Gorgeous Hair!

June 17, 2013 | Shikote

This salon really really has the coolest clients! It’s been a fun week full of amazing hairstyles and wonderful people!!

Here are the pics:

Josh has amazing dreads and style to match!

Deonta's new dreadlocks! — Deonta’s new dreadlocks!

She is totally rad! I love her new platinum!! — Kaitlyn is totally rad! I love her new platinum!!

Her curls look beautiful with her new cut!

David's hair is really getting long! His hair is entirely interlocked. — David’s hair is really getting long! His hair is entirely interlocked.

Long locks rolled up in a hat from the Virgin Islands

Happy people and amazing hair!

Looking Good at Grateful Dreads!

June 10, 2013 | Shikote

It’s been an exceptional week full of great-looking clients and enjoyable company. These are some pics of the all-stars of Grateful Dreads!

Erik’s new dreads! I love that he shaves the bottom of his hair with the dreads!!

Fresh medium-sized dreads! These took almost 4 hours.

Ciarra is probably the most fashionable person in Ann Arbor. Her curly hair is getting longer!

Ebonie’s hair is really looking nice! She made this visor to fit her dreadlocks, a great idea for hats!

Allie had her first curly cut! This is just the beginning!!!!!

Thank you to all of the new people who’ve come through for specialty work! And thank you so much to those of you who return. Good times at the shop!

Beauty and Success at Grateful Dreads

June 9, 2013 | Shikote

June 5th, the weather was beautiful! And what an eventful day at Grateful Dreads! Some of my favorite people were in the salon today, and there was so much action at one point, we all just had to pause at the success of this wonderful salon!

John and Ellie. Ellie grows organic food!

John’s superhero photo spread in Hour Magazine. He is a hometown hero for his exquisite cooking and artisanal use of fresh foods. Congrats John! I love this photo of you!!

Laura came to Grateful Dreads for a trim and some color. I’m so happy with her new shade!

Happy, bouncey, curly!

The Peony Garden in Nichols Arboretum is in full bloom, so we finished the evening there!

We are surrounded by beauty!

AJ’s Dreads!

June 5, 2013 | Shikote

AJ is a really cool, really unique guy! It’s very suiting that he would choose dreadlocks for a hairstyle. AJ grew his hair for three years because, after researching what it takes to have dreads, he knew he’d need the extra length. AJ and I first talked over a year ago (before Grateful Dreads!) about putting in dreads. When the time came, he found this webpage and came to see me again! Our consultation was fun! The dreads session was totally awesome! AJ’s dreads took about 7 hours. We decided to tuck in his ends right away which I don’t usually do. I’d done it before with extensions, and it was okay. So I sent him home with important instructions to palm roll, palm roll, and palm roll those new dreads!!

Almost done! Look at the difference in length! We decided to tuck in his ends right away which took most of his length.

AJ's dreads. Success! — AJ looks happy with his new dreads!

Thanks so much AJ! I really had a good time. You are so knowledgable on so many cool things. I hope everyone else loves your dreads as much as we do!

Beautiful Curls and Tight Dreads!

June 5, 2013 | Shikote

The weather has been beautiful these past couple days! Spring is in full swing, and the heat of summer is on its way. I love the summer outfits and hairstyles that people wear this time of year! These are some pics of the wonderful beings who spend time at Grateful Dreads.

A faithful client, Patrick, brought his long-time friend Gabriella for a curly haircut. Her hair was almost all one length. She wanted something cute with fun style, so we got to work! A cut and some deep conditioning yeilded this absolutely beautiful, fun haircut!

Gabriella after a nice shape up on her beautiful curly/wavy hair! — Gabriella after a nice shape up on her beautiful curly hair!

You may recognize Sara from her wedding photos on this website. She’s now expecting a bouncey baby boy! Congratulations Sara!

Sara's hot ma purple hair! — Sara’s hot ma purple hair!

Hunter! She's happy because her dreads look great after almost a month. — Hunter! She’s happy because her dreads look great after almost a month.

Hunter's dreads from the back. They are just over 3 weeks old. — Hunter’s dreads from the back. They are just over 3 weeks old.

Nevan's looks great with dreads! These took about 7 hours. — Nevan looks great with dreads! These took about 7 hours.

He had tried everything to get dreads, so there are a lot of happy people out there knowing they're in to stay! — He had tried everything to get dreads, so there are a lot of happy people out there knowing they’re in to stay!

Shikote watches the squirrels :) — Shikote watches the squirrels 🙂

Special thank you to the faithful friends of Grateful Dreads! Happy Spring!

Sydney’s Dread Removal

May 31, 2013 | Shikote

Dread Removal. It’s quite the process! The key to taking out dreads is to replace them with a totally cute hairstyle!

Sydney and her beautiful dreads! One year and nine months old.

I cut off most of her dreads. There is a point on dreads where, if you look closely, you can see when the matting changes. I left as much length as we could without killing our hands from the comb-out process.

The three of us got to work combing out Sydney’s dreads. I think it took around 5 hours from start to finish.

Sydney’s new totally hip and beautiful curly haircut! Complete with double dreads rat tail!!

Love! You look beautiful Sydney!

Emily’s Dreadlocks, At Last!

