 key areas:

* re-sectioning dreads at the scalp and tidying up joins
* re-tightening undreaded roots
* re-incorporating loose hair at the scalp



These 7 year old dreads belong to Sylvia, who hung out in my chair yesterday. They look amazing (on the way to her knees!) and she maintains them well herself. She wasn't looking to reinvent the wheel here - she just wanted to clean up the sections and tighten up the roots. (We also touched up the greys on top, but that's a story for another piece.) So, a couple hours later, here she is - same dreads, just tidier and easier to maintain at home.

You don't have to "just deal" with messy dreads! So, if your boss is looking at you sideways, if you're a bridesmaid in your sister's wedding, if you don't wanna look like Sideshow Bob at Prom?
Come hang out in my chair! I'll leave the GameBoy out for ya.

Begin at the beginning.

Hi, I’m Kris. Nice to meet you!

If you’re linking over from the website, then you already know a little bit about my rather… unusual job. For those of you who just stumbled in (yeah, i saw that) I’m a hairstylist who specializes in Dreadlocks, Extensions and Synthetics at the one n’ only Knotty Boy Lock Shop in gorgeous Vancouver, BC. (Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m used to the funny looks... Mom.) So, why would a fully trained and licensed hairdresser decide to turn to the dark side? Because it’s waaaaaay more fun over here! I'm not gonna exaggerate, this job rules - and this blog is where I get to rub it in.

Since we're just getting to know each other, I thought I'd spend this week explaining what it is i actually do. Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

Dreadlocks! Awesome ones can totally be started at home by backcombing and twisting. But... you’re looking at about a year of daily palmrolling to achieve a mature and felted lock with this method. If you’ve got the time and patience for it, hells yes – go for it! I certainly didn’t. And it’s not the only way! If you’d rather do….well anything, actually… with your time, c’mon in and have a seat with me, friend.



These dreads here are about 15 minutes old. For reals! On average, they take about 6 hours (of watching Kurt Russell movies, Metalocalypse, and playing GameBoy Tetris.) They’re tightly sectioned at the scalp to keep them from joining, and to help as you get used to taking care of them. (That scalp becomes less visible, promise.) They’re totally customizable sizewise, and the ends can be blunted or tapered. I haven’t used any wax in these pics, though I recommend it in small amounts for maintenance. Above all, they look like dreadlocks! Right from the start! Totally naturally. Pretty cool, hey? Now you'll know what went into 'em when I post pics!

I gotta roll outta here - hair today, gone tomorrow and all ;)