Dreadlock Journey

I was now wearing double-strand twists and waiting for them to loc. It was quite an interesting process. I like my hair to be neatly sectioned, parts gleaming through. Well, I was told to clean my scalp with Sea Breeze so that I wouldn’t have to wash it as much so that my hair would loc. I got my hair professionally maintenance every month. That meant that my scalp was covered in new growth (wow, NOW that was a good thing. I remember when I wasn’t quite so happy about it: http://tropie7189.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-growth.html and http://tropie7189.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-growth-meant-not-pretty.html). I was excited by my new hairstyle but I had to make several adjustments.

1. I had to stop expecting my hair to “lay down”. As I waited for my locs to grow, I’d sometimes stare at myself in wonder because a particular piece(s) of hair would stick STRAIGHT up. My hair seemed to have a mind of its own. Yes, my twisting product would allow me to bring them back into the fold but I realized that my hair was not meant to lay flat, it really wanted to grow OUT!

2. I no longer had to run from water. There were many times when it would start to rain and rather than bolting to safety, I could take my time. No, I don’t dunk my head in water every day (eeks, I still don’t go swimming…that is the last frontier for me I guess, hmm, I need to write about natural hair and exercise!) but I no longer view water as my enemy.

3. I had to accept that everyone wasn’t going to appreciate my journey. This was a huge deal. My immediate family knows that I have thick, coarse, kinky hair. So, they thought I was crazy to loc my hair. You know how when you get dressed up to go out and your family says, “Awww, you look beautiful”? Well, I had to stop expecting to hear that, at least about my hair. I had to seek affirmation from folks who appreciated what I was doing. Note: Now, my family loves my hair. I don’t know if time to adjust or the length of my hair did the trick.

I had to make other adjustments but more about those later. I am on a hunt for pictures during this part of my hair journey. Will post if I find them! J

Here is a site about locs: http://www.nappturality.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68:locking-your-hair&catid=34:careinfo&Itemid=30. Also, “The Bronze Goddess01” channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/BronzeGoddess01) has great loc styling tutorials (e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZaRFJ3Ab7Y).

Enjoy your journey!

Image found at: http://csnwf.org/files/images/short_dreadlocks1.jpg