I just realised as I started writing this post that I missed my 3rd lociversary! But here’s my comparison for this year anyway. I can’t say I took last years on the exact day either!

I have been meaning to write a post about my locs for a while! Further more, I had actually wanted to film my loc journey, but alas as I didn’t start exactly at day 1, I went on to decide it wasn’t worth doing. In hindsight, that was a stupid way to think, but we’re here now, no point crying over spilt milk!

One thing I have done over the years however, is taken a crazy amount of  selfies it seems, so below you’ll find a sort of loc montage of my hair’s growth and development over the past three years. I still can’t believe how long it is.

Getting loc’d is 100% without a doubt the best thing I ever did to my hair. If anyone is contemplating taking the plunge, I hope this post helps with your research, and towards you making whatever decision is right for you.

 

Research, research, research!

I started thinking about loc’ing up in 2014, but I didn’t do it until 2016. My biggest inspiration were members of my family who’d had locs, (my uncle and aunt) and online, without a doubt, was the beautiful Danielle Loxs who I drew a few years back.

Over that two year period I was researching, reading and watching everything I could about locs deciding if it was something I could really commit to. The questions that played most on my mind were; Would it affect me when applying for jobs? Could I upkeep it myself? What method would be best to start?

There were a lot of resources out there, and I’m sure I only consumed a small amount of it, but still what I did take in, took a while.

Decision time

I often wore my hair in two stand twists, so with every set my grandma installed, I did think I could just wash it and get going on my loc journey. But whenever wash day came round I lost the nerve, and would begin unravelling my twists.

So what made me take the plunge in 2016? It was moving to Maastricht.

I, quite ignorantly, was unsure how much black hair care support I could expect to find in the south of the Netherlands. I had spotted approximately 5 black people in the city when I first went for interview so didn’t expect the place would be overrun with hairdressers or shops to cater to my hair. And on top of all that, I hated going to the hairdressers in England, so what on earth would it be like in NL? Trying to explain what I wanted in a whole other language?

So that was it, I was moving, and I was loc’ing. There was no better time than then to kick off.

Process

I got my last set of two strand twists on 5th June 2016, and essentially I’ve been wearing them everyday since.

My grandma installed the twists for me as always. Though as she was never a fan of locs, I don’t think I told her that my plan was never to take them out. I said thank you as always and then I was off for the summer to America with Nike for our first ever Comic Con. (That’s a whole other post though!)

Below in pictures you can see the progress of my hair. Relevant dates and notes will be made in the captions.  

Conclusion

It’s been an incredible 3 years! 

There’s been so much growth since July 2016, and that’s not just in the length of my hair. Being loc’d has given me the freedom with my hair that I’ve always wanted. 

I can maintain it myself, it’s also low maintenance and very durable for all activities. I can’t wait to see how much it changes in the next 3 years.