KristenLock.com - The Tree Braid Stylist » Admin

Paul Mitchell’s Foaming Pomade

Admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:05:09 +0000

Paul Mitchell’s Foaming Pomade
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Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Mineral Oil (Paraffinum Liquidum), Petroleum, Disodium Cocamido, MIPA-Sulfosuccinate, Pentene, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Polyquaternium-7, Dimethicone Bisamino Hydroxypropyl/Algae/ Aloe Barbadensis/Chamomile/Henna/Jojoba/Rosemary/Dimethicone Copolyol, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Fragrance (Perfum), Disodium EDTA, Methylparaben, Propylparaben

These ingredients are not healthy for hair. They can cause buildup and a flaky scalp. I used this product consistently for a month; however, my scalp is very itchy and dry. I would not recommend using this product.

I Am In Love With Kinky Kurly…Knot Today

Admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:05:53 +0000

I am always falling in love with new products. I am a lover of the Kinky -Curly products. I have yet to make my way thru their entire line but I have used their curling custard, shampoo, and their conditioners. Today I want to talk about their conditioner.

Can you say love at first use? I am a bit of a health snob in many respects. I subscribe to the notion that everything that you put on your body gets absorbed into your body. I mean your skin is the largest organ in your body right. Well this may be true but I don’t want this to come at the expense of looking good right. I mean I am a happily married woman but I want to stay that was so I need to make sure that I keep it together!

I have natural hair and that at times can be a challenge to keep it soft and moisturized. I have found that Kinky – Curly’s KNOT TODAY conditioner to be amazing! It is an AMAZING detangiling conditioner and can also be used as a leave in conditioner. I used it in my daughters hair last night and did a 2 strand twist and untwisted this morning and let her wear it to school just like that! It was so cute. She was swinging around her curls and really loving her natural hair, and as a mother that makes you feel great when your child loves their natural hair.

So obveously I like the conditioner but I love what the conditioner does not have.

*no petroleum	*no silicone	*no plastics
*no mineral oil	*no carbomer	*no acrylics
*alcohol free	*wax free	*paraben free

Does it get better then this? All I can say is two thumbs to the owner of Kinky Curly Shelley Davis. You are keeping sistas like me and my daughter beautiful! Thanks

Should I Wash My Natural Hair While It Is Braided

Admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:02:56 +0000

It is nice to know that people of all ages can appreciate my work. It is our youth that give me the motivation to keep on blogging! With all that said here is a question that one of my readers posted:

Hey Kristen. I’ve been doing a lot of research on tree braids and I have to say u r pretty darn good @ them. I plan on getting some done sometime this week but I just had a few questions.
1. Can you wash your natural hair w/ the braids in? (I bet you have gotten that question a million times, but i couldn’t find the answer)
2. Do u know of any brand of hair that is curly when wet but can be flat ironed straight?
3. Do u recommend anyone in the Sacramento, ca area that can do cornrow tree braids really good @ a reasonable price?

oh, and by the way im 13 so if theres a kids discount be sure to tell me that price. (unless the age limit is 10 or something, i might be able to get away w/ being 12 yrs old)

should I wash my natural hair with braids

To answer question number 1….. YES please wash your hair while it is braided! It is so important to keep your natural and braid hair clean. I get so irritated when people get their hair braided and their hair care gores on auto pilot. I use this analogy to get my point across. “Would you not wash your face for 4 weeks just because you had on a mask?” No you wouldn’t because your face would break out and you would be walking around looking CRAZY. Well your scalp is skin just like your face and it needs care too. There is no need to wash it everyday however 4 weeks is too long! So please wash your hair at least 2 times a week. And washing does not mean that tyoui have to get in the shower and do it but at least get some sea breeze and clean your scalp.

Question number 2…. Yes there is a l0t of hair that can be curly and straight. Any of the wet and wavy hair can do this. For example Milky way hair. Hair purchased from www.hisandher.com There is even synthetic hair that can do this. One of my personal favorites is Brandy’s Pro 10 hair. It has this versatility. In fact I wish she made lace front wigs because I think that they would sell well. Using a Flat Iron like the FHI Ceramic Flat Iron can work well too.

