Then out of nowhere, I copped an attitude. She wouldn't be mad. I mean, shoot---this is MY hair. She can't be mad at me for doing MY hair. Why am I trippin'? Man whateva...I ain't afraid of her.
The door buzzed me in and walked in. I missed this shop. Within seconds I felt at home. I noticed a new barber. I heard the sounds of one of my favorite gospel songs. Strangers said "hello". And then I saw her. My loctician. "Brittany!" she squealed. And at that moment I felt better. I ran to her as if she was my long lost Auntie. She gave me a huge hug and stared at my hair.
She gasped.
Oh crap. She's going to say they look bad. She's going to see that I started latching. And she's going to notice how un-even my color is. She's going to be mad.
"Your locs are beautiful, darling!" she says.
I stared at her in disbelief."
"You mean....these?" I say as I show her the back of my head.
"Yes those! Look how long they are. And they look so healthy."
Looks can be deceiving. She doesn't know my struggles with build-up. And how I have a love/hate relationship latching. She doesn't know that my scalp is drier than overcooked chicken. She don't know none of that.
We talked for a few minutes and I made an appointment. And I whined. I told her about struggles with build-up. And how I have a love/hate relationship with latching. I told her that my scalp is drier than---you know what I mean. She listened and she smiled. She smiled and she listened. She rubbed my shoulder and said "Don't worry. I'll see you in 2 weeks. You've been doing a great job. I'm proud of you. And I've missed you."
And I left smiling like a kid who got a compliment from a middle school-er on the bus.
I'm going to get my locs did in 2 weeks. I can't WAIT! They need it and I need it.
As I type this, I am sitting under the dryer. I just did the pipe curls method, part deux. I'll post pics soon.
And this week I will also talk about some of my hair issues. Especially the latching thing---I love latching but I don't like how it looks compared to palm rolling. But palm rolling doesn't last for this work-out woman. Fact of the matter is I need to choose a method and stick to it before I have some jacked up lookin' locs.
Stay tuned!
[ETA: I took the pipe cleaners out and I still hate them. I think this look only works for short short locs or long long locs. This is bad. I'm washing these curls out. I'm sad. :( Pics coming soon.]
