The Natural Hair Bride: Sisterlocked Wedding Story

Posted on Feb 2, 2014 by Huntress Locs

After what seemed like years of planning, our special day finally came…and went in a flash of joy, smiles, crazy dancing and other happy emotions. For many brides the whole process of planning a wedding can be very stressful. While I will not pretend that the whole process was easy, I will say that there was one thing that did not cause a moment a stress – it was my hair.

Being a natural bride with sisterlocked hair opened a whole world of styling possibilities up to me. I turned to social media for inspiration and found lots of beautiful style options. With so much choice out there it really is an amazing time to be a natural bride who plans to style their own hair for the big day.

Wedding day hair style and makeup

Hair Preparation: Retighten by Melissa &  Huguette of Bespoke Hair Styles
Colour: Aveda Institute
Hair Style: Self styled by little old me – Helen of Huntress Locs
Hair Products: Avocado Honey Silk 
Makeup: Nyla of Kulchic Beauty

The Natural Bride: Sisterlocked Natural Bride
Makeup being professionally applied by Nyla of Kulchic Beauty
Makeup trial with Nyla of Kulchic Beauty.
Finishing touches to my makeup

Selecting the style
As a natural hair blogger, I see many absolutely stunning styles daily. When considering the style for my wedding day I had to consider many factors. I wanted a style that;

  • was sophisticated
  • complimented by dress
  • suited the wedding theme
  • that I could create myself
  • and would be comfortable to wear all day.

After months of searching I decided to indulge my love of colour and visit the Aveda Institute for a professional ruby red colour. Red locs would be my little something extra rather than an elaborate style on the day.

Wedding day hair preparation
My hair was coloured four days before my wedding. I delayed my usual retighten appointment as I wanted fresh locs on the day. The aggressive washing that it is required to remove residue from the colouring process meant my hair was a beauifully coloured fizzy mess by retightening day. I paid a visit to my consultants at Bespoke Hair Styles for a fresh retighten the day before the wedding. Not only did they retighten my hair, but they had purchased glitter to help give it extra sparkle. The night before the wedding I spritzed my hair with Avocado Honey Silk spritz and curled by sisterlocks with foam curlers. The spritz was used to help maintain the moisture in my hair and make sure my locks were soft and had movement on the day. I chose not to use any holding products as I don’t like stiff locs. The morning of the wedding I removed the curlers and wore my hair in a side swept pinned curly do to show off my colour and length. I tend to find updos uncomfortable after a few hours no matter how loose I make them, which is why my hair was partially up and not in a full updo.

Wedding Picture Gallery

Lace and button detail on my wedding dress
Final preparation before I leave to be married
Close up of my bridal look
The look of love
Anything that makes you giggle, smile or laugh. Buy it or marry it.
Officially husband and wife
Listening to speeches
My bridesmaids including my natural maid of honour 4th from the left
Curlfriends – Bespoke Hair Style Mel & Hug arrive
Sisterlocked Curlfriend Ruby
Our first dance
My only tears of the day
Enjoying our first dance
A none traditional funky father daughter dance
I get my personality and craziness from my father

Well that’s it for my wedding day blog post. It was an amazing day and I hope this post has given you a small glimpse into it. If you like this post share it, subscribe to my blog for weekly updates also
join me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for daily natural hair inspiration.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.

H

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Mega bun tutorial

Posted on Jan 25, 2014 by Huntress Locs

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Hi All,

I know it’s been a while, but here is a quick guide showing you how I create a large bun with my medium length sisterlocks.

1 – My loose shoulder length sisterlocks.

2 – The 3 items I use to create my mega bun. I use:

– a large hair net to catch the ends of the short locs
– a large hair band to gather then later secure my bun
– and finally a large sponge donut to turn my mini bun into a mega bun.

3 – Create a high loose ponytail using the large hair band.

4 – Feed the ponytail through the centre of the donut.

5 – Remove the hair band.

