Love Your Hair!

March 18, 2013 | Shikote

I’ve worked on so many different hair types recently that I just can’t put them into a category except for happy clients who leave the salon with healthy hair that they love! I’ll let the pics tell the story:

I've been into braids. This is a dutch flower braid. — I’ve been into braids. This is an early attempt at a dutch flower braid.

Michelle came in for a haircut, and we added some blonde around her face. Her hair is blown out smooth here but has a very beautiful wavy natural texture!

Anna's got beautiful wavy hair too! She likes to straighten it, but I cut her hair wavy, so it will look amazing with it's natural texture as well. — Anna’s got beautiful wavy hair too! She likes to straighten it, but I cut her hair wavy, so it will look amazing with it’s natural texture as well.

Cora's freshly rolled locks — Cora’s freshly rolled locks!

Laura came for a cut with her friend from Cincinnati. It's official. Grateful Dreads is a destination spot! We talked a lot about hair products and regimens for curly and wavy hair. Happiness! — Laura came for a cut with her friend from Cincinnati. It’s official. Grateful Dreads is a destination spot! We talked a lot about hair products and regimens for curly and wavy hair. Happiness!

Sidney stopped by for a quick visit. Look at those beautiful dreads! She's had them slightly over 18 months. Thanks for coming by! I love when you visit! — Sidney stopped by for a quick visit. Look at those beautiful dreads! She’s had them slightly over 18 months. Thanks for coming by! I love when you visit!

Adam is a hip hop musician. He came for a cut. Still long but clean it up!

I love Adam's haircut. He's cutting up samples of his live music on his iPad! — I love Adam’s haircut. He’s cutting up samples of his live music on his iPad!

This is a very special set of pictures. Allison brought in her daughter to talk about her hair, and Camellia just happened to be in the salon. We got to work right away while talking about products and methods to care for Connie’s very curly, delicate hair!

Camellia helped with Connies hair strengthening treatment. So cute!!!

Connie went home to let the conditioning really soak into her hair. Her mom rinsed it out and combed through. Then they came back the next day with good results!

Connie's hair after some conditioning and a cute curly cut! — Connie’s hair after some conditioning and a cute curly cut!

I really love what I do!!

Alloy Ash Photographed by Steve Ragland for Grateful Dreads

March 6, 2013 | Shikote

Hair and wardrobe by Grateful Dreads.
Make up by Debbie Helinski.
All photos by Steve Ragland in Detroit.

aIMG_0008A1f — Alloy Ash wearing a dress by Fotoula Lambros Design

Getting Cozy in Grateful Dreads

January 31, 2013 | Shikote

Winter is at it’s peak! These are some pics of the people who are getting great hair and staying warm in the salon during this cold weather.

David’s locks are gorgeous! These are interlocked, started by his mom, and for the past year maintained by me. I love how his hair looks twisted up like this. I pulled it up to fade his sides.

This is how people look after an experience at Grateful Dreads!

Ahn's trim up. Her hair was already very texturized, so I cut it to smooth her ends and give her lots of volume on top! — Ahn’s trim up. Her hair was already very texturized, so I cut it to smooth her ends and give her lots of volume on top!

Couples haircuts! What a concept! We had a great time hanging out and doing haircuts and color. Laura and this salon are such a great match! Symbiosis at it’s finest!

There were a couple pics I didn’t snap of some great work I’d love to share! I gave Teymour the best looking cut in over 10 years. I suppose we say that a lot!!

I gave Alloy Ash the most beautiful icey purple platinum dreads for her trip to Texas. Congrats Alloy Ash and best to you while you’re down south!!!

798433_4584691849952_23235547_o — This is a pic of Kristen’s dreads one week in. She’s really doing a great job with the maintenance!

See you soon!

A Week of Many Specialties!

January 23, 2013 | Shikote

Wow what a great week! I just can’t say enough about how much I love the challenges that come into this salon!! I am so thankful to have so many special talents as a hair stylist. These are some of the fun people I got to work with this week.

Veronica’s dreads have got to be nearing a year. They look great!!

If you cut the loose hairs from the tips of your dreads, your dreads will unravel a little and become shorter. Someone trimmed her ends, so we made a special appointment to give her hair some of it’s length back.

She knew she had curls but had been flat ironing because it was easier. — Katherine knew she had curls but had been flat ironing because it was easier.

I gave her hair some deep conditioning and a cut for curly hair!! She can still straighten it, but I bet she wont want to!

Jenny came in for just a trim. She’s got interesting hair texture.

