Ready? Set. No!

Where the hell does the time go?! How is it 2 years already?!?! Wow.

I’ll keep this short. If I could use one word to describe my locs it would be “comfortable”. After two years I feel like I’m finally coming into my own. I feel more like me. I have a routine. I know what to do…except when it comes to retwisting. I’m still struggling with retwisting my own hair 😂 But other than that, I’m good.

So what did I miss? Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Hope you and yours are blessed.

Ok so 21 months in. The time has gone by crazy fast, but I’m not here to talk about changes in my hair today. I’ll share a few random shots with y’all though just in case you really want to see.

Instead I wanna talk about the time I spent in Jamaica over Christmas. I promise it’ll all come together in the end…or maybe it won’t. Not sure, just feel like sharing my story.

You ever been to a new city/state/country and immediately felt some sort of instant draw? Like you can’t put your finger on it, but for whatever reason you feel a connection. It feels like home. Well that’s what Jamaica has done to me. I’d been to Jamaica twice via cruise ship, but never got to really explore. Went again in August and stayed a few days and knew instantly I had to come back. Wasn’t sure why, but knew it had to be done. 

When I landed in December I knew I didn’t want to spend my time holed up in a resort. I hit up a few acquaintances I made from my last trip and they became my out to see what the local Montego Bay area was like. Everywhere I went I felt more and more free to be myself. I had a slight fear of being cast as the entitled American, but I was never made to feel that way. Everyone was super welcoming - treating me like they had known me for years. There were even a few people that assumed I was a local based on how comfortable I looked around everyone and how well I blended in. That was until they heard my American accent lol. One guy looked and me with wide eyes and said “Mi thought you was us! Mi thought you pure!” I just said thank you and laughed. He told me I was free to come back and hang out with them anytime. Made me feel good. 

There were quite a few conversations had about my hair while I was down there. The whos, whats, whens, whys, and hows about my journey…the usual. One conversation in particular stuck with me in particular. I was hanging out at the local fishermen’s beach when a Rasta man sat beside me. He said good morning and offered me one of the coconuts he had in his hand. I accepted, thanked him, and continued to sit in silence. After a few minutes he made a comment about my hair. I don’t remember verbatim what he said, but it was along the lines of locs being the strength of the person who wears them. Instantly we clicked. Without going into too much detail I began telling him about why I started my locs and how I imagined myself much like Samson from the bible. He understood. I mean why wouldn’t he? Rastafarians believe themselves to be like the Nazarties, vowing to never cut their hair. He asked me what my connection to the island was - family or something? I told him there was no connection. I can only trace my family back to generations of enslaved people in North Carolina. I just knew that when I was on the island I felt like I was home, like I belonged. He told me that it was Jah that called me back. I’m not sure why, but I started crying. And not some little sniffly, eye dabbing cry. I mean full on sobbing. And he let me. He eventually handed me a handkerchief so I could get myself together. I went back to my room later that day with the conversation replaying in my mind. Jah called me back. Wow. It made sense. I didn’t question it. I was supposed to be there. I BELONGED there. 

Ok let me start by saying Happy 30th Birthday to a real one 🎊🎉🎊🎉 Ya girl is stepping into the 30 club like aaaaaahhhh😜😜 

Next up, let’s get into these locs. 18 months in this thang 🤸🏾‍♀️ Whew! Where did the time go?!

Freshly washed

Do you see this?!?! Like it’s really a whole loc!

As far as changes go the few things I’ve noticed are 1) they’re dropping a little (inches boo! Long hair don’t care 🤣) and 2) they’re taking longer to dry. Definitely spending more time under the dryer to ensure they dry all the way through. I refuse to be out here with mold and/mildew in my locs because they’re not thoroughly drying.

So 15 months in and my locs are doing the damn thang, ok!! At my last two appointments my loctitian did a crochet retwist and I can definitely tell the difference. My loose hairs aren’t running around all wild across my head like they usually are. My roots don’t merge as much when I wash. I’m feeling like it’s all coming together.

I went to Jamaica a month ago and I’m convinced that the Jamaican air helped my hair loc 🤣 It’s like the spirit of the Rastas descended upon my hair and blessed it with some act right lol.

