Hair Care

Doobies, Pineappling and Sisterlocks: What Natural Hair Care Really Means

Eight naturalista bloggers help us break it down

by Tiffanie Petett | 9 COMMENTS

PHOTO 5/9

Sisterlocks A thinner, more feminine version of dreadlocks, this hairstyle is one of the most popular for women who have gone natural. The official Sisterlocks style was created and trademarked by Dr. JoAnne Cornwell -- which means no one can use the name in advertising or demonstrate in how-to videos without being trained by a certified associate of the Sisterlocks company.

"Sisterlocks are like a hush-hush form of locks in general," says Terez Howard of Natural Hair Rules. Unless you are professionally trained in the specialized technique, you cannot create videos or tutorials demonstrating it. "But at a salon, you could pay upwards of $550 depending on the length of your hair and the size of your locs." So what's the alternative when, depending on your hair, the Sisterlocks technique can involve more than just twisting as is required with regular deadlocks?

"I loop my hair several times through the grown-out portion of the lock at the root. That means pulling back other locks (of the near hundreds all over my hair) so that they don't get caught and snagged in the process. [Re-tightening] is not as hard as you think ... but it takes forever," Howard explains. Eight hours, to be exact (and costs $80 to $100 every six weeks at a salon)."

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