Maybe this sounds obvious, but my hair lives with me.
Like hair can have character, but my hair is an actress and her existence is a performance.
Just as life has stages and phases, locs have stages and phases too.
I decided to loc my hair in the summer of 2021. It was about two months before I was meant to return to my undergrad institution to finish my last year of school. Some people get locs for the aesthetic or the ease. As I felt the loc stylist coil my hair into place with a comb, I asked myself why I didn't get it done sooner. Now remembering how many times I would cornrow my hair to crochet faux locs in, I probably thought I had them. Called to get them forreal, I got comfortable in the chair as it felt like this was going to take at least two hours, not counting the hair washing process. Why? I just have a lot of hair.
After getting my hair loc'd, it looked similar to the top left photo minus the root puffiness. At that point in the photo, I wanted to rinse my hair and that's how it had dried. I know many people on YouTube talk about not washing their hair for lengths of time, but I work out often and live life and that was unrealistic for me. Often in the summer, I can work out twice a day or be outside longer, thus the need for at least two showers a day some days. On days that I needed a wash or rinse, I'd put on a wig cap and let the water (or soap) work. I would try to let it dry with either a wig cap or durag on while either out in the sun or under a blow dryer. In addition to this, I'll use an oil (preferably Argan) and massage my scalp well at the end and beginning of the day. After a while, I might retwist the roots, but for the most part, I wrap the extra hair around the roots and hope it stays long enough to tangle.
These days, I keep my hair wrapped a lot. At the beginning of my loc journey, I could throw on wigs, but now--2 years in--the thickness of the locs don't allow that without trying to flatten them whether that's a small bun or a couple of braids away from the face. Often, I let them breathe in the sun or shake my head to get some air into them. For me, wigs allowed a change in identity for a moment, but as I write this I ask why change who God called you to be. Maybe that's what locs do: they remind us that no man, no woman, and especially no wig will ever change who we really are no matter how much we are searching to look different. There's so much glory in that. I feel like when I wear my locs out, people are awe-struck like "oh you're like that for real?" As if the wig or the braid or the hair wraps were stifling my aura or identity. I said at the beginning that my hair is more than a character. It's an extension of me in how I wear it, cover it, or cut it. Wigs only extend so far. Maybe that's why people feel like they can't recognize us Black women and girls when there is a hair change. They can't feel us at those moments then.
Hope y'all feel me now.
All the Best,
CLG (Clarreese La'Nay Greene)
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