mistakes with locs

WHY ESSENTIAL OILS?

Essential oils are a fantastic creation because of the vast benefits they provide in the area of skin care.  From Rosemary to Sandalwood, they each provide a unique purpose and benefit to your skin and hair.  Not only do they provide aromatherapy, but they are also used for health reasons.  For instance, Peppermint essential oil can be used for pain management, to apply as a topical solution, Lavender and Cedarwood essential oil can be used for minimizing flakiness and are excellent for hair and scalp.

Use of essential oils are so powerful, that they have been used for thousands of years, not only for medicinal use, but also for household cleaning products.  The particles in essential oils come from distilling or extracting different parts of plants, flowers, leaves, etc.  (Reference: draxe.com/ 101 essential oil benefits, paraphrased).  Although there are many uses, today we will focus on the benefits of hair and scalp.  One of the most powerful essential oils is Tea Tree Oil, which can be found in each bottle of Natural Hair Mist as well as Loc Drench Hair Oils.  The benefits of Tea Tree include:

Anti-fungal, antiseptic, unclogs hair follicles, nourishes roots, induces hair growth, anti-bacterial, moisturizes skin, controls body odor, relieves skin itching, flights psoriasis, antiviral, treats warts, wounds, ringworm, reduces acne.

Whether you’ve just gotten your hair done, or looking for a refresher after a gym workout, we’ve got the Mist for you!  If you are just wanting to promote further nourishment to your locs after washing them, you may choose a particular mist, or if you have a certain scalp issue, one of the bottles may fair better to aid your healing process.   

Below is a chart I’ve developed sharing with you the benefits of each essential oil, and the corresponding Natural Hair Mists which can be found hosting them.  Based on your hairs’ deficits, choose the Natural Hair Mist that would best promote your hair’s wellness, nourishment, and your scalps’ needs. New Natural Hair Mists may be added and some may no longer be available due to discontinuing or selling out, so use this guide as a reference to locate the bottle best for you.  Email questions to tiffanyslocjewels@gmail.com, or submit through the site.

TIFFANY’S LOC JEWELS

ESSENTIAL OIL CHEAT SHEET

              ESSENTIAL OIL             BENEFITS                         FOUND IN NATURAL HAIR MIST

THE MYSTERY OF LOCS…..AND WHY WE LOVE THEM!

Perhaps it’s the thickness of some, and the thinness of others, I don’t know, its just that something uniquely special about a person’s locs. As an onlooker, some locs are to be admired and we secretly question what they had to endure through their loc journey, such as their changing looks, reaching the teenage phase, loc-popping, and so on.  Noone's locs are perfect no matter how “perfect” they may appear at that moment. Each person has had their own process of growth.  For those who’ve cut their locs and they are on their second or third set, you scratch your head and wonder, what it was that made them cut the first set in the first place? What look were they going for the second time around?  And even those who chose to cut their locs off permanently, or temporarily to experience loose hair again, you imagine how much they wrestled with that decision.

Sisterlocks are the tiniest of locs; those with several hundred plus on their head. What was their install process like? How was their hair-washing routine different than those who wore traditional-size locs? The new level of education they received in order to not only learn of the locing process, but learn of the nature of locs themselves. They are a community within a community, a sub-culture, just as loc-wearers form a sub-culture, if you will, within the natural hair community.  In addition, under that umbrella are those who chose to grow thicker locs, and knew they wanted their "locs to look like the original locs of back in the day".  Experimenting with the freeform element was so freeing and so natural without the care of the week-to-week grooming sessions the others choose to do.  Inside their mind, perhaps their is a bolder, confidence, which going against societal norms is tested even the more than those who wear nubian locs.  Then there is the nubian, or traditional, loc-wearers.  Those are the ones who like the neat parts, their hair just so, their edges laid, and sometimes wear elaborate styles. They have had their own journey, with people walking up to them asking, “Can I touch your locs? Are those extensions? How do you wash your hair?”  Having to grapple with answers for people in a friendly way was a challenge, since they simply did not know much about it in the first place, and appeared to admire them. And for all locers, the relationship with the opposite sex has been a consideration.  What is viewed as sexy comes into play.  I, myself, have been asked a few times, "How long are you going to keep those locs? You carry them well, but how long?"  And that's my sign to move on, as I realize immediately that that person would never love me for who I am.  And beauty in his eyes has been tainted.

