"Dread" Locks

At church the other day, a lady came up to me and asked my name. Being that my name can be associated with the way I wear my hair (part of my name has "dred" in it), a nearby brother says, "Use name-word association." The woman, a senior citizen, was a little confused so I filled her in.

"My name is Blank, Blank-dred and I wear Dreadlocks," I said emphasizing the dread part. Now the nearby brother jumps in and says that unless I'm a rastafarean, I don't wear dreadlocks. He says that he received a whole education on locks by one of his coworkers and only people who live the rastafarean lifestyle can call them "dreadlocks" so I shouldn't call them that because obviously I'm not living that lifestyle.

I was a little confused by this and wondered why he brought up "name association" if he wasn't associating my name with my hairstyle? What else was he suggesting she associate my name with? My name isn't Sunday or Mary . . . there's no songs that I know of with my name in it . . . outside of dred and dreadlocks, I got nothing. So yeah, when I want people to remember my name, I go straight for the hair-name association which is the most obvious.

Besides that point, I never really had a problem calling them "dreads" or "locks." Mainly because I've been called "Dreadlocks" way before I got this hairstyle in the first place. (Maybe if that wasn't the case, I would have more of a problem with the term.) And the way I see it, while Rastafareans may (or may not) have designated the name dreadlocks, the rest of the world adopted that terminology in connection with the hairstyle so if your hair is locked up and you call them "dreadlocks" I don't think that makes you a rastafarean just like if you wear a mohawk, that doesn't make you a Mohawk Indian and if you wear a bowl cut it doesn't mean you put a bowl on your head and cut around it, LOL.

Now I'm not completely in the dark about the connection between spirituality, Rastafari and "dreadlocks." I've lurked on 1 or 2 message boards where the topics were the history of the term dreadlock and can anyone wear dreadlocks (and lemme tell you, there were a lot of people who strongly believed that you shouldn't even lock your hair up unless you are a rasta or on a spiritual journey-regardless of what you call them). Also, I've been on the message boards where people talk about how they do not like the term dreadlocks.

At the end of the day, I refer to them as locks (in order to be politically correct and not offend) but around friends and family I might just call them "dreads" "locks," whatever it doesn't matter to me. A lot of people might say it does matter.

What do you think? Are you offended when people refer to locks as "dreadlocks"? Do only rastafareans wear "dreadlocks"?

Don't Just Lay There . . . DO SOMETHING!

I feel limp and boring.

I live by the rule that if your hair looks great (or if you can accessorize your bland outfit) it gives a boost to the rest of your appearance.  Maybe because it's wintertime and I don't know how to accessorize under sweats, big stuffy coats and snow boots, I feel and look like this lately . . . 

And I'd much rather feel and look like this . . . 

Sigh . . . can't wait for summer!

My first ponytail

Aaaawwww Shucks!

Is that a ponytail yall?

I can't tell, I need a second opinion.

Yep, by dictionary definition, that is indeed a ponytail.  Granted this picture was taken after a wash and retwist some shrinkage has since occurred and my hair is not able to fit into such a neat ponytail anymore, but this is a momentous occasion folks.  One which I'm glad to be able to share with you all.

So um, what's new besides the ponytail?

Chris and Ri-Ri

The economy

Oh!  What's new with me, you mean?  Nothing really.  Same ol' stuff.

I am thinking about dyeing my hair within the next couple days.  I have no idea what color or whether to do just the tips or the whole thing.  I was thinking about dying it black to bring out my features, but then I thought maybe the traditional light brown tips.  I dunno.  Any suggestions?  I'm open to anything.  I know that most people start to dye when they get around to the length I'm at now.  Most times I like to go against whatever people are doing (so in my case I wouldn't dye it at all) but I need to do something different with my hair these days.  So we'll see.  That about it!

Happy Snow Day everybody!!!

Lookit What I Did!

Gosh, I'm so corny, but I was excited to be able to successfully wrap my hair in a different way than usual and wanted to post these pics.  That's about it.

Oh and um, I washed my hair not too long ago . . . same routine as usual.  Check it out!

My hair is sooo heavy now when I wash it.  I didn't anticipate the amount of shampoo and conditioner I would have to start using.

It's gettin there yall!

