If someone had told me five years ago that I would have a business working with other people's hair, I would have looked at them skeptically and thought they were crazy. But honestly, six years ago I didn't think I would be going back to being natural when it came to my hair either. However, not a relaxer, hot comb (press) or texturizer has touched my hair since August 2003. For the past 2.5 years, I have proudly worn a full head of Sisterlocks™.
Many women who share my ethnic and cultural background will probably recognize themselves in the following: As a little girl, every Sunday evening you sit on your knees or on a stool between your mother's knees, who then – sometimes roughly – turns that thick black mane of hair on your head into a presentable hairstyle. Once provided with a thick layer of hair grease and a few bows for decoration, you were presentable again for the rest of the week. Only to go through the whole ritual of undoing the braids, washing your hair and braiding it again. As a (near) teenager, you were already happy when your unruly mane of hair was finally 'put into order' with a jar of relaxer. 1 year of sisterlocks After suffering for at least half an hour from a prickly scalp and sitting under the scorching hooded dryer for at least an hour, you emerged transformed as a teen diva with smooth hair. Thanks in part to the curlers that you had to put in every day before going to bed, you had beautiful curls. Mother and daughter both overjoyed to be freed from the weekly washing & straightening ritual. Little did they know that they had now opened the door to years of potential misery. the beginning — 2 years later The frustrations… As a city girl, you couldn’t show up with a frizzy head. Especially in the big cities, relaxing your hair had become a given once you were in high school and later when you entered the professional world. So despite all the drama, I kept relaxing. What else was I supposed to do with that thick head of hair? Besides the relaxer, I’ve had the curly, the weave, the extensions and even the scissors in my hair. I won’t even mention the countless products I kept buying, because this was “THE” product that would make my hair grow, or that I would no longer suffer from unsightly flakes, or hair that kept breaking along the hairline. To be honest, I didn’t like my hair anymore. It had become a burden and I regularly suffered from 'A Bad Hair Day'. It was this frustration that lasted for years that prompted me five years ago to broaden my horizons and see what other possibilities there were for me and my hair. Unfortunately, at the time, especially in the Netherlands, the hair industry was hardly focused on women with untreated frizzy hair, who wanted to remain 'natural' and still look presentable. But after a very long search and asking many questions, I finally said goodbye to extensions, weaves, hair grease, flakes, weak hair, etc. in May 2006. Urban Natural That's when I started an affair with my hair and chose Sisterlocks™. Despite my "frizzy head", I look great as a city girl - I have become an Urban Natural. Nowadays I enjoy my hair and I can't keep my hands off it, partly because it is so soft and manageable. I don't regret choosing Sisterlocks™ for a single day. I proudly see how others curiously admire my hair too. More and more often I am approached with questions about what exactly I have done with my hair. I could not resist sharing this enjoyment of my own hair and the “relationship” I now have with it – and that you can have with your hair. The story of Charlene Dick, Sisterlocks and Urban Naturals.