The locs themselves are a mystery, because of a person’s head and how they fall. The mystery of locs is a mix between whats inside the head of the locer (their beginnings, their growth stages, and their goal length or style), and how the loc tends to form or mesh together due to the person’s hair texture, and whether they choose to latch/tighten their locs, palm roll their locs, sisterlock, or freeform.  The evolving journey is fascinating because we can put ourselves in someone elses’ shoes and imagine our “loc past”, or our “loc future”.  What’s inside the mind of the locer, and how they view their version of beautiful is a constant unveiling that we choose to celebrate with eachother. We wonder who this person is and what is their style? Whether corporate or artsy, they seem to have made locs work for them in their particular way.

Women adore men with locs, as over the years certain musicians, like Eric Benet and Bob Marley, has made them sexy.  They fortified a strong image at the start of their career of sexiness and mystery.  Female artists, such as Lauryn Hill, went against the grain with her thick locs throughout her career, setting a precedent for women with locs.  So whether the locer chooses to do their hair themselves or to go the salon, whether they choose to color their hair or wear their natural color, or whether they choose to use certain products to gain that finishing look they were going for, we are all in this together, and we can all appreciate our locs in their natural form however it meshes together!  

LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES? WHAT HAS YOUR JOURNEY BEEN LIKE AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR LOCS?

LOCS! LOCS! LOCS! Sometimes I love 'em, and sometimes I hate 'em.  Well, I don't really hate my actual locs, I hate the mistakes I made with my locs which are currently yielding this present result.  What result would that be, you may ask?  Why would you have issues with your locs Tiffany when they are long and beautiful?  What could you possibly see wrong with them?

Well, years I ago I wanted layers, and I was deathly afraid to go to a stylist, any stylist, it didn't matter if you were a loctician, a colorist, one who cuts, or only styles locs, I simply wanted to do it myself, because I trusted myself.  And so, my logic was, if I cut it, then only I can be upset with whatever mistakes I make with my locs.  And that was true.  Definitely!  So I set out to self-teach myself how to cut my locs into layers.  I was successful in trimming my all-natural hair while it was a 'fro and maintained it beautifully for three and a half years.  Rarely did you see any split ends or "dead hair", and my hair was thicker and stronger than ever since I did the big chop back to natural.  All in all, I decided to get onto Youtube and search 'how to cut your hair into layers yourself', and studied and studied and studied and studied, until I felt confident enough that I wouldn't screw my own hair up.  Well, I remember doing the cutting in parts, starting with the bottom first and then working my way up.  It looked good for awhile, until I came to the part where your locs frame your face.  One side I managed to cut absolutely perfect, but the other side....well, not so much.  I ended up cutting one side across in a straight line by accident instead of a gradual, layered framing.  Since that was wrong and looked horrible, I had to cut even more in order to "make it look right", ha ha.  At this point you are probably laughing, and well, it is kinda funny.  But later on, oh boy, later on, when it grows out, its tough to tweak and watch one side of your locs look more lopsided than the other.  Now years later, when I want all my locs one length, its a little harder to achieve and will take much longer.

Because of how I've colored my hair down through the years, the ends would pop off.  Some of it is perfectly natural, and some of it is due to color treatments which I also did myself with box dye. Eeww! You hair stylists out there are probably saying right now, and that's right, eeww! Now my hair looks good only when its curly or crinkled.  Every time I wear it straight, I like it for the first 24 hours, and then I hate it.  I'm patiently waiting for the day when I can wear it all one length.

The lesson learned: please go to a professional, no matter how much you'd like to do it yourself.  Spend the money, pay them what they're worth, seek out the best in your area and get referrals. Then go in with a peaceful assurance that you are in good hands.  Don't make the mistakes that I did, which has years of consequence.  But such is life, isn't it?