LOCK HER UP! MY FOREVER HAIRSTYLE/LIFESTYLE

About seven years after I went natural, I locked my hair. They were traditional locs, and they grew quickly and thickly. Within 5 years, they were well past my shoulders, hanging midway down my back. In 2009, I got the bright idea to “unlock” my locs, after watching a video showing the process. A week into process, I looked like Samuel Jackson in the movie Unbreakable. Once again I found myself in a barber’s chair, cutting off what remained of my locs and starting over. So I spent the next two years, free falling natural, starting over from a short Caesar cut like I’d done when I first went permless. I returned to locs in 2011, but this time, I had sisterlocks installed. BEST DECISION FOR ME—EVER.

THE THICK OF IT: A NATURAL HAIR JOURNEY

It all began because of a chemical burn from a home perm. The year was 1996. Up until then, I’d considered myself quite the kitchen beautician, purchasing box perms to do my own hair since college. In those lean college times, I couldn’t afford to go to the hair dresser, I’d go to Wal-Mart, pick up a relaxer kit, go back to the dorm and proceed to slather the white, noxious, cream on the base of my hair, careful not to get any, or at least not too much on my scalp or cover the entire shaft of my hair. After college, I continued this practice, when my coins were a little short.