As a child you probably had a tantrum when you were told ‘no’, and

your parents (if they were good) would say you can’t always get what you want.  It is a cliche that is really irritating to hear but is seldom wrong!

Clients who make dreads/locs often do major research before they come into the salon.  Their brains 

have been saturated with all the opinions and recommendations from lots of online platforms, relatives, friends and rivals.  Most will ask for your expert opinion, others will choose a look without knowing if their hair will make it.  

On the subject of the number of dreads/locs you are ‘supposed’ to have, it becomes very apparent you

can’t always get what you want over time.  The reasons you cannot  have dreads/locs like that picture are:

• Your hair texture is different from the model and is either thicker or thinner. 

If you do sisterlocks/microlocs for example, your loctician should still consider how strong the roots will be when they get longer.  Quarreling that you have only 60 and someone else has 120 is a texture and density problem.  Your parents determined that and we have to work with it.

• The amount of space on your head versus the amount of hair you have will cause a problem in the future.  

If too many dreads/locs were done on a  person with thick hair, they will hang like a bush and each dread/loc fighting for a position.  This is tolerable when they are shorter and the hair is like a mushroom/high top but looks ridiculous when they get past the shoulders.

On the other hand, if the hair is thin and there are too many dread/locs, when they grow over the shoulder, each appointment is going to be longer because of repairing broken ones.

It is important to keep these two reasons in mind when making or maintaining your dreads/locs, otherwise, the cost for the repair work necessary to make your hair look good  will help you understand what it means that you can’t always get what you want.

 By Paula Barker, Silkie Locks Hair Design

Books:  “Talking Hair”, “Filling My Head” & “Dreadlocks – A Hairstylist’s Manifest”.