dyed black w/ brown highlights
I’ve been a DIYer for several years. Partially for financial reasons, partially for personal reasons.
I didn’t know how to take care of and style my own hair until my early twenties. Until then I relied on other people – braiders, stylists and kitchen beauticians – to do my hair. It became a running joke in my family that I would never know how to do my own hair.
Then, after one last disappointing relaxer, I decided to go natural. This coincided with when I finished college and went out on my own. I started out wearing braids but soon realized that was too expensive to maintain on a grad student/young parent budget. So with trial and error and the help of several great books, websites, and online forums, I learned to care for my own hair.
By the time I decided to loc, I was comfortable caring for and styling my hair so locing my own hair via two strand twists was not intimidating. I did check the local natural hair salons but they were a) still out of my price range and b) their work seemed no better than my own. So again I turned to books and the internet for guidance.
3 and a half years later my hair is longer than it has been, including my braid extension phase. I moved to Atlanta where there are more options and diversity of natural hair care services. And at the crossroads of “this hair is at a length that it is more time consuming to care for”/”I’m getting bored with my Locs”/affordable quality hair care services, I decided to put my locs in the hands of a stylist for the first time ever.
When I moved to Atlanta, I started looking for a salon/loctician. I found a lot. So many, in fact, that I wasn’t sure where to go. I put out a request during #naturalhair chat on Twitter for recommendations and put together a short list. After eliminating several based on location, price and customer service I ended up visiting Ecocolors for a consultation. The stylist, Joy, was great. She made a point of getting to know me and my hair and really talked to me about my maintenance routine and my options for coloring my hair. When I went back to actually have my hair colored, she was professional and friendly. She also made a point of advising me on how to care for my new hair color myself, recommended products and gave styling advice on how to accomplish styles on my own without coming back to the salon. Needless to say, I will be back.
My stylist made some suggestions about reducing my use of conditioner and different ways of using oils so I am going to experiment a little to see if I can reduce some of the build up issues. The neverending struggle against lint will continue.
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