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I had always admired locs, and had wanted to wear them for at least 4 years before I made that final decision to just go ahead and do it. I had been relaxing my hair, wearing weaves and wigs, and extensions for several years, and I looked all right with these styles. However, when I really looked in the mirror, I had no idea what I truly looked like because of the façade I had been living for so long. I was ready to loc my hair, and nothing or no one would be able to stop me. I knew I could possibly face criticism from others because of the choice I was making in locing my hair, but I was determined to do it anyway. Unfortunately, my son, who could have steered me in the right direction to begin my loc journey, had moved from Colorado to Florida just two months earlier. I made endless phone calls to him, asking for advice on what products to use, what loctician to visit…there were sooo many questions I needed answered to know how to get started. My son, being a typical, laid back young man, simply suggested I buy some beeswax and begin to twist my hair. I had less than 2 inches to begin with, and had NO clue what he meant by “twisting”. I was at a complete loss as to what to do. I bought the beeswax, began to twist my hair, and hated the fact it was so greasy and itchy. I wanted to find a way to loc my hair without all the drama, and maintain a clean scalp. One day, I was browsing the Internet, and I found a website called DivaDZigns. It came up in my browser search engine under Dreadlocks. I went to the website and read Pat’s story about her Sisterlocks journey, and was totally fascinated! I searched the website and found different links, and those links led to other links. I found a link to a website called A Journey to Sisterlocks, by a lady named Sandy Fields. On Sandy’s website I found a link to a website called Aminah’s Journey. On Aminah’s website I found a group called Nattydreads Yahoo! Group. And thru Nattydreads I found links to other groups, including one to Sandy Field’s group, LockItUp. I eventually joined all the e-groups, learning along the way all the things I was doing wrong to my babylocs!
Thru the e-groups I found out there was a lady named Sigrid who also lived in Colorado, in nearby Boulder, CO. She was also a member of several of the same e-groups I belonged to.
One of my dreams once I began my locs was to have a website that could point people in the right direction for knowledge on locing hair. I waited about a year and then made my website. I had no idea what to say except to tell the story of all the mistakes I made when I started my locs. I finally got my website up and running the following summer, and one of the first things I did was email Pat to ask her permission to add a link to her website to mine. Pat graciously replied to my email, giving her permission to add the link, and told me she enjoyed my website and the jewelry I wore on it. We had a brief correspondence, and planned to meet one day when she was in Denver again.
On November 23, 2002 Sigrid held a Naptural Hair event, a gathering to give Black women with natural hairstyles a chance to meet and greet each other. At the same time, Pat emailed me she would be in town, which was perfect…we would finally be able to meet each other! We had a wonderful time at the gathering; I got to meet Pat and Sigrid after 2 years and 2 months. I am thrilled to have met new friends, who felt like old friends, all from being on the internet!
November 2002 - Denver Naptural Hair Event http://www.daezhavoo.com/nappyhairday.html
….just me…daez Web Site
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