Lauren Francis-Jackson is bringing the world of holistic natural hair care to Laurel, MD. In addition to being the salon owner, Lauren is a professional Sisterlocks Consultant and loctician, natural hairstylist and natural hair educator. The story of Locspiration Natural Hair Salon (formerly Locs N Twists By Lauren) is a ironic twist of fate leading Lauren on a discovery of what she is really meant to be doing: education, locks, and business.

Her interest in the hair and beauty industry was sparked by a number of chance meetings with strangers. After all, Lauren was a fun loving everyday girl who loved beauty, but was working as a speech therapist with children. When Lauren started her own journey with Sisterlocks in 2012, she was met with many people coming up to her with all kinds of questions and comments such as “Are you trying to dread your hair?”, “I like your mini twists!”, “So is that all of your hair?”. These questions led to Lauren creating her own blog, The Sisterlocked Diva, which was about Lauren’s love for locs and Sisterlocks, makeup, beauty, and healthy living. Lauren became well known for her humorous YouTube videos and sharing solid information for loc’d care. She built a community of loc stars and Sisterlock wearers who wanted to learn more about Lauren as a lady who rocks her locks. She decided to take the journey a step further after meeting stylists and barbers who were impressed by her novice styling skills.

To educate herself, Lauren enrolled at The Natural Hair Nstitute in the premier graduating class for a natural hair certification. Salon owner Angela Walker of N Natural Hair Studio created the Natural Hair Nstitute to educate new natural hair stylists entering the industry. At the Nstitute, Lauren groomed her skills in natural hair styling and loc’d hair care. She also learned the art of a proper consultation, product selection, and learned how to use fresh herbs and essential oils in natural hair care. Even though she loved natural hairstyling as well, she really gravitated to learning as much as she could about caring for locs, starting locs, and maintaining locs. While enrolled at the Nstitute, she also took the Sisterlocks Training Class in Baltimore, MD.

Since graduating from the Nstitute, Lauren has worked hard to set herself apart in the Laurel, MD community. Some of her accomplishments to date include:

• Teaching at the Naturalista Hair Show (2014, 2015) as a featured educator
• Teaching a class at the DC Love Locs Expo 2016 on “Coloring Natural Hair with Henna & Naturtint”
• Built clientele to a steady group of men, women, and children with natural hair & locks
• Retailing quality natural hair care products for curly naturals, sisterlock wearers, & loc wearers
• Educating clients on how to care for their hair between appointments and after styling
• Continuing to grow her online community for the salon and the hair/beauty blog, The Sisterlocked Diva
• Participating in a Universal Salons photo shoot for an opportunity to appear in Sophisticate’s Black Hair (January 2016)

In June 2016, Lauren has stepped full-time in her passion by terminating her full-time position as a Speech Pathologist and becoming a full-time business owner. Locspiration Natural Hair Salon represents holistic hair care, eclectic vibes, and serving clients with professionalism and high standards.