Ilah's Journey to Sisterlocks®

My journey to sisterlocks was my last resort to save my natural hair.

My best friend, Andrea, introduced me to sisterlocks years ago. When I rejected chemicals to my crown for good, I kept my hair braided with extensions the majority of my natural life. When she got her sisterlocks installed, I looked at Drea's hair I thought it was just okay. I didn't really know what to think about what I saw. All I knew was that it wasn't the rasta look that I was most familiar with at the time. As I watched her hair evolved, it was gorgeous. I saw that she really loved her hair and most importantly herself more and more. I’d say things like “well good for you!” But in the meantime I kept my extensions. I'd take the braids out, wash my hair, get a trim and then it's off to sit in a chair for 8-16 hours getting the same individual braided hair extensions you see here.

It was all good until my hair began to fall out, primarily at my hairline.

One of those routines of taking the braids out I saw that I had a more of my hair than the actual extensions. I was done with that! After spending about six years with extensions I had to ask myself "Where do I go from here?" I went to wigs. And I didn't buy the regular wigs, I purchased the more natural looking ones before the lace fronts became mainstream. And just like In Living Colors' "Men on Film" I "HATED IT!"

It was TOO HOT! For me it was like wearing a hat that I just couldn't take off. Even during the winter, regardless of the weather, my hair could not breathe and I felt my follicles suffocating. So to look presentable and professional, you name it I tried it:

Whole wigs? "Hated it!"......

Half wigs? "Hated it!".....

Ponytails..."Hated it!" They looked too fake and pointless to me. So I tried to manage with my own hair and reverted back to the days of old where I spent an hour curlling and setting and rolling and braiding and styling and pinning like my mom did when I was a little girl. That took an hour from my morning routine alone plus it put a lot of stress on my already thinning hair.

All the while my BFF listened to my frustrations as I watched her hair thrive. I decided do my homework on Sisterlocks. If you look closely you can see that Andrea and I have different hair textures, which made it difficult for me from the beginning to visualize how my own baby soft and relatively thin hair would look with Sisterlocks. But after educating myself and doing some soul searching on what mattered most to me about my own natural identity I made that step and I never looked back. It by far was the best decision I could ever make.



My hair has never been this long and this healthy. I have all benefits that come with styling my hair like any sista with a weave or chemically treated hair can and more. Rain or shine my hair is divine! I curl it, style it but what still tickles me most is when I men and women tell me "I really like your hair that way" and I did nothing but comb it with my fingers and let it hang!

Sisterlocks helped me unlock my Natural Essence.