So I’m officially a year in. Wow. Just wow.

I realized I never shared why I decided to loc my hair in the first place so I guess now would be a good time to do so. *trigger warning - it ain’t pretty*

Short story: to honor my brothers.

Long story: buckle up buttercup and get ready for an adventure.

My older brother, Rory, was THE coolest person ever. He had a cool walk, a funky NY accent with the slightest hint of country mixed in, super fashionable, and the dopest locs I had ever seen in my life. I liked spending time with him because he always played awesome music – he’s the reason I fell in love with Reggae and Soca – and he never made me feel like the annoying kid sister that tried to tag along, which is saying a lot because there was a 13 yr age gap between us.

I really wanted to be just like him.

When I was 9, my brother Rory was shot and killed. To say I was devastated would be an understatement. That was the start of me losing myself. The following year, my other older brother, Chris was shot and killed. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I went from being the bubbly, outspoken, kid full of smiles to an absolute shell of myself. Depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder took over my life by the age of 11 (although I wasn’t given an official diagnosis until the age of 25…story for another day). I truly lost who I was. I just existed, doing everything I could to be perfect so as to not upset my parents. Why the heck would I want to add stress to my parents when they’ve already lost two kids?

My coping mechanisms for my childhood trauma only worsened in college after experiencing a few other hellish events that surely should’ve had me committed to an asylum.

Through all of this, I held onto my faith. There was no way God would allow me to be dragged and not come out like a Titan in the end. Y’all know the story of Samson? He was sooooo strong and all of that strength was held in his locs. It really got me thinking, if his locs made him strong, why couldn’t the same happen for me 🤔🤔

So I decided to loc my hair in 2013. 2013 turned to 2016 which turned to 2018. The timing never seemed right. I was so afraid of committing, but I knew it was something that had to be done. Then COVID happened. Sitting in the middle of the panorama, unemployed, locked in my house, unable to connect with my loved ones. I got to the point of “if not now, when?” And on June 15, 2020 I finally started my loc journey. Truly the best decision I’ve ever made.

For those wondering, yes I do feel the strength of Samson running through me 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾

What can I say at this point? I’m almost at the year mark and I swear I don’t know where the time has gone. My loc babies are just amazing.

So real quick update. Went for my retwist on Saturday and had my loctician count my locs again during the process. I’m down to 61 locs. That means 8 of them combined on their own throughout this process. I can only identify one loc on the side that started out as two. Idk where the other ones are. I suppose that’s a good thing though because I’m still satisfied with the overall look. My locs have certainly come a long way from the skinny two-strand twists they started off as.

Super random: I went to the grocery store right before I went to my hair appt. Some guy starts fawning over my “free form” locs. He thinks they’re so gorgeous and coming along nicely. I start laughing a little and politely tell him I’m not freeforming and I’m on my way to get a retwist now. My roots are just extremely puffy and my parts have become non-existent. He says “oh...well either way I think it looks good”. Thanks random grocery store guy 🤣

10 months snuck up on me!! I didn’t even realize what day it was. I can’t believe it’ll be a year in just 2 short months. Wow!

I tried counting my locs again. I stopped around 30-something because I kept losing track. I got annoyed and stopped. I’ll let my loctitian count them.

I think my hair may have shrunk up more and gotten even shorter. Barely brushing my shoulders. Or maybe I’m imagining things 🤷🏾‍♀️ My locs are just as lumpy and bumpy as ever. It gives them character...or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.

The frizz is unmatched. I thought it was supposed to get less frizzy as time goes on. But not these. They said “we do what we want sis.” I have a halo fro just chillin on top of my locs. I mean, I’m still cute or whatever lol.

Can we just get into these Bantu knots for a minute? Out here feeling like a goddess.

I modeled for my friend’s styled shoot and I was beyond worried about what the stylist would do to my hair. First, I didn’t know if the stylist would be black (yes that matters to me). Secondly, I was in desperate need of a retwist so would they be able to make my hair look decent with all of my loose roots running wild. Well the stylist was black and she styled my hair with ease. I LOVED IT!!

