The Transformation is Complete

Okay, first letmee explain what has happened over the past few months. Although my “E-locks” or whatever one may want to call them, were born in January and I was and excited about the final transition to natural hair-there were some issues. First, they simply weren’t long enough for me. I had to be able to wear a long and low ponytail in order to get certain training apparatuses on my head similar to a bike helmet. I also had to be able to pull it all up on top of my head in one fail swoop for training exercises. With this said the 5”-6” of length I had after the installation simply weren’t going to let this happen. So I started taking some of the afro kinky hair and began meticulously extending the braids mostly located in the back of my head. I really don’t have any pictures of this process because I would just simply add a few braids every other night until I had actually completed the area on the back of head from mid ear down. Secondly, there was this weird wave or curl that just wouldn’t go away and it was driving me flippin crazy! I spent countless hours pulling, curling my hair and thought that this crinkle, which sort of looked like a permanent braid out would eventually go away! I even started looking for the flat-irons I bought waaay back in the early 90's…yes I was desperate.

Well, after my first retighting and consultation with another natural hair stylist I learned that this crinkle wasn’t going anywhere. That spirally “wavy” thing I had going on was simply the nature of the afro kinky hair that had been used on my hair during the braiding process. Furthermore, I learned that the "braid" pattern itself wasn’t going anywhere either. As my hair would be maintained using the Sisterlock and/or other tools and that hair, of course, would look the part. The rest however, would stay the same until I eventually cut it off. This saddened me the most because I thought that with time the pattern would have dissipated-but I was wrong.

So what did I really have ladies and gentlemen? I had a hairstyle that while beautiful would probably never come close to looking to the thing I dreamed-a head of Sisterlocks. I was disappointed to say the least. Further adding to this was the thinness in the top of my head which made styling the hair in almost decent style impossible. After all, I really had nothing to "curl", "plump up", or "comb-over" to hide the bald spot. I was so disappointed at one point that I thought of just cutting it all off and chalking my hair and the SEVERAL hundreds of dollars I spent to get it done up as a lost. But after I consulted with one of my old natural stylist friends about the thinness and wavy pattern she took a bit of the afro kinky hair and fluffed out some of the locks in the top of my head to help cover the baldness. It look good….damn good! I began to wonder if my entire head (all 420 locks) could be transformed too. The technique she used, was meticulous and extremely time consuming. In fact we decided to break it down into several sessions because it eventually would take 13-15 hours to complete and several sittings to finish. But I, thanks to the tireless efforts, professionalism, and skills of my stylist transformed my hair and really my life. I am forever grateful to her-and after you look at the pictures below you will see why.

Before




After

Before



After

After



Now, I am constantly asked by sisters wanting to know "how long have I had my Sisterlocks?" Little do they know. I frequently catch women looking at my hair with a look of amazement, awe and adoration-whereas before this transformation I usually got that "Gurl, what was you thinking bout'" look or ones of just utter confusion. As a matter of fact I have gotten so many compliments and questions that this has sparked me to finally get to work on this blog that I have been neglecting so.

For now we will call my stylist, friend and hair Savior “K.J”. She has told me that this process could be done on others-but I would suggest that you contact her. She can be reached at nots2locs@aol.com. In closing, my loc story has been an interesting one indeed. Did I think it would take all of this just to find hair happiness and peace? No. Would I do it again? Absolutely. I always say to those with questions about my new look.-“Honey, I am free! I took the shackles off of my hair, my life and my mind.”

Thank you Jesus for giving me kinky, strong, beautiful hair and for bringing people into my life that made it even more stunning.