Locs Tag

Short and sweet, I thought I'd try my hand at the classic 20 question locs tag that frequently floats around on Youtube. Enjoy!

1. Do you remember the specific moment you decided you were going to dread your hair? Where were you and how did you feel?

I was probably at home looking at dreadlocked YouTubers and I felt pretty convinced I wanted to do this. I had very vivid visions of me with thick red locs, long and thrown back in a lazy ponytail and that was that. I was ready.

2. What method, if any, did you use to start your dreadlocks?

Finger twists, rubber bands and three-strand-twists were put in by a hair dresser before they were restarted at home with comb coils. Some of my locs were later restarted with two strand twists.

3. How old are your dreadlocks?

My locs are 2 years.

4. What is the length of your longest dread? And shortest?

 My longest dread is 5 inches and the shortest is just over 3 inches.

5. Do you have any dreads that are especially unique, strange, or awesome?

I have few that are just so fat and plump and I love them. I also have a couple of congos (two locs, one base) growing in.

6. How many dreads do you have currently? Is that the same number you started with?

I have 55 locs which is less than half of what I started with.

7. What shampoo or other products do you use on your dreads?

I've been using Cream of Nature's Kiwi & Citrus Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo and raw virgin coconut oil for over a year now.

8. How often do you wash your dreads?

I wash my hair  once every 4-12 days.

9. Do you do any regular maintenance on your dreads?

Maintenance has become quite irregular over the past 5 months. I want my roots to remain thick so I only maintain them on occasion.

10. What are your favourite beads or other decorations?

I occasionally wear silver cuff beads on my dreads.

11. If your dreads had their own personal motto, what would it be?

Haha. I suppose they'd follow my motto in general, as quoted by Usher: " A lady on the street and a freak in the bed".

12. If you could start a new set of dreads, would you do anything differently?

I'd make sure my hair was over 4 inches long before I started and I'd make sure the partings where staggered (brick-lay pattern) so I didn't experience such prominent partings.

13. Is there anything else unique about your appearance other than dreadlocks? (tattoos, piercings, etc).

I have 8 piercings but no tattoos.

14. How many people do you know personally with dreadlocks?

I don't personally know of anyone who has dreadlocks. Apparently my uncle used to have them but I was too young to recall.

15. Have any employers turned you down for having dreads? Any wanted you BECAUSE of your dreads?

I've never been turned down or offered work because of my dreadlocks but I did maintain a job whilst having them.

16. Whats the WEIRDEST question you've gotten about your dreads? DUMBEST? FUNNIEST? Most common?

"How do you do your hair like that?" was pretty common in my first year but I rarely get asked about them these days. I notice people tend to comment on the colour more than anything.

17. Have you ever had a freak accident or an embarrassing moment involving your dreads? 

Fortunately not. They're pretty hazard free at this length though every now and then I'll get them caught on either mine or someone else's glasses, especially as don't retwist my roots as often.

18. Do you have any dreaded role models? If so, who?

I've never had a dreaded role model, I  take inspiration from hundreds of loc wearers

19. What dreaded YouTubers could you see yourself hanging out with in real life?

oceangrins and meroekhalia.

20. Who are you going to Tag?

Everyone reading this questionnaire and I'd really like to get a link to your answers too.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

Year 2

Current Hair Stats:

Colour: Dark Red

Big Chop: 5th January 2012

Loc Birthdate: 3rd April 2012

Current Length: 5 inches

Starting Method: Comb coils and two strand twists

Number of Locs: 55

Maintenance Method: Palm-rolling

Current Shampoo: Crème of Nature Kiwi & Citrus Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo


An account so far:

Day 1: I started out with braids, twists and, rubber bands put in at a salon.
Day 3: I removed the rubber bands and installed comb coils.
Months 1-3: My locs started to form.
Month 4: I had an issue with build up (Organic Root Stimulator Loc & Twist gel) and had to trim my ends and combine locs.
Months 6-7: I started the palm-roll method.
Months 8-9: I experienced severe unravelling.
Month 10: I had my locs professionally maintained at a salon.
Months 11-12: I combined more locs.
Months 13-14: I used the crochet method.
Month 15: I coloured my locs.
Month 16: I did no maintenance.
Months 17-20: I started palm-rolling again and reinstalled some of my locs with two strand twists.
Months 21-24: Growth!