Now with that being said I took it out later that night after the shoot. They were cute, but a little too tight for my liking. Also, I don’t like having rubber bands in my hair for long periods of time. It took my mom and I about 30 mins to take them out. Of course with my loose roots being tangled upon themselves it took a little longer to separate my locs. I’ll probably avoid this style for a while until my roots start locking up.

Can you tell that my roots are just hanging on because of the foam used for my retwist? Any fine haired, loose curled, loc friends out there? How long before your hair started locking closer to the roots?

Jury is still out on whether or not washing/wetting your hair more often makes it tangle together and lock faster. I’m gonna keep washing it every 3 weeks just because I want to have a clean scalp and build-up free hair. We’ll see what comes of it.

Washing my own hair was a success!

My roots unraveled a little bit with the bunch and bad method, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m definitely a fan of the Carol’s Daughter Wash Day Delight shampoo. It felt like it removed all the product from my hair, but it didn’t leave my hair feeling stripped. And that herbal rinse was everything!! I put on a plastic cap after pouring the rinse over my head and sat under the dryer for 15 mins.  My hair was soft and shiny afterwards. I separated my locs so my roots wouldn’t try to merge together and so I could slightly see my parts. Spent another 30 mins under the dryer to ensure that my hair was completely dry. If you wanna air dry, that’s your business. However, I’m a firm believer in sitting under the dryer for a little while because I am so afraid of mold growing in my locs from not drying all the way.

8 months in and I’ve finally decided to try washing my own hair. All the way up until this point my loctitian has been the only person to wash my hair (every 5-6 weeks). I was so worried about my hair unraveling and being unable to re-establish my own parts that I just refused to do it myself. Well folks, I‘m tired of having to wait that long between washes so I’m taking matters into my own hands. Folks say that water helps your hair loc faster and that you should be washing your hair often anyways. 

After watching countless YouTube videos looking for product suggestions and washing techniques I finally settled on a few things. I bought a bottle of Carol’s Daughter Wash Day Delight water-to-foam shampoo, NuGrowth Essentials Luminescent herbal hair treatment (because we all know that a cream based conditioner could lead to build-up 🙅🏾‍♀️🙅🏾‍♀️), a bonnet attachment for my hair dryer, and those plasticky rubber bands (not the rubbery ones...y’all know what I’m talking about).

I’m about three weeks post-retwist so it’s definitely time for me to shampoo my hair. I’m going to try the bundle and bunch method while washing by banding some of my locs together so as to not disturb them too much, focusing primarily on the scalp. I’ll let y’all know how it goes. Just keep me lifted ok 🤣

As far as changes to my hair, it’s still doing it’s thing. Tangling, budding, and locking up slowly but surely. Noticing quite a few locs with loops. It doesn’t really bother me and I don’t think it’s something I want to try to correct. It’ll smooth out eventually and if it doesn’t, well then I’ll just have loopy locs 🤷🏾‍♀️ Gives it some character. Plus aren’t some of y’all paying for faux locs with loops anyway 🤨🤨

I’m super late with posting. I started writing this two days before my actual 7 month locaversary and still took forever to finish it. My bad 🤦🏾‍♀️

Am I trippin or does locking your hair make you more tender-headed? Like, the last time I separated my locs my scalp was soooo sore. No, I wasn’t being rough. Yes, my hair was wet for easier separation. At first I thought I was imagining things, but I’m seriously convinced that these locs have changed how my scalp feels when I’m doing my hair. I’m hoping it gets better with time because whew chile 😓

But anyways, can we talk about this texture though?!?! Y’all see me?! OK! Like who do I think I am?!

My little loc babies are still flourishing. They’re attempting to loc further up the length of my hair. I look forward to it finally locking up closer to the root, because my roots are still unraveling. The unraveling isn’t as bad as it was in the beginning, but it’s still annoying. 

My ends haven’t sealed yet and I’m not entirely positive that they will. Just playing the waiting game on that one I suppose. The locs are definitely a lot harder and coarser to the touch. They’re still shrinking up 😫😫 I know that’s a sign that my hair is tangling up on itself which is what I want, but dammit I want some inches sheesh!! Y’all wait until my hair fall past my shoulders. I’mma be out here ok! OUT. HERE.

