The Decision to GO FRO Part 1

2010 marked the 8th anniversary of being Natural and having locs.  I was getting more and more curious about my "loose" hair.  In addition, I suffered from a scalp condition called seborrhoeic dermatitis which is caused my scalp to become flaky and itchy.  The condition became increasingly more difficult to manage with locs as I had to wash with medicated shampoo very frequently and the flakes were difficult to purge from my locs. 

I had known for several years at that time that I could and would choose to comb my locs out as opposed to cutting them off when I decided to make the change.  Also, I had another PROFOUND inspiration and catalyst.  Her name was Katrice L. Mines better known as my FFBF (favorite FaceBook Friend).  We had been meeting and talking over the last couple of years and her afro had become a benchmark for what I thought and believed all afros should look like - including mine.  I had been following her blog and picking her brain about her afro for about a year.  She was so gracious about answering my questions.  She encouraged me to consider combing my locs out.  She did not know that I was already on the path to the big comb out, she just helped me seal the deal.

At the end of my last loc maintenance appointment in late September of 2010, I asked my loctician about the process of combing my locs out.  She proceeded to comb one loc out and it took 20 minutes.  She explained that I could expect the process to take at least 7 days with 2 people working on my head for 8 hours per day.  She then told me that it would be $65 per hour.  I did the math.  She was basically telling me that it would cost me $3,640 to have my locs combed out.  I thanked her for the consultation and left thinking that I would have to cut my hair.  Two days later, I sent her an offer of a flat rate that I could afford (and asked her not to be offended by it).  To my surprise she accepted!

For the next 5 days we worked 10 hours per day to transform my hair carefully from locs to a beautiful healthy afro.  We (yes, we) used lots of conditioner, rat tail combs and every muscle and nerve in the human hand.  It was grueling.    We would take each loc and apply conditioner to it generously, then take the rat tail comb and start to carefully comb the loc out.  The first couple of inches would fall out then I would start to comb my natural hair. When I had locs, I did not shed any hair.  The hair on the end of the loc was hair that I would have shed had my hair not been locked. I found that once I stretched the hair from the loc that was combed out, I really had not lost very much length.  I was enthralled.

Once all of my locs were all combed out, my hair was deep conditioned and trimmed.  Keep in mind that I had not combed my hair in 8 years at this point!

What happens next warrants a whole new blog entry.  Stay Tuned!

The Natural Darling