Phenomenal . . .

Phenomenal . . .
Life, Growth, and Connection (This sunflower was nourished by my hands.) 2010; Photography by Benita Blocker. Please become a follower of this blog.

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Monday, June 1, 2015

The Loc Nation: From the Darkness to the Light

I am a member of the Loc Nation.  What is it?  Those who control their hair strands by twisting or interlocking.  There is no organized meetings that I know of.  We are of one mindset to work with the hair that our Creator gave us.


It's time to shed a little more light on my own hair.  I wanted to go deeper.  Anyone fascinated with my volume?  No hairspray here.  I did condition with the ORS Moisture Lock Hair Conditioning Cocktail with Tamanu and Black Currant oils plus I used the Tropical Roots foam to wet set it.

My scalp/roots dated May 2015, present day.  By European standards, everything about my hair is "ugly."  However, as "ugly" as some people may describe it, it is normal for those with ultra coily, kinky, resistant hair.  All my life, hairdressers have tried to "straighten the hell" out of my hair because they did not like what they saw.  They wanted my hair to be straight.  I was always okay with texturized/slightly relaxed, but unfortunately, when my hair is under-relaxed it becomes even more unmanageable.  So beginning my loc journey marked the end of my fighting to keep my hair straight.  Unfortunately, many locticians are not used to seeing my ultra coily texture either.  They wonder how such "ugliness" can output/produce so much beauty?  This "ugliness" often times has been associated with people thinking that I have not taken care of my hair.  This is the farthest thing from the truth.  The problem has been trying to make my hair conform to straight hair standards.  The problem has been learning to love the beauty in the uniqueness of my own hair.  It is only ugly when the standard is straight hair.  However, when I accept my hair as the norm, then it is as beautiful as God has created it to be.

My locs are doing well.  I see nothing but progress.  It has been a long, hard journey in a world where I have had a hard time fitting in primarily because of my hair.  Although, my loc sizing will always create a few styling limitations because one quadrant is much smaller than the rest, I am happy that my locs are mostly large in size according to Sisterlocks standards.  Why?  Because I refuse to be dependent on another human being to care for my hair again.  I had heard others say this about their locs before, but now, I really, really get it.  You can not control relocation of consultants or your own relocation or even death of another individual.  If the locs are really small, self-maintenance can be a huge challenge.  So the concept of microlocks is brilliant, but 600+ Sisterlocks on your head can really be a "check" that most people will not be to handle long term. God knew what he was doing when I got my Sisterlocks installed.  Because I had some true Sisterlocks sized locs in one quadrant of my head, I have been able to learn the benefits from all the loc sizings from "micro size" to "too large." I self maintain all of them.  I do not recommend tight updos.  They are too stressful to my locs in my opinion.  So I either wet set my locs or leave them straight. Larger traditional locs may benefit from the updos.  Just watch the tension.

May 2015 - the back of my head - it is progressing nicely!


So 34 months - 2 years 10 months is here!

I am loving my Loc Nation!

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