a mind of its own and it does it's own thing.
I have been natural on and off since June of 1999.
Chemicals (relaxer,curls and texturizers) were destroying both my
hair and my scalp. Sitting the chemical process had gotten too
painful. I'm sure some of you can relate.
In addition, I hadn't seen my true natural hair for over FORTY YEARS!
Some of you probably have no idea what your natural hair looks like
either. I didn't know what to expect or even how to take care of it. I
figured I would just wash it, put in several fat braids and let it air dry
overnight. Once it was dry I would simply un braid it, finger comb it
and go. Boy was I wrong!
It did not dry overnight and the "finger combing" was a big joke. I
believe I had 2nd degree hair cuts (like paper cuts, but worse) all over
both hands the first and last time I tried. Then the drier it got during
the day, the higher away from my scalp it rose. It rose so much I
thought there must have been some baking powder in the leave-in
conditioner I had used. Obviously, I was misinformed and woefully
ignorant about caring for my natural hair. However, I was not willing
to give up and began searching for information on caring for my type
hair. Just for the record I survived COPA (my bank account wasn't as
lucky), and there was no change in my hair. I was blessed for that.
Others lost what little hair they had. I tried a texturizer and for a while
thought I was on my way to manageable hair. Because I had thick,
coarse (fat strands) hair it was six months before I realized my hair
was being destroyed. So once again my hair was limp, lifeless, and
without body, sheen or luster. I braided it up and after a few months I
cut off about six inches of DEAD hair, again. It was then I decided to
loc my hair.
I tried several methods to get my hair to loc. But locking was
something my hair didn't seem interested in and after the last valiant
effort (11 months without combing, and only twisting and washing) to
give it a good wash only to have the scary "haf-fro" from the seventies
come back.
In the fall of 2002 after I spent fourteen hours braiding my hair into
100 individual braids, I swore I was going to leave them in until I was
at least fifty(only 4 years away). My hair should definitely loc by then. I
was still searching the net for some possible solution for my hair
dilemma. That's when my search turned up this thing called
"sistahlocs".
Then I found Pat Hunley's website-DivaD'zigns. I read her hair
journey and consumed all the pictures. I'm sure I visited the site at
least 20 times in a three day period. As I read her site I found that the
correct name for the hair management system is Sisterlocks TM. I
read every thing and I know I visited the Official Sisterlocks TM
website at least a zillion times. I studied the pictures and I'm pretty
sure I memorized every word. However I was disappointed because
I didn't see any certified or trained consultants in the Northern
Kentucky or Cincinnati area.
Elaniece's
Story
weeks
