I'm in a very happy place with my locs. Very happy. Which is good because on my 16th month update, I was straight up loathing them thangs. I make no apologies for it though. My goal with Loc Rocker is to share the good AND not so good about my journey. I keeps it real. Or maybe I'm just a slightly nutty chick who is up and down about everything. HAAA!!
Anywhoovers, I love them. There isn't one thing I don't love about my locs at this point. I recently retwisted them for the first time in a long time and I was like "Whoa!" They've gotten long! I had a good 2-3 inches of fro hair so it shocked me to see how long they hung when I retwisted.
This looks kinda funny, uh?
Like...why are there a good 8-10 locs that are longer than the others? And that color is growing doooown. I would really love to go back to that light brown.
It's been almost a year since I did it. I'm waiting on my locs to marry a little more. And I'll be going to my loctician for that. No more at home dye jobs. Even though I'm pretty darn good at it. :)
Locs on the left...
Locs on the right...
Locs in a ponytail...
Finally! A healthy real deal ponytail. I try not to wear it as tight as it is in this picture. Too much pressure around my head leads to headaches and I suffer from migraines. I do ponytails when I run and all of the locs can fit. In a rubberband, that is. So un-ladylike, I know. I remember always seeing my guy friends wear their locs in ponytails secured with rubberbands and I would be like, "That is so tacky." But honestly...the rubberband is the best ponytail holder. Super secure and it doesn't pop on me. I've popped ALL 24 ponytail holders that I purchased a few months ago. Tragic.
And here's the thing about my locs, they aren't uniform--I mean, each loc looks different.
Most show where I used to latch, others show where I started combining and some have budded all wonky because I would go so long without re-twisting. Even the soldier loc has imperfections in it and that's one loc got the same method of maintenance; frequent re-twisting. I say this to say...I love it. I love that all of my locs are unperfect.
I've been washing every week...sometimes every other week. Dandruff hasn't been an issue and I think it has a lot to do with this insane humidity. I gently massage the scalp each night, but not with oil. I find that my scalp feels better when I'm not loading it up with oil. Sometimes we get in the habit of oiling, oiling oiling, when it reality...the scalp don't even need it. I oil as needed (maybe once or twice a week) with olive oil or Lockology's Mint Medley Oil. I shampoo with Lockology's Mint Medley Shampoo, castile soap and most recently I tried Peter Lamas' Wheatgrass Purifying Shampoo. O.M.G. This may be one of the best shampoos I have ever tried. I received a sample of it on behalf of Clumps of Mascara so the review will be over there. And as far as conditioners, I'm finding that I don't need them. My locs seem to be soft after each shampoo. I use a bit of baking soda every other time I shampoo---just to combat product build-up.
Every other day I've been spritzing a bit of water with peppermint essential oil all over the locs. Aside from it really revitalziing me, it keeps the locs feelin' soft and smellin' good.
Hopefully by the next update, I'll have some more styles. But for right now...I'm chillin'.
I really really love my locs. Oh, and if you see some of these photos on Clumps of Mascara, don't say nothin'. Sometimes I be recycling photos between 4 of my blogs. :)
