High Maintenance - No Way!!!

Tammycat said... Hi Leighann, I was just wondering if you consider your locks to be high maintenance? Because i was reading a forum recntly and someone said that their locks are really high maintenance. Thanks a lot!

Hey Tammy! Hope school is going well. This is a tricky question. For me the answer is no, but it's all relative. What I mean is: my hair is soft and it grows fast, so I retighten it myself about every four weeks. I'm okay with that, but someone else might consider a four week schedule high maintenance.

I think people confuse low maintenance with no maintenance, and there's really no such thing. Even if you choose to go bald, you've gotta shave regularly to keep that smooth look. Locks can be low maintenance if you just do the basics: wash, separate, go. But if you want your locks to look a certain way, then you've added to your maintenance. For example:

-- If you want neat locking locks then you're retightening more frequently.

-- If you want curls then you're twisting, braiding, steaming and/or rolling.

-- If you want color then you know that colored locks require extra care: moisturizing and conditioning. You've also committed yourself to keeping up a regular coloring schedule if you want the color of your new growth to match the old.

-- If you want independence then you're retightening your locks yourself, which usually takes longer then if your consultant did it.

My consultant can do my locks in about five hours. It takes me two or three hours a night, over three or four days. That gives me a chance to watch movies and catch up on my favorite TV shows.

Granted some maintenence isn't by choice.

-- If you've got loose, soft, slippage prone hair or even fast growing hair you're going to be retightening a little more often then someone who doesn't.

-- If you've got scalp issues such as excessive dryness, dandruff or medical problems that manifest in the scalp or hair, this too will add to your maintenance. But you'd have to tend to this whether you had locks or not.

Scalp and medical problems aside, it may not be the locks that are high maintenance, but the person and their choices.

I like neat locks and I enjoy styling them. It's not high maintenance for me since I'm willing and able to spend the time. It's nice to know, however, that when I don't want to be bothered I don't have to be. My natural hair before Sisterlocks was much higher maintenance, without nearly as much pay off: great looking, healthy hair. I love my Sisterlocks!

Actually, in the grand scheme of things, my blog about my hair is higher maintenance than my hair!