Natural Entreprenuers: Rachel Stewart

Lawd, I can't believe I haven't bragged about Rachel Stewart yet. I remember first finding her site from Clutch Mag and falling in love. Like OMG...how does someone's online presence radiate like that? I really want to be her friend in real life because she seems THAT dope. And the sista is talented. The gorgeous headband that I am rocking was made by her. Check out her blog here for other beautiful pieces of jewelry and hair wear. Tell her B from LocRocker sent you.

And if you're bored enough, you can check out the video where I sported my Rachel Stewart.

Don't fret, I mention her in the first minute of the video so you don't have to sit and listen to my rambling about a mascara. I know er'body ain't a beauty nut like me. :)

You go, Rachel! Will continue to support and brag about you all day long!

Natural Hair Show '10: When Curls meet Locs

Trust me when I say I ain't no celebrity, y'all. Far from it. But every now and then, I run into people who have read one of my blogs. They run up on me and be like, "Are you B from Clumps?" This ALWAYS catches me off guard. But I always respond with a slow and jovial "Yessss...." Such was the case when I ran into my girl Stefanie. She was at the Hair Show and was one of the gorgeous curly-heads working with Miss. Jessie's.

It went something like this...

Recognition: CHECK
Arms open to receive hug...CHECK

Random rambling and complimenting of each others' hair: CHECK

Posing for pic: CHECK

Stefanie is just so beautiful and we had a wonderful time chattin' it up.




Other posts from 2010 World Natural Hair show:
A Look at Uncle Funky's Daughter

Me + My Locs=?

Well y'all, this may be the last post I do about my hair in a while. I'm just in one big rut and I'm going to have to stay there and sulk silently. And I'm not even being all dramatic this time around. I'm really not digging the locs too much right now.

But don't worry...I'm not going to cut them off. I did the one thing that always makes me feel better about my hair.

That's right dammit. I promised myself that I wouldn't color them until the married locs completely loc'd but whatever. And it's not like I went out and got this color. I received a sample of it to review for Clumps of Mascara and that box kept staring at me, y'all. Aaaand, I haven't done an all over color since what? October? Come on...that's pretty good for a color-obsessed fool like myself.

I know I said I wanted to go red but hmmmm....not really. Red all over? Hmm...yeah. But I was desperate for some action in my hair so I applied the color. It got red FAST. Fast, y'all. I took my girl Ness' advice and did an herbal rinses. I grow herbs but don't grow rosemary so imagine my surprise when I found out that my grocery store sells herbs. They ain't fresh, locally grown or organic but they'll do.

Brewed 'em and threw in some lavender drops, let it chill and used it as my last rinse. It.was.amazing! Will be doing these rinseses a lot often.


Check out this new growth!!

Mind you I re-twisted a good two weeks ago. Craziness! And what is this?

LOL! It's straight hair. So funny. I decided not to re-twist. The red is okay. I'm not in LOVE with it but it'll do. I still plan to go lighter and do some streaking but my loctician will be doing all that. In the meantime, this will work.

My face says it all. I've got like 2 inches of afro hair all over. It's just...funky and I don't know if I like it.

These rubber bands freak me out. But not more than the 2-strand twist lookin' locs. However, this weekend they didn't bother me too much. It feels good to be re-acquainted with the loose natural hair at the roots. If I wanted to BC right now, I'd have a nice sized TWA to work with. The freeform look is refreshing. I kinda like it. But then again, during the weekend, I am completely boho chic. I think I'll have to re-twist the front for work.


I've also divorced a lot of my married locs. Some were larger than I liked. And now I've got a head full of thin locs and thick locs. Crazy. But I don't care. Goodbye uniformity. Hello un-decisiveness. I'm not diggin' the thin locs but the larger locs aren't making me happy either.

Whatev. I need to sit down somewhere, leave my hair alone and call it a day.

Like Mrs. Honey Dip says, "Who says hair isn't emotional?" It is, y'all. But like everything in life, you have to learn to take it in stride and do what makes you happy.

Say goodbye to pics of my locs for awhile. The next few posts, we're going to focus on other thangs.

Stay tuned! And as always, thanks for the love and unconditional support. Loc Rocker is supposed to be helpin' y'all but your comments and emails have REALLY been helping me too. Awww...*group hug*

My corny self..lol!

Got locs? Denied!!

Click the above photo to read the article and watch the video.

