Should I Feel Insulted?

Hey you all! Looky looky now--two posts in one day! But this is one that I meant to do several days ago and then I got caught up in the turkey day preparations...

Anyway, here it goes--long story short...a coworker and I were talking the other day, and she commented about the loc style that I had going on, you know, saying how much she liked how it looked, how I always had an interesting style goin' on, etc. she then asked me if I could ever take my locs down if I wanted to and then she made a comment about how usually she doesn't like the look of locs because she's seen a number of white people with them and they always looked dirty and nasty, and so on. She then made a very pointed comment--"but yours always look really clean and well kept and I just gotta ask, how do you wash that STUFF?!" I looked at her (with a slight *cut you off at the knee side eye*) and responded "the same way you wash your "stuff"! Now, we get along quite well (she's white) and all, but I did feel a small dig of indignation at my hair being called "stuff" as if it were a giant dirtball or something. Said coworker quickly came back with "I wasn't trying to insult you; you know what I mean, how do you wash your hair, locs, or whatever you call them!" Now, I want to feel and truly believe that she really meant no harm but...how do you refer to someone's hair--anyone's hair as "STUFF"? To tell you the truth, this one phrasing has insulted me more than any other comment that has been made about my hair in the almost three years that I've been loc'd. So tell me the honest truth y'all--am I being just way too sensitive? Love to hear your take on this! Blessings!

Same Old Argument...Again!

Thanks to Brittany (hey b girl!) from the Loc Rocker blog (http://www.locrocker.com/2010/11/going-natural-makes-news.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook) for this one. (check out her blog--it's great!) But my question--why are we still having to worry/prove our professionalism when it comes to how we wear our hair? In my mind, someone that uses intelligence and tact to perform their job to their highest ability in the workplace is a professional; professionality (is that a word?) is NOT dependent upon how one wears their hair. Let me tell y'all, I've seem some "melanin deficient" (HAHAHA! a friend's term for "white people") folks looking truly like who-did-it-and-why in the workplace, and their "professionality"
wasn't/isn't questioned, regardless of what they look like or how they wear their hair? I mean really, have we not progressed at all?!? WTF?!? I AM PROFESSIONAL because I act professionally, no matter if my hair is permed, natural or loc'd. 'Nuff said...blessings!

YES...I AM STILL AROUND!!!

Hello all of my fellow loc'rs! Yes, I am still around, although I haven't updated in quite a while. I'll give you a short synopsis of what has been going on in my life and with my locs. In my last posting I believe that I mentioned that work was really stressing me out and taking up quite a bit of my time (boy, what an understatement!) Anyway, if I didn't say that, I'm saying it now...my (almost) entire life has been consumed by work. This, however, will be changing drastically in about 8-10 weeks. My store, of which I am the manager, will be permanently closing and I will be among the unemployed. Now, before you weep for me and gnash your teeth, don't feel bad for me. I feel bad that the store is closing and I feel badly for my coworkers losing their jobs, but I don't feel badly for myself and neither should you. In fact, the day I found out about the closing, I'd given my manager notice that I was stepping down from the manager position due to health issues. I've been having ongoing problems with an irregular heartbeat and chest pains and a possible ulcer and of course, these problems can be majorly aggravated by inordinate amounts of stress. So, although I did struggle with making the decision to step down from the post, once I'd made the decision I felt so much better because I knew that the stress levels would eventually level out. Now, it's just a matter of getting through the liquidation process. I've got several options and irons in the fire right now, and I know that S/He WILL NOT let me fall so all will be as it should be. The other thing that I need to now concentrate on is getting my health in a better place.

Now, to keep this loc related: I will soon be three years loc'd (january 4, 2011)--I can hardly believe it! Remember my first posting--it was in celebration of my 6 month anniversary. WOW--it seems like such a short time ago. My locs were really just baby comb coils and very, very small--seems like my head was huge then and now...the locs have matured beautifully and they are past my shoulders. I've just left them alone to do their thing and they have done their thing very well with very little direction from me. I don't have a really good pic right now--will have to get someone to take one for me as my reach isn't long enough now to show the full length LOL! I'll get a couple of pics posted soon so that you all can see. My hair is healthy and I'm happy, especially since I can do all sorts of updo's now (updo's are my favorite!) My locs are still evolving as is my spirit and both are evolving for the better. Blessings to all of you that have hung in with me and have prayed with me and for me as I have prayed for all of you. Wishing you all well in your journeys and I hope to be back to regular postings soon. Blessings, hugs and peace...

