In my Tony! Toni! Tone! voice, “Do you know what this month is?” It’s my loc anniversary! I tend to get mixed up on the dates, but it has been exactly eight years since I’ve started my locs. If you are interested in locing your hair, let me tell you about my loc hair journey. It all started by “going natural.”
Now when I started in my early 20s, not having a relaxer was kind of taboo. It was frowned upon from some family members. They couldn’t understand me wanting to be natural. They recommended other relaxers, trying another stylist, etc. My cousins and friends were quick to say that they couldn’t be natural. Fast forward to today, and they are natural with either locks or just relaxer free. Today I can say that all of my besties have been delivered and are relaxer free!
Again there was little support during the natural phase. I’d heard of Nappturality, a website for natural hair women from an agency nurse at work. Amber was older than me, but she kept me inspired. Occasionally I’d browse the site; however, I was doing my own thing. Wigs became my friends. The main color I had was black. I got them from the Asian hair store and the Especially Yours catalog. The styles varied from a bob, a curly and bouncy wig like Oprah, a short, curly afro, a layered flipped wig with a bang, and my favorite, a sassy short spiked brown wig. It probably took me a year to get comfortable wearing my natural hair in public. My styles included two strand twists and twist outs done by myself. Then I’d also get protective styles like Kinky twists, Senegalese twists, Nubian twists, and braids.
2002– Became Natural
I decided to bow out of the relaxer “creamy crack” game. I was forced out actually. All my little money went to bills as I was working part-time and going to nursing school.
I didn’t do the big chop. My hair was cut already because the relaxers damaged my hair. The last straw was when I did my own relaxer, trying to save money, and put the creamy crack on incorrectly. So what had happened was, my hair tended to knot up maybe two weeks after a relaxer. Yup! In order to fix that I had the bright idea to put the relaxer on from the roots to the ends. And I was sort of still in denial of the damage because I had length, although my ponytail was very thin. Eventually I realized the hair was indeed damaged. Soon after, I gave up relaxers which resulted in getting my hair pressed or hot combed. I wore my hair in a short stacked style, resembling Halle Berry’s hair style. Then I let the hair continue to grow.
2005
I made a move to a new city. The bills were bigger and I was just making ends meet. Still with no money for a stylist, I wore my two strand twists. When going to work and school I slapped my favorite wig on top of the twists and went on with my day.
A special guy crossed my path. I let him know about a month in that the look I had when he met me was not how I look everyday. He was puzzled at first. I took my wig off and he saw my natural hair. My exact words were, “If you don’t like it, you can leave. This is how it’s going to be.” And he was on board. There were guys before him that liked my natural hair as well.
I was on this natural journey with no sight of turning back.
2011– Started Loc Hair Journey
After being natural for almost 10 years, I started my loc hair journey. It was time for something new. I went to a local stylist who palm rolled my hair in coils. I asked for medium size. Look at the next picture and tell me if those locs are medium.
Did I have fears going in? Yes! I just knew by the time I’d start my locs they wouldn’t be short because my natural hair stopped at my shoulders. Boy was I wrong! My biggest fret was looking like a boy. I was skinny with small breasts, so I felt I could be easily mistaken for a boy. My remedy for that was tight shirts and big hoop earrings. LOL.
2016
My beautiful locks were becoming cumbersome. I was tired of complaining about there being so many tiny locs. In addition to that, my hair was down to my waist. People really weren’t understanding my struggle. After years of compliments and questions of whether I had sister locks, I determined that the locs must be micro locs. In which I didn’t ask for. The love hate relationship with my hair was starting to flare up. During this time I was I was washing and retwisting my locs myself. The struggle was real.
2017
In January 2017 I decided to get my hair done in an updo style by a professional. The stylist I chose said that my hair was healthy. A month passed and I noticed after I took my hair down, the locs started thinning. Dang it! Well I concluded that when she did the retwist with the comb, it separated hairs from the base and made the locs thin.
Later on in November, instead of talking about it I was gonna be about it. On an early Saturday morning I went to the salon and got three-fourths of my hair cut off. I kind of wish I took a pic before the stylist cut them. Oh well. Read more here on my hair frustrations.
2018
I didn’t really rock the shaved look like I intended. Unless I pulled my hair up you couldn’t tell that I cut my locs. I had just that much hair! I let all the hair grow back and started to wonder should I just go ahead and cut it all off. My new growth was soft and cute. I felt comfortable knowing that my hair would be healthy, soft, and spongy-like. Like how it used to be when I first started out.
The styles I’d do on my hair would either be flowing curls or crimps. I went for months without retwisting my hair too. I went to a professional a couple times when I wanted a fresh look.
On the verge of starting over, I purchased a new curling tool. I saw it online and my cousin (main one who literally said, “Oh girl I don’t know how you do it, I can’t be natural”) told me she used it to get her locs curly. I loved the look. I’d always curl my hair myself, but the pipe cleaners and other curlers didn’t provide the tight curl that I desired. This Wrap-A-Loc tool saved my hair from getting whacked off. See what I’m referring to here and you can buy your very own supply.
2019
I’ve cut a few more locs off on the journey. Not as much as I did in 2018. This time was just to have an even balance of hair. In 2018 I was walking in my kitchen one morning. Feeling good I whipped my hair like Beyoncé. While getting ready to head out of the kitchen, a very long slender, semi-curled black thing was on the floor. Immediately my heart sank. I feared it was a slithery creature. Well don’t you know it was one of my locs! After gaining my composure, I was so fed up that I grabbed a pair of scissors, stormed into the bathroom, and started snipping all of the remaining locs that were literally hanging by a strand.
Currently my hair is shaven on the sides and in the back. A male barber gave me a cut. It’s a first. Maybe I’m hard to please, but I gave him a picture of how low I wanted the hair on the sides and the back. He did the opposite. Now the sides of my head have grown to a length that I want. Plus it’s getting warmer, so I am definitely going to rock my new style.
If you like the shirt I’m wearing in the featured pic and want your own, click here. Last but not least, my loc journey isn’t over. I’m running for Miss Loc Queen 2019. I’d love to get your vote. Stay tuned!