Hi everyone, my name is Char, founder of Locs Life! I started Locs Life over 7 years ago, and have had my locs for about just as long. Over that time, I have learned a lot about having locs. Below are some things I have learned along my locs journey.
Lessons Learnt from my 7 Year Loc Journey
1. Weakness Can Be Strengths
When I was a loose natural, I struggled so much with knots.
My hair loves to form single strand knots and fold on itself. That made it difficult to retain length and made styling very much not fun.
This attribute, however, lent super well to starting locs.
My locs formed quickly and retwisting has never been a problem. This thing that had been a source of frustration for many years turned into a strength for locs. It has been ironic in the best way possible.
2. Listen to Your Hair
Over the years, I have learned to listen to what my hair and scalp are telling me.
In the beginning of my journey, I was using a popular shampoo that I liked as a loose natural, and that I had heard worked for many people that were locd as well.
However, my locs felt a bit sticky after using it.
I decided to switch shampoos until I found something that worked for me. Similarly, I learned applying oils directly to my scalp does not work for me. It just made my scalp itchy until wash day!
I decided to listen to my scalp, and pull back on the products I used. Now my scalp feels healthier than ever.
3. Nothing is Perfect
We all know nothing or no one is perfect, but it can be difficult actually accepting it. Especially when it comes to ourselves.
I remember when I first started my locs journey, I did it with two strand twists, and not all the parts were even. Because of that, I redid multiple sections of my locs to the point where I basically restarted my locs journey. However, they still weren’t done in a perfectly neat grid pattern all throughout my head.
I agonized for months on whether I should just completely restart my locs journey to straighten out my loc parts. I started to think, “well what if I want to do a certain hairstyle and my loc parts are uneven!”
However, I realized two things: 1. I hardly do any of those styles anyway, and 2. Even if I do, I don’t need perfect loc parts for me to be happy with the style.
With that out the way, I started to become more and more comfortable with my locs.
4. Your Locs Journey is Yours Alone
Similarly, before I started my locs journey, I looked at a lot of loc growth journeys to try and get an idea of when my hair would get to my “ideal length.”
Spoiler alert, my locs did not grow as fast as I wanted them to.
In fact, my locs even went through a period where I was losing length! While there is nothing wrong with looking to the future, you set yourself up for disappointment if you peg yourself too rigidly to any timeline or ideal.
It has been really important for me to recognize that even though I like having a goal, I still need to remember that things don’t always go according to plan – and that’s okay.
5. Your Locs Are a Reflection of Your Strength
This may seem intense or dramatic, but bear with me.
I truly believe your locs are a reflection of yourself. Specifically, I believe that this includes strength and resilience for everyone that chose to start locs.
There are a lot of preconceived notions of loc wearers in the US.
Even if your friends and family are okay with you having locs, there are many documented cases of employers being overtly discriminatory.
Despite that, many of us continue to have locs. I know for myself I was wary of negative impacts at work. Not everyone in my life was supportive of my locs journey in the beginning, but at the end of the day I was doing it for myself, and not anyone else.
6. Your Locs Should Fit Your Lifestyle
One thing I didn’t necessarily plan for, but worked out in my journey was having my locs match my lifestyle.
I do not like spending too much time on my locs and I do not like spending time at the hair salon. It works for many people, but I knew it wouldn’t for me.
Thus, I knew I would handle the retwisting myself.
Moreover, the size of my locs are on the smaller side, but not too small. I am glad that I went with the size I did, because I know I personally could not handle the upkeep of sisterlocks or microlocs. While beautiful, there is a whole other level of time and dedication that must be spent to care for extra small locs.
7. Everything Changes
Probably the most important lesson I have learned having locs is that nothing is constant!
I have had favorite products discontinued, had locs thin, and I have had to just adjust to having longer locs in general. This has meant some setbacks, as well as a lot of research and learning. However, it truly has been a journey that I would not change.
I am looking forward to seeing what is next in my Locs Life hair journey!
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Final Thoughts on Lessons Learnt on my LOC Journey
Thank you all for reading this guest post. I cannot believe it has already been over 7 years I have been on this locs journey. If you liked this and are interested in locs, then you can check out more over at Locs Life! There you can find locs tips, view styles, and read about others locs journeys as well.
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