I hit the 2 year mark and I’m giddy! I remember starting my journey and looking at photos wishing, hoping, and wondering. Now, I’m here and it seems like only yesterday that I was swooning over other someone else’s hair.
I also, colored my hair as planned. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it yet since it’s styled. We’ll see as time passes.
A thought…I think I’m going to the point where I want to starting trimming. I don’t want extra long locs. I think they’re at the perfect length for me at this point.
I can’t believe it has been almost two years since I started this loc journey. I remember when I first started, how I thought it would take forever for my hair to get where it is today. Time has seemed to fly by. Here are my locs at 23 months.
Here’s my hair at 21 months. I decided to let her style them this time, although I normally like to let them hang. I’m still in awe of these beautiful locs. ❤️
My 2 year anniversary is coming up and I’ve decided to change it up a bit. I’m going to lighten my hair. It’s going to be a big change for me as I’ve never had a real color change. The process will begin next month with a detox. Then the coloring process in June. I’m excited about this!
I’m glad to report that after the fiasco with my last loc retwist, my hair is still heathy and there were no adverse effects. WHEW!!!! I dreaded going back to my original loctician, having to explain my poor decision making. But, it was a non-issue. It wasn’t even brought up. That was a lesson learned.
That being said, here is what my locs look like today, at 19 months.
I ❤️ this shot! Length and texture. What’s not to ❤️?
Sooooo, last month I made a horrible mistake. I knew I shouldn’t have done it, but I went against one of my biggest rules…when you find a good hair stylist, stick with her.
My loctician is about an hour away from me. After making that drive for the past year and a half, it has grown old to me. I wanted to find someone closer to home. Here’s where my problem started. I logged onto a FB group that supports black owned businesses and that I’m a member of. I asked for recommendations. I got about five or six and I reached h out to them. I requested photos and asked about their licensing and experience with installing and maintaining locs. I did my due diligence. After speaking with a young lady for a couple of days, I thought she’d be a good fit but decided to think it over. After contemplating it a few more days, I put down the deposit and scheduled an appointment.
Over the course of next couple of weeks leading up to the appointment, I kept getting a nagging feeling about it. I reached out to her and asked about the products she uses. It should have been another red flag when she stated that she uses JAM gel, which my normal loctician is TOTALLY against. At that moment I wished I’d thought to ask that question initially. I asked could I bring my own products and she said that would be fine. My SO said to me several times that I would regret the decision and that I should just continue to drive since it’s only once a month. I went back and forth with myself about cancelling the appointment. I didn’t want to lose my deposit, which in hindsight was the least of my worries.
The day of the appointment arrived and as I was halfway to the salon, I realized I’d forgotten my products. A moment of dread crept over me, but I journeyed on. When I arrived at the shop, I felt a bit better. It was decent, clean, and they had a COVID protocol in place. The loctician was a nice young lady. We were able to hold a conversation, which was a pleasant surprise as I usually don’t like to talk during my service. I like to sit, relax and have some peace and quiet. During this conversation there was another red flag. We were talking about the initial stages of growing locs and how impressed she was with the amount of growth I’ve had in such a short period of time (less than two years). I mentioned the use of a conditioner and she made a statement that conditioners aren’t needed with locs. Daily use of a leave-in and a conditioner during washing has been a staple since I’ve started my loc journey. (Insert huge sigh here.)
As she was twisting my hair, I tried not to think about the products. I noticed that the twisting didn’t feel the same as usual…. her hand motions were different. However, after she was done, my hair looked great! So, now I let out a sigh of relief, told her I will schedule another appointment, and I left.
Over the next few days, there was a drastic change in how my hair looked and felt. My locs started to turn white and no matter how much I tried to wipe the cast from the gel away, it didn’t work. My locs started to feel different. Now insert fear here.
Fast forward to today and that fear is still ominously present. It’s been over a month and I notice how my locs are not as puffy as they would normally be at this point. I’ve washed it and still not as puffy. I feel knots in many of them. Some of them are tight in areas then puffy and then tight again. I’m well past the budding stage, so this should not be happening. I’m worried that the ends of some of them will break off because of how tight and thin they are.
I’ve made up my mind that I will continue to make that hour drive to South Dallas. I am ashamed that I will have to explain to the Queen why my locs are different and that I wasn’t loyal. I will never make this mistake again. In the meantime, I’m hoping that any damage that may have been done is reversible. *fingers crossed*
…and I’m loving my locs more and more everyday. I finally have hang time, what I’ve been wanting since I started this journey. Now I kinda miss the the volume. But, I still have loc love!
8/10/2020 – 14 months8/10/2020 – 14 months9/12/2020 – 15 months9/12/2020 – 15 months and 1st style10/22/2020 – 16 months and styled for the 2nd time 11/27/20 – 17 months
Today marks exactly 11 months that I’ve been loc’d. Got a fresh wash and retwist today (yes, we wore masks, the salon was opened to a limited capacity and cleaned often).
So this week makes 10 months loc’d. Being that we are on a quarantine, I did my wash and retwist myself. It’s not as clean as it would have been had I gone to Dotie, but it’s fresh and neat. Loc❤in full effect!
iamnaturallykinky 