The most difficult part of my journey was between months 8 and 12 when my hair really struggled. I've since learnt that locs, and especially the thicker locs I was trying to attain, need regular maintenance to assist with their formation in the first year or so. I realise that  low maintenance locs have their drawbacks, at least in the beginning, such as greater shrinkage and much slower maturation. Nonetheless, my locs did reach maturity around month 18.

I had noticed that around month 20 my locs were slimmer than they had been at around months 12-15 and I did wonder if this is normal condensation. I've since learnt that frequent retwisting will make locs thinner over time. Having cut back on maintenance over the last 4 months they have thickened up to a size I'm really happy with.

In terms of how they feel and behave, currently they don't have any stretch beyond the root (which thankfully limits shrinkage), and they feel dense and compact. They also hang instead of stick up and frizz isn't a problem any more.

Although my two strand twists in the front are completely entwined they behave in a very different way to the older locs. They stick up a lot now and require more maintenance. They're also a lot slimmer and more stretchy. Being only 7 months old now, they'll most likely take another year or so to reach full maturity.

(click to enlarge)

roots grown out since
last July

a little progress with the
ponytail

I cannot wait for the next 12 months of my journey.


Click here to compare with year one.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Month 22

Oh dear blog, it feels like for ever.

Let me keep things real on this dreadlocking journal. I wish I could upload a reel of cute head shots sporting my luscious mane of flowing locs but currently my hair is so dry, knotty and shrunken beyond belief. I did rinse my hair a couple of times since my last post but I've been so distracted lately I keep forgetting to oil it before it dries and we all know what kinky afro hair feels like when you let it air dry without moisturising it quick.

But my hair has thickened up so much in the past three weeks.

I'm still suffering with dry scalp, it doesn't itch much but it is starved of moisture which makes sense as I never keep myself hydrated (must do better).

I'm about to wash, oil and style my hair and continue this post soon...
________

Update cont. 22 Feb.

My five month old two strand twists are starting to get nice and plump. I have a few pairs of locs that have merged at the roots so I twisted together the ones I liked and popped the others apart. Kind of looking forward to my future two headed dragons (two locs, one base) after seeing all the videos from PeaceandLoveHarmony.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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Update: A Week Later

Hi guys,

Just delivering a brief update from last week.  I've washed my hair 4-5 times since then, massaging in coconut oil and letting it air dry each time. My hair felt dry at first but it's softened a lot in the last day or two.

So you could say I've adopted a wash 'n' go routine. I'm not sure how things will develop from here but since I can't rush nature all I can do is wait it out.

In regards to new growth, I saw a video that has me a little concerned:

thoughts?

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Update: Puffy Roots, New Growth, Length?

Hi all,

I've just washed my hair and am currently sat with a shower cap on feeling deflated. Essentially:

• I'm tired of shrinkage.
• I'm tired of my roots not loc'ing up.
• I'm tired of a retwist being the only option to show my length.
• I'm tired of having short hair period.

It's been months since I examined my roots and running my hands through them today made me smile. But it's because of these puffy roots that the rest of my hair still looks short. My roots are a good 2-3 inches long and my locs are a good 3-4 inches long. It's that half and half thing that really makes them look so odd to me. Now if my locs were 7-8 inches and my roots were 3 that'd be fine.

I remember feeling this way in September and now it's January. I see you all with long locs and I know it's possible, but it's been 21 months already! At first I knew it was the buds that were swallowing up some of the length but over the last month or so I've noticed that my buds haven't  made any visible progress. Actually all progress seems to have stopped in general.

Yes it looks fine when I retwist them and my grandmother certainly approved of my last hairstyle but it feels so limiting, trying to preserve that level of neatness. It's lost its charm.

I don't really know what to do next. I need advice on how to work with short locs without the pinned up grooming. I've decided to give my hair another year before either getting extensions or putting this journey on hold until I have a length I'm comfortable with. 5 inches in almost two years just isn't fair.

