Loctician Courses in New Zealand: How to Choose the Right Training

When you search for a loctician course in New Zealand, you will find a handful of workshops, general hairdressing programmes, free videos and courses from overseas. It can be hard to know what you are actually paying for.

I have been making dreadlocks for 26 years and have trained more than a hundred locticians. In this post I want to give you the questions I would ask if I were choosing a training today. Use them on any course, including mine.

First: hairdressing programme or dreadlock training?

The usual route into hair in New Zealand is a hairdressing qualification, often through an apprenticeship. It is a broad training focused on cutting, colouring and styling, with very little about dreadlocks. There is no licence for hairdressers in New Zealand, so you don't need that qualification to work with dreadlocks. Read more in Do You Need to Be a Hairdresser to Make Dreadlocks in New Zealand?

A dreadlock training is something else. Its job is to teach you to make beautiful, lasting dreadlocks and to build a practice around them.

Seven questions to ask before you pay

1. What do the teacher's finished dreadlocks look like?

Not just on the day they are made, but two, five and ten years later. Fresh dreadlocks can look good with almost any method. Time shows the truth. Ask to see grown-out work, and ask to speak with long-term clients.

2. Will you work on real hair models?

Practice heads are useful at the start. But a living person has a scalp that can feel pain, hair that behaves differently from day to day, and a story they bring with them into the chair. You need to learn with that.

3. Does the method work on every hair texture?

If a method only works on certain textures, you will have to turn people away, and you will never feel fully confident. Ask directly: will I be able to work with coily, curly, wavy and straight hair?

4. Are wax, glue or other products used?

Good dreadlocks do not need them. Products can build up inside the hair and leave clients with hair that feels sticky. A method that works without products is a method that respects the hair.

5. Who teaches you, and how many students are there?

In a big group, the teacher cannot see everyone's hands all the time. Small mistakes in grip and posture become habits. One-to-one training costs more, but it means every hour is about you.

6. What happens after the course?

The real learning begins when you go home and start working alone. Is there follow-up coaching? Can you send in photos of your work and get feedback? Is there a community you can lean on? This matters even more in New Zealand, where the nearest experienced loctician may be far away.

7. Will you learn to build a business?

Technique alone does not fill your calendar. Pricing, booking, photography, social media and how to talk with clients are just as important.

Warning signs

• A course that promises you will be "fully trained" after a single day.
• A teacher who can't or won't show grown-out work.
• A certificate presented as if it were an official qualification. It isn't.
• No answer to the question "what happens after the course?"

Where I stand

My own training, The Professional Loctician In-Person Training, is one-to-one over two days. I come to you in New Zealand, and we work side by side on real hair models. Before we meet, you work through the online course and we have a video call. Afterwards, you get five coaching calls, our private community, six bonus courses and a path to Seienstyle certification. It costs $4,599 USD. You can read what you learn during the two days in What Do You Learn on a 2-Day Loctician Course in New Zealand?

Read more about The Professional Loctician In-Person Training

But whichever course you choose, choose it consciously. You can read the bigger picture in How to Become a Loctician and Dreadlock Artist in New Zealand.

Are you comparing courses and want an honest opinion? Send me an email at [email protected]. I will answer honestly, even if I think the time is not right for you yet.

With love,
Ann-Marie