I cleaned up her cut and gave it some shape without thinning it since it was already very texturized. I like her hair left thicker, and the new shape is really nice!!

Skateboarders next door. They showed up just as I was having a break! Perfect timing guys!!

Kristen came in for a late night dreads session.
BEFORE!

Kristen looks great with her brand new fresh dreads!! This took me 6 hours.

Kristen's fresh dreads look really fuzzy, especially where we blunted her ends!She's really got a ton of hair!! Perfect for a huge mane of dreads! — Kristen’s fresh dreads look really fuzzy, especially where we blunted her ends.
She’s really got a ton of hair!! Perfect for a huge mane of dreads!

Alana is a really cool girl that I met over a year ago. She came in and got some very special customized hair!!

You can see this custom process in the next post!

The salon is getting busier, and I’m looking for an assistant. If anyone finds this type of hair interesting and would like to learn, please contact me!!

On another note… I’ve hired a professional graphic designer who is working on a few things including the signs for the salon!! I apologize that there is no sign yet!! It’s my (very realistic) goal to have an awning and two signs up by the end of Fetbruary. Thanks for being patient!!

Dreads, Locs, and Fine Blonde Hair!

January 7, 2013 | Shikote

These are some interesting pictures from last week!

This is a good before and after sequence. Lisa started her dreads a year ago with micro braids and didn’t do anything to disturb her hair except wash it. When she arrived at Grateful Dreads, her hair was very clean and somewhat dreaded. I worked on her hair, separating some and locking other parts, for about 3 1/2 hours. We had great success!

The next pics are of Cora’s locs. She’s had them for 4 years, and they were actually started by someone I’ve worked with before! Hi Renée!! Cora’s mom is so happy to have found someone in Ann Arbor to help with her hair, and I’m so happy to be found! The blonde woman in the chair is Cara. She came in for a cut just as we finished up Cora’s hair. I love the contrast of hair in this picture. Especially because their names are so similar!

Cora’s really happy to have freshly tightened and cleaned locs!

Cora just got back from a tropical vacation and into the cold snow. Stay warm Cora, and I’ll see you again soon!

Cool Clients of Grateful Dreads with Gorgeous Hair!

December 28, 2012 | Shikote

I love the people who come to Grateful Dreads! I’m really happy with these pics. For anyone who follows this blog, you can see the progress of Josh’s and Cam’s hair. You will also recognize Nicole from previous posts.

Xiao Hui Fan
It’s been two months since I first cut Cam’s hair. He’s growing it out, and it’s looking so good!. You can click here to see his first cut at Grateful Dreads.

You can see Cam’s natural wave coming out now that his hair has some length. It was his idea to part it on the side with the straight part. I love it! Classic smooth styles are really where it’s at right now!

Josh has had his dreads for 10 months! We put them in around Easter time. Click here to view Josh’s dreads freshly done, and click here to see them after 10 weeks!

My fabulous jet-setter friend Nicole blew through town and spent the day with me at the salon. I gave her a pretty roller set and did her make up!

Emily is an Ann Arbor townie and a U of M student. She’s also a nanny, and she’s really nice!

She came to the salon for a trim and a little shaping.

I gave her bangs and some shaping around her face and took off a few inches. Still long!! I dried it to be curly!

Alloy Ash came to the salon late night to get ready for our shoot the next day.

I touched up her roots and put in some icey Carribean blue! She’s had her dreads for around 6 years and has previously maintained them herself or in California where she does a lot of modeling work.

How lucky am I to have so many amazing clients visit me in just one week! Thank you so much to all of you for being so cool and loving good hair!

Cheers!

Dreads Session Pics

November 28, 2012 | Shikote

Gabi Giacchieri came to the salon to take some photos of Cam and got these of me working on Anthony’s hair. Thank you Gabi!!!

702339_4553679875192_1216933310_n — A great pic of the salon!

565923_4553679955194_1540077451_n — That’s Cam in the mirror.

565423_4553680075197_994621454_n — And Bron

702174_4553679795190_2109668375_n — I like this one!

Dreads Repair Before and After

October 31, 2012 | Shikote

Breanne came into Grateful Dreads for some maintenance and repair. She started her dreadlocks almost a month ago, and they were all growing together into one big mass of hair. I separated them and tightened them up!

Finished look. I love that Brea’s hair is loose in the front!

What a difference! So happy to have met you Breanne! Best wishes to you with your move, and please stop in for a visit when you come back to town!

