FroRocks - Discovering Natural Hair

Hey, beauts!

I finally get to take down my faux locs tomorrow. It’ll be a day shy of 8 weeks.

Whew! 8 weeks! I can’t remember having a protective style for this long. This time I did set the challenge of rocking it for 6-7 weeks, but life happened and gave me an additional week. I’ve been busy lately and although I miss my natural hair, to be honest, I was a bit reluctant to take these down because I’m not looking forward to a real wash day. For the past 8 weeks wash days has been so easy peasy that I’ve almost forgotten what a real wash day feels like. Well, I’ll be back to wash day reality soonest!

Having a boring hair is one thing I didn’t want while I had my locs, so I tried switching to different styles. Some peeps have been asking how I style my faux locs and here’s my last chance to show them how before the takedown.

Enjoy!

1 | SIDE SWEPT

I’ve tried this style on box braids before but it’s awesome with faux locs.

STEPS

1. Do a rectangular part i.e one side of the part should have more locs.

2– 4. Hold it in a ponytail using an elastic band.

5. Take out a piece from the ponytail and wrap around the elastic band to hide it, if you want a cooler look.

6-7. Choose the side you want the sweep to fall. If you want it on your right take the ponytail to the left and vice-versa. You get?

Now sweep the ponytail to where you want.

8–13. Take few pieces (usually 2 pieces works well with my faux loc) from the left and right sides, the ones closest to the rectangular part and tie at the back to secure the sweep.

2 | CHINESE BUN

Somehow the pieces of faux locs left out of the bun reminds me of chopsticks. This style was inspired by my sister and it’s really easy to do. Do I even need to explain? Maybe just step 2 and 3.

2-3 After putting the locs in a ponytail, keep the two ~~chopsticks~~ pieces apart from the rest, so they don’t get lost while you do the bun.

3 | BRAIDED BAND

Or as a friend calls it: “the ninja look”.

STEPS

1-3. Take 3 pieces of locs and braid it down.

4. Take it across your forehead

5-7. Take a few pieces from the left and right sides to tie at the back, so as to secure the band.

And there you have it! Wishing you a fabulous week ahead!

Which style will you be trying soon?

Let’s get to know you.

Hi! My name is Afoma. I currently live in St Vincent & the Grenadines in the Caribbean and I’m a medical student, occasional writer, and constant photographer. I also run a lifestyle blog where I talk about books, fashion and med-school stuff (ihundasmusings.com).

How long have you been a natural?

Two and half years. Since November of 2013.

Big chop or transition?

I transitioned for about 7 months and then big chopped in November of 2013.

What’s the story behind you going back to your natural roots?

I had been seeing a lot of nappy haired sisters, especially Ekene of thekinkandi figuring out the whole natural hair thing and I really was curious as to why black women didn’t try harder to understand their own curls and work with them instead of trying so hard, even to the point of enduring chemical burns just for straight hair. I loved the feel of my curls whenever I left my hair unrelaxed for extended periods and I wondered what it would feel like to have a head of just curls. All the times I’d had natural hair, they’d been threaded constantly just to get them to a length for relaxing, so I’d never really worked with my natural hair.

Do you have an idea what your hair type and porosity is?

Porosity, no. But I’ve been told I’ve got a mix of 4B and 4C. My hair is definitely more loosely curled in front whereas the back of my head has tightly coiled strands.

What’s your regimen like?

I honestly don’t have much of a regimen. I try to wash at least once every two weeks. I hardly ever co-wash because my hair seems to like being shampooed. I try to minimize manipulation though and heat treatments. Probably used a blow dryer once since I’ve been natural. I love leave in conditioners too.

Any hair products you can’t do without?

LOVE the shea moisture hair souffle. Makes my curls pop and keeps my hair super soft. Can't-do without my oils too: coconut oil especially.

What’s your go-to hairstyle? Any fave hairstyle?

Lately, I’ve been loving the two puffs instead of one huge afro puff. Mini twists are also a great way to reduce manipulation.

Challenges you face as a natural.

Sigh. Those days when you really just want to get out of bed and go without fussing over your hair for twenty minutes and still not having it ever look ‘right’. Or having to fix up your hair before bed; putting it in twists of wrapping it nicely or putting it in a puff so it doesn’t get all tangled. I rarely get away with going to bed with messy hair unless I have a late start the next day and I can just take my time. Oh, and WASH DAY is like 500x harder than with relaxed hair.

Do you have any hair/styling secret? wink

I really advocate for keeping your hair moisturized all of the time. Dry hair just makes your life so much more difficult. Drinking lots of water is great for your hair and skin. Do it.

Has going natural changed anything about you?

I’ve learned to redefine my previous standards of beauty. To see me, regardless of what hairstyle I had on: TWA, twist outs, fro, braids, weave, relaxed hair. Being natural has made me more flexible with hairstyling and more accepting of ‘messy’. Natural hair definitely has its own aesthetic and while it can be prim and proper- buns, puffs etc- it mostly sticks out of the ‘proper’ box. I’m embracing that and letting my hair do its thing, especially outside of work ;)

Do you think you’ll ever return back to the creamy crack?

I think not. But you never know. If I ever did, I’d be getting a cropped cut. I feel like if I really wanted the straight look, I could always flat iron or silk press, you know? It’s the best of both worlds.

Any advice for your natural sisters out there?

Focus on having good, healthy hair. I think that’s really what counts and you don’t need too many hair products for that.

How do we keep in touch with you?

I’ve already mentioned my blog ihundasmusings.com . I’m @miszjeanie on Instagram & Twitter!

WASH DAY

Replace towels with old cotton t-shirt to dry your hair. Using t-shirts prevents frizz and help maintain your natural curl pattern.

HAIR PRODUCTS

So you finally drew conclusions that a product isn’t working for your hair?
Don’t let it go to waste! Try swapping with curl/natural hair friends if theirs didn’t work either.
It saves you money and storage space too!

Warning: Only applicable if you have curl friends. ; )

xx
The FroRocker.

3 Ways To Style Faux Locs