This pisses me off to no end. Like...it's bad. Granted companies like Six Flags have the right to decide who they want to represent their company but that doesn't make me, a loc rocker, feel any better about this. I actually feel like writing an entire dissertation on it but I won't. What do y'all think?

Kinky vs. Curly

Did you know that there's a difference? A lot of brands try to make us naturals feel that there isn't a difference but there is. I've realized this within the first year I was natural. I spent months trying products from Miss. Jessie's, Kinky Curly and Carol's Daughter only to get my feelings hurt.

You see, my hair ain't curly. Ain't nothin' curly about it. I don't have spiral-y tendrils. It doesn't get curlier when it gets wet. It's not wavy. My hair is thick and coarse. Pre-locs, when it got wet, it would shrink up. I have straight up nappy hair. With no shame. When I first started my journey I mistakenly thought that curly and kinky meant the same thing. I thought that products for curly hair would work for my hair texture. That they would loosen up my curl pattern and gave me more of a curl than a kink.

#FAIL

Chime in, my 4a and 4b sistas. Have y'all ever been confused or bamboozled by the term "curly"?

Natural Hair Show '10: Uncle Funky's Daughter

It may take a few weeks but I am going to start cranking out posts about my experience at the World Natural Hair show in Atlanta. Usually when I go to events like this, I have to take someone with me to help me out. As a blogger, I have to not only secure interviews, but receive/pass out business cards, take pictures, tweet, record videos and chit chat with whoever I come across. It's a hard job so I am always grateful when I can force get a friend or family member in that city to help me out.

Yay!

On to the coverage we go...one of the largest vendors at this year's show was Uncle Funky's Daughter.

Now why haven't I heard of them before? Have y'all? On the first day of their show, their booth was d-ed up. Which is slang for "crowded". I was bumpin' fro's and locs just to make my way over. This Houston, Texas based salon and boutique was quite the crowd please-r. And rightfully so. They had great t-shirts!!

Comparisons: Back of the head

Okay, so here is my start of taking comparison shots of the locs. I've been getting a lot of requests to do this. More coming soon!!

Locs at 16 months...

I almost forgot to post this. I got an email from a reader who said something along the lines of, "Don't think we forgot that you're supposed to be doing monthly hair updates." Hahaha! The promise was every other month hair updates, remember? But here we go!

What can I say about my locs at 16 months? For the past two months, I've been combining them.  Look how much thicker they are!

I've had a total love/hate relationship with this experience. I know that it's necessary but I don't like it. I'm not 100% happy with how my locs look right now. Water seems to help them loc together quicker so I've been washing at least every week or every other week. At first the married locs did well on their one. But I noticed that many of them unraveled and produced those wretched 2-headed dragon locs. No me gusta. So I've used rubber bands to keep the ends together.

I HATE this look. It looks so...un-loc-ish and just...weird. After a wash and a week or so, the rubber bands come out.

Can I be honest? Part of me wants to take these locs down and just start over. I am that unhappy with them right now. But I know it's just a phase. In the end, I will happier with stronger and thicker locs and I have to keep reminding myself that this is a journey. And it ain't supposed to be all gumdrops and sprinkles the entire way.

Although I've been going through my own personal loc'd trials and tribulations, I have a greater appreciation for natural hair and locs, in general. The World Natural Hair Show in Atlanta put me on cloud nine, ten and eleven.

I'm also doing a lot of styles. Like...a lot. Straight locs are a thing of the past. Curling the babies take too long so I've been trying to do style them myself.

Still can't get a hold of that basket weave thing. And I've been hooked up with styles from the professionals.

I've been using the Heads and Shoulders 2-in-1 and the locs seem to love it. My dandruff is still out of control but my scalp doesn't itch as much.

And check this out...I haven't had a problem with build-up since visiting my loctician in February. This is a HUGE plus for me.

Re-twisting via palm rolling with Organics Root Stimulator is still the way to go for me. Another plus about combining the locs is that you can't see where I've latched. Which is a good thing!

So yeah...this update is different from my others in that I'm not THAT happy with where my locs are right now. Most of my updates are full of love and adoration for my hair but this whole combining thing has me in a rut. My hair is fuzzier than ever but I don't even care about that anymore. Let's hope the locs can magically combine themselves before I chop them off. I'm kidding...kinda.

