Preteen Natural Hair Straightening and Styling

My client is age 9 and is too young for chemicals and smoothing treatments.  We wanted to keep her final hairstyling age appropriate.

She had soft hair but the curl behavior was resistant.  This means that if I use too much product, the hair will look  stringy.  However, the resistance of the curl patten required some product in order to stay humidity  reisistant.

Her blow out went smoothly.  You can tell her by her big plaits unwinding on their own that this was a sign of resistance.

Her hair delivered a beautiful press, but at age 9, a ponytail was calling!

Preteen hairstyling by Benita Blocker.

The conventional stove and marcel irons were used to straighten this model's hair.

A Guide to Determine Loc Startup Sizes

Do you remember the rules for roller setting?  The parting sizes should match the diameter of the roller or the rod.

The same principle should apply for locs.  For example, Sisterlocks tm founder Dr. Joann Cornwells' curl pattern is "short and shallow."  "Short" means the diameter of her natural curl patten is probably close to an 1/8 inch.  This is why the Sisterlocks technique that she founded worked so well for her hair type.  Micro sized locs were the best match for her short diameter curl pattern.

So am I saying that people with larger diameter curl patterns should not get Sisterlocks?  NO, that's not what I am saying.  You can squeeze a medium to long diameter curl pattern into a micro sized loc.  It will look a little stringy, but you can adjust your interlocking pattern to allow a little more volume from the curl pattern to shine through.

So what if you have a short curl pattern, and you get large size locs started?  It depends on if you have resistant hair or not.  Resistant hair shrinks, and resistant strands will try to pull away from a loc that is too large for its curl pattern.  For some people, you know how the hair on the edges always tries to pull out of the bigger loc that the loctician is alway trying to pull back into the larger loc around the hairline.

If your natural curl pattern is NOT resistant and does not shrink much, then you can have any size locs you want.  Your hair is pliable or flexible.  "You can have it your way."  A little humor here.

Now, what if you have two different types of curl patterns in your head?  Then you really may consider two different sizes locs for your head.  Obviously, if your two curl patterns that are entirely different, then choose the shortest curl pattern as your guide to loc sizing because the larger curl patterns can go smaller, but not vice versa.

Need a natural hair analysis?  Just schedule a loc consultation with me Master Loctician and Cosmetologist Benita Blocker!