When I began this journey, I started out researching how to begin dread locs. I had been interested in locs since high school but never had the courage to start them. I was to worried what everybody would say. I started my research on YouTube of course and I begin to see so many women with all this beautiful natural hair. They were wearing their hair natural and proud, and might I add enjoying it. The more videos I watched the more I realized that not only were these women schooling me on becoming natural but they were also showing me how to be natural, beautiful and unique in my own way and who cares what anyone thinks. My options were endless. I just had to be apart of this natural hair community, I belonged....I began to think back on how my hair was as a child and I knew my hair would be just as beautiful natural as it was relaxed. If not, then hey, I would just loc it up!! I start to let my hair grow out. The new growth would have felt nappy and tangled through relaxed eyes but through my new natural eyes it felt full and curly, soft even. The more the new growth grew the more I grew eager to cut all the relaxed ends. Lucky for me I was already rocking a short hair cut.
My Big Chop (BC) would be a piece of cake, so I thought. I BC in June 2010. My family thought I was crazy, going through a mid-mid life crisis or something.
Over the past two years my hair has grown a great deal but not without difficulty.
There was a time I had to go over my grandmother's house every weekend to wash my hair because the place I stayed had hard water. I did this for about one year, such an inconvenience but at least I got to spend time with my grandmother ( I love her, shouts out to grandma Glo...lol). I don't know if you've ever experienced the affect of hard water but let me tell you, on this head, it was not pretty. I have low porosity hair, which means it takes a long time for my hair to soak up water or anything else. The hard water along with the mineral deposits left on my hair meant that my hair would not even absorb the leave in conditioner. The mineral deposits created a barrier, a wall of destruction on my already low porosity hair. This meant NO moisture what so ever. As a natural we have to try extra hard to keep our locs moisturized, this is important if you want to retain length without breakage.
Over the years I have tried tons of different products, some would call me a product junkie. I don't know if that's true or if I'm still on the search for that perfect product, that one product that will tame this mane. Or maybe I enjoy trying different products because I like the way some of them feel in my hair. One thing for sure I have learned a lot about natural hair, especially my own. On this journey I will continue to educate myself and grow in hopes that maybe I will have the knowledge to teach or inspire someone else. So my journey continues...
Live for Love...