I'm going to oil and dry my hair and then leave it until I get some input from you guys :)

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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Twist and Tuck (Faux) Crown Style on Short Locs

Hello all, here's the low key loc style I had last week.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Wide bobby pins (choose from small, medium or jumbo for best hold and comfort - I'm using medium pins).

HOW TO: I set my retwist going all back and once I removed the clips the front fell into a natural side parting. From the front I formed the crown by making two single row flat twists going in opposite directions around the perimeter of my head and secured them at the back. Inside the crown I made more flat twists starting from the top of my head, going down, and secured each one again. I then tucked the ends into the crown until I was happy with the look.

With long locs you can do one complete flat twist going around the perimeter of your head to make a real crown and you'll probably get a nice low ponytail/bun at the back or you could have it to the side.

I knew I wanted something sleek and off my face for when I dreass up but with such short length I couldn't figure out how to make it happen until now.


Love it.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Month 21

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM NATURALOCS

First post of 2014 and this blog just keeps getting better. Hopefully you'll have noticed the fine-tuned layout and improving photographs to come.

Yesterday my locs became one year and nine months old and tomorrow will mark two years since I had my hair cut off.  It's a good feeling. My locs are relatively low maintenance nowadays and I do wonder about what it would be like to stop retwisting altogether but I would like a lot more length before that happens.

My scalp has been dryer than usual so I'm washing my hair a little more frequently (sometimes without shampoo)  and applying coconut oil directly to the worst areas. I wrap my hair every night with a satin scarf and top it off with a satin bonnet and it's making a big difference to the quality of my locs, they stay tidier and moisturised for longer and of course it prevents lint build-up.

I was grateful to learn from MzTeequal that my "slimming locs" are quite normal. She explained that maturing locs get thinner as they compact and that much of the fattening up of locs tends to happen in the budding stage, which makes perfect sense. I'm very happy with the size that I have but I'll keep an eye on the smaller ones.

Next post: Twist and Tuck (Faux) Crown on Short Locs

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Month 20

And in the spirit of the season I wish each of my lovely readers a safe and merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Today my locs have reached the final quarter of their second year and compared to last December they have come a long, long way. It was about this time last year that my locs had just entered what I now look back on as the 'rough stage' when my hair refused to take shape. This year my locs are fully formed and much easier to manage. They're a comfortable 4.5-5 inches un-stretched which isn't much in twelve months but that's ok for now.

My two strand twists are three months old and I've since put in a few more for fullness. They are the most well behaved starter locs I've had. The buds are making their way down towards the tips and the two strand twist pattern is hardly noticeable. I'm looking forward to beyond this phase perhaps in the next three months by which time I'll be closing in on my 2 year milestone.

I'll leave you with a few pictures as always.

finally starting to see a length difference

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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Curly Edition: Twist Out

Hello all, so since I've gained a little more length I thought I'd give styling another go. This time I used two strand twists to create a crinkle effect.

And here are the results:

The best thing about twist outs, as opposed to braid outs or bantu knots, is that you can retain over 80% of your length and still get the textural effect. The only down side is that two strand twists can unravel at the root while they're drying and it results in a less polished look but I just held them in place with duckbill clips.

I think I'm going to wear this style for my concert.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Month 19

I'm just so pleased with my hair this month. my twists are two months old and have progressed so quickly compared to my comb coils. I've coloured them, styled them and shampooed them as normal and they behave just like the rest of my hair. I'm now palm rolling them to help the buds form nicely.

My locs are doing just fine as well, they're growing steadily. A number of locs have a tiny area near the root that seems to be starting to loc up by itself. From the scalp my hair is just a normal retwist but about half an inch down there's this spongy, puffy section that then merges into the rest of the loc. As I mentioned before, I hope this spongy area is a bud but I'm not really sure how this works. I understand that there will always be an inch or so of roots that are never loc'd at any one time but how does new growth become loc'd? Can anyone explain?

I'm still moisturising with 100% virgin raw coconut oil after every wash and I retwist my hair two or three times a month. Ponytails and hats are my go-to styling options nowadays as the twists in the front are starting to stick up more and more. By comparison I'm really noticing how tame and flexible my locs are in the back. 