Quick Update Posting...

Hello loc'd divas! No, I haven't forgotten about you all; I just haven't had time to update on the regular like I should be doing. Not a whole lot to report at this time--the locs are growin' along, getting longer, still strong and healthy. I'm almost at the 2.5 year mark (july 4th) and still lovin' the journey. They are long enough to gather into a pretty decent pony on top of my head and the ends just kinda splay out all over the place--I love this semi-wild look! I'm able to do some updo's now and I'm lovin' it! Check out my pics below:




Still doing the semi-freeform thing also and I'm just absolutely loving it! Very rarely (2-3 months, maybe longer) do I palmroll the roots, now the maintenance routine is wash, pop, spritz on a little oil/water/eo mix and go. When I do palmroll, I don't always clip the hair. Seems to be working just fine for me! Will add more to this blog soon, I promise! Keep it loc'd, divas! Blessings...

Just A Story From Today...

Hi folks! Just thought I'd share a little story about something that happened to me today at work. As y'all know, I work as a retail manager. Anyway, a gentleman walked into my store, and as I happened to be the closest sales person to him, I spoke to him and offered assistance. His response, "do you work here?" I said "yes" and then he said, "can I ask you something about your hair?" I again said "yes". He then proceeds to ask about his "locs" (they were obviously newly set in--coils or finger twists really)--"how long does it take for your hair to loc?", "my hair is kinda straight and I've had these in for a month, why aren't they loc'd yet?", "what do you use on your hair to twist them?", etc. First off, I thought this was a slightly odd conversation to be having with a REALLY COMPLETE STRANGER in the middle of a fabric store. Secondly, his questions, and his responses to my answers, led me to believe that he'd not talked with anyone about the process of locing; it seemed as if he'd just decided to get his hair "twisted/loc'd up" one day without doing one iota of research--even if it was just talking and asking questions of others that he perhaps knew that were loc'd, or even asking questions of the person that did his baby locs. I asked all kinds of questions and read everything I could get my hands on about locing before I took the plunge; I stalked fotki albums, I devoured articles/videos on YouTube, I joined several forums dedicated to locs. The concept and the process truly fascinated me. Am I just crazy/obsessive/compulsive, etc? I just can't imagine doing something like this and not being curious about what I was getting into! What's your opinion? Even if it is just hair (which, by the way, is not the way I feel about my locs), seems like you would want to know something about a major process like growing locs. Anywho, leave your comments, I'd like to know what you think! Blessings!

HEADWRAP TUTORIAL--BY REQUEST!

hey folks--here it is: the headwrap tutorial! thanks for watching and i hope you enjoy and learn...blessings!

PIPE CLEANER SPIRAL SET---UPDATE!

Hey there, folks! Well, I promised an update on the pipe cleaner spiral set and ...there is no update! LOL Well, sorta an update...the experiment was a bust, at least this time around. Guess i need to practice my technique for rolling up the locs, 'cause the curls just weren't "spiral" like they came out in the YouTube demo videos. I dunno--maybe I just don't have enough length yet for the curl to look right? maybe i need to do only one loc per pipe cleaner, instead of the two that I did (but in Chescaleigh's vid she rolled two at a time and her locs are super long!) Anyway, guess I'll practice up and try it again, maybe this weekend--oh wait, that means I'll be rolling hair during the Super Bowl...Aww, what the heck--anything for the sake of beautiful, spiral locs HAHA! I'll take pictures this time--good, bad or ugly, all right?!? Blessings...

SHAKE DEM LOCS!!!

hey all! thought i'd cross post this video that i have up on youtube--it's a response to shaggylocs7's "shake dem locs" tag. this was really fun to do! check out his channel--he's got skills! blessings to all of you!

YOUR THOUGHTS/COMMENTS, PLESE!!

Hello my loc family! Hope your day has been well. Just gotta ask your opinion on this because it's still bugging the crap outta me. Remember a couple of posts ago I mentioned about being b*&%?@'d out by a customer in my store because of my gele (headwrap) and bindi? Well, I just thought I'd post a pic or two of a gele that I've worn to work and ask your opinion as to the appropriateness/professionalism of the look. Now, the pics that I'm posting show what I would consider an "everyday" type of wrap look--nothing overly ornate or dramatic, and the fabric colors, while very vibrant and colorful, are not what I would call "over the top" for a retail work setting. What's your opinion? After speaking about the incident with my superior, he assured me that as far as he was concerned, I'd not violated the company dress/uniform code (which is black or khaki pants/skirt, black polo-style shirt or red polo-style shirt. Almost 100% of the time, I wear all black--just doesn't show as much "stuff" as would khaki!) and that I was good. If you were to deal with me face to face, would you be offended by my wearing the wrap and the bindi (of course, you would be treated courteously and professionally at all times!) Thanks for the input!

