D'NALI

Natural hair timeline:

Hair journey — loose hair Phase I — started: July 1st 2002
Loc journey started: Sept 1st 2009
Loose hair Phase II: March 17th 2013

After 3.5 years of locs, I have my chunky fro back. I took them down primarily because I was having some hairline issues (caused by stress), but I’m not going to lie, I wanted a change — for many reasons. It took me 7 weeks to take down 132 locs. If I ever loc my hair again, then wanted to get rid of them, I’d cut them off. This time around, I just didn’t want to start my second loose hair journey with a very short fro. But with 2 bouts of a cold virus in between the take down and an actual take down time of one loc being 30 – 45 mins, I will NEVER go this route again.

But for now, it’s done — as at 4 mins ago. Time to rock the fro again! I can’t wait to wash my hair tomorrow. I figure, if I want the look of locs again, I can always do individual braids to mimic the look.

It took copious amounts of conditioner, a rat-tail comb, a crochet hook and LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of patience. I trimmed my hair as I went along so I shouldn’t have too much of that to do tomorrow.

Locs were convenient in the sense that I could style them then leave them alone. Loose natural hair as abundant as mine is another animal. After not messing with loose hair for so long, I have to get back to the every day care of it that I didn’t have to deal with while having locs. I already went ahead and bought my staples:

All from my favourite natural hair product vendor: Oyin Handmade. I got:

Shine and Define — a styling creme
Honey Hemp — a conditioner. I’m going to use this in addition to Jane Carter’s Conditioning Shampoo.
Greg Juice — a leave in conditioner that I can also use as a daily spritz.

With natural hair, I believe less is more and I also believe in using the most natural ingredients I could find. My hair loved these in the past so I figured I’d start with what I know.

It’ll be an interesting to see the reactions of my co-workers on Tuesday when I do go back to work.

No commentary this week either — I’ve been put on sick leave by my Dr because of some cold virus. This is the second time in 6 weeks that I got this. I’m supposed to go back work tomorrow but I still can’t talk. 😦 . Despite the discomfort of this virus, I’m still thankful this week for:

Not being a cold virus causality. With the numbers being what they are, it’s hard to believe so many people have died this winter from influenza and cold viruses. I’ll definitely take the discomfort over death.
Being able to rest. True, Nyquil played a big part in giving me that rest but I’m thankful for the down-time.
I was kinda cranky from the virus so I bought myself a small treat so I could learn a new technique. Tunisian crochet, here I come. It’s not much but I’m grateful that I’m able to treat myself.
Lovely reminder: a beautiful way to end the old week and start the new. 😀