My Hair is a Sponge

So another day in the land of locks and I'm easing on down the yellow-brick road, like the Wiz. No complaints. In 38 days it will be my one year loc-aversary and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with myself...but that's all the way in Emerald City for now, so I have some time to sit in the poppy fields and figure that one out.

Why the Wizard of Oz references? (Screaming) Because I look like a mother freaking scarecrow! (Awkward pause) That's why!!! (Throws empty beer bottle against wall) Damnit!

I'm sooo joking, lol. Just in a rambling mood today. But onto business. I haven't been moisturizing my hair like I should, henceforth, the scarecrow reference and the handy and very dandy, wool-knit hair net I am wearing today. (I know, I know...'foo on you, NaturallyMe...you should be moisturizing your head!') I'll be honest. My days have been a toss up between being really really busy with work and running errands or really really lazy at home. So last night, right before bed, I made a weak attempt to fix the problem. I smoothed some oil into my hair real quick (knowing good and well that won't do a thing for my hair, except give it sheen) and tied a scarf on.

Which leads me to my next little blurb. My hair is a sponge and unless I moisturize with a thick hair cream or cowash (which for me means, wash with conditioner), oil does absolutely nothing for me, except give me a temporary shine. I think I've been fooling myself for some time, thinking that all I need is more oil and more oil. When truth is, if I don't wash or moisturize with a cream first, it doesn't matter. Before I locked up, my hair would get so dry sometimes it would sound like a crackling fireplace. HEY! You know what? Maybe the scarecrow reference WAS right on. (Straw is a kind of sponge.)

Oil alone works for some people. The "oil and go" crowd, so to speak. But not for me. The longer I wear locks, the more I realize that the hair on my head has the same personality as I do. It's different (not like anybody else), it means well, but it will not conform at all. Sometimes, I wish it would but I'm sure there are people out there that wish that I would conform too. When I wore it in a perm, it broke the permed hair in a subtle way, continually pushing through. There was no mistaking my hair texture. The more I tried to cover it up, the thicker and stronger it became until I had no choice but to let it be.

Since I'm talking about what kind of hair I have, I might as well mention that I looked up Andre Walker's hair types to see what category I fall under a couple weeks ago. I didn't post about it because when I saw that there were only 4 choices that I would be picking from (Straight, wavy, curly and kinky) it was a no brainer. I have thick, nappy hair. Um, no kidding...thanks Andre. But I added the site here and there are a bunch of links to different products (good for kinky hair) at the bottom of the page. I'm not much of a product junky, but I like the names...curly custard and whipped pudding. Makes me hungry, mmm. lol

To tell you the truth, I like the LOIS system, because it shows you how to look at your hair and find out it's exact pattern. I haven't done this yet, but I plan on doing it sometime soon. So check it out if you haven't already tried it.

And for good measure, I will give you the recipe to my little hair concoction that's in the spray bottle these days.

What you'll need:

1 8 oz. spray pump bottle (of course)

1 cup pantene relaxed and natural conditioner (looove how this smells)

1/8 cup olive oil

1 tbs glycerin oil

Mix ingredients, pour (or funnel) into the container. Spray and go. Coat with oil afterwards for shine or to lock in the moisture (if your hair is anything like mine).

That about it! Now, ease on down ease on down the roooad!

Lisa Nutter's Locks

I am a starer...a person who stares a lot. If you are an interesting looking person or a person wearing locks, I will stare you the hell down. I will watch you like a hawk while you walk into a room and I will stare at your face and/or the back of your head until you leave the room. Yes it's uncomfortable to the person being stared at but it's something that I cannot control, so I've learned to be discreet with my eye stalking behavior. One person that I was REALLY looking forward to staring at (from a hidden location) the other day was Lisa Nutter, wife of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. She has beautiful, long, thick locks that compliment her dark exotic features. Mrs. Nutter attended the award show on Monday, along with Ms. Sonia Sanchez and CCH Pounder (other natural hair/lock wearers I was planning on staring down.) Of course, Mrs. Nutter decided to leave the show early. Maybe someone warned her about me. :-(

I did get a chance to glance at the back of her head once or twice, though. Le Sigh!

Anywhoo...here's some pictures of the woman.

Oh and for some really close pictures of her locks click this link. I included this post because I think that it is so cool to see women from different backgrounds and lifestyles rocking such an ethnic and strong look. For the split second that I was staring down the back of her head, I noticed some things...