Oh...just how many have I combined? I went from 190-somethin' locs to 109. Wow-sers!! And now I'm thinking they are TOO thick. I know...I just can't be satisfied, uh? HA! At this point..I don't know what to do other than just deal with what I got and hope that I learn to love them again.  Not that I hate them but....um, yeah...you know. Once these babies combine, I'm going to visit my loctician and get a bad summer color.

Oh....yeeeeah! There is ALWAYS something to look forward to.

Natural Entreprenuers: LocXurious

Twitter is like the International 'Find A Friend' meeting space. I ain't lyin', y'all. I am always running across someone who I am inspired by. I'm not sure how I ran into @Locxurious but I am so glad I did. It took no time for me to order from her shop. She sells handmade loc/natural hair adornments, earrings, natural hair products and necklaces. And everything is moderately priced. Loves it! I scooped up...

The "Baby You're A Star" loc adornment.

Love love LOVE this one.

The loc adornment with the scissors charm. Super unique. I haven't put it in my hair yet. I may need some help with that one.

And some fabulous green-y leaf earrings.

She knows I'll be back. In the meantime, check out her shop here and tell her that B from LocRocker sent you. I just loooove supporting fellow entrepreneurs.

Oh, and remember the post on loc'd love? Her and her man qualify too.

Hotness!!

What's the REAL reason why you went natural?

Do y'all get this question a lot? Lord knows I do. I never really give a good answer because I think I forgot. LOL, no really...I went natural almost 5 years ago. I was 20 years old. I literally have to sit in a dark room and be super quiet to even remember what I was going through at that age. Luckily I've got a crap load of journals to remind me.

The above photo is of me hangin' out in my dorm room. At this point I had already decided that I was going natural and was transitioning through those awful edge-snatchin' micros. This photo was taken sometime in February and the 2 months earlier I had the WORSE perm experience ever. I spent $70 of my hard earned [student loan, lol] money on a perm that barely took. To make matters worse, the fool cut off a good 2 inches of my hair. Now the latter is normal. I mean, ask any Black woman on the streets about an experience with a stylist and getting what she thought was a "trim" and you'll see an angry re-enactment of the event.

Anyway...after that, I was done. I was sick of perms. And I was sick of stupid stylists always cutting off my hair. I was sick of my hair never taking a perm and when it did, I only sweated it out 2 weeks later. I was also getting heavily involved with my Africana Studies minor (later turned major) and was on this "I need to be me naturally" tip. I started wearing Black Power t-shirts and everything. I always felt like my inner fire and desire for all things Afrocentric did not match up with how I looked on the outside. Not that there's a certain look that one needs to have to be afro-conscious but I wanted to really uplift my blackness and thought that one of the best ways to do that was to go natural.

There's my story.

What's yours?

Afro Glitz Web Awards!

My girl Gee over at Afro Glitz is having Web Awards for natural hair websites. They are a lot of cool categories. Get your votes in stat!!

Texture shots at 15.5 months...

First of all...I feel SO goofy giving my locs an age beyond a year old. Seriously. When I was home my Mom goes,

"How long have you had your locs?"

"Um...almost 16 months."

"Hahahaaaa!! Bri-tah-ney, you act like they're kids or something!"

Some things you just can't explain, right? Only naturals and loc'ers know the "age" of their crown. I love it. :) My girl Nessa gave me the idea to show texture shots of the locs; something I never do. I've got this new camera and I swear y'all...I don't know how to act. I'll take a picture of a straw and make it look "artistic". HA!

I posted a ton of picture on Clumps of Mascara last week. The post is about a make-up tutorial but the locs are definitely making their appearance. ;)

Quick shots at the hair show...

If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably already seen a lot of these. I will do a formal review with tons of photos but until then, here are some "off the dome" thoughts.

-Seriously, the BEST show I've been too. There was so much love and falling in love with each other hair styles.

-Sooooo many loc rockers. All kinds of locs, locs on kids, locs on Grandmamas, short locs, long locs, yarn locs, curly locs, free form locs, thick locs, Sisterlocks...locs galore!

-I love how the show covered all naturals: loc'ers, kinky haired folx, naturals who wear wigs/weaves, naturals who straighten their hair, etc.

-I asked my homie to come me and take pictures (little did he know that I was using him b/c of my obsession with his locs) and he practically stole the show. People kept stopping us wanting to take pics of his hair. He was even asked to be a hair model for one of the shows. -side eye- His locs ain't THAT hot. Hahahaaa!

