Transitioning From Afro Hair To Locs
WE DID IT JOE!!!
Well, I did it. I finally transitioned my afro hair into starter locs.
Many people are well aware of my hair journey which started back when I was in varsity after chopping it all off in October 2014. To be honest, I wasn’t sure sure about keeping it natural based on the amount of people who I knew at the time that were complaining about how tedious the maintenance is.
Listen, they didn’t lie. However, it got better after the first three years because by then, I had already put together a routine that my natural hair loved and never looked back.
It’s been 7 years since the big chop and I’ve finally had enough of my afro. Upon deciding what I wanted to do to my hair, cutting it again would only mean going back to square one and growing it out again until I was tired of it like I was a few weeks ago.
Of all the options I had, I decided to loc my hair indefinitely as a way of retaining my hair’s length because this was something I struggled with when I had my afro out (we all know shrinkage is a pandemic lol). What many don’t know is that I had previously loc’d my hair but that lasted all of two days because the process was painful and my hair was a lot shorter. The influence came from my mother – whom had locs, she cut them off, grew an afro, and started locs all over again.
I think based on my urge to want to change hairstyles, I felt like locs were too restrictive hence the decision to not keep them but little did I know that a decade later, I’d be back here wanting simplicity for my hair. I did some research particularly locally on people who transitioned from an afro to locs and it got me hype up. One of the salons that also promoted this transition, was Indalo Nubian Naturals – one of the most prominent natural hair salons in Gauteng if not South Africa.
I eventually booked to have my hair loc’d and I haven’t looked back since. I’m in my third week of having starter locs and I’m VERY curious about what my hair looks like even though it’s in a protective hairstyle. I’ll be sure to share an update once I’m due for my interlocking in a week’s time.
