Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Beauty on their own terms

A salon offers a remedy for women stressed out about their hair - and fitting in. It's neither quick nor cheap, but with a joyful jig, clients begin to feel free.

By TAMMY BARTHLETT
Published May 8, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - It's 8 on a Tuesday night, and Karen Demps sits in a salon chair getting her Sisterlocks tightened. Hip-hop music blares from the stereo as another woman dances across the hardwood floor.

This place, Anako Nappy, is more than the average beauty shop. For some African-Americans, it is a place to party while learning to appreciate their beauty - naturally.

Joyce Mitchell, the owner, promotes a trend that embraces natural hairstyles, such as Sisterlocks, a technique that does not involve chemicals, like the relaxers and perms that many black women use to straighten their hair.

Mitchell, 56, said she has seen women destroy their hair and scalps, all in the name of beauty. She wants to show them that there is a better way to have lovely hair.

"There is a great need in our community, and no one is teaching," she said. "So many women are walking around with scalp burns and low self-esteem from straightening and other chemical processes," she said.

She learned about Sisterlocks, a trademarked technique, during a World Natural Hair Health and Beauty Show in Atlanta, where she met JoAnne Cornwell, the founder of Sisterlocks and an associate professor of Africana studies and French at San Diego State University.

In 1993, Cornwell formed the Sisterlocks company in California. Today, there are certified "lockticians" - beauticians who specialize in locking - in eight states, according to the Sisterlocks Web site (www.sisterlocks.com)

Anako Nappy, at 1638 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N., is one of several natural hair care salons for African-Americans in the area. The shop has been a pioneer of Sisterlocks in St. Petersburg for about eight years, Mitchell says.

To create Sisterlocks, the hair is meticulously divided into sections, which are then subdivided into tiny locks of several hairs. Each lock is then woven into a specific pattern resembling a complex form of braiding.

The hundreds of woven locks allow the hair to grow instead of becoming brittle and breaking. With Sisterlocks - or Brotherlocks, for men - only the person's own hair is used. There are no synthetic hair extensions, gels or greasy compounds.

The technique differs from dreadlocks, which are hand-rolled, not woven. With dreadlocks, beeswax or gel can be used to keep strands of hair "locked" together.

Sisterlocks "are natural and beautiful," Mitchell said. "We do not call them dreadlocks, because there is nothing dreadful about our hair."

Sisterlocks also differ from cornrows, another natural technique, with platted rows of hair close to the scalp.

The Sisterlocks technique is time consuming and not cheap, but it results in hair that is healthier and easier to care for, Mitchell said. The 'do can be shampooed every two weeks. It can also be set and styled.

Make an appointment when you have lots of time on your hands. The process takes eight to 12 hours or longer, depending partly on hair length and texture. An initial consultation at Anako Nappy is $30; the Sisterlocks can be $400 or more. Each case is priced individually.

The locks must be tightened every four to eight weeks as the hair grows. Maintenance fees range from $85 to $250 each visit, depending on how well the locks have been cared for.

Mitchell's shop is in a three-story house that has a lot going on. Upstairs serves as a place for homeschooling her grandchildren, spiritual teaching classes and permanent makeup applications. Mitchell also runs a chapter of the Princess Society, a group in which women celebrate being women and being treated like princesses. Mitchell involves herself in many activities but says her passion is educating women of color about the natural hair trend.

She says there is a need for it, because black women are exposed to images in the mainstream media all their lives that show straight hair as beautiful.

The message is that it's not acceptable to have naturally kinky, or "nappy," hair, she said. They conclude that they need to change their hair to fit in and be attractive.

"You usually don't see our hair in the media unless it's been chemically processed," she said.

Many women come to her shop only as a last resort, she said.

Some have lost most of their hair or have burns and discoloration from hair straightening chemicals. Others come because they are sick of trying to fit in.

Mitchell uses a special braiding process called "latch hook" on women who have lost most of their hair or have spots to cover. Their remaining hair is braided in a circle around the scalp, and synthetic hair is hooked onto the braid.

"Latch hook allows for us to let the women have their hair grow out but still look pretty," Mitchell said.

Other clients can choose between two natural hair processes: Sisterlocks and Senegalese twists.

The Senegalese style involves sections of hair that are rolled and twisted into patterns that are less complex than Sisterlocks and are maintained with gels or other compounds.

If the client chooses Sisterlocks, the locktician determines the lock size - medium, small or micro, depending on the thickness and texture of the person's hair, and which of four patterns to use in weaving, depending on the hair's texture. Once the hair is locked, it is in what is called the "baby" stage of locking. It has not yet been trained to stay locked.

But as the hair grows out, it becomes thicker and begins to stay that way. The hairstyle takes from six months to a year to mature and will remain in the "adult" stage for as long as the hair is locked, Mitchell said.

Mitchell and most of the other women at her shop have had their hair in Sisterlocks for as long as eight years.

At Anako Nappy, when someone gets her hair locked for the first time, there is a celebration. The customer is given a bouquet of roses, and a prayer is said to welcome her to the joy of Sisterlocks.

Mitchell and her lockticians also pride themselves on making the experience pleasant for the clients sitting for hours while their hair is locked. Customers watch TV and movies, listen to music or read magazines.

They also watch educational videos or listen to a comedian on tape, depending on the mood of the shop that day. The lockticians move from person to person as needed, allowing each other to take breaks or just walk around. Conversation, jokes and laughter are plentiful.

Karen Demps, who sat amid the fun at Anako Nappy one recent evening while her Sisterlocks were tightened, said her hair has been locked for seven years and she can't imagine what she would have done without it.

The freedom of not having to worry about her hair first thing in the morning is wonderful, she said.

But the best thing about the 16 hours it took the first time, and the many hours for tightening over the years?

"It's natural," Demps said, "and it's mine."

Tammy Barthlett is a reporter for the Neighborhood News Bureau, a program of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

[Last modified May 8, 2005, 00:45:19]