About Me

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Hi I am Sarah and I live in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, UK.

I am a qualified Hairdresser but my journey into hairdressing has been a different one! My very first job and work experience was in a hairdressers in Leeds in the early 1990’s. I started off being a ‘Saturday girl’ (yes they called us that!) and loved it but always felt like I wanted to experience different work challenges.  I went to college and I trained in Social Care, went to University to study Counselling and Psychology and experienced several roles supporting young people, students, the elderly, and clients with behaviour problems. Throughout this time, I continued to do my friends hair but later decided that I wanted my day job to be more creative and work with my hands again. So, a few years ago I embarked on retraining to gain a hairdressing qualification. It surprised me how many people in similar situations were doing the same thing later in life! At night school I worked through the course, did my practical work in the Academy’s salon, and they then employed me as a full-time stylist. I worked in their salon for a while, then moved to another salon/barber shop in Manchester, then ended up setting up my own salon where I am now.

Dreadlocks have always fascinated me. At college, a friend had dreads and so when we were bored, I used to tidy hers up and play with her hair when the teacher wasn’t looking! I had a curiosity with the process and the texture. I began to work on more and more friends’ dreadlocks and had dreadlocks installed myself. (I decided to remove my own after a while when I begun wild swimming as my own hair is very fine, and the weight was not conducive to my outdoor lifestyle).

I opened Heblocks hairdressing & Barbering in 2019 but have always wanted to focus solely on dreadlocks because it is my favourite thing to do. It appeals to my ‘crafty’ side. I love the intricate work that is involved, and it also appeals to my perfectionist nature. I get into a ‘zone’ when crocheting dreads and I find it very satisfying. The transformations are so rewarding and enjoyable too. I especially love doing repair work. It is like needlecraft, I love the challenge of repairing dreadlocks so they can be the best that they can be.

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In 2020 I decided to embark on a professional qualification in Dreadlock making with Seienstyle. Most loctician’s have learnt ‘on the job’ and it’s rare that you are ‘taught’ by an experienced teacher. You pick things up and learn from experience, but rarely share skills or see others at work. I wanted to reassure myself that my technique was the best that it could be. I wanted to see if there were any further tips and tricks that could be learnt. If there is more advice that I could pass on to my clients, and learn how to take care of my hands and my back.  I wanted to ensure that I offer a professional service, at the highest quality so that my clients can achieve their dream hair and have healthy, strong and well-maintained locs.

Lockdown was a good opportunity to transition my salon to a dreadlock studio, build this website and focus on what I really love doing. Because I am also a qualified hairdresser, I can offer more too! I can trim mohawks, fringes and conduct other hair styles around your locs or partial locs. 

There are many techniques that loctician’s use when maintaining or creating dreadlocks. I am a trained Seienstyle student which means my main technique is the crochet method. There is more information about this process either by visiting the Seienstyle website or by clicking on here. My training in this method means that you get the assurance that my work has been assessed, combined with my experience of dreadlocks over a number of years. I do not interlock hair, comb & twist or use sticky waxes. The Seienstyle technique is used to create and maintain dreadlocks on all hair types including Afro Caribbean and Caucasian hair. As a 'student' I need to demonstrate a large number of services so that I can become an Affiliated member. You will find that I may request models for certain services and offer a discount in return for some publicity shots.

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When I’m not working you will find me gardening, dog walking or travelling in my van! Living in the countryside above Hebden Bridge makes me feel very blessed and grateful for life. I also have the best clients and so living in this landscape and doing a job that I love is extremely rewarding indeed.