A lot of people put in dreads / locs, and as the hair settles in, they’re not sure how to care for the new style. I meet a lot of people this way! If you’re having issues with your dreads / locs, please call or come in the salon. Don’t panic! And don’t wait too long! I haven’t met a dread yet that was beyond repair 🙂

Grateful Dreads’ First Client is Looking Good!

October 31, 2012 | Shikote

Kevin was the first client at Grateful Dreads! These pictures show the progress of his dreads.

Almost four months, and the dreads look great!

Look at these dreadlocks! Kevin thank you so much for coming in. I really enjoy the conversation and being a part of this progress.

Lots Going on at Grateful Dreads!

October 29, 2012 | Shikote

I’ve had a very busy week with clients and with the community!

Lane drove from Alpena for some dreads work. Lane is a hairdresser and has a small shop where she lives. What an honor to work on another hairdresser’s hair! She’s got great style too. Her hair is amazing!

Lane came in with half her hair dreaded.

I dreaded her other half! I love purple dreads!!

Lane and Bob Marley. Full heads of dreads!

Bron and I twisted up her hair into a cute side-part style. I’ll do a later post of her hair taken out of the twists.

Grateful Dreads has an ad in Community High School’s student run paper The Communicator!

Thank you Linda for designing this beautiful ad!

A Fun Day at Grateful Dreads

August 22, 2012 | Shikote

I really love this shop! It’s a good time!

Teymour and Andros stopped by for a visit. Two of my favorite people!

I put out signs, and people were pouring in!

I wasn’t able to get pics of everyone, but here are some really good ones!

Naveen is an herbal healer in town. He came in for his dreadlocks! We did them on the spot! They took about 3 hours.

Sarah came in feeling like a wild animal, so we went with it and did some peacock ombré.

I love that deep blue! I’ve been doing Sarah’s hair for a while now, and this was her first visit to Grateful Dreads! We had a really nice time catching up.

Thank you to everyone who came in today!

Clayton and the Cool Kids

August 18, 2012 | Shikote

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Clayton came for his first haircut at Grateful Dreads!

We watched some really huge bees ravishing these flowers.

We saw about five distinctly different bees. This is a honey bee. My favorite kind!

After a short break at Crazy Wisdom to look at some pics for editing, and a lovely little tea party, I met with Sydney back at Grateful Dreads! We put in her dreads exactly a year ago! I like that she left out her bangs. It adds softness and design.

We went to The Espresso Bar afterwards for yummy almond milk lattes!

A very hip spot! I’m so happy to have them as neighbors!

A Very Busy Week!

August 14, 2012 | Shikote

Grateful Dreads has been so popular this week! I’ve had many clients come for their first appointments in the shop. And I’ve met some new people too! I’ve been doing lots and lots of hair! I wasn’t always able to snap a pic, but here are a few:

Kirsten had her first curly cut! We had a fun appointment with amazing results!

Rodney came by for a visit. It’s been 5 weeks since we put in his dreads.

Special thanks to Karina for bringing me flowers! (in the background) The colors are so pretty together!

We did some pink ombré real quick with the new Kevin Murphy Color Bug. It looks so cool!

Knotty Boy is in the House!!

August 3, 2012 | Shikote

The Knotty Boy products arrived a couple days ago!

Bob Marley watches over Grateful Dreads.

I really love these bar soaps. They make the whole shop smell yummy!

Tightening gel, conditioning sprays for mature dreads, freshening sprays, and a cooling spray. The one on the right is a pre-dreading soap and also removes wax.

The beads are here too! Made locally by the lovely Rebecca Ariel-Michelle

Knotty Boy products are all natural, organic, earth-friendly, and cruelty-free. They smell amazing, and they WORK!

Big Ones!

July 19, 2012 | Shikote

These dreads are huge! They will matt down over time and become solid. They’re so fluffly when they’re fresh!

Rodney’s headband is perfect for his dreads!

Look at that huge one on the bottom ^

Rodney’s hair is going to take some daily maintenance to get his dreads where he wants them. Keep them separated and twist the ends. Wrapping them at night will help a lot. I do not recommend palm-rolling these locks. It would disorganize the rope pattern.

Josh’s Dreads After 10 Weeks

July 6, 2012 | Shikote

Tight rubberbands can cause kinks in the dreads. If you use a rubberband, don’t put it too tight, and try to put your ponytail in a different spot each time.

Wow Josh’s hair gets really blonde in summer! These dreads are looking great! Josh works on them a lot, and it shows. Here’s a pic from when they were first done:

Thanks for the pics Josh! See you soon!