I met another young lady who was seven months pregnant with twins. She had just driven 1.5 hours to have her Sisterlocks tightened by a certified Sisterlocks consultant. Unfortunately, the only certified Sisterlocks consultant in her city discontinued offering Sisterlocks. I asked her if there was a Registered Sisterlocks Trainee in her city. There was one, but she preferred a certified Sisterlocks consultant. She was a cosmetologist herself and wanted only the best for her hair. (Sounds familiar?) I asked her "what was she scared of" regarding being serviced by a Sisterlocks trainee. She worried about the technician not putting enough tension in the loops and leaving gaps. (Please see my "learning about locks" article that I recently wrote to learn about tension and gaps.)
I told her that the tension can be taught, but she preferred a certified Sisterlocks consultant so she had made an appointment with the last Sisterlocks consultant that I had to retighten my hair. I allowed this consultant to pay a daily rate to work from my salon for one day.
This particular client had a lot of Sisterlocks in her head (at least 600?), and it took this consultant seven (7) hours to tightening this 7 months pregnant with twins client who still had another 1.5 hours to drive back home through Friday traffic. This may not seem like a big deal, but I knew that this consultant took four (4) hours to tighten my own head of Sisterlocks at $30 per hour. Within two weeks, it felt like they had never been tightened. So for this pregnant client to be out of $210.00 USD, 7 hours of tightening time, gasoline, and 3 hours round trip commute, and I am willing to bet that her Sisterlocks were loose again within two weeks . . .
I am guessing that the Registered Sisterlocks Trainee within her own city is looking like a much wiser choice for future Sisterlocks services. My concern is when people are risking their health traveling 7 months pregnant with twins for the sake of being serviced by a "coveted certified Sisterlocks consultant," only to realize that just because someone has the "certified Sisterlocks consultants" status does not mean that they are going to meet everyone's Sisterlocks needs.
Let me also add that I gently addressed my concerns to the consultant about her (slower) speed and (higher) pricing compared to other consultants that I have paid for Sisterlocks services, and she was not open to change nor further discussion. Her response was that her speed is her speed. She does the best that she can do and if people do not like it, then they can go elsewhere. Of course for me, I told her that I will find other options for myself. $25 per hour for 3 hours every six weeks is reasonable for me, but $30 per hour for 4 hours every 4 weeks (because she did not tighten with tension) was over my budget. So I am going to allow my Sisterlocks to freeform until I decide what my next move is.
I have learned that quality is far better than speed in the Sisterlocks world. I have also learned that you do not have to feel the tautness of the tightening in order to classify it as correct. There is such a thing as overtightening. Consider learning to interlock your own locs if they are large enough. If you thought finding a hairstylist that was a good match for you was hard, then finding a "loctician" who is a good match can be even harder because there are less options. My happiness with my locs came with my own self maintenance. As a loctician, I hate recommending people taking their loc journey into their own hands, but it is the truth, if you are trying to achieve a certain look of fullness, etc. Sometimes you need to find your own regimen and then add a loctician in for special occasions or for an alternating maintenance routine.
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