My salon experience...

Today I went into a salon, called Furr, on King Street in Newtown Sydney.Having just arrived in Sydney with only a relatively small backpack of belongings, I needed to buy some shampoo for my dreads. I spotted this place and thought they would be able to help. Yes, they could help, the guy (possibly the owner) showed me a bar of Knotty Boy shampoo and suggested that would be better than the bottled stuff. Great!He then looked at my hair and said my dreads looked very new, and that whoever did them for me had done a terrible job. I explained my wife had done them (tnr method) about 2-3 months ago, to which he then said she hadn't done a bad job, but I should be very disappointed if a salon had done them.Admittedly, my dreads look scruffy at the moment, with lots of flyaway hairs. Anyway, he then told me that I should be using WAX (!!) to keep my hair tidy and to encourage the roots to knot up better. I told him that my research had shown that wax was not a good thing, and could/would encourage mould within the dreads. He laughed at my suggestion and told me that I was wrong. He then showed me his portfolio of dreads that he has redone for people after other salons had made a mess of their hair, and then told me that he could fix my dreads and that I would have to return in a couple of months to have them tidied up!!I said that I would just take the shampoo for now. At this point he disappeared and got a member of staff to take my money for the shampoo. I didn't hear another word from him... Did he not like it that I refused to accept what he was telling me, and that, perhaps, I knew more than him?! I should add here that I am, by no means, an expert on this subject!I did not like the guys sales technique, i.e. telling me that my hair looked terrible and then trying to pressure me into buying some wax. I will not be returning to his shop, unless it is to show him how good my dreads look in a few months time!!It did get me thinking though... Is there a "dread-safe" alternative to using wax? I know that 'dreads will make themselves look good over time' and that 'there is no such thing as a perfect dread', but could I use something like Locking Gel (Jamaican Mango & Lime, for instance) to achieve a similar effect of using wax but without doing the damage to my hair?Peace and love! =)e2a: It wasn't until I left the shop that I realised how terrible this guy's hair was (blue, curly, and with a few dreads hanging down each side of his face), and it made me laugh that he dared have the cheek to criticise other people's hair! Hilarious, and spoke volumes about him and his shop... =)
updated by @mr-nice: 01/13/15 08:50:47PM

That's hilarious! You so shoulda told him how terrible his hair looked :PAmazing how many people will jump on the wax bandwagon - bet he's never even tried creating locks without wax, so therefore, he would not know the difference and therefore has no reason to laugh at you saying wax is a stupid move - kinda patronising too. Sydney's an 11 hour drive from me, almost tempted to give him a visit ROFLOL :P I, too, have fixed some atrocious locks over the years, including people who have had them done in a SALON lol...and never, ever needed to use wax. Although I guess the 'just keep them clean and they'll dread themselves' route is not one that makes people such as this dude a great deal of money "to which he then said she hadn't done a bad job, but I should be very disappointed if a salon had done them." I'd be more disappointed if this dude and his cronies had got their grubby, commercialised mitts on my hair and packed it fulla wax LOLDunno about the mango and lime gel - would depend on what's in it I guess...I've always just used aloe vera gel, which washes out in a wash

Jamaican mango and lime locking gel ingredients~Deionized Water
- Polyquatemium 37,
- VP DMAPA/Acrylate Copolyme,- Propylene Glycol
- Diazolidinyl Urea Methylparaben
- Proplyparaben
- Fragrance
- Yellow #10 and Red #33


funny how there's no mango or lime listed anywhere! It's personal preference though. I wouldn't put it in my hair the ingredients look sketchy but some people don't mind.

good for you for not falling into that salon owners trap! I'm glad you stood your ground and in a few months your dreads will be glad too! Many Blessings

"Fragrance" could be the only reason the product has the words "Mango and Lime" in it.
NaturalWomyn said:

Jamaican mango and lime locking gel ingredients~Deionized Water
- Polyquatemium 37,
- VP DMAPA/Acrylate Copolyme,- Propylene Glycol
- Diazolidinyl Urea Methylparaben
- Proplyparaben
- Fragrance
- Yellow #10 and Red #33


funny how there's no mango or lime listed anywhere! It's personal preference though. I wouldn't put it in my hair the ingredients look sketchy but some people don't mind.

good for you for not falling into that salon owners trap! I'm glad you stood your ground and in a few months your dreads will be glad too! Many Blessings

Oh yeah, and when I asked the guy how he made dreads in his salon, he told me 'I have my own special way; that's all I'm saying.' Does he not realise that google, youtube, etc can tell anyone anything they want to know about loads of different ways of dreadlocking hair?! This says it all about this guy really!

my guess interlockinmg or crochetand hell no id never let any salon anywhere touch my head

Mr Nice said:

Oh yeah, and when I asked the guy how he made dreads in his salon, he told me 'I have my own special way; that's all I'm saying.' Does he not realise that google, youtube, etc can tell anyone anything they want to know about loads of different ways of dreadlocking hair?! This says it all about this guy really!

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Not that i have tried jamaican mango and lime products but i neither do i have the inclination too. They sit there talking about how they use a jamaican recipe from the hills of jamaica blah blah blah somehow i dont think the ingredients natural woman listed grow out of the hills of jamaica. More like a labratory. Not knocking anyone who does use their products, but bothers me that they pass em off as authentic made.

And i can second Beksta on the use of Aloe Vera. It is a safer alternative to wax. Get it from the plant or at your local health foodstore.

LOL! so true! I thought the same thing while reading over them!

Thundersquall said:

Not that i have tried jamaican mango and lime products but i neither do i have the inclination too. They sit there talking about how they use a jamaican recipe from the hills of jamaica blah blah blah somehow i dont think the ingredients natural woman listed grow out of the hills of jamaica. More like a labratory. Not knocking anyone who does use their products, but bothers me that they pass em off as authentic made.