LOC JOURNEY-1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

I MADE IT! Well, each year, something new just keeps manifesting itself & I can’t complain. Hell, I won’t complain. This has definitely been an extremely interesting year. COVID, laid off, virtual schooling for an entire school year, beginning my own loc journey & the latest, having had VSG.

I started my loc journey last year kinda by accident I suppose. A friend of mine had shown me a picture of her locs, and so began my journey which you can view here. Before I started, I tried to contact everyone I knew who had locs to ask them about starting & maintenance. So so new to it all. I believe the only not so good thing I experienced was the itching that occurred during those first few weeks. Otherwise, I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire process! I started & have maintained my own locs as of to date. I installed my own faux locs, which took 5 days because I planned it that way. Due to ADHD, I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to sit long enough to do it in a sitting. So I spent 1-1.5 hrs for 5 days installing faux locs for summertime play.

I have some videos that I did create but did not focus too much on posting them or uploading because I have/had been consumed with preparing for my surgery and of course post op recovery. However, this kinda goes hand in hand. With my weight loss surgery, hair loss is a very common side effect. So I have been diligent as I can be regarding taking all my required supplements in addition to hair, skin & nail vitamins, additional biotin & trying my best to stay up to par with my iron because my anemia was kicking my ass for a bit. And for those who are not aware, being anemic can cause hair loss as well. In the coming weeks/months, I’ll be uploading additional videos I created-how I made my own flaxseed gel, coloring my hair, & installing faux locs! Stay on the look out. I am SOOOOOO not a you tuber, but you can subscribe to my channel as I am very very slowly building content regarding not only my loc journey but the updates with Joy Of Santosha and my weight loss journey. Some of those videos are already available. Subscribe by clicking here.

I just did my first protein treatment a few weeks ago & will probably do them for the next 2-3 months with my washes. However, I may wash & wash only & not actually retwist my hair the next time I wash it. I never really did any styles during this first year & only did some updo styles when I played with faux locs in my hair for about 5 weeks or so. So I am trying to manipulate my hair as little as possible until I am out of the hair loss time frame regarding my surgery. I just had my surgery in April & the hair loss events typically can occur at the 3 month mark up until 6-9 months but good news!!!! The hair loss eventually stops & your hair regrows as it did before surgery. Just to be clear, I havent had any hair loss but I am trying my damndest to prevent it with the protein treatments & supplements & of course consuming my protein.

I am still learning my hair & its personality. Since I did just recently have surgery, I am simply keeping an eye on things & trying to reinforce strength with my supps and protein treatments, and of course, ensuring I stay hydrated & consume what I have to because we all know what we put inside our bodies will show up on the outside. And with my surgery, hydration is imperative!! Hydration is also very very important to maintenance of healthy hair, healthy locs.

Considering I am heavy into body positivity & embarking upon one of the greatest journeys of my life, I refused to ever call any stage of my loc journey the “ugly phase”. Like, why?! I have enough body image concerns. Calling any part of what God created on my body ugly was never gonna happen. I literally loved every stage this year and with that being said, I would like to give you a little ride in the past year with my locs! Enjoy!