Breakage & Lessons Learned

Breakage has been an ongoing theme in my natural hair and now loc journey. During my loose natural hair days, I had breakage due to too tight protective styling. Now that I have locs, my breakage is mainly due to too tight retightenings and me scratching my ithcy scalp.

Unfortunately with locs, when you’re new to them there is so much you don’t know no matter how much research you’ve done. I need to be honest and say that I do have regrets with my loc journey. Here are three main ones:

1. Not getting traditional locs like I always wanted. Had I gotten traditional locs, maybe I would have avoided all the horrible locticians that I’ve crossed paths with. I know I would be happier with the look of my locs, and I wouldn’t have had to combine my locs to achieve the loc size I wanted.
2. Scratching my scalp. I’ve always had a dandruff issue so scratching my scalp was normal. Having someone scratch my scalp for me with a comb or their fingernail was also normal – and it felt soooo good! But what I didn’t realize (or perhaps I didn’t believe fat meat was greasy) is that when you have microlocs of any kind, especially sisterlocks, you cannot scratch your scalp with your nails or a comb. You are simply ripping your hair follicles at the base of your loc and that will result in breakage. You may not see the breakage right away, but it will show.
3. Not taking my time to research in depth all loc options. This one is huge. During my loc research I came across sisterlocks and I became so enamored with them that I ignored all other locs. I didn’t bother looking into the various ways of starting locs, I didn’t look into all the various kinds of locs. I stopped at sisterlocks and I obsessed over sisterlocks and then made the hasty decision to get sisterlocks. About six months to a year of having them I knew I made a mistake. I should have gotten traditional locs.

I admire those who started their loc journeys over because they weren’t happy with their locs. I’m trying to save mine to avoid having to start over from scratch. But I also have to be realistic in what that means. If I don’t get this breakage under control I may end up having to start all over anyway. When you have breakage with your locs, it takes a very long time for your hair to recover from that. I know I’ve said this before in my YouTube videos, but I must take the care of my locs into my own hands. I keep coming across the wrong locticians who don’t listen, who aren’t skilled enough, who think super tight reties are the only way to achieve a neat look. This needs to stop.

My health must also be factored into the equation. One year after getting sisterlocks, I had major surgery, a total hysterectomy, which affects my hormones, hair growth, etc. When you are lacking certain hormones or your hormones are out of balance, one of the main side effects is hair loss, hair thinning, and breakage. Combine this with having reties done entirely too tight and me scratching my dandruff with my fingernails, and you have a recipe for major breakage. Now that I’ve identified the problems, how do I move forward? Do I cut off my locs and start from scratch? Do I keep my locs and combine them again and hope that stops or slows the breakage? Or do I continue with my locs but make changes to how I care for my hair in hopes that it will stop or slow down the breakage and make my locs healthier?

What I really want to do is find a professional who has experience helping clients with damaged hair and knows what to do to get their hair healthy again. That has been a very hard task to accomplish because more often than not, word of mouth is the only way you’d get that information. You can’t just look in the Yellow Pages and go through pages and pages of locticians and call every number you find. And it’s hard to do a search on the internet for locticians in your area because A) not all of them are listed or advertise their services. B) if you live an area where there aren’t many locticians you’re simply up the creek, and C) very few state that they know how to care for loc issues. This is where I feel discouraged, stuck, and running in a constant circle. My only wish is that I can find someone that’s willing to help me get my locs back healthy. But if I can’t find that person, then I will have to take the care of my locs into my own hands and do what I feel is best for them.

Locs, as with loose natural hair, are indeed a journey. A journey I’m not ready to give up on. My hair is the longest it’s ever been in years. I love waking up in the morning and not having to worry about combing and styling my hair. I love walking in the rain without worrying about my hair drawing up. There are so many positives with having locs and I’m not ready to give that up. I’m not ready to start over. I am determined to figure out a way to deal with my breakage and save my locs so I can continue on this wonderful journey. If I find that it’s best that I start over, only then will I cut off my hair and start all over. Until then, the journey continues.

Time to Regroup

Most of you know that I started a YouTube page and I’ve been putting a ton of content there. Along the way I’ve met many other YouTubers, some are nice while others are very cutthroat or guarded. I quickly learned why. YouTube is extremely competitive, cutthroat, and full of content stealers. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve encountered who pretended to befriend me only to steal my content ideas, steal photos I’ve used in my blogs, or who flat out try to steal away my subscribers – and I have no where near the following that they already have!

Yeah, it’s time to regroup.

I’m a naturally friendly person, and silly me thought that other YouTubers would be the same. Not true. I’ve found that when a Youtuber – and by Youtuber I mean locs or natural hair Youtubers – find out that you’re a fellow content creator, they get very guarded and territorial. They are slow to follow you back (if they follow you at all) to show you the same support you are showing them. They rarely interact with their followers or respond to the comments made on their videos, and if they do respond, it’s usually a short two – five word response. Of course I thought that was downright rude and unfriendly. These are the people, your followers, who helped make your channel successful! The least you could do is engage with them and acknowledge them. Many often type a reply of “Thank you” or “Thank you for your support” which to me isn’t directly addressing the comment left. At least not in a way to make the follower feel appreciated. Especially when they see that you’ve left that same, blah, dry, general response for all comments.

There are those who have a lot of followers that say there’s just to many comments to respond in depth to individually and they don’t have enough time in their day to do so. One of the main ways you show your followers that you appreciate them is to acknowledge them and respond back in a thoughtful and meaningful way. But maybe that’s just me. Yes, I’m sure it’s time consuming and a headache. And no, not every comment deserves a response back. Let’s be honest – there are a lot of trolls and downright nasty people in this world who sit behind a computer, tablet or phone who LIVE to put others down and criticize you in the harshest way. So I understand why many creators are hesitant to put themselves out there so to speak. However, all YouTube creators have access to the block and delete options. You can report such ones. And if you don’t have time to monitor such things on your own, find an admin that is trustworthy to help weed out such comments.

I know I’ve neglected my blog for quite some time because I’ve found that I truly enjoy making YouTube videos about my loc journey and things I’ve found to be very helpful in helping my hair grow stronger and be healthier. I enjoy interacting with my followers and having great conversations with them about hair and many other things. But I’ve also found that the YouTube world has a toxic underbelly that can sap you of your joy if you allow it. I’ve had some pretty unpleasant experiences lately that involved fellow YouTubers following me, commenting on my posts and questioning me on my content in a condescending manner and then making a video of their own talking trash about me! I’ve had fellow YouTubers try to steal my followers away from me, use my Facebook page to promote their YouTube page and asking my followers and FB friends to follow them. I’ve had YouTubers steal or copy my page look, content, etc. and if finally came to a head to where I had to make a video addressing these shady broads.

Writing is my first passion, and it always will be. For the past two years YouTube had all of my attention but it’s time to regroup. It’s time to get back to what I love most – writing. So expect more posts from me because I have a lot to say and share!

My hair when I started my loc journey in 2018 to today at 2 years and 6 months locked: