Loc'ed Up ( Photo Heavy)

It was a mildly cold afternoon of January 2005, I was on winter break from college and on a whim, I decided to loc my hair. I had no clue what I was doing, I didn't search for any videos or how-to's, I just parted and twisted.

Yep, I used to be a loc'ed natural, for 5 years !



Now there's something I'm sure you didn't know about me. Well, that is unless you've read my About Me section.

Lovely, lovely locs.

I think loc'ing my hair was one of the best decisions that I could have ever made in my life and as far as my hair health is related. I saw many positive changes in myself. Growing my locs was such a fun journey for me even though I was natural before I started my loc journey. I wasn't aware of "being natural" I just knew that I was never relaxing my hair again. I'm 26 now and I haven't had a relaxer since I was 17. Before I loc'ed my hair I mainly wore braid and twist styles for the majority of the time. My journey is interesting because nothing majorly influenced me to start loc'ing my hair. There were no outside  images of people with locs or anything like that. I knew people with locs and I thought they were gorgeous and it was just something that I wanted to do.

In the beginning weeks I wasn't sure if I liked it, they were thin and silky looking and my hair was super short before I twisted it.  I had a major case of "I feel like a boy syndrome".

Some people were negative, but the people that mattered were completely positive. It did't take before my mind changed though, and I grew to love them.  I tried different styles, different products, different twisting methods. I did it all ! That's when my first little bit of researching started. I looked up ways to twists, different types of products and everything. The two most favorite products to re-twist my hair was foam hair wrap and Organic Root Stimulator Loc and Twist Cream. I used their Nature's Shine also. I still use that to this day. My routine was pretty low maintenance, much more low key than it is now, but that's to be expected.

See the silkiness ? See the curly ends ?

With locs , people approached me differently, viewed me differently, and sometimes spoke to my differently. I loved it, I began to feel more like a queen, I think this is where my Afrocentrism really started to show itself. I embarked on a mental journey as well and I accredit that to my locs.  I really did fall in love with with them, they grew beautifully, blossomed and showed me that my hair really could grow.  I haven't always had a positive relationship with my hair. It was always pretty short hair, boring and not pretty to me. Growing up in an a predominantly white area, my hair just never measured up. Up until my last relaxer my hair was always pretty problematic. It would break off, I could barely retain any length. I had one side of my hair that was longer than the other side, and a patch in the middle of my hair that was just plain broken off. It rarely grew past 2-3 inches.  I won't put all blame on my stylist....but um yeah.. We won't go there.

With my locs, it was a totally different story. My hair was beautiful, I receieved compliments left and right. People actually liked my hair and wished they had it. What ? It was crazy to me.

My crowning glory.

My lovely locs.

The only thing I wish I had done differently was knowing about the many resources had to offer as far as styling ideas and etc. I might have kept in my locs longer but who knows. I really think I would've combed them out eventually because I was just ready for a change.

As I stated above, I had locs for 5 years. I combed -- yes you can comb out locs-- in August of 2010. It was a time intensive process ! Man. I remember looking at YouTube videos to see how it was done and I saw some videos of how it took some people a whole month ! I was not going to spend that much time combing out my locs.

One loc in particular that was thinning out.

This was in 2008, some thin locs, from over-twisting in the beginning.

Let me say one thing that I was wrong about when I had locs, I thought that unlocked hair would equal the length of loc'ed hair. This is not the truth. Locs do what they are. They keep hair locked in, so all of the shed hair that would normally be removed has been locked into the hair. So I had 5 years of hair, shed, broken off, or still intact loc'ed up.

Combing out my locs was essentially my Big Chop (BC). When I first transitioned to natural hair, I unknowingly did a long transition so going from APL to Medium TWA was a bit of a shocker. I think had I known to grow out my hair at the roots a month or two before combing them out to have a little bit more length in the end I would have.


A week passed before I would be deemed a completely "Loose Natural". It was a tough week, I had loose hair and locs and I was thinking "Oh my God, what am I doing? " "What if I hate it?" Someone said to me I would lose all sex appeal and attractiveness if I took out my locs. This was weighing heavy on my mind and my heart. I really thought I wouldn't be as pretty! That's ridiculous.

sidenote, ladies, never let a man dethrone you. You're a beautiful queen, no matter your hairstyle.

I pushed through though and thanks to my wonderful Momma, who completed the homestretch, I was a loose natural ! Now what ?!

I was so happy I was finished. This was one of the first styles I did.

At first I missed my locs and I really didn't know why I had decided to take them out.

One question I get a lot is why. Why did you take your locs out ? I'm sure you are wondering as well. I like to equate my locs to three things. 1. Getting rid of the "old",
2. Locs were thinning, 3. I wanted to try something new, because locs were becoming more of a trend. So I just made the decision to make a change, on a whim !

My first puff ever !

I had no clue what to do with my hair, and then came YouTube. I had re-ignited a passion that I had from childhood.... hair.  I remember getting in trouble at school for "doing hair", my Mom told me, it that's the worst thing you're doing, then it's fine. Friends in high school would ask me to braid their hair this way or that way... I also learned how to box braid and twists my own hair in High School, plus I showed my Mom so that she could help me ! Lol. First came youtube, then came the mixtressing, but that's another post for another day !

People also ask me if I'll ever loc my hair again, and the answer to that is Yes! I think that in 5-6 years I'll probably loc my hair. I love locs, but right now I am loving my loose natural hair ! 

Loose natural and loving it ! 

Loc'ed Up - Mini Photo Gallery

Top Summer 2006, Bottom Wintter 2006

Locs 2009

2007 Alpha Ball

Curly locs :0)

Fall 2008

2008 - one of my favorite pics of my hair

May 2006 

I'm a fool.. lol 

french braid updo, 2009.