Friday 13 February 2009

My Journey to Hair Locking


My fascination with locks began when I first watched "Sarafina" the movie about Freedom in South Africa. Whoopi Goldberg was the first person I had ever seen with that kind of hairstyle. After the movie I asked my mum what Whoopi had done to her hair and whether I could do that to. At that age and the kind of mentality held against people with dreadlocks, my mother wasn't going to think of doing it to my hair. SO I kept up with the blowdrying, braiding, cornrows and nights when I couldn't sleep cause my head hurt from the tight braiding. Arrggghhh it was all a bother, then I went to high school, and I decided to relax my hair. Relaxing hair is a complex issue and I salute anyone who can maintain beautiful relaxed hair without a hairdresser. Mine with or without the hairdresser was just a problem. It cut and I decided to cut if further, at first it was difficult to see my hair go, but as my mum says, Hair will always grow back. When it regrew, I cut it again and let it remain Afro. After high school I finally decided to lock my hair.
The multitude of opinions concerning dreadlocks made me rethink the idea for a while, but I took the leap of faith and locked it. I love my locks, they are easy to maintain, complex to understand and just fabulous.
Are you still wondering whether to make the BIG Decision or not? Believe me, I love my locks and I do not regret a moment of having them.

18 comments:

  1. I have had all the hairstyles that exist, but dreadlocks is the only style I've stuck with. I wanted to have a style that works with my natural hair texture and allows it to grow long. Chemical alteration just isn't me, especially if it makes my hair straight.

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  2. Hallo, Kathambi welcome to my blog. Feel at home and please do share more about your locking journey and also feel free to ask questions to get answers from other My dreadlock readers.....

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  3. Hi,
    I'm Joy'Lyn newly locked on July 3, 09. I am having a hard time w/the look, they are tiny and stick up, I know i sound like a baby but i want to love them short and long I need some help....

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  4. Hallo Joy'Lyn,
    Welcome to the locked society. I definitely understand when you talk about new locks, they almost make you change your mind about locking. Don't give up, they look better with time especially after they lock, that takes between 6 to 8 weeks before they lock depending on your hair type.
    When I started locking, I moved away from my loctician and forgot to carry my gel with me. I had to stay for about a whole month after my second twisting without doing a thing to them. They looked horrendous I almost removed them, but I started wearing a wig and I would look all great without worrying about my locks, while the locks continued to grow and lock under the wig. After they locked then I threw away the wigs, and I have been wearing my locks since.
    If you still want to wear the locks without having to wear a wig, I would suggest you wash and redo your locks every fortnight and you won't really notice them sticking up.

    Hope I answered your question and hope to see you more often at mydreadlocks and lets share the locking journey together.

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  5. My locs are close to 2 years old. At first they were soft and spongy like. Now they feel hard and dry and look dull. How do I regain the soft, shiny, beautiful locs I started with?

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  6. Hallo Anonymous,

    I would suggest you try and change the products you are using on your hair. Don't use very harsh products that dry out the hair follicles eg Shampoos and soaps that contain too much Sodium hydroxide dry up the hair a lot. Oil your hair using olive oil that moisturises your hair and scalp.

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  7. hey,
    im kahmil i've had my locs for 10mths now there still not completely locked becuz of my hair texture which is very curly. my locs are on the med. to thick size but im looking to make them thicker.I'm wordering how should i go about that?

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  8. Hallo Kahmil, all locks differ from the others. If you take good care of your locks they eventually thicken. You just need lots of patience.

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  9. Thanks for making this site! I've seen sister locks before and I LOVE them but I didn't know what they were called or all the history behind them... I thought u have to have a certain grade or texture of hair but now that I've found what looks like a few salons in the area, I'm making an appointment ASAP! THanks again!

    t.

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  10. Hallo Teaira,

    I'm glad you found the website and got what you were looking for. Please do share your experience with My Dreadlocks and feel free to send suggestions on anything you would like to see here.

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  11. my hair soft and curly and i am on my 4th month of locking but they still not locked can u give me any advice,should i were a durag alot so it can mate down??

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  12. Hallo Anonymous,
    It all depends on your method of locking. I haven't heard of any method that is speeded by wearing a durag but all locks are different and unique. Some take longer others take a shorter time to lock. 4mths is not too long. Are they completely not locked or have they only locked at the tips? If it's only at the tip and not the whole strand then it's normal. Mine took quite a while before all the locks had locked throughout their length

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  13. Sema chic! Someone sent me your blog and Im enthralled :). I have had locs since 2006, at shoulder length now. Should be longer but I only get them done quarterly and I also have very kinky hair.

    Anyway next time I get them done which is very soon, I shall send you a pic to post if you have a section for fellow lockers. Keep up the good jobo!

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  14. Sema mrembo, I'm happy you enjoyed the blog. Why don't you do your locks yourself? Look around the blog for articles on how to do your own locks and incase of questions on how to do it better drop me a line. Karibu sana and i'll definitely be waiting for the beautiful pics to share.

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  15. Hello to everyone my name is Subrinia and I just recently started growing my hair in locks. I feel that this way is a healthier way to wear my hair. There is just one thing that makes me wonder about locks is people's reaction to them.
    why do sisters with relaxed hair kinda hate on the sisters with locks?

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  16. Hallo Subblogan1,
    hope you are enjoying your locking journey so far. The only thing in life you can control is your reaction to how others treat you. A smile always confuses a frown. If you as a locked sister smile to a relaxed sister, they feel less apprehensive. I definitely don't understand the love hate relationship between locked and relaxed, but maybe you can check out the post My Babies turn 2

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  17. Hey nice blog goin on here. So recently, I've been debating whether or not I want to get dreaded and I think I'm going to get them. I'm biracial (black and white) and I know there's a lot of different methods for locking hair. My hair is soft with loose curls and kind of bushy I guess. What I was wondering is which method I should use for locking my hair...?

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  18. Hallo Izziah,

    for caucasian hair, I advice you use the back combing method or the dread perm. This will depend on your patience and also the size of your budget. If by any chance you got the kinky african hair and not the straight caucasian hair, then you could try twisting (you can do it yourself) or the Sister(brother)locks if you can find someone to do them for you regularly.

    Consider how much time you are willing to spend on your hair, how much money, flexibility of the method and what type of hair you have before choosing a method.

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