Embarking on a loc journey can be as intricate as the twists and turns of the locs themselves. Whether you start with twists, braids, Sisterlocks, or instant locs, the choices are many, but the most challenging part often lies in overcoming the fear of societal perceptions.
Locs might be the most stereotyped hairstyle ever. Even in our own community locs are just misunderstood, they are hardly judged and stereotyped.
Read Trina's Journey: the most challenging part was the hesitation about how others would perceive her.
Saying goodbye to my favorite hairstyle; the Afro
Personally, I thought I would never loc my hair for a completely different reason: the Afro is and will always be my favorite hairstyle. There is just nothing that beats the halo if you ask me. Hair, high in the limitless sky, free and all, up in a halo is just magical. And yet, I too started my locs journey.
Loc Extensions may have changed my mind
There was not a lot of contemplating for me. I tried loc extensions one year and that might have been the first time the thought of starting locs entered my mind. Other than with box braids or twists, loc extensions felt different. They felt like home.
I had worn box braids a lot, that is actually how I started my natural hair journey, but it was mostly an inbetween style. Braids were a super convenient getup and go hairstyle and the best thing about the box braids was that they were good for my hair. My hair would always grow, looking healthy and thankful for the rest and the protection that the braids offered. I just didn't like getting them done and certainly didn't like taking them out.
The feeling was different when I got loc extensions. I still didn't like getting my hair done nor taking the locs out but these extensions felt more natural for some reason and I just loved them! It's then when I realized that locs could maybe be an option sometime in the future but I didn't give it a lot of thought.
Then going through personal changes in 2013, I decided that I was going to loc my hair. I don't even remember giving it a lot of thought. In all fairness, I had been natural for over 10 years and I was tired of combing and styling my natural hair so that might have played a part. As much as I loved the fro, I was only wearing one maybe once a year. So without giving it a thought, I knew, I was just ready.
Why I went for Micro Locs and started with Braids
Initially, I wanted traditional locs because of my experience with loc extensions. They were medium sized, like traditional locs and I loved them. However, I also felt that I had a responsibility to the natural hair community that I had built through my books and websites going-natural.com and kroeshaar.com. To make the process more acceptable and accessible for anyone who might be interested, I decided on micro locs.
Click for The Best Loc Extensions I've ever had
Deciding on which method was a lot easier. Because I knew that not everybody has the money to go for Sisterlocks, I choose micro locs. Instant locs wasn't really an option back then but choosing between braids and twists was easy. I knew and understood my natural hair very well and one of the characteristics was that it was super frizzy.
Carefully created Twists would only last one week in my type of natural hair that has all the kinks, curls and napps you can imagine from 3C to 4C. The last thing I wanted to deal with was slippage that is when the locs loosens so you have to create it again. So to prevent slippage and frizz, I started with braids.
The disadvantage of starting locs with braids is that you can see a lot of scalp. The scalpy look as I called it may bother some people, because who doesn't like to see themselves with a full head of hair but I didn't really have issues with it.
A few people made fun of me, what happened to your hair? And, well, we all got to start somewhere, which is very true.
My Weaves
The lessons I learned from Going Natural
The reason, I had no issues with a scalpy head nor with the so called ugly stage is because of what I had learned when I started my natural hair journey. I had no problem going natural because going bald scared me more. Relaxers caused my hair to break consistently and I was terified of loosing all my hair. I was on a mission to get my hair back no matter if people liked it or not. Whatever texture came out of my scalp, I was going to embrace it because it could never be worse than going bald.
My experience with weavesI tried a sewn-in weave two or three times, and I really did not like them at all. Weaves were definitely better than chemical relaxers for my hair; at least my hair was protected under a weave, allowing it to grow. Yet, even though I preferred weaves over chemical relaxers, I just didn't like how a weave felt on my head.
I tried real hair and to be honest the kinky curly weave looked cute. It was also quite convenient but I came to the conclusion that weaves were just not for me. The minute they started itching, I wanted to take them out. I just didn't have the patience and it always felt uncomfortable. I was also too conscious about the edges that they would either show or would break.
Since weaves and I were not a good fit, the only alternative was my natural hair. So, by the time I was ready for my locs journey, I had fully embraced my hair, texture and all which freed me from society's perception when it comes to Black hair.
