Out with the old...

Greetings All,

I have read numerous inspired essays and testimonials about Black women wearing their hair natural and I have decided to write my own little blurb about the like. I have been wearing my hair natural for about two years now and have decided that I will go the dreadlock route very soon, possibly starting the new year with this new look.

While searching for websites that show the locking process, and pictures of locks close up, I realized that there are not that many websites to choose from. You'll find an explanation of how to form locks, but no picture of the process. Often times these websites will show pictures of Bob Marley looking characters with three big dread chunks shooting out of his or her head or white people with dreadlocks (with the exception of websites such as naturalhairphotos.com and naani.com). No offense to White people or Bob Marley fans, but I'm an American Black woman and I need to know about "our" hair locking process without being fired from my job for looking like a rastafarean. So for those of you who'd like to see my process, I hope to provide that with this blog.

As far as the history of my hair goes, I have done a whole lot of perming and a whole lot of weaving only to end back up at natural hair over and over again. I just can't escape it, and you know what? For once, I have stopped trying. I don't like watching my hair break off and fall into my sink. I don't like hearing it fry between the clamps of a hot curling iron. I don't like feeling a thick and heavy patch of rough hair thin down into a weak, brittle, straw-like mess that leaves me running to the hair salon (or my sister's house) for an emergency relaxing, only to turn my whole head into that very same weak, brittle, straw-like mess. I'm done with that.

I guess the only dilemma is this...I am a new hairstyle addict. While I do wear my hair natural, I absolutely love the idea of taking on different looks. I will wear my hair in a short curly afro, just as quick as I'll wear a long straight weave. I don't wear these different hairstyles because I am ashamed of my hair, I wear them because I like to be different. Switch it up. Keep them guessing. In college, this lead to a number of debates between the natural-heads and the perm/weave heads. Being that I fall or have fallen into every category, I NEVER took sides. I, personally, don't have anything against perms or weaves (or the people who wear them), I just know that I am compelled to wear locks at this point in my life, due to MY experiences and lifestyle.

So when I lock up my tresses, what is the hair diva to do? This definitely means that I will not be able to get all of the different hairstyles that I am accustomed to getting. Fortunately for me, locks are very diverse. They can be curled, died, worn up or down. It's just getting there that I hope I can survive. My hair will start out very short for a couple months (grimace) and while I can pull off the short hair look, there's not much you can do with a short doo. And that will probably drive me bonkers. But as the title of this post suggests, out with the old and in with the new. It's time to see things in a different light, so here goes nothing...