what it's all about

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Charlotte, NC, United States
I am on a journey -like you, I'm sure. A personal journey, a spiritual journey. A journey about passions, growth, and living. I don't have a good memory, but I value my experiences. It's very strange when you realize that you are being shaped constantly, but ultimately only remember some of the reasons why you are the person you're becoming. I find that when things resonate within me, writing about them helps me to better develop my opinions about them, and to remember them. Sometimes, it's the simple act of looking back and reminding myself where I've been that is all I need to move forward with confidence. That's why I write. Thank you for joining me.

Friday, October 29, 2010

loc lust

We all have some history with our hair. Some a bit more than others. I've done just about everything I can think of with my hair, with the exception of a weave. I haven't addressed my background yet, so let me sum it up. I'm mixed. I don't have the typical (if you can even use that word) Negress hair. (I coined that word. You can take it or leave it.) I have really thick hair, but my curls are not too tight, mostly because of the Asian, Spanish, and Native American mix that makes up part of my heritage. I am proud of my mix, and am sure I will write about that in the future.

I can sum up what I've done with my hair here. It's been: relaxed, Brazilian keratin treatment, braided, short and curly, long and straight, black, brown, red, green streaks, texturized, pixie and straight, long and natural, TWA (teenie weenie afro). I think that's about it. I feel that how you wear your hair changes as your life does. It's not a struggle for me to "deal with" like when I was a youth. But it is now an expression of who I am. Right now, it's in twists. I've had them in for a month and a half. So here's the story behind where I'm at now.

Just after I got married, (actually, I was inspired on my honeymoon in Jamaica,) I decided I wanted to loc my hair. A fact about me: Once I get a "want" in my head, I pursue it obnoxiously until I have it in my hands. I asked a bunch of people in Jamaica about locs and where to get them. Most told me I couldn't have them yet. I know locing is a process, a journey. I know that insta-locs are not possible. And I should have listened, but I refused. My hair was relaxed, and they said it's not possible to loc reaxed har. I didn't buy that. I see straight haired people loc their hair all the time- I see it even moreso now that I can't stop researching locs. So I kept asking. Finally, I found some locals who said it could be done.

Like anyone who starts locs with length, there are things that need to be done with your existing hair first. Because of my texture, though, we had to tweak it a bit. The ladies added a tiny bit of synthetic hair as they covered my head in these gorgeous two strand twists. I've heard they resemble Senegalese twists, and I get complemented on them constantly. The added hair mixes up the texture a bit, as well as holds the strands together.I wish had a better picture of the newly installed twists, but my hubby worked from home today, and must have moved all those files. I have no idea where they are at the moment. But you get the idea.

The lovely ladies who did my hair told me that in a year, they'd be locked. "Oy, vey. That's a long time," I thought. But I am okay with that. They said to use a crochet hook to interlock my new growth, which I was skeptical about. I listened closely, nonetheless. Upon getting back to the states, the heavy researching began. The interlocking method is acceptable, but not the way I wanted to proceed.

I found a loctician in my area- at Lockstar Salon- and love it.
The salon is clean and bright, the women friendly and knowledgeable. April, th e owner, touched up my hair last week for the first time. I was happily surprised when she said the hair in the back was already locking! (I will try to post some pics later, but getting those shots is difficult.) On that visit, my hair was luxuriously washed and massaged, and she used the palm roll technique to tighten my new growth. It was a little tight, but nothing painful.
I sat under the dryer for a bit, and was good to go! See how tidy it looks?
(These pictures were actually taken the next morning, after I took off my scarf.)


The moisturizer she put on my scalp was awesome, so I bought some on the way out. (jane carter solution- nourish & shine )

Now up until that point, I had been washing my hair weekly, so was a little bummed when she told me not to wash my hair until my next visit. She said all the twists would come out, sooo... I haven't washed my hair yet. I set an appointment for three weeks out, and am praying that my naturally dry scalp won't make me lose it. I'm not even a week past, and my scalp is hissing at me already. My helpful husband applied that moisturizing butter around all of my sections yesterday, which felt soooo nice. I love him. <3

April, who is now my loctician (my very own! lol), is amazing too. She has gorgeous locs, and told me how impatient she was to have hers at first too. She answers all of my questions, isn't completely nosy, is honest and friendly. She's someone I would totally chill with outside of the salon, if we ever get to that point. See her in all her lovliness right here --------------------->


So now, I wait. There's really not much I can do, besides wrap it when I sleep, massage my scalp every so often, and wait. I fill up my time looking enviously at pictures of other peoples' hair, and reading their stories. We'll see how different the process is for me with my relaxed, mixed race hair. April has no doubt it will loc. She's so encouraging. And I'm so impatient, lol. I know that locking hair is a process, and everyone said it teaches you patience, but so far, my loc lust grows every freaking day, with my patience not growing at all! :) But we shall see!

What I'm doing here

I've attempted to blog before, but sadly, never kept up with it. This time, I have a little more resolve. Part of the reason I feel that way, is because I have a reason to blog that will keep me writing for a while, but I'll get to that in a minute. I actually put a lot of thought into what type of blog I would develop, and who I wanted to read it. Turning my ideas over in my head lead me to want to grow this journal into something a bit more diverse that what I had originally intended. I mean, I am all about diversity. Haha. No seriously. If you stick with me, you'll see.

So, here we go. My original intent was to write about my hair. No, I'm not that vain or obsessed, but I have decided to begin my own dreadlock journey. I was trying to learn about the experiences of people who started out with similar hair to my own, and had trouble finding anyone who could share their journey with me. I know I'm not the only one in this situation, so I figured I'd blog about my own journey to help other people learn by my doing.

Then I got to thinking about past blogs I've written, and others that I've followed ( check them out over there---> ) and decided that I will diversify my blog. I will write about more than just hair experiences. I will write about the life I'm living.