Yay! Today's the day I finally got to meet Jeff! 
We've been emailing back and forth over the last couple weeks gearing up for the big dread sesh today. I totally knew what look Jeff was going for when he came in, the x factor being what he and his hair already had going on. (Knowing someone wants lots of smallish dreads is daunting enough, but without a personal consult I don't know if I'm looking at 4 hours of work or 10.) Jeff's hair was pretty dense, with coarse strands in a nice wave, so I already knew that I could get good sized locks without having to sacrifice a smaller section size. As for the coarseness, I'd have to do a test row.
There's a misconception out there that coarser hair is easier to dread. Sooooo not the case. I'll take fine hair over coarse any day of the week. The coarser the actual strand is, the more resistant it is to doing what the hell I tell it to, and staying put. It absolutely will dread up, but it'll take more diligence to keep it that way. I've had coarser hair unweave itself in front of my very eyes, and had dread sessions take double the length as I had to crochet everything twice! I have a few tricks up my sleeve for dealing with resistance, hence the test row. Luckily, the first few sections dreaded up a dream; no need to bring out my bag of tricks. We got rolling proper just after 11am.
We finished up tonight at 5. I think I counted 64 dreads, a number we're both happy with, and in a couple of weeks the coverage is going to be awesome. He's pretty stoked to show them off, which sorta makes me a proud mama... which is a bit weird, I admit. (But not as weird as 'Dancing With Cats', and Jeff'll back me up on that.)
I just finished up Dustin's first shop maintenance, so he's helping his girlfriend (and longtime Lock Shopper) Christina keep her mind off hers while Becca Hamburger gets 'er done. It just looked so freakin' cute I had to share!
Some of you might remember Brenna, my super-late-night dread adventure from back in November. Here's her before and after from that day:
January marks three months from her installation, so it's definitely maintenance time. I like to post these "way after" pics because they really illustrate to folks all the stuff I try to drill in on creation day: They'll get bigger! The sections will fill in! They'll look natural, I swear! It also really shows that if you do your homework, they'll mature months faster than backcombed-and-waxed dreads.
There's nothing wrong with starting your own locks without help! Knotty Boy even made a freely available video to teach you how to DIY. (If you do buy the DVD, I'm the peanut gallery laughing at Becca in the background. I'm also the PA, AD, and cue-card girl!) But if you don't have time on your side, there's a definite advantage to getting your dreads woven in the shop. My clients don't have to wait for their hair to form knots over weeks of re-backcombing, the knots are there from Day One. They just need to be maintained with a simple routine. By their first trip in to see me, shop-started locks typically have about an inch of new growth dread and their lengths felted up - no combing required. I've never seen a faster natural start-up method.
Thanks to Brenna for braving the Duke Point ferry, and for taking such nice care of her hair. It's always a pleasure to see people who love their locks!