Question 3…. I am not familiar with the Sacramento braiders but if you are a braider in Sacramento please send me a comment and I can post some of your work and possibly get you some clients. I love sharing the wealth with other braiders!

Lastly. Is there a children’s discount? Of course children tend to have smaller heads therefore their heads are easy to do do and take less time. When this happens I do share the wealth by coming down on my prices.

Keep sending me questions and I will do my best to answer to the best of my abilities. Thanks a bunch.

To Weave or Not to Weave

Admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:34:55 +0000

Remember the days when people would talk about you when you had in a weave? You were said yot have in horse hair, or that you were “unbeweavible” Did people say this because they were afraid of change or perhaps they were jealous that they were not able to have their hair weaved. My personal belief was the the weave was so bad that there was only one thing to do……talk about crazy it looked! One of my favorite things to do it learn new techniques and become astonished by what some people allow to be done to their hair.

Weaves should be believable let that be your first priority. Even if you go fron 2 inches to 24 inches make it look real please. here are some examples of what not to do…

Weave Tracks

Black History Month

Admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:12:55 +0000

With Black History Month upon us, it only made sense to write about Michelle and Kelly, 2/3rds of the infamous super group Destiny’s child. TMZ recently featured an image of the two Songstresses and I have made a resolution to always uplift all people. So with that I think that their hairstyles are evolving and thanks to Getty Images, you can see the image here yourself. Check out the Kelly Rowland lace front wig.

Tree Braid Questions

Admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:38:33 +0000

Here is another question from one of my readers (my response is in blue):
Dear Kristen,

I wanted to ask you a few question about tree braids. I saw these pictures on your blog. I really liked it and decided to get some. If you could please answer them before tomorrow I would be most thankful.

1- Are they hard to maintain?No I tell my clients to just wrap it at night and wash it every 2 weeks either with a waterless shampoo or with seabreez.

2- About how long do they take to do?About 4 hours

3- What is the average price of them?Between $160-$200

4- Do you do them yourself?Any tree braided style that you see on my site was done by me Kristen Lock

5- Does the hair cover up the braids so that they are not seen?

Yes!

Thank you and i hope you can answer these questions before tomorrow.

From, Amanda

How Much Kanekalon hair should I use?

Admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:47:47 +0000

Question:

I am getting my hair braided with individuals in the back and a row of cornrows in the front. My head is big and I want to know how many packs of 100% kanekalon hair should I bring.

Answer:

If I did your hair and I was doing the feed in cornrows I would use 2-3 packs of hair.

Tangled tree braid hair

Admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:46:30 +0000

Jennifer’s Question:

Do you still recommend free tress hair? How long can people leave it in, how does it do with regards to tangling and shedding? Is it true that you can’t wash your hair at all while in the braids? And you can’t go swimming, etc? You have to wash your scalp with dry shampoo and a wet cloth? I got braids, but I’m not understanding from my braider what to do, do I put things on the hair, oils, mousse, I’m clueless. Can you put hair products on fake hair?

I used Miss Willow Elements and my braider hates the hair, not how it looks, but just she said it took 7 hours to do instead of I guess 4 to 6 because of how hard it was for her to pull apart and that it tangles as she braids it and she kept saying her fingers hurt too much. She says I need to get human hair next time like Milky Way, but it is a lot more money so I wanted to know if I really need to buy more expensive hair or just a different brand of synth hair that maybe she never worked with or is it that I need a new tree braider?

Also, is it different for Caucasian hair? She said the larger braids were due to the synth hair I bought, which was thermofiber, not due to my hair being slippery, but I think that the no washing or swimming at all is from my hair being too slippery to hold the braid if I do anything that might disturb it. Also now she wants me take it out after only 4 weeks because she thinks this hair will be too tangly and make it too hard for her to remove it if I go longer and I wasn’t expecting after spending a little over $200 to only have that carry me 4 weeks.

I do like the way it looks now and I like the big even curl of the deep wave hair, but I wonder if human hair will soften the look up for me too much next time and also cost me a fortune.

If you do buy more expensive human hair for tree braids can you reuse it? I would think the hair would be in a tangly mess after being all braided up for weeks plus wouldn’t it be kind of yucky at some point if I’m not ever supposed to wash it and plus it is summer right now so at some point on some days I’m sweating?