-Many of the vendors came from all over. I even saw the natural hair salon from my hometown, Tallahassee. This show attracts salons, jewelers and natural hair product makers from all over.

-The attendance was the same. I met folx from Virginia, Wisconsin and even Orlando! Crazy how I met people who live in the same city as me in another city!

....more to come. In the meantime, start making arrangements to attend next year. This is a MUST ATTEND show, y'all. I'm not playin'. It is amaziiiing!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

The 5 stages of locs

Gosh, this is something that I should have posted a LONG TIME ago. I still refer to it every now and then and it helps put my journey into perspective. I got it from from Lisa who got it from the book Nice Dreads by Lonnice Brittenum Bonner. Great read, by the way. I don't own it but I borrowed it from a friend.

This post will be a sticky in the right column of LocRocker to help other prospective loc'ers and those on their journey. Keep in mind that there is no timeline when all of this should be happening. Remember---everyone's hair texture and method of loc'ing is different. Stay on your path and stop complaining about the fuzzies enjoy the journey!

Feel free to add any other characteristics that you've noticed in your coils, buds, teenagers and beyond!

Enjoy!

The 5 stages of locs/dreads

1. Coils — Coils resemble tightly coiled springs that look like baby spirals and can be as small as a watch spring or fluid and loose as fusilli. Hair can be as short or as long as one likes. The key factor here is that your hair is able to form and hold a coil, but the hair within the coil has not yet begun to intertwine or mesh.

2. Sprouts and Buds — Known as Sprouting or Budding is that miraculous moment when the magic has begun. First, you shampoo your hair and notice that all of a sudden, the coils don't all wash out like they used to. You may notice that some of your coils have little knots of hair in them, about the size of a small pea. This knot is more or less the nucleus of each lock; the hairs in your coils have begun to intertwine and interlace. Individual coils may seem puffy and lose their tightly coiled shape; this is part of the process and shouldn't be disturbed. What is important here is to keep the original scalp partings, to allow the spinning process to become established for each individual lock. Don't redivide your budding locks, twist them to death, or get to patting them down, trying to make your hair look "nice," because you'll just end up with a badly packed, busted-out do.

3. Teen or Locking Stage — This is when the buds and sprouts truly begin to look like locks and few, if any, locks shampoo out or come out during sleep. The peas you saw and felt in the budding stage have expanded, and the hair has spun into a network of intertwining strands that extend throughout the length of individual locks. The locks may be soft and pliable or feel loosely meshed, according to your hair's texture. This is the growing stage of lock development, and it extends into the lock's mature stage. Shampooing doesn't loosen these locks. They have dropped, which means they have developed enough to hang down versus defying gravity. This is when you start to relax and feel more confident about locking.

4. Mature Stage — Each individual lock is firmly meshed or tightly interwoven. Some loosely coiled hair textures may retain a small curl or coil at the end of the locks, but most will probably be closed at the ends. You will begin to see consistent growth because each lock has intertwined and contracted into a cylindrical shape. Think of each individual lock as a hair strand in itself. The new growth is contained in the loose hair at the base or root of each individual lock, and regular grooming encourages it to spin into an intertwined coil that will be integrated with the lock.

5. Beyond Maturity — Think of this stage as akin to the shedding stage of hair growth. After many years, depending on the care you have lavished on your locks, some locks may begin to thin and break off at the ends. For the most part, this deterioration can be minimized and controlled by monitoring the ends of your locks for signs of age and getting regular trims.

Reason #42 why I will stay natural...

For Easter, I headed home to visit some of the fam. It wasn't until we were getting ready to head out until I realized how much freakin' time my Mom and sister spend on their hair.

Now granted, little sister's crop is cute and healthy.

But Lawd! 20 minutes? And hair in the sink and on the floor?

And let's not even get started on my Mommy. She's got 3 curling irons...

They spend a good 20 minutes each combing and curling and brushing and parting and spritzing. Did I really go through all of that when I was perming? Did I really spend 20 minutes just on my hair? Did I really flat iron or curl it almost every day?

Oh hells nah...if all of that ain't reason enough to stay natural, I don't know what is.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, while they spent 29 years doing their hair, I spritzed the locs with Juices and Berries, put on some liner, gloss and blush and was 'ret to go!

Almost 5 years of having natural hair and I just don't miss the perm duties. Do you?