For the love of LOCS!

A few weeks ago, I seriously contemplated cutting my locs and starting over with my natural hair care journey. Lately, I have been incredibly busy with school work, and didn't feel like I was taking care of my hair as I should. I began noticing lint build-up in my locs, and my hair began to feel dry and lifeless. I knew that I wanted to wear my hair in locs as a style, but wasn't sure that I was "doing it right."
Well, as I was searching the internet one day, I stumbled upon a Pinterest account, and saw so many beautiful loc styles that I just fell in love all over again. I noticed the beauty and pride with which women and men wore their hair, and realized that I too had the length and thickness that I needed to create similar styles for myself. I too wanted to radiate with pride in my culture and natural beauty, and made up in my mind to start taking better care of my hair. So recently, while on vacation with my kids, I tried a new hairstyle in the form of "pipe cleaner" curls. I washed my hair, palm rolled each loc, and then wrapped the loc around a pipe cleaner which was folded in half. At the base of each loc, I folded the end of the pipe cleaner over so it would hold the hair in place. This was done all over my head, and I kept them in for 24 hours. Here is a picture of the resulting hair style:

 I think they came out quite nice, if I must say so myself!

Anyway, I am determined to continue trying new styles, but most importantly, take better care of my hair. I am in the process of determining which hair products I prefer, but right now, I am using Suave Professionals Shampoo and Conditioner in Rosemary and Mint, and Hollywood Beauty Tea Tree oil. I like them so far; they leave my hair feeling clean, soft, and moisturized. These curls that I am now wearing (above) are tighter curls on my head, but normally to get curly locs, I simply do a braid out after washing and braiding my hair. (Actually in this next pic, my curls have fallen a bit)

Either way, whether I am wearing short curly locs or long straight hair, I love the versatility of locs, and the way that they can be whatever I want them to be. If I ever get tired of them, of course I am free to cut, but one thing is for sure: I will always be a natural sista, proud to be me.

He is not always the problem.

I really want to know the answer to this question: Why do men create complicated webs of lies around the women they claim to love, continue to hold on to those they left behind, and refuse to admit when they are wrong? I know these are questions that have stumped women for ages, but come on now. We are in the 21st century, and I'm sure someone has figured out the answers by now.

We've reunited! Yay!

Wow. I totally have neglected this blog. Looking at my last post in JUNE 2009 makes me feel really lame. Ha! I had so much energy at that time to begin my journey into writing for the world, and I haven't contributed a single thing. So...once again, at 1 something in the morning (that seems to be a trend here), I will attempt to jumpstart my blogging career.

Jumping right in

Okay. So it's like 1:20am and I just created my blog. My first and only blog. I know, I know. People have been blogging for the past few years. Where have you been Natalie? Well, the truth is that I had deliberately avoided creating a blog, along with other things, such as opening a Twitter account, because I didn't want to allow all of this technology take over my life. I didn't want this stuff to be the end all and be all of my life, to the point where I began neglecting my duties and responsiblilies as a mom, a teacher, a daughter, etc.