FOTKI

english

Ob00gie

New Jersey

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Ob00gie

Thanks for visiting my loc extension journey page. I hope this information is helpful (in some way) to you.

My Story
My hair journey has been one heck of a roller coaster. I've been natural most of my life, but I've tried every hairstyle under the sun (yes, even a jerri curl and I blame my mom). As I starting transitioning into an adult I made a subconscious decision I would one day loc my hair. In 2002, I finally did it. I started with 2-strand twists since my hair was pretty long already and I loved them. I was in college at the time so everyone around me was very supportive, but once I graduated and went back home, it was a completely different story.

My family (parents, uncles, aunts) just would not let it go and this began to take a toll on me. I had my locs until Dec 2004, when I went to Nigeria and had them cut off, unwillingly. I was really devasted and depressed about it. I went back into my roller coaster of hair styles (no jerri curl this time), but I was plotting how I would get my locs back.

I was researching loc styles one day and came across the Nubian Kinks website (nubiankinks.com). This was the first time I had heard of loc extensions. I loved the idea of being able to pick up where I left off with my locs. I wasn't too sure about it especially since I still lived with my parents, but I kept in the back of my mind.

What made me decide to go for it was a perfect storm of circumstances. I'd moved out on my own, I had the money saved, and a friend of mine who was in a similar situation as me got the loc extensions so I figured: why not? I went in for a consultation, watched someone else get them done, made an appointment, and got them done. I couldn't be happier.

My Routine
I get a lot of questions about my routine so here it is:

First, I take apple cider vinegar and apply it directly to my scalp and massage it in. I leave it on my scalp for a minimum of 15 minutes, but sometimes I'll leave it overnight. I do this because it's the only thing that really works on my dandruff. (I've had dandruff ever since I can remember).

Next I wash my hair. I use two shampoos: the Whole Foods 365 grapefruit shampoo, and Avalon Organics tea tree shampoo. I like the grapefruit but I need the tea tree for my dandruff (and it feels really cool on my scalp).

Next I pat my hair as dry as I can with a towel (or two). I then put oils in my hair. No particular oil each time but I've used coconut, grapeseed, olive, tea tree, and almond oil.

If I'm lazy, I'll just let it dry fully and that's the end.

If I'm retwisting, I'll make a mixture of honey, aloe vera gel and some oil as my holding gel and palm roll my hair (aloe to honey should be like 4:1; too much honey will make your hair really hard). I use clips to hold my hair down. It usually takes me about 1.5 hours to do this so it is a chore, but worth it when I'm done.

To dry, my method depends on how much time I have. Sometimes I'll sleep with them in so that my hair air dries. Depending on how wet my hair is in the morning I may use a blowdryer to fully dry it. If I'm pressed for time I'll sit under the dryer immediately to get it dry faster.

The first 3 months, my hair was maintained by the salon. I went in every 3-5 weeks for a wash and retwist. I recommend this to everyone since this is a hefty investment compared to other hairstyles, and the last thing you want to do is jack them up.

I hope this was helpful. If not, feel free to drop me a line in my guestbook.

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