Finally Loc'd Blog

4 Tips for Maintaining Healthy Locs in the Fall/Winter

shawaunna@finallylocd.com (Shawaunna Middleton) — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 16:00:00 GMT

4 Tips for Maintaining Healthy Locs in the Fall/Winter

Tip 1 Oil, Oil, Oil! It will be your best friend! Try to do a hot oil treatment at least twice during the season. Doing a treatment will help soothe your scalp and seal moisture in your locs. This is advised to ONLY do this if your locs are mature.

Tip 2 If you have color in your locs, consider doing a deep conditioning treatment. In will reduce the likelihood of breakage during the brutally cold months.

Tip 3 If you shampoo your hair weekly, try shampooing once every two weeks during the cold months. This will help your maintain you hairs natural oils/moisture.

Tip 4 Drink more water!! I know that may sound odd but your water intake and diet can effect how your scalp looks and feels. With it being dry out you want to keep your scalp as moisturized as possible

How to Find/Identify Quality Products

shawaunna@finallylocd.com (Shawaunna Middleton) — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 16:00:00 GMT

How to find/identify quality products

Do Your Research

Many of you reading this have done research for days, months, or even years about locs before deciding to get them. it should be no different when it comes to the products you are putting in and/or on your hair.

Google should be your best friend when it comes to research! Before using a new product, take a look at the ingredient list on the label to see what is all in it. If you ae unfamiliar with an ingredient google it.

Ingredients to Stay Away From

Below is a list of ingredients that are on the FDA website that are not allowed to be used in hair products. Some will be easy to spot some will not.

Mineral Oil
Sulfate - Also look for ingredients that end with "sulfate" or begins with "sulf-"
Parabens - Also look for ingredients that end with "-paraben"
Formaldehyde
Sodium hydroxide
Diethanolamine
Petroleum jelly
Silicon

Things to Keep in Mind:

Just because a product says all natural doesn't mean it will be good for your locs - all natural means the ingredients are natural but that doesn't mean you still can't have an allergic reaction to the ingredient.

Eg. Some people are allergic to coconut oil.

Though it is all natural it won't stop their allergic reaction.

Eg. Natural ingredients can still be drying and stripping.

Do not be alarmed by "chemical" sounding names on your label - if a product is created by a chemist their will be chemical sounding names on the label. A lot of the ingredients we know and love have a technical name that we don't use on a day to day basis. The name is usually shortened so that everyday people can pronounce them. So its best to just search for them.

Look at the consistency of the product - if it looks creamy it may leave build up - if it's too thick it may leave build up - if the bottle says " moisturizing and/or hydrating it may have oils in it that may unravel your locs.

Entrepreneurship Diaries 003

shawaunna@finallylocd.com (Shawaunna Middleton) — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 03:43:18 GMT

Entrepreneurship Diaries 003 - The Burn Out

I have been experiencing burnout for a while now and somehow I have been able to function through them.

A show I was watching last week helped me to accept that I was burnt out and needed to refocus. The show helped me get some clarity on what I might have been experiencing. On the show, one of the characters was talking his granddad about his passion for art. During this conversation, he found out that what his granddad did for a living was not his passion. In fact, his granddad was actually an artist. His granddad shared that he didn't pursue art full-time because he didn't want to mess up his desire to do art by having to rely on it financially.

I love doing hair, but the pressure of keeping my schedule booked up, making clients happy, paying myself, and the million behind the scenes things that need to be done has been taking a toll. On top of that, I have been struggling with client retention, late cancellations, no shows, and overall a lot of empty days on my schedule in the past few months. The part of entrepreneurship that people don't talk much about is the pressure to be successful while being too depleted to push through it.

To better protect my mental health and overall happiness, I am minimizing my service offerings to focus on the clients I currently have, reduce my hours in the salon (I now only have 2.5 days that I plan to work), and on other days work another job on the side to sustain financially.

Sometimes as an entrepreneur you have to pick up a part time job, take a break (outside of vacation) or step away completely so that you don't lose yourself in the journey. This actually doesn't only apply to entrepreneurs but anyone that has gotten lost in their "hustle". Take the time that you need and do what you believe will make you happy.

Entrepreneurship Diaries 002

shawaunna@finallylocd.com (Shawaunna Middleton) — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 12:00:15 GMT

Entrepreneurship Diaries 002 - Not all change is bad change.

"Change before you have to." - Jack Welch

“There is nothing permanent except change.” -Heraclitus

As entrepreneurs, one thing we have to get used to is adapting our businesses as needed. Think you know what I'm about to say?

The cat is out of the bag! Our products are rebranding! Instead of being Finally Loc'd Pomegranate and Lavender line, we will be Eunette Hair Essentials Pomegranate and Lavender line. This wasn't a change I necessarily planned for, but one that is needed. For liability and insurance purposes it is the best move for both business functions. I bet you didn't see that coming.

