I wrapped my freshly washed hair in a large towel for 5-10 minutes to absorb excess water. Whilst damp, I sectioned my hair into 6 or 7 jumbo braids to achieve loose waves (the bigger the braid the looser the waves; the smaller the braid, the tighter the waves). I recall using 7-10 locs per braid.
I kept the braids in (uncovered) until my hair was completely dry and gently unravelled them all, lightly combing my fingers through to separate the waves.
I styled the waves into a simple loose mid-ponytail leaving a section free at the front to form the side fringe.
I’m very proud of how far my hair has come. It’s only after I retwist that I really see what my hair has been doing for the last ten months. I’ve gotten some wonderful comments from some of you out there and I take every one of them to hear. Thank you.
I sooo want to re-dye my hair. My last dye was around a year ago before I cut my first set. It was an lifeless brown colour that has now grown out. My tips are all that remain of that colour and now that I have a good three inches of my natural colour, I’m getting anxious about covering my greys.
Just as with my decisiveness over the perfect shade of red for my first set of locs, I am equally selective about the perfect shades of blonde for this ombré vision. I want rich and dark roots fading to brown and finished with bold, blonde, cool toned, beachy, ends.
credit: @island_snow
credit: @ladyloc_
credit: @tiffanyslocjewels
I don’t know how bright I should go with my skin tone but I’m going to be brave. When I went red I did the whole process myself but I wonder if I should go to a professional this time. I wonder if I can bare to trust a professional.
Well that’ll be an issue for another time as I’m still waiting for my locs to mature.
I still palm roll my locs. I brush my locs with a soft boar bristle brush before I shampoo and I’m getting very positive results from using conditioner. I’m happy with the journey. Enjoy this clip:
Thinking back to the time I cut of first set of locs off, I’ve come to realise that, it embodied a more physical expression of my ever increasing yearning to change my life. I’ve been in deep transition continually planning for my future. I no longer identified with the locs I had.
I’m very satisfied with my current locs.
two weeks after a retwist
They give me a lot of freedom to do the things I want to do without fear of unravelling or “messing up the loc’ing process”. I wash my hair frequently, retwist every 10-14 days and have begun exercising without any negative effects to my hair. This was not the case with my first set. For over a year I struggled to balance my first set of baby locs with my lifestyle habits and although I did eventually find solutions to each problem it ultimately affected how my locs developed.
My current set of locs feel a lot more natural. Minimal effort. I don’t feel I’m fighting against my hair to get it to loc and my scalp is happy. I use a small selection of products to groom and I let my hair air dry after washing. I cycle when my hair is wet and it dries thoroughly in the wind but I’ll have to be careful once I get a helmet as it won’t breath as easily. My locs are budding even more now and I’d say many of them are loc’d and are beginning to feel somewhat dense.
coil with no budding
coil starting to bud (mesh together)
the bud has expanded upwards and become a loc
the sides and back are maturing faster than the top
When I retwist I use a comb to detangle the loose roots a little then I palm roll the loc so that the buds develop smoothly. If you’re locs are puffing up palm rolling will certainly help.
washed, shampooed, conditioned and retwisted with raw coconut oil
I decided to use four products to clean and groom my hair. I started with an ordinary shampoo to thoroughly clarify my hair. Then I used a moisturising shampoo and finished off with an ordinary conditioner. I retwist my hair using raw virgin coconut oil and then let in air dry. My hair feels incredibly soft and light. It moves freely when I shake my head and I can see all the length I’ve gained in the last six months.
I don’t cover my hair at night but have bought a satin triangle head scarf. I need to start using is to prevent fluff making its way into my hair.
Oh yeah a loc’d Afro-Caribbean man stopped me two weeks ago to comment on my hair. He was so enthralled by my starter locs that he insisted I feel his two year old loc’s and he told me I’d be well on my way in another six months. His hair was very full and light and clean. His locs reached his shoulders but his roots where loose and spongy. He recommended washing regularly and using coconut butter. It was nice to go into such detail over such a individual journey.
Hello all of you following this little space of mine. It has come to my attention that I have peaked the interest of a number of people around the world and I wanted to make sure to both acknowledge and thank you. I’d love to read your thoughts and experiences!
Now for this update. My hair is happily developing amongst a miriad of ever changing circumstances. I want to keep my locs maintained so that they are uniform by the time they reach maturity but it has to be said, I am an infrequent retwister. I wash my hair every week or so and when the twists unravel I tend to let them be until I have the time to groom them once again. And time I do need. It takes me over two hours to retwist now. I use my fingers to separate my locs while they’re damp and then I go in with a fine toothed comb to comb and coil my roots (clockwise). I then palm roll the loc to smooth down the buds (meshed spots). I use my duck bill clips to keep the twist in place and then let them dry. I was so tired I was going to use a hair dryer but by the time I got round to it I’d noticed that they’d already dried completely on their own. So a plus and a minus: much longer retwists < much shorter drying time.
I haven’t keep my parts very neat simply because I can’t see round the back and there are far too many locs to keep track of by feel alone. I think they’re all relatively the same size. They feel manageable and healthy. Between washing and retwisting there’s little else to report regarding any major changes so here’s a clip of me retwisting my baby locs:
Still a mighty long way to go with this journey but I’m very happy right now.
I am so feeling this new set of twists. I feel confident and happy. I’m shampooing them every week which is helping them mesh together rather quickly. The back is real soft so their’s one twist that always unravels but other than that there’s not much maintenance to do.
NaturaLocs 