As you may know from my previous post, 2018 Hair Hits (and Misses), I took some pretty strong Ls when it came to retaining length. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the length I have, but if you only knew how much I had to trim my hair last year... *deep sigh*
Loc Journey
I was convinced that my solution to retaining length was to just go ahead and loc my hair. In December 2018 I decided that I would keep my hair in mini twists until the two strands of the twists matted and loc'd.
As with my original natural hair journey, I DEVOURED starter loc maintenance videos and voraciously perused loc care websites. I bought pure rose water to spritz in my hair and extra virgin coconut oil to seal as recommended and I really loved it. However, I couldn't fully bring myself to forego conditioning my hair (apparently conditioner is counter-intuitive). So instead I diluted my favorite leave in conditioner with aloe vera juice and spritzed that onto my hair after washing.
I LOVED not having to detangle my hair on wash day (since I kept it in the twists), but the thought of retwisting my "starter locs" was actually almost worse than the thought of detangling. Not to mention, I'd "started my locs" myself without really bothering to part it which kinda bothered me.
With my loose natural hard-wiring, I think I'd ingrained habits that kept my hair smooth and untangled like: always sleeping with a satin scarf, keeping my hair stretched in some way, and keeping my hair cuticle closed with pH balanced leave in conditioner. All that to say, in a months time, my hair was no where near close to tangling. In fact, when I decided to take my "starter loc" mini twists down so I could get my locs professionally started, my hair glided effortlessly apart.
It all came to a head once my friends and I had a little girl's day out. We went to Nashville to (window)shop and someone came up with the idea to pick outfits for each other as a game. My roommate picked out the cutest 70's vibe outfit for me and I LOVED it. What really made the outfit come together though, was my hair. It was out in all of its voluminous stretched fro glory and at that point I just knew. Loc'ing my hair was not the solution I was looking for. I NEED volume. I LOVE my hair in a fro, I just hate the single strand knots that come with the shrinkage.
Conclusion
Though I was convinced that I was loc'ing my hair (and you couldn't have told me otherwise) in the long run it just didn't really pan out and thankfully so. There were a few things I gleaned from my one month (lol) loc journey that I may incorporate in my loose natural regimen:
For instance, with locs you basically have to use heat (as opposed to air drying) to avoid mold/mildew since locs hold so much water. That opened me up to consider stretching my loose natural hair/cut down on drying time by diffusing on a warm/cool setting. ALSO, I was so attached to keeping length that I refused to properly trim my hair. The reality that my loc foundation couldn't be healthy with damaged ends is what finally prompted me to TRIM my ends (as opposed to dusting them) and my hair feels SO much better. I'd had a bad first experience trying someone else's cheap coconut oil so I just surmised that my hair didn't like it. However, my hair seemed to like extra virgin coconut oil. Plus, yall...I freakin love rosewater! It smells SO good and honestly it makes me feel boujie to use it.
While it may have been a short lived journey, it was a meaningful journey nonetheless. It made me understand that I really do love my natural hair, I just need to employ new strategies to manage it as it gets longer. Time to try something new!