Mmmm ... Should I loc my hair one day?

I've been playing around with this idea to loc my hair especially after staring at sisterlocs all night long (AB2 Fotki album). Paulette does sisterlocs here near Detroit which is really cool. I was really starting to doubt that anyone here was doing anything natural to their hair. Well anyways I've thought about it and I'm still going to continue to think about it as I add this to my list of goals. Here are my hair goals.

1. Maintain Healthy Hair. (which means no excessive heat nor any harsh chemicals)
2. Grow Hair to BSL or MBL before BC (I'm leaning more towards the BSL, not sure if I can handle the two textures that long)
3. Grow Natural Hair to MBL stretched and consider locs.
4. Grow Hair to MBL unstretched and loc if not loc'd already.

Here's the logic behind my four goals. 1. There is really no way to have beautiful hair without it being healthy. People can tell when you have over processed hair, split ends, and dry heat damaged hair. Its really not a good look and sometimes no amount of oil sheen or doctor miracles can help that.


2. My growth hair goals are defined by fully even hair at that length (not including the layers in the front) but definitely the back. I posted my pic (Taken last weekend) and it can be clearly seen that my hair grows in the inverted V pattern. But the one thing I can say is that I am completely past shoulder length and my hair is fuller. I don't have see through hair. Its a beautiful thing. Also this growth goal that I have before I big chop I just put in to play. I've been thinking about going another year once June hits. I'll only have a small window of time to big chop from June to August because I really don't want to Big Chop in the fall or winter months. But its really only a thought.

3. I really want to see what my natural 4a curls look like when they are really long which is another reason why I want to wait so long before I big chop. Speaking of which I actually caught myself this morning thinking about perming my hair again. Which is crazy I think this is what led to me thinking about locing my hair. I vowed to myself that I would loc my hair before I ever perm my hair again. I have seen a fair share of fotki albums of naturals who after three to six years of growing or more they just perm it like the journey was never taken. I don't know maybe its because I've been growing my hair for so long this time (officially ten months now, I have a 3 to 4 inch afro in some places under my relaxed hair) This journey is already long especially considering that I may go a total of 2 years and a half of transitioning (30 months which means I would have 20 more to go). Now that I think about it, it really might not happen. By that time I might be to my loc goal. Back to the subject though, perms aren't for me and I realize that now. I thought about it for a second and then I thought of limp lifeless hair, dry flaky scalp and breakage because the only reason I would perm my hair is to wear my hair down all the time and not worry about it tangling obsessively I guess.

Picture taken yesterday morning (10 months post no conditioner, freshly washed and air dried)

4. I figure by the time my natural hair unstretched reaches MBL I probably will have already loc'd my hair because I have a lot of thick hair, but its never super thick when its braided. I might start my locs with small braids or interlocs it depends on if I'm knowingly locing or if I just wanted to keep my hands out my hair for a while and it just ends up getting left that way. I decided to wait for the MBL unstretched so that when its time for shrinkage I won't really have to worry about my hair being really short. I guess as you can probably tell by now I have a personal problem with short hair. It doesn't fit my face or me for that matter.

Also I wanted to clear up the different textures. Last week I put a color showers rinse in my hair and as I was putting it in I started to notice my texture again, but it seemed to have more of a consistency. I guess now that I have my braids fully out and my hair has been washed a couple of times I can really tell what my true texture is. I'm definitely a 4a mostly all over. The only thing that changes is the grade, my hair is really fine in the back (why I believed it to be 3c) and a little course in the front except at the top and very course in the middle. Very weird hunh? I saw the curls again when I deep conditioned my hair yesterday but I saw it really really really well and it has to be because of the conditioner I used. I swayed away from moisturizing VO5 to Tresseme Flawless Curls. My curls underneath my relaxer were bangin'. I swear I would have big chopped if my natural hair were longer it was so pretty. Next time I'll take a picture. I think this may be my new fav conditioner. I'll just use VO5 for co-washing.

One more thing and then I'm going to watch tv. (Sunday means The Simpsons.)This is the second time I have ever steered away from the super cheap products and black hair care line and come out with something amazing for my TRUE, REAL, NATURAL hair. Especially those that say "for curly hair". Please if your transitioning or natural don't be afraid to venture to a new product because trust me the old ones are not working like they used to. Don't be in denial like I was.