Today not only am I celebrating six months in this loc game, but I’m also celebrating a birthday – twenty-nine/twenty fine lol.

The last six months have allowed me to reflect on how much I’ve changed since the start of 2020 and my hair has mirrored that. But this time instead of my random musings, I’ve sought out the thoughts of others by posing the question “What changes have you noticed in the last six months?”

My bf: “You mean, like in your hair? Umm..it’s gained its volume back. It was sort of skinny and small when you first got them. But now it’s bigger and fluffy. I like it.”

My mom: “I was worried at first. I didn’t think with your texture of hair that it would actually loc. I didn’t know what it was going to look like. It’s nice.”

My sister: “It’s more loccy.”

Me: 🤣

My sister: “Idk appropriate vocab.”

Me: “Girl, what appropriate vocab?!”

My sister: “It’s flourishing in a way that really speaks volumes to your personality. A very loccy way.”

That last comment I was a little confused about, but for whatever reason it made me feel good 🤗

Super late with the post, but I’m here now. 5 months in 🙂 So leh we go!

Patience, patience, and more patience. That’s what I’m working on going into month five. To say my hair has taken on a mind of its own would be putting it gently. I woke up one morning and there were a few locs sticking straight out – like gravity just isn’t a thing anymore. Can’t rush the process, I know that. But I’m ready to get to the part where my locs got that act right in their system.

Ok I’m done complaining now. 

On a positive note I’m enjoying the interesting texture that my locs have. I’m sure as they mature they’ll start to round out and get more cylindrical, but for now this is cool. I’m seeing more budding as expected. Not as much merging at the roots – although a few in the front insist on trying to be together 🙄 Loose hairs are still a thing. I just wrap them around the loc until the next retwist. I may inquire about the crochet method to help with the loose hairs as opposed to interlocking. I’m still trying to figure out if that’s the right decision for me and my hair. My retwists are lasting a little bit longer, but that could be because it’s getting cooler so I’m not sweating my roots out as much...IDK I probably just made that up 🤷🏾‍♀️ Anyway, I’m still in love with my hair even when she acts shady and forces me into wearing beanies all week. 

Y’all!! My hair is flourishing. Every. Single. Twist. Has. A. Bud.

Like this is insane. My hair isn’t even remotely recognizable from my day 1 starter locs.

When I started I had 69 locs...don’t ask me how many I have now though. Some of the twists separated and decided to become their own locs, while others combined so much before I could pop my roots that I just decided to let them be. Would this be considered a semi-freeform journey? 🤔🤔 Since I still get a retwist every 5-6 weeks I’m gonna say no. 

At 4 months I didn’t think my hair would have progressed as much as it has. It’s amazing to watch. 

The conversation about interlocking came up again during my last retwist. While I love the look of palm rolling, interlocking may assist with my issue of my hair growing away from my locs. My loctitian suggested just looping two or three times at the root to secure the loose hair then palm rolling the rest. That would also prevent my scalp from hurting from the process of interlocking. I refuse to deal with additional pain for my hair. I’m already tender-headed. We’ll try that method after evaluating what my locs are doing at the six month mark.

Yoooo!! Where has the time gone?! It’s been three months already 😳😳

Well y’all...my hair is flourishing. And I’m loving it. 

I got a retwist almost three weeks ago and had her style it so that I could look presentable for my sister’s wedding.

I’m cute or whatever.

I left the style in for about two weeks with the hope that it would keep my roots from marrying and what not. So far, so good. They haven’t try to clump up, but that could be because I haven’t sprayed it with the rose water/vitamin E oil mixture since I’ve taken it down. We’ll see what happens later this week.

I have lots of baby buds developing and I.AM.HYPE 🤗

Aren’t they precious?!

Slowly but surely they are coming in.

Other than that there’s not much going on with my hair. Just letting it do whatever. And by whatever I mean get upset every time this one loc in the front refuses to stay on it’s side...I’m supposed to have a middle part, but that one loc insists on laying in the other direction 🙄🙄 My hope is that by the time I hit six months it’ll really be a transformation.