6 – Lightly pull the sides to loosen them. Make sure that your hair is not tight as that will lead to a headache and possibly hair loss.

7 – Fan your hair out so it covers the donut all the way round.
8 – Cover the whole bun with the large hair net.

9 – Use the large hair band to secure the net over the bun.

10 – Now neaten the bun by tucking in the loose ends. Once again loosen the ends to make sure your bun is not too tight.

There you have it. A mega bun to style up or down as you like.

If you like this post share it, subscribe to my blog or join me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more ramblings.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.

H

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My styles for the WITJ Hair & Beauty Show

Posted on Aug 18, 2013 by Huntress Locs

Here are the two styles I will be creating at the WITJ Hair & Beauty Show taking place on Saturday 24th August in London.

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My first model Erin has 8 year old sisterlocks which will be styled live at the show. As this is my first time styling someone else’s hair Erin kindly allowed me to practice the style on her hair this weekend. I created this style by barrel rolling her sisterlocks and pinning everything in place. I think this take on my favourite updo works well and I can’t wait to create it at the show. 

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My second model Ruby has 16 month old sisterlocks which will be styled live at the show. As there seems to be a lack of styles for short locks I thought it was important to showcase a style this style. We all need to love our locs no matter what stage they are at and Ruby shows us that all locs are beautiful.

I’m so excited about next week’s event and can’t wait to show everyone that we can all style our locks ourselves.

Find out more about the event and book tickets here http://www.tnhandbs.eventbrite.com

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Product update: My favourite leave-in is no more

Posted on Aug 11, 2013 by Huntress Locs

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After 6 months of faithful service its time for me to find a replacement for my Indigofera Organic Hair Souffle Nourishing Leave-In conditioner. While I love this leave-in I need to find an easily accessible UK.

The leave-In really works well on my sisterlocks as it helps lock in moisture, doesn’t leave any residue and a little going a long way. But now that I’m at the bottom of the jar I am unable to order the product in the UK. The one online retailer that stocks it, hasn’t had any for months.

My search for an alternative begins tomorrow. I will post updates on my progress and will amend my regimen page as I go along. The product junkie in me is very excited, but the bride in me knows I don’t have time for this.

Thanks for reading this. Comment if you have product suggestions.

Don’t forget to follow/like me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Posted in Natural Hair, Sisterlocks | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Sharing a little silliness

Posted on Aug 5, 2013 by Huntress Locs

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This morning I was flicking through some pictures and came across this bit of silliness. It’s from a photoshoot with House of Afrika in June. I’ve realised I’ve been a terrible blogger as I have updated my facebook page daily but neglected my blog.

I promise to rectify this as there are a lot of big events coming up which I must share.

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Style Update: Today’s DIY Sisterlocks updo

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Huntress Locs

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Loved today’s style so thought I would share. The back was created using overlapping loose twists and the top was made of loc petals. Everything was secured with hair pins.

If you like this, please share it. It will encourage me to get onto YouTube and start creating style videos.

🙂

Posted in Natural Hair, Sisterlocks | 2 Comments

To DIY or Not To DIY that is the question

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Huntress Locs
Lovely ladies at Bespoke Hair Styles. Left to Right Huguette Lawson, Huntress Locs & Melissa Blake
At the end of my retightening session my locks are oiled.
My sisterlocks being retightened by my two consultants
These ladies crack me up!

This is one of the key decisions to make on your sisterlocks journey. You can have your locks taken care of by a professional, or maintaining your sisterlocks yourself. I’ve taken the sisterlocks retightening course, spent over 2 years retightening my own locks, and have had my locks professionally maintained.  I’ve chosen to have my sisterlocks maintained professionally by the ladies of Bespoke Hair Styles.

Here are the benefits I’ve experienced from each option:

DIY Offers True freedom – I retightened when I wanted to and didn’t need to fit to a consultants schedule.

Economical – DIYing is free. I saved approximately £1,000 in 2 years.