A few weeks ago, I attended a workshop hosted by an organization I joined about a year ago. At the workshop, the VP of Agency Development at Veracity Insurance came to talk to us about insurance. I must admit his presentation scared me straight about somethings in my business. I am grateful to have learned what I did when I did. At least this way, I can make the adjustments "before I have to". It is always a good practice to periodically talk to your insurance provider, legal counsel, accountant, and others on your team before making business decisions. If you are naturally impulsive like me, try to not wait too long after making this change to schedule those meetings because there may be other things you need to consider.

When I found out I needed to rebrand, I started thinking of new names instantly. It took maybe a week to come up with it. I wanted this business name to be something special to me as the name "Finally Loc'd" is. I decided on "Eunette Hair Essentials" to honor my maternal granddad ( Eu gene) and grandma (An nette ). Both of them are no longer with us in a physical sense. I shared the love for hair with my granddad who was a well-known barber where I grew up. My grandma was a force and a fierce supported my endeavors. This business is dedicated to them.

I am not limited to just loc-related products with this rebrand, though my first priority will always be making products for those of us with locs.

Big things are coming for Eunette Hair Essentials! Do not miss out on any updates, promos or hair tips. Follow Eunette Hair Essentials on Instagram @eunettehairessentials. The official launch of Eunette Hair Essentials is August 1, 2022!

What do you think of the new business name and logo? Drop your comments below ��

The Time Away From the Chair - At Home Maintenance

shawaunna@finallylocd.com (Shawaunna Middleton) — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 16:00:00 GMT

The Time Away From the Chair - At Home Maintenance

Maintenance Tips Between Appointments

At home maintenance can be very simple, shampoo and separate your locks. This is universal for new and mature Sisterlocks & Micro-Interlocks.

Starting out, I suggest my clients shampoo their hair once a week so that their locks will start swelling and settling. Everyone else should shampoo their hair at MINIMUM twice a month. For new Sisterlocks & Micro-interlocks you should be braiding and banding your locks when you shampoo them until your locitian tells you to stop or until they are uniformly locked on the ends. Budding is not an indication that you should stop braiding and banding.

You should be separating your locks after every shampoo, this will keep your locks from matting together and will help make your retightening go WAYYY smoother.

Styling Tips Between Appointments:

Do not keep your style in longer than 2 weeks
Watch the tension you use to style your hair

Style Ideas to Achieve Specific Goals:

Curl your hair to create more volume by using:
Lock loops
Pipe cleaners
Perm rods
Bantu knots
Want your hair off of your neck ? Try these:
Twist
Barrel Roll
Braid
Bantu knots

This is a brief summary of a deep dive I will do in upcoming blogs. Styling can very based off of hair length, density, and stage of lock journey. This post is the beginning of a 3 or 4 part series. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks that will focus on your hair type.

Entrepreneurship Diaries 001

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 18:54:40 GMT

Entrepreneurship Diaries 001

What's Next.....?

"You are only as good as your last...."

It can seem like stagnation will put you on the road to failure when you’re in business. While that may be true, it’s not the full picture. A lack of rest can also lead to your demise. This is where finding "balance" comes in (which I think is a fake concept, at times).

Story Time

Since I started my first business back in 2018, I have struggled with taking time to rest. My mind runs 1,000 miles per hour! There are always new ideas I want to test out, new products I want to create, a new business I want to form, and the list goes on. There is this little voice in my head that tells me I need to do more and that I can do more. In reality, I don't and I can't. My clients can tell you that I call myself "the Queen of Doing Too Much." I gave myself this title because I am always working on something new. In business, you want to improve because you can become extinct if you aren't getting with the times (look what happened to Blockbuster ��).

I have recently been dealing with burnout and realized I needed a reset. I started making some changes in my personal and professional life.

I took my first real vacation since 2018 in early June 2022. Side note: I have taken vacations over the years but I would still answer DMs, respond to emails, and book appointments for new or current clients. Even in the midst of the pandemic, I was working full time in corporate America and did some work with Finally Loc'd to be prepared for when outside would open again. Before going on my trip I logged out of my business email, I logged out of my business instagram, I turned off all Facebook business notifications, and left my business phone on airplane mode at home. Completely unplugging allowed me to really enjoy the small things. I decided to cut back my work schedule so that I would work only 4 days a week (Tues - Fri) and could enjoy my weekend.

In Conclusion

Any business you start will need a lot of your attention, but you should also plan time for yourself. Self-care is important to give you the energy to pour back into your business. Plan time for self care and also plan time for researching/working on new ideas. When you have those creative ideas that you think will take your business to the next level, WRITE IT DOWN. Make sure to take detailed notes so you will remember what your thought process was. This way, you can come back to it later d uring the time you plan for researching and working on new ideas.

Words of Advice to New Entrepreneurs

Plan your business for the life you want to live, not th e life you currently live. Your business will require a lot from you in the beginning. Make the changes to find your equilibrium and you won't be on the road to burnout like me.

P.S. I am still a work in progress.