Too many cooks spoils the broth

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Up close and personal with my baby sisterlocks

Thanks fate for proving my grandmother right once again. The broth in question: my headpiece. The cooks: miscellaneous sisterlock consultants of various degrees of experience and professionalism. Now let me first set this off by stating that I am not one stuck on having 100% pure sisterlocks, I don’t have a problem with bastard sisterlocks (sisterlock tool, nappy lock tool, crochet needle) . I just want whatever you put in my head to be good work, consistent throughout my entire head.



How did so many chefs end up in my head? Well for starters I am in transition (read homeless) at the moment and a bad planner. I got my locks installed late May, a month before I was leaving London and heading to America for 4 weeks only to turn back around for vacation in Copenhagen for two weeks and then permanently move to Berlin. There was a day or two in there that I woke up in a hotel and had no idea what city, country or time zone I was in.

A certified consultant did this, she just grabbed and braided my hair

My locks were installed by two consultants who worked as a team. Then I had my follow up that took 4 hours due to slippage and then another retightening 6 weeks later by a different consultant. Not to mention my hands in my head trying to salvage some locks that totally slipped in the meantime. So that’s 4 pair of hands on my delicate baby sisterlocks and they aren’t even 3 months old. The last retightening happened about 2 weeks ago. I warned the consultant of massive slippage when making the appointment. The last 3 rows totally just decided they didn’t want to play any more. It was if the whole back of my head threw a tantrum which resulted in it unraveling. I would characterize this section of my hair as a pain in the ass (PITA). I also have PITA sections on the sides and in the front along the edges. To remedy this, the first two women installed little braids around my hairline and most of them are still there, experiencing no slippage what so ever. During my last retightening by the time the consultant got to the back of my hair she had already spent 4 hours retightening. When she was greeted by the PITA section she was shocked at the amount of slippage. I informed her that my hair slipped within 1 week of install and my follow up appointment, perhaps the best solution would be to braid it, since the hair in the front responded well to that. We both concurred that would be the best thing to do for my sanity and for my next retightening which would be within 4 weeks or so. Now my hair in the back was totally loose, very few parts remained. Turns out, miss certified consultant couldn’t be bothered with reinstalling the parts and sectioning it properly, she just grabbed bits of hair and commenced braiding. I was under the impression that consultants were trained at correcting sisterlocks, not inflicting more damage.



I really didn’t know what was doing in the back of my hair until a few days later. I assumed since the front and sides were grand, that she continued with the same craftsmanship and professionalism in the back. Nopers! In examining my locs in the back I discovered the base of my locks were just as big as the base of my tradition locks that I used to have. There was no rhyme or reasons to the braiding, it was a random assault, grab, braid and go. I undid one lock that felt extra juicy and I would wager it was about 4 or 5 potential sisterlocks in one.

The bottom two rows are totally unraveled, that is due to my hair texture

This is not the first time this has happened to me in regards to people hasting and in effect wasting my damn time and money. I don’t know how many times I have had braiders start with small lovely parts and extensions, only to realize, hot damn, this chick has a lot of hair and make my parts larger and larger and totally botch the job. I don’t know at what point of braiding or parting you throw pride in your work out the window and just blaze for the finish line. But like, it's not like anyone was doing me a favor. LOL I was offering up good money for good service, not good money for good service in the front and half assed-ness in the back or not so noticeable parts. BAH!

I should have just stuck with one of the original ladies who installed my locks, they were super duper amazing, but I really couldn’t find her anywhere. I texted, emailed, called, damn near sent a carrier pigeon but she was on holiday and I only had 48 hours in London. Next time I head to London I have to get my last 2 or 3 rows reinstalled or at least parted in an orderly manner and braided. Lesson learned or better yet, reinforced.