May 31, 2013 | Shikote

Look at Emily’s beautiful red curly hair! She loves it so much and has wanted dreads for a long time. They really fit her personality and lifestyle. She’s got so much hair!! Emily’s dreads look amazing brand new and will continue to become more and more beatiful with time!

Emily and her long, curly, red hair BEFORE

We left out some of her hair in the front and left the ends loose to show off her beautiful natural curls!

Thank you so much Emily!

Riley’s Visit to Grateful Dreads

May 7, 2013 | Shikote

Riley came to Grateful Dreads with her mom, Jade, who is my good friend from high school. I was so excited to get this call! “Riley has dreads, and she has some photos coming up!” Hahahaha!! This is what life is all about!! I worked on Riley’s hair while Jade went and played at the Farmers’ Market!

Riley 🙂 Her hair actually looks very beautiful down, but we wanted to play around with it!

Riley’s dreads are so artistic! They’re full of wraps and vintage beads. She added some extensions herself as she put her dreads in, and I showed her how to add more!

465129_10201058797891159_399771763_o — Jade sent me this picture of our fairie babies playing in the fairie tree. So cute!!!!!

Scott’s New Dreads!

May 7, 2013 | Shikote

Scott came to Grateful Dreads for a consultation about a month ago. He wanted dreads and had been growing his hair out for three years to get them! He wasn’t sure how it would go because people told him that his straight hair wouldn’t go into dreads. During our consultation I assured him his hair could, in fact, be dreaded! This past Saturday he came walking down the driveway for his appointment, and we got to work!

Scott’s long, smooth hair before dreadlocks

Scott and Jane under the dreadlock tree!

Thanks to both of you! I am so happy to be a part of this accomplishment, and I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with you!

Happy Spring!

Dread Extensions All Day Long!

May 7, 2013 | Shikote

These are two amazing examples of what dread extensions can do.

Stephanie has wanted dreads for years! This was so fun to make her vision come to life! Abbie, a local dreadie and artist, came to Grateful Dreads to help put in Stephanie’s dreads. We used extensions to add thickness to the ends and just a little length. The color match is amazing!

Yes Zach loves her dreads, but he’s really smiling because we’re done!

Stephanie’s dreads with extensions took 8 hours with 3 hours of help from Abbie. Thanks for coming in Stephanie! You and Zach are both great and very patient. We had a nice day!

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This next set of pictures are of Nicole. She came to Grateful Dreads from Chicago to have her dreads put back in. She had recently cut them off to try an A-line style and quickly knew it wasn’t for her. Nicole and her boyfriend arrived that morning, and Abbie and I were waiting.

Abbie and I doubled up on Nicole’s thick hair.

You can still see Nicole’s thick, short, A-line bob with just a few extensions at the bottom.

Nicole’s dreads with partial extensions took 8 hours with 4 hours of help from Abbie. Thank you so much Nicole for coming to Ann Arbor to get your dreads done! And thank you Abbie for helping!! This is a good thing all around!

4-20 Dreads All Day!

April 30, 2013 | Shikote

Brigid, Hanna, and I started the day with Brigid’s dreads session. It took around four hours, and her hair created beautiful new dreads!!

The glass bead they put in her hair matches her shirt perfectly!

Glass dreadlock bead handblown by Becca Greene BITD. An amazing example of time travel!

Heather came later that afternoon, and we started her dreadlocks! Very different hair and locks than earlier in the day. Heather is an amazing yoga instructor in the area. I’m excited to watch her hair as the locks grow and mature!!

Happy Birthday Lion!

Happy Earth Day everyone!

Fun Hair From Last Week

April 13, 2013 | Shikote

The salon has been very busy! Hash Bash just happened, and we’ve been working out some new additions for Grateful Dreads in between doing some very fun and beautiful hair!!

A beautiful, smooth straight blonde hair cut

I love when people smile after I cut their hair!

The beautiful Amarylis is blooming!! I want to do someone’s hair like this!

Lane came for a quick dreads session. She looks amazing with her blonde and pink dreads!

Bright purple bangs with a naturally wavy haircut!

Jane and I have the same hair! I think I’ve invented a new way to cut our hair becuase we’re both loving her new cut, and it was very easy to do!!

Alex’s Dreads After 5 Weeks

April 1, 2013 | Shikote

Alex came to Grateful Dreads about 5 weeks ago for new dreads. After around a month, new dreads will start to look fuzzy and like they are falling out. This is because the new dread work is tightening towards the center of each dreadlock. The tightening causes any shorter hairs to fall out at the roots and the ends to look longer. These pics are of Alex at his first tightening session about 5 weeks after we put in his dreads.

Alex’s new dreads look loose. The front section is freshly tightened!

He came in for a tightening session, and I workied in all the loose hairs, tightened his roots and ends, and put on some tightening gel by Knotty Boy. Before tightening, I washed Alex’s hair with a clarifying tea tree shampoo and separated any dreads that were stuck together.

Freshly tightened locks after 5 weeks! Alex looks great in dreads!

Thank you Alex!

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!!

Diana

March 6, 2013 | Shikote

Diana Mellon, Mike Frieseman, and I got together for a small shoot inside Grateful Dreads. I put Diana’s hair in hot rollers and did her make up to be very soft and warm. Mike got some great shots!