Loctician Courses in the UK: How to Choose the Right Training

A loctician course is more than a few days of practice. It is an investment of time, money and a dream you may have carried for a long time. And the teacher you choose will shape how you work for many years to come: the technique in your hands, the posture of your body and the way you meet your clients.

I have been making dreadlocks for 26 years and have trained more than a hundred locticians. Many of them came to me after taking other courses first, and had to unlearn habits before they could build further. That is why I want to share the questions I would ask myself before paying for a loctician course in the UK, or anywhere in the world.

Are you right at the beginning and wondering whether this work is for you? Then start with my guide How to Become a Loctician and Dreadlock Artist in the UK.

1. Look at the teacher's finished dreadlocks, including the old ones

Almost all dreadlocks look good on day one. They are new, neat and photographed in good light. It is only after a few years that quality really shows: Have they held their shape? Have they matured evenly? Have the roots grown in nicely?

So ask to see dreadlocks the teacher made two, five or ten years ago. Ask whether there are clients who have kept coming back for many years. That tells you more than any follower count.

Also ask:

• How long has the teacher been working with dreadlocks?
• Do they still work with clients, or only teach?
• How many students have they trained, and what are those students doing today?

A teacher who still stands in the salon teaches you what works in real life, not just in a classroom.

2. Will you work on real hair models?

A practice head is fine for learning the first movements. But it sits still, it has no scalp that feels pain, and it has no story it wants to tell you.

A living person is something else entirely. The hair behaves differently, the scalp has to be treated with respect, and you need to stay focused for many hours while also being present for the person in the chair. This is what you will do every day as a dreadlock artist, and it is what you need to practise with a teacher beside you.

Ask who finds the hair models, how many you will work on, and which services you will get to try.

3. Does the method work on every hair texture?

Many methods really only work on some hair types, even if that is rarely said out loud. When a client with a different texture sits down, the loctician has to either say no, give a poor result or push the client towards something that doesn't suit them.

Ask specifically: Does the method work on fine, straight hair? On curly hair? On thick, wavy hair? On hair that is coloured or chemically treated?

Hair is closely tied to identity. Being told your hair isn't right for something you dream of is a small wound. As a loctician, you get to be the one who says yes, your hair, exactly as it is, can become what you picture. But only if the method you learn makes that possible.

4. Wax, glue and products, or none?

Many methods use products to do the job the technique should have done. Wax to make the hair stick together. Heavy gels. At worst, I have seen chemicals and even glue.

Products build up in the hair over time, they attract dirt, and they often have to be washed out months later. For the client, that means sticky hair and more work. For you as a loctician, it means you never learn a technique that stands on its own.

Ask directly: Are products used when the dreadlocks are created or maintained? And if so, why?

5. Will you learn to protect your body?

This is the question most people forget to ask, and the one that decides whether you are still working in twenty years.

Being a loctician is physically demanding. Long days, small repetitive movements, arms raised and neck bent. A good course doesn't just teach you what your hands should do, but also how to hold your body, which tools and furniture support you, and how to plan your days so you don't burn out.

When I started, I learned a technique that made my hands bleed. I thought that came with the job. It doesn't. Ask whether the course covers posture, tools, furniture and rest. If not, you are only learning half the job.

6. Group course or one-to-one?

Both can work, but they give you different things.

On a group course, you learn alongside others, you meet people on the same path, and the price is often lower. But the teacher's time is shared between many, and small mistakes in your own hands can easily go unnoticed.

On a one-to-one course, the teacher's eyes are on you the whole time. They see how you hold the hook, how you stand and how you meet the client. The teaching can be tailored to what you already know and what you most want to learn.

Whatever the format: ask how much time you actually get with the teacher, and how many students are there.

7. What happens after the course?

The first weeks after a course are often the hardest. You are alone with your first hair model, and suddenly questions come up that you didn't know you had. This is where many people give up, not because they lack talent, but because they lack support.

So ask:

• Will you get coaching or follow-up calls after the course?
• Can you send in your work and get feedback?
• Is there a community of other students you can ask?
• Do you have access to course material you can go back to, and for how long?

8. Will you learn to build a business?

You can be the most skilled dreadlock artist in the UK and still have an empty diary. Technique alone does not fill your chair.

A good course also helps you with what happens around the hair: how to find your first hair models, how to set prices you can live on, how to show your work on social media, and how to attract the clients you really want to work with. Ask whether this is part of the teaching, or whether you will have to work it out on your own.

9. Is there a path to certification?

A certificate you get just for turning up says very little. Certification should mean the teacher has actually reviewed your work and seen that you have understood the method.

Ask what it takes to become certified: How many hair models do you need to complete? Who assesses them? And what happens if something needs improving? Real certification gives you a standard to reach for, and gives your clients confidence.

10. Price: what do you really get for your money?

It is easy to compare courses on price alone. But two courses at the same price can contain completely different things.

Put what is included side by side: number of days, one-to-one or group, real hair models, follow-up, online course, community, certification and the business side. Also think about what it costs to learn it wrong, in years of trial and error, clients you have to turn away, and habits you later have to unlearn.

If there is a payment plan, it can make good training possible without paying everything at once.

Checklist before choosing a loctician course

Take these questions with you when you speak to a teacher, whoever it is:

1. Can I see dreadlocks you made several years ago?
2. Do you still work with clients yourself?
3. Will I work on real hair models, and who finds them?
4. Does the method work on every hair texture?
5. Are wax, glue or other products used?
6. Will I learn how to protect my body and my hands?
7. Is the course in a group or one-to-one, and how much time will I have with you?
8. What follow-up will I get after the course?
9. Will I also learn to build a business?
10. What does it take to become certified, and who assesses my work?
11. What is included in the price, and is there a payment plan?

How my training answers these questions

It wouldn't be honest to write this list without showing how my own training measures up. So here is The Professional Loctician In-Person Training in London, question by question:

• Experience: I have been making dreadlocks for 26 years, I still work with clients, and many of them have been with me for ten, fifteen and twenty years.
• Hair models: We work side by side on real hair models for two days.
• All hair textures: The Seienstyle process is designed to work on any hair that walks through the door.
• Products: None. No wax, no gel, no glue.
• Your body: Posture, tools, furniture and rest are part of the method, not an add-on.
• Format: One-to-one. I come to you in London, and you choose which services you most want to learn.
• After the course: 5 one-to-one video coaching calls, guidance in our private community, and 2 days in the salon with me every year after the training.
• Business: Lifetime access to the online course, which also covers clients, pricing and social media, plus 6 bonus courses.
• Certification: You complete two hair models and a practice head on your own, and I review your work.
• Price: €4,599, with payment plans available through Klarna.

Read more about The Professional Loctician In-Person Training in London

Choose the teacher you trust

In the end, choosing a loctician course comes down to trust. You are letting someone shape your hands, your body and the way you meet people. Choose a teacher whose work you admire, whose energy you can be around for many hours, and who answers your questions honestly. Even if that isn't me.

Would you like to talk about whether my training is right for you? 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