They actually move now!

Remember to check out the naturalocs tumblr page for extra loc photos.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission**

Update Continued: Budding

Did I guesstimate that budding would begin in a couple of months? Well I think it's started already! I could be wrong but they look an awful lot like my first set of buds, starting at pretty much the same time, I've just noted, so I'm going with it. I was quite unsure sure at first because I didn't retwist after shampooing my hair but I re-coloured recently and noticed several buds when I went through my hair. Most of them seem to have formed where the new growth meets the two strand twist which I first thought was just unravelling but I tried to pull a twist apart and it didn't budge.

Buds: From what I can tell a bud is a swollen bulge that feels somewhat thicker and firmer (but still spongy) than the rest of the loc. They can start at different points in the loc but most commonly towards the middle. Towards the end is common if your locs are particularly short to start out with. They usually form between month 2 and 6.

Now close-ups of locs and buds in particular aren't easy to photograph but I tried to capture a few of them for you:

this is what I hope is a bud on one of my 18 month old locs.
I say hope because my new growth is
now over an inch (as seen by the black roots)
and it hasn't started loc'ing yet.

this is a bud just barely forming. It's not visible
but if you were here you'd feel where it will grow in
(the frizz near the centre)

and my twists are now irreversible from the root

they appear quite distinctly in silhouette here

So far, in almost six weeks I've experienced:

Shrinkage^

Frizz/Fuzzies^

Budding^

And currently all three are happening at the same time i.e. shrinkage started before budding but shrinkage hasn't stopped even though budding has begun and of course frizz will be with us throughout.

For some reason the developing (^macro) stages of baby locs are much clearer to see in these two strand twists than they seemed to be in my comb coils. I'm sure it's due to a number of differing factors including the additional length, and being more informed/prepared and, possibly the starting method too.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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Update/Tips: Two Strand Twists, Frizz & Baby Locs

Just a quick update on how my two strand twists are developing. After shampooing for a second time they are really starting to frizz and knit together. I wouldn't say the two strand twist pattern is fading it's just becoming less obvious under the frizz.

I haven't started palm-rolling my two strand twists yet but I will once they develop some more as I already palm-roll my locs.

They've got a long way to go but I trust they'll form nicely. I have an inkling that budding will be starting in the next couple of months. I'm intrigued to see/feel how they develop in two strand twists compared with comb coils.


Frizz

Experiencing frizz is a brilliant stage to reach for anyone new to the journey and wondering how to deal with their newly developing fuzzies. It can happen in as little as two weeks after installation depending on your hair texture and is usually induced by frequent washing.

From what I can deduce, shrinkage and frizz are the first steps towards developing baby locs and with two strand twists frizz is even more desirable as it will progressively transform the visual appearance of two strand twists into dreadlocks.

Frizz isn't the same as loose hairs but can occur simultaneously, especially with comb coils. Loose hairs are often found coming from the roots and in between the locs themselves. Frizz forms across the shaft of the loc and those hairs will interweave over several months whilst hairs on the inside combine to thicken the loc and solidify it's structure.

To form neater locs you can start palm rolling your frizz, training it to form cylindrically, to your liking. I recommend starting no sooner than three months in or when your locs start to firm up (when you can't reverse the two strand twist).

(Week 5)

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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Month 18

So my last post was pretty full and really deserved to be a topic all on its own so I reserve this one for my eighteen month old locs. Not a lot to report. They're thick and becoming less unruly all the time (aside from the bottom rows that remains curled and crooked). I see the length in my ponytails but I still can't wait for them all too reach my neck/jaw. Getting a lot of loose hair (about 2" long) at the nape line, is that normal?

Really enjoying this colour, especially as the roots have grown in properly. If you want to colour your I really recommend semi-permanent, no ammonia, no alcohol, hair dyes as I personally vouch for how low risk and non-damaging they are even if used three times a month.

I'm back to retwisting twice a month for now and my hair is in great condition in the cooler more humid weather.  I have a feeling shrinkage has come to end (past the roots), so it'll be length, length, length from here on out.

 

DREALOCKS ARE...

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