You know those times when you’ve made the effort to call the hair salon beforehand and book a convenient slot.  Your day is planned with military precision, you’ve got lots to do including an hour set aside for a wash, steam and set at the hands of the salon’s best hair stylist.

You arrive on time, initially everything goes as expected: a pleasant greeting, your coat is taken, there’s the offer of a hot drink then you are led to the basin to begin the first of your treatments.  Just when your mind is drifting away with the exquisitely pleasurable scalp massage, you feel a gentle tap on your shoulder and the stylist asks, very sweetly and politely, if she could just quickly see to some other customer.  You smile back, just as sweetly, and say ‘that’s fine!’ or something similar – you’re sure she won’t be long, the other customer just needs the temperature of their hair dryer adjusted.

20 minutes later and you’re starting to get very agitated, the water has nearly dried on your hair and where’s the stylist?  She’s on the other side of the room getting herself a snack.  On top of it all, she insists on involving herself with every new person that comes into the salon.  At some point you manage to catch her eye and give her a serious look of disapproval to which she murmurs some non-committal remark “I’m coming, just a minute…”.

And then suddenly a very loud woman announces that she’s been there for the past half hour and demands that her hair be completed or she’s walking out.  The lady starts kicking up such a fuss that the salon owner orders the stylist to rush over and finish the lady’s hair – this woman arrived 15 minutes after you and with no appointment!  Meanwhile the salon owner, sensing your irritation, comes over and asks you to please be patient .

But there are many bold and forthright customers at the salon, with the result that an hour after you arrived you’ve barely started your treatments.  In the end you have no choice but to allow the salon assistant to have a practice session on your head.  After all that planning the visit to the salon has ended up taking the whole morning, you’re stressed and half the day’s activities must now be cancelled.

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

Or maybe I should just say “Get yourself a wig girl!”  I’m referring of course to the article Countdown to 2 inches  which will strike a chord with anyone who has had their hair shrink beyond all recognition on a night out.

It’s true though, a wig can be really useful when you’re having a bad hair day or you haven’t the time and energy to be stressing with your natural mane.  You can find wigs of every style, hair texture and colour, just be sure you don’t then move to the opposite extreme of becoming dependent on wigs whilst your own hair becomes a broken and unkempt mess!

The picture below shows some more styles of that type.  I thinks some of them were only meant for special occasions, apparently they couldn’t all be undone, if you were tired of the style you’d have to cut it off (much like dreadlocks).

Numbers 1 and 3 look a bit like those in the article.  I really like the look of number 5 (assuming the sections are flat against the head).

Which ones do you like?

Traditional African Hairstyles

Dreadlocks definitely have an image problem in Africa. If you do wear this hairstyle it’s important to keep the hair and scalp clean; pay regular visits to the hair stylists for conditioning and maintenance; and if you’re having a bad hair day, tie it up neatly with a scarf and/or hair band.

Sonya Clark is currently exhibiting at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland.

Her exhibition, “Loose Stands, Tight Knots”, ends Sept. 21st so you’ve still got plenty of time to see it.

The show features art pieces that she’s made from her hair (and that of other women).

If you’re in the area go and take a look, some of her creations look absolutely amazing.

Sonya Clarke’s Website
Walters Art Museum

Hair Sculpture

Hair Wreath

You’re not going to see too many dreadlocks at Beijing in the coming weeks, well at least not on members of the Nigerian football team. In an attempt to instill focus and discipline, the team’s manager, Samson Siasia, has banned dreadlocks and ‘weird hairdos’ from their camp. Apparently there are quite a number of players who’ll be affected by this and will have to have their hair cropped short.

Dreadlocks Updo

Ignoring the question of whether men with long or way-out hairstyles are less disciplined than their colleagues with short hair, it does highlight the fact that dreadlocks and rasta hairstyles are perceived as rebellious and unruly, if not unkempt, in much of the world.

But this needn’t be so, there are so many ways of wearing dreadlocks. Take a look at the second picture for example, a lady with her locks held in an updo – what a neat and elegant style it is.

Over the coming months we’ll try and show you different ways of wearing your dreadlocks and natural black hairstyles.