Am wondering if you know of any brands that truly don’t tangle that I could use next time human or synth? I was wondering if you have you worked with the pro 10 brandy hair for tree braiding? And I guess there is no way to do any regular swimming with a swim cap with this hair style? Someone else suggested a wig if I want to go swimming, but how can my own hair grow with a wig glued to my head and wouldn’t that begin to itch even more? I could see if I had chemo and was bald, but I do have hair so I’m not sure how the whole wig idea would work for long as at some point I’m going to have longer hair and it would get bumpy I would think and hot and sweaty and itchy. But it sounded good that you can swim, wet it, etc compared to what I’m being told now with my tree braids.

Kristen Lock’s Answer:

WOW is all I can say… I am going to do my best to answer Jennifer’s question if I miss a question I am going to apologize in advance. Well first I would like to say that I do still recommend the free tress hair for tree braids as I know it to be a great alternative to human hair. However the texture of hair DOES matter. Some of the free tress hair is too curly to be used and would cause your stylist to be very frustrated! I know because I have been there. When using synthetic hair for tree braids you want to make sure that the curl pattern you use is a loose one that will not tangle easily when separated. I do recommend the brandy pro 10 hair as well. I have had many clients who enjoy its versatility.

I do not encourage anyone to NOT was their hair. I think that that is just bad hygiene. I mean really your scalp is part of your body, and you wouldn’t (well maybe I should say shouldn’t you never know these days) not wash your face for 4 weeks right? well your scalp should get the same treatment. I say to wash it every other week . And yes you can use the waterless shampoos to help with cleaning between washings. I think that is a great idea.

Yes you can put products on the fake hair. You might want to stay away from products for the synthetic hair as there can be some adverse affects. If any of the products cause the hair to do anything that you don’t want just wash them out! Not I don’t mean get in the shower and was your natural hair, just wash the artificial hair and get the product out of it. I recommend my clients to do this all the time. It may not be time to wash your natural hair but the fake hair might stink! so wash it, and as long as you are not getting your natural hair wet it will not cause your hair to loosen prematurely.

As for the larger braids, I can bet that the larger braids are due to your braiders frustration with the hair that you brought. It was hard to separate so she wanted to speed up the process so she made the parts thicker thus making the braids bigger. She could have made the braids as small as she does with human hair, but it would have taken her even longer then the 7 hours she had already spent on your hair so to speed up the process she made bigger braids. You can’t really blame her too much. She put you in a 4 hour slot and it took 7. She might have had another client waiting. She should have charged you more and took her time and done them the way you wanted.

As for the $200 bill she gave you… I think that if your braids were large then that price is a bit much. Did she put individuals in the back at least?

No you can’t reuse the hair for tree braiding.

Well I hope I answered most of your questions.

How to curl kinky twists with a string

Admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:50:17 +0000

I was about to film a quick video on how to curl the ends of kinky twists and then I thought to look it up on YouTube to see if someone has already done it and I found it. I have lots of people ask me how to do it so I wanted to make sure that I let you all see how it is done.

Tree braider needed in New York!

Admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:42:12 +0000

Question:

Hi Kristen,

I found your website in my search for tree braids. I have never done the style before, but I am interested in trying it, as it seems to be a different look from braids, and probably takes less time. Do tree braids in fact take less time? I wear my hair pretty short, and the texture is fine, is tree braiding a style you would recommend for someone like me? You do such a wonderful job with your styles, are you located in the NY area? If not, can you suggest somewhere in NY where they do a great job with tree braids? Your response would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Kristen Lock’s answer:
Yes tree braids do take less time then most other braided styles. Tree braids can take anywhere between 2-4 hours to complete. The length of your hair is not a problem. As long as your hair is long enough to be cornrowed then it is long enough to tree braid. As for the texture of your hair, you just need to find a braider who knows how to braid fine hair. There is a different technique braiders use when cornrowing fine hair. As for a tree braider in NY… I don’t know… But if you are a tree braider in NY email me your information and I can forward it on to the hundreds of new yorkers who ask me if I know anyone in NY who can tree braid. I hope I answered all of your questions!