MY EXPERIMENT WITH PIPE CLEANERS

So, I'm trying to come up with some different styling ideas for my locs. Not that I don't think they look fine as is, but you know...a girl likes to change up her look every once in a while. Anyway, I've tried using the perm rods for curling--maybe i'm using rods that are too large for the length that I have, but the resulting curls were big and loopy--not the elongated spiral that I really wanted. Oh, the style was really cute and I did like it, it just wasn't what I was envisioning. I've been surfing Youtube, and viewed several tutorials about using pipe cleaners (chenille stems to some of you) to set your locs. They seem to be just what the doctor ordered--CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP (I'm just saying, these days you gotta save where you can!) and they seem to produce a beautiful spiral curl. I just got back from Wal-Mart with 50 pipe cleaners; now to experiment with the "pipe cleaner spiral rod set" technique! Will post the results in a couple of days--in the mean time, give me your thoughts and suggestions for styling ideas, fellow loc'rs...blessings to you all!

TWO YEAR LOC ANNIVERSARY PHOTOS, AS PROMISED!!!

Hello everyone! Hope your Sunday was well; mine was wonderful. I attended a very spirited church service today and spoke with the minister of music about getting back in the choir (not that I was kicked out or left voluntarily--my work schedule prevents me from consistently attending rehearsals.) Hopefully, I can work out a customized rehearsal schedule--I really miss singing and if I'm still missing it this much, especially since I've been gone for almost five years, then I think God is trying to tell me something.

Anyhow, here are the promised two year loc pics--I hope you all enjoy them! Many thanks to my daughter for taking the pics (seems that I've neglected taking pictures for so long that I've kinda lost the knack for taking self-portraits LOL!) Blessings!

HAPPY NEW YEAR (and a LOC ANNIVERSARY!)

Hello folks! Happy new year to everyone--hopefully everyone's holiday was wonderful. Thanks so much for hanging with me through my not-so-frequent postings--due in part to the general craziness of the retail holiday season, but also due to my extreme fatigue. It has been discovered that I have a quite irregular heartbeat and the lack of oxygen in my system was contributing greatly to my feelings of continual and extreme fatigue and general daily feeling of malaise. I'm now under treatment and hopefully I will have the energy to post more regularly to this blog--at least that's the plan as of this moment!

Anyway, on to the good stuff--I've reached the 2 year mark! Happy Lociversary to me! January 4, 2010 was the famous (or is it infamous) day and I couldn't be happier with my locs! Sorry that I don't have a pic at the moment of my hair, I will post one later on this week--silly me let my camera's battery completely discharge and I am currently letting it charge up. Two years ago, my baby locs were less than 1/2 inch long and now in just 24 months, they are past my neck--is that amazing or what? Several people have told me to watch out now--that my hair will REALLY start to take off! One of my best friends has locs (I believe that she's into her fifth year) and she says that she's blown away by how fast they've grown. Yep, they still have a huge spiritual significance for me and yep, I'm still committed to keeping them for life. With the growth in length has come more growth in terms of patience with self and others, understanding and empathy with self/others, and self-understanding and self acceptance. In this past year, I've also had to (graciously) respond to a couple of individuals that have attacked my choice to wear my hair as I do and have also attacked my choice to wear gele (traditional african headwraps) and bindi. I had to respond graciously because the attacks took place in my professional setting and when working with the public, one must always respond in as gracious a manner as possible so as to not reflect upon the professional environment--this was in fact very difficult for me because of the personal nature of the attack. I believe that this individual choose the time and place purposely because she knew that if I were to respond in a "ghetto mama" style while on the clock, she could use that against me when reporting me to my superiors. As it is, there was a time when my self-esteem would have been severely shaken by this incident; now my self-esteem is much higher and my self-confidence and self-acceptance is such that this incident had no effect on me except to follow-up with my superior to report the incident in the event that this person decided to pursue her "complaints" further up the line (which I found out today that she did). Fortunately, my superior is supporting me to his superior so again, peace and no worries on that front. But enough of these ramblings--I hope all of you are in good health and good spirits and I really hope to be posting more regularly in the coming weeks. Blessings!