If you have been following my facebook page, you probably know that I have returned to locs now – After a glorious Summer of releasing and loving my loose hair last year, the time to loc came much sooner than I (or anyone I know) expected lol! No doubt, the main reason for releasing my first set was for the actual release of old energy… so no regrets there! But I did get questions from a few readers as to what my experience of returning to loose hair was like – and why I chose to loc so quickly.
Here are just some personal thoughts about certain personal factors for me that came up – it may or not be helpful to you (everyone is so different!) – but I feel it might benefit those of you who are thinking of which way of having your natural is better for you. And when it comes down to it, natural hair is beautiful in all forms anyway 🙂
Transitioning from locs to loose…
Popular Q: Did you like going back to loose hair again?
YES! It was SO liberating to feel my loose hair again. After so many years loced, I almost forgot what my hair looked like lol. I feel that embracing your natural hair is important and re-connecting to my texture again was a big beautiful step that i needed to do.
It was much easier than expected too – not just from the actual loc take down point of view, but also in adapting to having loose hair. The routines and products might change but I do recommend doing it if you know it’s time to un-loc again 🙂
Factors that did come up for me are…
The Weather
Mostly cold humid weather ☑ Locs
Mostly hot dry weather ☑ Loose Hair
I laughed when I wrote this because people in the UK are well-known for obsessing about the weather – and here I am doing a whole point on it. But I feel it really did matter to me and it does have an impact on my choice of how I choose to wear my natural hair.
As I live in the UK, the weather is 99% (even in Summer) damp and cold. This will probably mean that I will wear my loose hair in protective styles mostly all the time – so it made complete sense to loc up when the cold weather was creeping in! Locs just feel much warmer too lol 🙂
I used to live in hotter countries when I was younger and had loose big hair – Thinking back now, I probably would go the other way if I still lived in a hot climate… the thought of having thick long locs in the heat has never been good for me lol! Certainly in previous Summers abroad, I did think my first set of long locs were too much for the heat. So, I honestly think if I was living in the sunshine, my choice in hair would be loose! And this may be something that I will do in future when I hopefully move from the UK in he coming years, watch this space again lol 🙂
When it comes to the weather and our environment, this could play a part in how you choose to wear your hair!
Lifestyle
Time management: ☑ Locs ☒ Loose Hair
My second set of locs came when I started my yoga course – a new beginning in my own Self growth. I love to spend mornings getting up early to do my yoga and meditate – but when I had loose hair over the Summer, my mornings were spent doing my hair. I prefer to spend as little as possible on my hair and as much time as possible doing other things – especially now that I am doing my yoga course. I guess, protective loose hair styling also offers this freedom – but I come back to the point where I feel that if I am going to spend most of my time in protective styles, I’d rather have locs!
Weight of hair/locs: ☒ Locs ☑ Loose Hair
I found loose hair to be very liberating in terms of how light I felt – quite literally! This was one thing that made me realise that in leading an active lifestyle, I would want as little weight as possible on my head… Now that I have locs, I will want to keep them just below shoulder length – or shorter for this reason. Even with shoulder length locs now, I do miss the lightness of having loose hair sometimes!
Spending money on products: ☑ Locs ☒ Loose Hair
The amount of money I spend on new products for my hair was way more than I used for locing. I don’t want to spend money on things I don’t need and like simple routines – so even though I know there can still be a simple routine with loose hair, locs generally cost less to maintain and keep healthy.
Travel light: ☑ Locs ☒ Loose Hair
At this moment, I have been able to return back to travelling more. And when it comes to travel, I like to keep it all super light… maybe just a small cabin suitcase at most. And I realised that when I was on the road over the Summer, travelling with loose hair (even with protective styling), needed more products, time and care than I wanted to invest in.
…I will add more points as I rediscover/reflect on both! 🙂
Holistic Locs, Part 2… How do I feel after a few months?
I am well and truly in the teenage phase of my locing journey again…
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