I'm new to this Fotki thing. I like what I have seen on others' pages so I decided to share my journey, too. I have been inspired by the albums and stories of many here an on other sites so I decided to take the plunge. Like many others I have been obsessed with looking at pictures of locs and I knew I wanted them.

I knew that locs were a BIG committment, so I wanted them to be just right. I researched the different sizes and thicknesses, looked through YouTube videos of loc styling tutorials, then finally made a decision. I loved the way Sisterlocks looked but was scared that the tedios maintenance would cause me to hate my hair. I'm a pretty low-maintenance girl, so I wanted to be beautiful without dreading (no pun intended!) the re-twisting or latching sessions. I finally decided to go with a medium size.

I have worn syntheitc braids off and on (mostly on) since I was a kid. My mom was hooking me up for free back when girls were sporting basket weaves. I thought I was so fly! I don't have any pictures from back then and maybe that's a good thing. I learned to braid my own hair when I was 14 and have been braided pretty much ever since.

When I wasn't in braids I would perm my hair as straight as I could get it. [Aside: why do they call it 'relaxing' when the chemicals are really stressing your hair out?] Anyway, I would then slick it back into a bun with gel. Eventually my hair started breaking off at the bun. So back to the braids I went. And that cycle continued until I stood in front of the mirror one day and just chopped all the permed ends off. I never regretted it for one second. It's only hair. It will grow back.

Wish me luck! And don't forget to check out the video section.
http://video.fotki.com/Yanati/