My Fuzzies!

Hey Hey 

This is Me.  I'm Arlene.  I'm still gettin the hang of this whole bloggin thing, but I've got the naturalista thing down-pat.  I've been wearin my hair in its natural fierceness for almost 7 years now, but I guess you could say I've always been fascinated with the look of Locs.  It took me a while before I finally decided to give up the creamy crack.  I kept thinkin "Maybe if I don't scratch as hard" or "Maybe if I don't tie down my hair" right before the touch-up that I would be spared the agony of that tinglin sensation that leads to small scabs clingin to my scalp.  I'd make my appointment, get in the chair and before the back sections could even set-up properly, I knew I would be burned.  It happened ALL THE TIME.  No matter what I did or tried, no matter if I did the home perm with a friend or actually made it to a salon, I ALWAYS burned.  Finally I was jus like "Why am I spendin money for someone to torture me?" By the end of 2 weeks, I'd be kinkin up again.  So for about 2 years, I would wash, deep condition, blow dry and flat iron my hair religiously every 2 weeks.  I know, that's dedication.   But it was the only way I thought I could deal with my mane.  I'm surprised I didn't have severe heat damage.  Actually, I'm surprised my dang hair didn't jus start breakin all off.  So one day I was on good ol' You Tube and stumbled upon this video of a sister with gorgeous, healthy, super long NATURAL hair.  I was like "Whoa!  How can I get my hair to do that?"  So, I cut it.  Now most people will do a big chop.  Eh Eh.  Not me.  I was way too chicken for that.  What if my head was shaped funny?  I'm too cute to take such a big risk (lol).  So I had a coworker trim me up durin lunch at work one day.  Yes, I did it at work.  I have proof.
 

BeforeAfter

Now, I realize it doesn't look like much.  But remember; my hair is NOT relaxed.  I jus had a bomb flat iron (lol).  She didn't want to do it at first, but after much coercion, I persuaded her to get to snippin.  I wore it like this for about a month, then my sister came to visit and she finished my straight ends off.  Then I ended up with this.

Newly Natural - Again

So, I played around with my coils and kinks.  I was pleasantly surprised the rediscover jus how versatile it was.  I would braid it by itself or with extensions, I could rock out with my fro out, (see above pic), tie it up\down with a pretty wrap or scarf. So much to do!  Then one day I saw a lady on the train.  At first I thought she had micro braids.  Like itsy bitsy, teeny, super tiny micro braids.  Curiosity got the better of me and upon further and much closer inspection, I realized her hair was loc'ed.  Huh.  I've seen people with really neatly shaped, symmetrically sized locs before, but this, this was somethin new.  So the next time I saw her, I worked up the nerve to ask about her hair.  "It's called Sisterlocks," she told me with a smile.  Hmmm.  Yep, definitely something new.  I remember lookin it up jus to see what I could find and at the time there wasn't really much.  Maybe I wasn't lookin in the right place.  Maybe it jus wasn't time for me to know more.  But at least I had an answer.  So fast forward a few years.  I'm confident and comfortable with my hair.  It's doin its thing and the people who were skeptical about my whole natural hair project are happy that I did it.  Then I decided to move back home to the Caribbean where there are way more of us Naturals than in the States.  And ironically, this is where I stumbled upon Sisterlocks again.

My Fuzzies are here and I couldn't be happier.  I celebrated my birthday yesterday and couldn't think of a better gift for myself.  So even though they're technically only a day old, I know I made the best decision for me in the long run.  I got so much positive feedback when I told family, friends and coworkers about my choice.  Some people seemed more excited about the process than I am (lol).  I know that it's a process and I know my hair isn't gonna completely loc overnight, but I've done my homework and since I have a good relationship with my Mane, I know we gon be aight.  I'm told to enjoy all the of it, the whole thing, takin things in stride and one day at a time.  That's easy for me; I got my practice when I decided to return to my real roots.  I'm enthusiastic about where this journey will take me.  But I do plan to really enjoy the ride.