1. That Mrs. Nutter has chunky tips and her locks aren't completely cylindrical...just like a certain someone I know who was stressing out about it a couple posts ago.

2. She dyed some of her hair (I believe it was her tips) a honey brown color.

3. Even though this was a formal event, she wore her hair down and it looked really nice.

So that's it.

And as a bonus...Sonia Sanchez and CCH Pounder

Isn't that picture behind Sonia Sanchez awesome?!

These women ROCK!!!

Chunky Knotty Lock Tips

Hi all...

I figured my hair is long enough and I needed to do something different. So I popped a few curlers on the head and here we are...

The curl didn't stay too well at all...(as you can see) since I had to take the curlers out really early in the morning. But I rocked it anyway.

The next day I curled it again and it was waaay tighter...and looked a little funny, so I pinned it up and was very flattered with the outcome.

So I washed my hair two days ago. And after washing with the shampoo and oiling it up, I am always very pleased with how soft and conditioned my hair feels, but several days later, it's back to dry and stiff (no matter how much I oil). And I oil a lot kids. So this time after washing and retwisting and drying, I oiled it down one last time and wrapped it in my favorite satin scarf. When I woke up the next morning and removed the scarf my hair felt really nice and conditioned. So I've decided that I am going to keep a scarf on my head for the rest of my life...joking. :-) But I will try to cover my head a little more than usual, to lock in the moisture. I don't do that enough.

Anywho...I have been getting these locs that bunch up at the ends. It's horrible. My loc will be a nice size all the way around, but the tip will be fat and round. Almost like the tip has rolled up and locked into itself. It's frustrating. I have found myself combing out the loc and retwisting, which leaves the tip looking completely different. I'm trying to figure out whether I should leave it like this or continue to take a comb and get to combing the knots off until I have a head full of half way done locs. I've even considered cutting the tip off altogether. My family says it's not noticeable, and they're right, but it still bothers me. Maybe I should just let it grow and hope it straightens out.

Has anyone experienced this? If so, what did you do?

Locks-Day 1

This is the first day of wearing my locks. My mother put them in for me yesterday after we washed and sectioned out my hair. We uitilized the palm rolling method. Here is what it looks like.

Now I know you are wondering what products I used. (Or maybe not, but I'll tell you anyway.) This is in no way a promotion because like I said in the previous blog, I have been overloaded and overwhelmed with information about the chemicals/poisons that are put into our shampoos and beauty products. I used the ORS aloe shampoo and the twist and loc gel. The funny thing is that after learning all of these horrible things about why Black people shouldn't go anywhere near shampoo, I used it anyway. I guess I just needed to wash my hair and I figured, I've been using this crap all my life, I'm sure there are some Black people with dreadlocks that use regular shampoo too and their hair still grows...so that's my justification for now.

I didn't have any conditioner, and my mother didn't have any at her house either (which is a real shock considering that she is the "conditioner queen.") I was in a very motivated, "getterdone" mood so I decided to mix up a concoction of hair mayonnaise and extra virgin olive oil. Did the conditioner, towel dried the hair and sat down for about six hours of palm rolling and twisting. For a first timer, my mother did an excellent job.

This is an example of what the palm roll method looks like...

I know there are a lot of people out there that might think that something so sensitive should be left to a professional, but my mother has been braiding my hair since I started growing it (at the tender age of 3-I was a late bloomer). She is an expert at making parts with a comb and once I taught her the palm roll method, it was on and popping. This is a picture of my dog watching me demonstrate the palm roll method. Maybe he's learning something too.

As you can see, I gather the hair and kind of like roll it into a twirl. Remember back in kindergarten when you rolled the play dough between the palms of your hands into a sort of long twist? Same deal. Then I used a clip to hold it at the root. After this you blow dry it and take out the clips. Here's my end result...

How do I feel, you ask? A little uncomfortable. :-( I'm not used to my hair being in such little twists and I think I look funny. My sweet boyfriend is very reassuring to me and tells me that I am beautiful and all that stuff, but I'm not feeling it today. When I play with my hair a little tonight and tomorrow, I'm sure I can get a feel for this look and learn to work it.

Hey...I'm giving you the real deal right now. Take it or...no, just take it. Patience is the word for 2008. Peace!!