In 2000, after contemplating going natural for years, I decided to cut off my permed hair and to start my own Loc Journey. I had recently resigned from my full-time Portland Public Schools position as a social worker/administrator and had a part-time childcare business serving before and after school children. Once I resigned and started doing childcare full-time, I became my own boss, completely. This was when it was safe for me to wear my hair natural , without anyone telling me that my hair was “unprofessional.”
Learning from East Coast Loctitians, bloggers and my brother from church, Herman Owens, I started and maintained my own Locs.
The only thing I didn’t do for myself over the years, was color my hair—I always went to professionals for that! Although, occasionally, I went to local locticians, for a good ole shampoo, condition, retwist and style.
In 2014, my husband and I went to visit our youngest son, who was a college football athlete after he had suffered a serious injury. (The above picture is my son Alexander and I in front of his college apartment.)
After a week of taking care of Lex, I decided to drive to my hometown—Alexandria, Virginia to visit family I hadn’t seen in over 15 years.
I had been thinking about cutting my locs for a couple of years, but was finally ready to do it. So my baby sister, Kendra referred me to her colleague and friend who was also a loctician, Toshia Gray.
Toshia, @Tosh.Gray_Hair agreed to cut, color and style my hair in two-stand twists. (See above pics to see BEFORE images of my locs and me at the salon getting my first haircut since I started my loc journey.)
(AFTER pics of my cut, style and color. The pic in the middle is a style I did a couple months later while working as a loctician from my NE PDX Home.)
I really enjoyed my new color and twists by Toshia. My hair was quite long but also much lighter in both color and weight. This felt like a fresh start!
So, what did I do with my locs that were cut off? I SAVED THEM, HONEY CHILE!
I never really knew how I would use my locs again, but I always thought that I would, in some creative way. Plus, I knew that there was a possibility that I might want to try to reattach them in the future because I had learned how to reattach/repair broken locs when I went to the SisterLocks training in 2011. So I kept them tucked away in a bag in my closet.
Until recently.
Repurposed: Off and on for the past two years I’ve been rockin’ faux locs, something very new for me. While I enjoyed the fake locs, I enjoyed having real locs more,this got me thinking a lot more about my locs in the bag.
Generally, hair that’s cut off is meant to stay off, but sometimes hair is cut to be repurposed into wigs. In my case, my severed locs were gonna be reattached.
Once I made my mind up to move forward with this experiment, I called Adrienne Cash aka @Adrienne_Cash_TheLoctitian, who specializes in locs: starter locs, maintenance, extensions, reattachments, as well as eyelash extensions. I paid for a consultation and scheduled time for phase-one of my process: color and starter locs.
Before our first session together, I soaked my cut-off locs in apple cider vinegar water. Then I washed them, conditioned them and prayed over them (cause I went through some hard trials including the loss of my parents, 911, the loss of my grandmother and more during those first 5+ years of loc growth—I needed to make sure the energy was right in that hair). Once the hair was cleaned, I measured and bundled my locs by their various lengths. Then I hung them out to air dry.
The next step was to go to Sally’s to pick up my color since I’ve been mostly coloring my hair red and blue since 2018, shortly after my Big Chop (perhaps a future blog). Since my hair had some perm on the ends (another story for a future blog), Adrienne cut all of that off, down to my natural curl.
After coloring my hair, Adrienne did starter loc twists. I then left my cut, cleaned and prayed-over locs from 2014—10 years prior, with Adrienne to color them, in prep for the next phase: for my Reimagined 2014 locs to be Reconnected to my 2024 hair.
Listen Honey Chile, @Adrienne_Cash_TheLoctitian DID THAT! She had my reattached locs fried, died and laid to the side, Honey Chile! Mmhmm. I wanted an updo and something I wouldn’t have to touch a lot, to better allow for the fusion/locking of the old with the new.
There’s so much Life that has happened between 2000 and 2024, as well as love, growth, joy, pain, pandemic, Black Presidents (including a Black, Female Vice President), sickness, recovery, new relationships, grandbabies, etc. But what I hope this blog would inspire besides creativity, boldness and thinking outside of the box, is the consideration that some things that have been cut off in the past, might quite possibly have the potential in the future of being Repurposed, Reconnected, Reimagined!
I am sooo happy with how my hair turned out! And as for me—and this here life? Still in process, Chile.
By Angela Braxton-Johnson ©️ September 2024
All Rights Reserved
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