Life and Times of the Lone Loc'er

In a family full of naturals, you'd think that there would be a few loc'd ladies. Nope, there's only me. The one with the awkward family position. I'm was the first born of all my cousins. I was sort of the guinea pig child to most of my family. I'm the first to experience high school graduation, moving into college, changing majors, wanting and getting piercings, now locs. I feel like I'm driving my family crazy with all of the new things I want to do. Only yesterday I told my family that I'm in the process of loc'ing my hair, and the uproar has already begun! Here is a brief list of reasons/sayings I've heard so far about why I shouldn't loc my hair, especially not by myself.

•  Layci, you must want your hair to fall out!
•  I'm not even sure how this is relevant to loc'ing. In actuality, you keep A LOT of hair, even the ones that you should naturally shed. This statement is the complete opposite of loc'ing.

•  "Dreads" are dirty and gross.
• I get really upset about this one. The fact that locs are dirty is such a misconception. Locs are just hair! Pressed, permed, kinky, curly, any kind of hair can be dirty and gross! Most people I know with locs and read about on the forums wash their hair waaay more than loose people. 

• Locs are not professional.
• It is a shame that people feel this way. This is still a common view on natural hair. I believe that the world is changing. Locs are professional when you make them professional, like any other hair style. They laid this on me then followed up by saying that I'm a black woman, making it even harder for me to find a job. Great! I guess I'll be a housewife which is my dream. I want to work for myself anyway. What a rebel I am. I know for a fact, though, as a loc'd black woman, I will be able to begin an excellent career. I am educated, well-spoken, confident, and hard working. Locs cannot overshadow those things.

• This is just a phase. Wait 'til you get older!
• My birthday is literally twenty days away. I'll be twenty years old. I know that I am not extremely wise or mature, but I'm pretty sure twenty years old is old enough to make a decision regarding my hair. Here is my real problem with this statement. As I continue this loc journey, I will be natural! I cannot understand why my family has a problem with me continuing to be natural. If I were contemplating a perm, I would want my family to be concerned and begging me not to do it. I'm so confused.

• I can't do locs by myself.
• Alright. This is a tricky one. My family is completely aware that I am a college student. Who will be paying for those expensive loc maintenance sessions every month or however often? Not me and certainly not them! I understand that some people enjoy going to their loctitian for professional loc maintenance, but I don't feel like that is for me. I want to experience my hair at every point in this journey. I want my locs to be my own. No disrespect to those loc'ers who do not DIY. This is MY journey, and I want to keep it that way.

• My locs will never look good because they will not be done by a professional.
• *Shaking my head* No, my little darlings do NOT  look their best right now, but they are only nine days old. Locs go through phases and stages that anyone outside of the loc'ed community simply does not understand. All that my family sees are women with mature locs. "They're locs look nice because they go to professionals. Look at your hair," various family members said. They seem to think that people who get their locs professionally done completely bypass any weird, awkward, not so pretty stage of the loc journey. That is so wrong! 

I'm still trying to explain everything to my family, but they are not taking it too well. They think that I will be done with this before Thanksgiving anyway. Any advice on how you dealt with family, friends, randoms who were not so happy about your loc journey?