Sense of pride – I felt a great sense of accomplishment caring for my sisterlocks. Regularly retightening 500+ locks takes commitment and dedication.

Greater understanding of my hair – Maintaining my locks myself meant I paid close attention to my hair’s health, learnt about growth rates, density and general quirks of my sisterlocks.

Consultants

Professional attention/advice – My consultants are able to monitor my sisterlocks and give me professional advice regarding their upkeep and maintenance. This is really valuable to me as their advice comes from knowledge and experience rather than guess work.

Time – My hair takes my consultants just 3 hours to retighten but takes me a FULL day. This means a very very very early start and very late finish. After a while I got sloopy and knew I couldn’t do it anymore.

Social aspect – For 3 hours while my hair is being cared for, I’ve got an opportunity to chat about hair, the hair care industry and set the world to rights. This should not be undervalued.

Both options are great and sisterlocks give you the freedom of choice. It’s very important to be able to care for your own natural hair or sisterlocks. I’m glad I have that choice.

Ultimately, I love my consultants, trust them with my hair and enjoy being pampered for 3/4 hours every 6 weeks.

If you like this post share it, subscribe to my blog for more updates also
join me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and now Youtube for daily natural hair inspiration.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.

H

Thanks for reading this.

🙂

Huntress

Posted in Natural Hair, Sisterlocks | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Original Painting by Huntress Locs

Posted on Apr 30, 2013 by Huntress Locs

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I found this in my archive from 2010 and have decided that picking up my brushes is on my to do list for 2013.

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Dreadful Mistakes? You’re not alone

Posted on Apr 26, 2013 by Huntress Locs

I found this video on YouTube when I started my sisterlocks journey, and thought it would be useful to others at the beginning of their sisterlocks or dreadlocks journeys….

Looking back my key mistakes have been:

  • Retightening too tightly when I did my own locks. It resulted in headaches that lasted days and weaken locks. I retightened tightly to try and extend the time between sessions, but the pain and damage was not worth it. I now have my locks retightened professionally and when I do my own retightenings I leave a little space at the root so my locks are never tight.
  • Thinking my sisterlocks would look like someone elses. Before I got sisterlocks I spent a lot (and I mean A LOT) of time researching sisterlocks. That included spending hours drooling over the locks of others. I collected pictures of locks started with my hair type and expected my sisterlocks to look the same as the pictures. I learnt that hair type is not the only factor that affects the look of sisterlocks and hair is unique so all locks are different.
  • Latching locks together. This mistake takes a second to do and at least 15 mins to correct. I now make sure I separate my sisterlock bases before I retighten and clip hair out of the way so it doesn’t get incorporated into a neighbouring lock.
  • Trying to untangle latched together locks with scissors. This didn’t workout well for me. One of my sisterlocks is now in the great place in the sky. Scissors never go anywhere near my hair as I know I will just cut off another lock.
  • Sloppy banding and braiding. I really hated banded and braiding so skipped it a few times when my sisterlocks were roughly 3 months old. The result was 1) I had to spend more time retighten my hair especially at the back due to slippage 2) Lots of my sisterlocks loosed which then needed to be braided down to the ends. Those that I missed now have fat ends.
  • Worrying that my hair was not progressing quickly enough. I just accepted my hair and some parts took up to 18 months to mature.
  • Worrying about my locks not being neat. I have not and do not plan to groom my locks. I’ve learnt to embrace the fuzz. Some of the fuzz eventually integrated into my sisterlocks and the rest I don’t worry about. I think the fuzz gives my locks character.

If you have any dreadful mistakes why not comment below.

If you like this post share it, subscribe to my blog for more updates also
join me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and now Youtube for daily natural hair inspiration.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.

H

Posted in Natural Hair, Sisterlocks | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Sisterlocks length check

Posted on Apr 22, 2013 by Huntress Locs

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It’s funny that I only notice the growth of my Sisterlocks when I compare pictures like this.

Posted in Natural Hair, Sisterlocks | Tagged , | 6 Comments