Month 4

What have I been doing with my hair since I started my second set of locs on May 24th? Well, hardly anything. Since I settled on the right size for my starter coils in the first month, I’ve just kept hair and scalp clean.

I wore Senegalese twist extensions throughout August. They were long and a lot of fun to style. My primary reason for wearing extensions was to preserve my new coils during an action packed trip to mainland Europe and it worked perfectly. I removed the extensions almost two weeks ago and to my delight my coils had continued loc’ing. Now they are established enough for me to wash my hair more confidently and wear my puffy nubs out and wild or neat and retwisted as I see fit.

It’s fascinating to see my hair loc without the assistance of a crocheting tool. Being much thinner than my first set they appear to be loc’ing up with ease. I also love the natural style I have now, they’re all spiky and unruly but in a neat kind of way.

two weeks after removing Senegalese twist extensions

As for products I’m using on my little fro, well that’d just be Crème of Nature Moisturizing Shampoo.
Major differences between this set and my first set so far are:

• They’re loc’ing faster
• I’m not using any products other that the aforementioned shampoo
• Maintenance and groom takes a lot longer
• I’m sweating and exercising without any unravelling
• I don’t touch my hair as often
• They dry really quickly
• Each retwist lasts longer
• I think people can already tell that I’m loc’ing

Comments are always welcome and if you have a link to your own hair journey please attach it below.

 

February Update: 33 months +

Hello,

Felt the time was right update but where to begin?

Well first of all I’m currently 33 ½ months in to my loc journey. How crazy is that? 2 years, 10 months and 2 weeks!

My locs are doing fine, I have about an inch of loose new growth but overall my hair is pretty neat and tidy. They’ve grown enough that I can just get up in the morning and go. I remember the days when they all used to stick up and a head scarf was the only way to get them to lay down. I also remember a year ago when the front section would stick up every morning and I wore nothing but head bands. This year those issues have been replaced with the issue of having hair in my eyes. Yes I’m constantly trying to tie up my “fringe” (haven’t had a fringe years) and it’s kind of annoying haha.

I shampoo my hair a couple of times a week, mostly because shrinkage is still a constant struggle and like my hair to sit better.

I picked out the middle of a loc. One in the bac; it was full of grey stuff and I couldn’t help but pick it out. I tried to palm roll it back togethe but it ‘s all thin in the middle. I’ve left it for now but I plan to cut it off in the future. It did lead me to try washing my locs with lemon dishing washing liquid. Weird but it worked. I wet my hair and rubbed in the liquid and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then I squeezed and rinsed until my hair was squeaky clean. I examined the same loc in the mirror once my hair was dry and grey stuff had completely gone. I imagine the decreasing qualities in lemon citric acid removed the dirt.

What else can I tell you? My roots have grown out since I dyed my hair dark brown 6 months ago which means I have grey hairs everywhere. I want to re-dye in a lighter shade with blonde-ish tips. I’ve retwisted several times in the last 3 months but I seem to always wash it out within days. Some of my locs are just too big to hold a retwist so they unravel and I dislike the half groomed half un-groomed appearance so I wash it all out. Oh yeah, I still use coconut oil but very rarely these days (again because I wash so frequently). I did have to use a lot when I washed my hair with the lemon dish liquid to restore softness. I now use everyday brand shampoo as I like my hair to smell fruity. They’re not as moisturizing as the Creme of Nature Kiwi and Citrus Moisturizing Shampoo but they do a good job of cleaning my scalp.

So to date I just wash and go which has been my ideal hair state since I began this journey. As usual I’m waiting for length which I can see happening slowly but surely. I can’t wait for my fringe to grow past my chin and be long enough to through in a ponytail but for now I’m just keeping it moving.

Let me know your thoughts about this blog and my journey and don’t hesitate to direct me to records of your journeys also. I want get back into chronicling my journey (with photos at least) so inspire me!

Hello and Welcome: Different Platform, Same Journey

Hi everyone,

Let me firstly welcome you to my new blog here on WordPress. For friends old and new I am a woman living in the UK who has been documenting everything about her natural hair loc journey from day one. Over the years I have discovered a real joy in blogging and it’s made for an interesting experience having so much to look back on. I have also kept this blog as a personalised guide and support system for anyone interested in dreadlocks worn by afro Caribbean people. Our hair types are unique and I hope you will find useful tips and relatable content here. We’re a community for healthy hair, exciting miles stones and lots trials and triumphs.

The Move:

I’m brand new to WordPress but I have been blogging about my loc journey since 2012. Having experienced an unexplained technical hitch using the Blogspot platform I opted to start a new and continue my loc journey documentation here.

Sincerest apologies to all who were following me on Blogspot, I know many of you had hoped I would continue to post over there but I do hope you find your way over to WordPress so that we can continue to connect and share advice and inspiration.

And so on with the blog. I’ll do my best to have things up and running smoothly over the summer but in the mean time please check out my 2 year loc journey here for extensive insight into each step of my journey to dreadlocks until now.

Comments, questions welcome below.

Naturalocs

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