Its not really faux locs fix up “nr 10089”. I’m just being a little dramatic because it feels like it.

Let me start by saying that I am not going to disclose my client’s name here. However, for shits and giggles, we can refer to her as Amanda if you’d like.

Amanda found my details on Instagram last year (2024). She was desperate for maintenance and a solution for a situation that she was not happy with. As I usually do, I asked for some images but the reality was totally different than what I anticipated to see.

She sat down in my studio, untied her hair and my heart sank. The images below have been taken by me on our first appointment.

The original salon created faux locs for her. The installation method for single ended locs is suppose to be temporary and therefore easily removable under normal circumstances. To explain better – “faux” means false. So instead of human hair, its made out of fiber – so, acrylic, in short.

The extensions where made way too thick and too many were installed. The point of it was to create a fuller look. It doesn’t work if its not sustainable.

Amanda’s hair is very fine and her hair wasn’t very thick to start off with. Sectioning was way too thin, placing to much strain on her roots. This resulted in her hair pulling out. Too much excess weight, together roots that’s too tight is unfortunately a disaster waiting to happen in any instance.

The faux hair was badly knotted into her own hair at the roots and everywhere. The faux hair became rough and hard (no, it wasn’t old at all). It was not in a state where the faux hair could be undone and moved up to neaten it in any usual way.

Maintenance couldn’t fix it and me working on her roots to supposedly neaten things up, would just aggravate the problem. Also, charging her for making the situation worse would not be ethical. I had no other choice but to turn down her request for maintenance. There was no way around “fixing” it – the only way was for it all to come out.

I have written another post about faux locks before. As much as I don’t want to run down the whole practice of faux locks, I find it bitterly hard not to. For this reason, I also refuse to work with any hair besides premium quality human hair.

Reasons for faux locks

Faux locs are usually done as the idea is that it saves cost vs human hair. More often than not, it truly doesn’t. This exact case cost her a few thousand rand. To fix it costs yet more.

I cannot reiterate this enough – PLEASE do your homework before picking a random person and throwing money at them. It is ‘costly’ to save some situations and one pays with your self image, the disappointment as well as finances. We all work hard to earn and wasting savings is sad and not on. When you decide to go ahead, please, please, do it ‘right’, right from the start. It will be an investment, instead of a regret.

A way forward after faux locs

We discussed a way forward and her request was to start everything from scratch. This time, permanent installation with human hair. Some of you who’s worked with me before will be familiar with the process. Some questions and answers to plan an exact way. Amount / texture / colour / volume / length etc – followed by quoting, accepting and ordering hair. When I receive the hair, it gets washed thoroughly and then dried in beautiful daylight. After that – my pink fairy hooligans and I watch documentaries / talk / play guitar while I turn the hair into extensions.

Before long – we were right here . . . .

And So A New Journey Started

We talked and talked and talked, shared and cried a bit, laughed a whole lot. Carried on and on as the images speak for themselves . . . until we got to the end result. A happy Amanda that felt at peace with how she looked. A sustainable way forward which would mean that we’d only need maintenance from here onwards. Her hair that was ripped out has started to grow back. And as I have seen so many times before – her hair would grow out thicker than before.

. . . All the way to here.. . . .

I will be adding some follow up images of hers as time goes by. Thank you for your support, reading this post and spending time on my website.

Eva

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