Love Your Locs

I have been doing a weekly apple cider vinegar rinse for just about a month. I am so pleased with the results and I intend to keep it up consistently.

I mix 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar with one gallon of water. I keep it stored in a 1 gallon container. Once a week, I pour about 1 quart of it into a separate container and take it with me into the shower. I shampoo my hair, rinse out the shampoo, then pour the ACV mixture over my hair and scalp. I let it sit on my hair while I wash up, and then I rinse it out.

After an ACV treatment, my hair feels soft and it looks very healthy.  It has been great for my scalp as well.  The smell is very faint and it disappears when my locs are dry.

Apple Cider Vinegar can help:

• fight dandruff
• remove product buildup
• end hair loss
• increase shine

Please comment and share your experience with using an ACV rinse on your locs!

Well, I haven’t posted in a long time. Graduate school has been taking up a lot of my “free” time. I plan to have new YouTube videos and posts up soon.

Since my last posting, I decided to dye my hair black. I was getting tired of the brown, gold, dk brown mixup that I had before. Check it out:

There has been a recent wave of YouTube lockers combing out their locs. They are taking weeks to meticulously pick out each lock taking care to preserve as much hair as possible. It has caused me to consider when and if I decide to end my loc journey, what path will I choose. Now let me start by saying that at this point I have NO DESIRE to part with my locs. But realistically, I know that there may come a time when I need a change.

While watching the YT videos of some of my loc heroes, I started to wonder if I had the patience or the desire to comb/pick out each of my little darlings. While I completely understand the motivation for doing that, I don’t think that it is for me. I think that if I choose to part with my locs, I will cut them off. It will be my second big chop. I will let my hair grow out as far as I can stand and then cut it off where loc meets loose.

I will enjoy my teenie weenie fro and start my natural hair journey all over again. I will get to know my hair as it begins to grow and develop its new personality.

I have to admit that I was sad to see a few of my “Loc Heroes” end their journeys. It was like losing a friend. I contemplated whether or not I would continue to subscribe to their new loose hair videos. But I decided to continue to support them in their natural journeys. We are all heading in the same direction just on different paths.

I recently received a wonderful message from a sister in Denmark. It was about my appearance on Tyra. I was so happy that she chose to share her story with me and I asked her if I could share it with the readers of my Blog. Here it is!

Hi

I hope everything is well for you!

I want to thank you for your appearence on the Tyra Show you truely inspired me. I was lucky to catch the show online and since the Tyra Show is not out here yet I’ve been mailing out the youtube videos like crazy.

Let me share with you why this is very important here. Black and brown are a minority here-the majority is white. there hasn’t even been a black model on the cover of a magazine here. Other than that the image that is beautiful here is blond, white and skinny.

I feel sad for the many beautiful black women who follow that image-girls here bleach their skin, or use a light shade of powder to look lighter, they dye their hair blond and straighten it. Even the way they dress.

The situation here is there’s a lot of racism more within the tiny black community than between blacks and whites. The worst thing is the dating-guys here prefer light as in white women because that’s the beauty image that’s presented in society.
it’s really sad.

I’m born and raised here in Denmark but have roots in ethiopia, india,eritria, yemen, saudi arabia and egypt. My parents are a mix of the countries mentioned. However, my two sisters and I look very different-I’m the darkest however my hair is the straightest.
I started to cover up my hair for a long time-I started feeling insecure and shy because no matter what I did I wouldn’t be beautiful. I went to the states and suddenly I was popular but I felt disgusted by the fact that it was because of hair and not personality. However, in Denmark your not seen as any form of beauty at all, if your black.
I even remember the teachers in junior high making fun of me and comparing me to a monkey-I was the only black girl in highschool and university.

I’m going back soon to New York hopefully and I want to study this hair situation more-I want to do a study on it and bring it with me to Denmark. Also the term that I read on shampoo labels here it says sometimes “shampoo for normal hair” and I’m thinking is mine not normal.
I hope you might be able to help me.

Take Care
Sarah

Before

After

I cut the locs on an angle to prevent unraveling.  I also did them one layer at a time and one loc at a time.  She did not want them to be all one length and she did not want a blunt cut.  I cut each loc by itself to insure that I did not have any straight edges.  I finger latched her roots when I was done cutting!   We are really pleased with the outcome.

One of my best friends in the whole world said something stupid to me!  The funny thing is, 11 years ago I would not have considered it stupid at all.  Back then, it would have made complete sense to me.  I probably would have agreed.  But now, it is just plain ridiculous.  What did she say?

“Girl, I got to get my hair done.  I got to get rid of these naps!”

Now, I used to know exactly what she was talking about.  I probably made the same statement a million times before.  But how does that sound when you are talking to someone who has embraced her naps?  Are you saying that her hair is never “done”?  Are you saying “that’s okay for you but . . .?” 

As a proud nappy, I have decided that not every conversation about hair has to be an argument.  Not every relaxed head wants a confrontation.  Sometimes it is the subtle comments that are more effective.  Sometimes three words can plant the seed to a garden that will bloom in a few years.

So what did I say? 

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with them naps!!!”

That’s it!  That’s all I said.  After all, she is still a wonderful dear friend.  No matter what hairstyle she chooses, I still want her in my life.  I don’t want to alienate her or make her dread talking to me.  I just want to let her know that I would love her, naps and all!

 

So I did and ACV rinse this morning.  I hate smelling like vinegar until my hair dries.  Actually, I can smell it even after it dries.  I know it is just me, but I love my hair to smell so fresh and so clean clean! 

So this morning I mixed up a little scented spritz.  It is completely for fragrance.  I used distilled water (maybe about 2 cups), about 25 drops of lavender essential oil, about 25 drops of jasmine scented oil, and a little squirt of sweet almond oil.  I sprayed it on while my hair was still wet and now it smells wonderful!!!!  I may add some more essential oil to kick up the scent a bit!

Here is my new YT video for my Herbal Tea Shampoo!!!

All of the years of abuse have taken their toll on my poor scalp. I believe a combination of excessive relaxing and extremely tight braiding has left me with a case of alopecia on the crown of my head. I have to use creative styling to conceal the embarrassing lack of hair.

After consulting with a dermatologist and attempting the medical route, I have decided to take a more holistic approach. I am going to develop my own treatment regiment utilizing the natural herbs and essential oils that promote hair growth. I plan to document my progress in this loc blog.

Herbs that promote hair growth:
Aloe
Basil
Burdock
Nettle
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage

Essential Oils that promote hair growth:
Bay
Carrot Seed
Cedarwood
Chamomile
Lavender
Lemon
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Ylang Ylang

I will be including some of the recipes that I will be using with these ingredients. I will let you know how it goes!

Welcome to the first ever Love Your Locs blog! 

I have been toying with the idea of blogging for a while and I finally decided to go for it!  I have a lot on my mind. After being on the Tyra Show, I really felt the need to say a lot of the things that I did not get to say on the show. It was so frustrating to see all that went into getting there for that show reduced to the little 8 minute edited clip. There was so much that I had planned to say. So many things that I rehearsed over and over again in my head on the flight. So many people that I wanted to reach. But since that did not happen, I am determined to have a voice on my own terms!

So, here it is! Check in often, comment and enjoy!

Visit my website www.loveyourlocs.com