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!

FINALLY--A NEW POSTING AT 22 MONTHS!

hello people! finally--a new post about my locs! this will be a short one...i hope that all of you are doing well and getting along in these rough times. my locs are 22 months old now, (well, actually on 11/4) and my how things have changed! ther's hardly any frizz now (or as much "no frizz" as i can have with my particular hair texture), the locs have filled in nicely (you can hardly see any scalp now even when i palm-roll them) and they have grown almost to my shoulders! YES---i am STILL IN LOVE with my hair--i truly believe that i will never fall out of love! my babies are doing exactly what they are supposed to do--all with no coaching from me. i am "semi-freeforming"; that is, i'm only palm-rolling my hair once every 2-3 months, or whenever the odd mood strikes me. i knew from the beginning that i wasn't going to be into the strict "palm-roll every 3-4 weeks" routine--i work too much for that. so, i wash once a week (maybe i'll go a week and a half--IF i get really crazy busy at work), i deep condition once maybe twice a month, i will do a hot oil treatment once a month or so and i use olive oil, almond oil, vitamin e oil and jojoba oil as a mixture for my scalp. after my washes, i usually pop the locs and air dry, unless i deem it necessary to do a full retwist/palm-roll session. i am so lovin' this routine--it's great not to be a hair slave anymore. i will roller set or braid set or rod set on a whim and i love the fact tht my locs will hold the curl/crimp for a week or more so styling is a breeze!

the spiritual awakening that i associate with my locs is still evolving and growing; oftentimes i feel as if i'm more aware of spiritual vibrations all around me, kinda like an antennae picks up and amplifies radio waves. sometimes it's a little unsettling, but i will adjust. i've become more in tune with my personal spiritual energy and hopefully that has/will make be a better person. all of this and more just by shedding my relaxed way of life and cultivating locs! who would have thought...?!? i'm posting a few pics of what my hair looks like at the moment (three days post perm rod spiral set); enjoy the pics and stay tuned for the next installment of..."AS THE LOCS TURN"! lol blessings...

Good Sunday Morning...

Hi everybodies! I should be getting ready for work right now, but I'm sitting here bloggin' and looking at my YouTube page, counting subscribers and such. A good friend of mine stopped over last night (I wasn't expecting her) and it was such a surprise to see her! I was just stunned--I haven't seen her or talked with her for at least a couple of months (our schedules just constantly clash). Anyway, she has locs (somewhere between 3-4 years, I think) and she was just astounded at the growth of mine in such a short time. She was one of the few sistas that supported me in my venture and was one of the first people to see my coils when they were first put in and miniscule and I was sporting the "tres scalpy" look! LOL I can remember her laughing at me just a little and saying that I would have a hard time locing because my hair is much softer than hers--she has a really coarse texture and mine is more wavy than a really tight kink. Much as I love her and much as she loves me, she honestly didn't think my hair would loc very quickly.

Well, she was very pleasantly surprised and pleased for me and she just couldn't get over how much progress I've made thus far on this journey. I really value her opinion. She has what she terms "ghetto, mammy-made locs"--locs that she started herself, no meticulous parts, no guidance really, she just one day decided to grab and start twisting. She had permed hair at the time and didn't cut the ends off, she just kept twisting and twisting and twisting until the ends stayed twisted and the new hair began to loc. Her hair looks fantabulous! And you know what? She also views the growth and transition of her loose hair into locs as a spiritual journey, just like me. As her locs grew strong and long, so did she and she grew in self acceptance by leaps and bounds. I personally have a hard time understanding how some can view this experience as just a fad or just for fashion and not also about growth on an emotional/spiritual level. I'm not hating on those that loc for these particular reasons, I'm just saying that I can't fathom this not having some type on impact on one's emotional/spiritual outlook. I say this for the simple reason that we, as women, do tend to get a little emotionally involved with our hair, especially if it ain't lookin' as fly as we would want it to! We obsess over it and have an almost compulsive need to keep it looking just so and when it doesn't cooperative, we get bent! Those of us on this loc journey are currently at or have been at the "fugly, ugly" stage at some point in this process--you can admit it. You know what I mean--the "baby" coils/braids/locs aren't doin' what we want them to do, they are fuzzy and standing all over the head, they aren't neat, etc. And we get emotional about it--what do we do to calm it down, cover it up, make it behave? And then one day it hits us--forget about it, let it do what it gonna do and it will one day transform into the proverbial swan. Don't obsess and don't hate; just accept and move on. The same for the spiritual transformation--having to care and maintain locs physically puts one in touch with oneself and, in my opinion, encourages some introspection, meditation and inner quietness that allows one the time to return to one's spiritual core and to cultivate strength there. This is/has been such a strongly emotional/spiritual experience for me that I just can't really put it all into words. I have gained such strength so far and I hope to continue to increase that strength. My girl friend remarked that I just seemed to be glowing with an inner peace and serenity and she has been privy to some of my most deeply held insecurities and fears--she's seen the worst parts of me, and she is totally blown away at my new-found spiritual "grounded-ness" and peace. God was/and still is working on me in a big way through this loc journey and I thank Him for that. Thanks be to God for allowing me to experience Him in such a way as this.