I'd been contemplating it for awhile. I'd been walking around with this uncombed afro (I never called it an "afro" for the record, it was a "natural") for the better part of 3 years and I couldn't pull the trigger. I read this article in the Metro Times about locs in the workplace. Sistas were getting snide comments here and there, but the men in the article seemed to be catching hell. There was this one dude that worked in the same building as I and who had really mature locs. He was quoted in the article as saying, "I just came to grips to the fact that when I got locs I had pretty much sealed my fate. I basically gave up any upward mobility that I may have had in the company." That was the day I knew I'd get locs and defy the odds.
Now I'd had "faux locs" before, during my college years. See?:
This time it was gonna be the real deal.My thinking was simple. I was going to be a man of the people and everytime they looked at me, they'd know it. No matter how high I rose or how much juice I got, I was always connected to the most maligned of us. People fuckin' hate dredlocs. Nobody knows that more than people that have them. I think Black people hate 'em more than white people.
So I went to this loctician and got them started. This was 1997. I spent $100 bucks to get them done. The next morning I woke up and panicked. How was I gonna go to this ultra conservative place I worked all loc'ed up? I spent that morning cutting my hair off. All of it.
It would be two years later before I tried again.
KZ
17 comments:
I got that pic...:-)
Do it after the 10th. I mean if you HAVE to cut it...which you don't.
I like locs. Everyone these days has locs...you should keep yours.
I am so indecisive I know I do not have the stamina for locs. I change my hair every few months, but I do love locs.
this locing thing is tough...I'm having my doubts even now. some days I'm in love with my hair and others...I'm just missing being able to run my fingers through it like the good ole days.
I'm torn so I don't really have any of that good ole unsolicited advice you love so much.
I guess if I was someone of importance in your life and my opinion really did matter I'd probably say don't cut them...but I am neither of those things so really DO YOU BABY!!!
I love my hair locked! And I'll tell whoever don't like it to kiss my butt. Doesn't matter if it's in the workplace or the street. So far I've got mostly wonderful compliments and I've only had to tell one person to kiss my azz.
But I do realize that I work for "Big Massa" and they can't afford any lawsuits that would make them look like they pickin on the little nappy head black girl! LMAO
it all depends the connectin and the purpose behind it having ur locs. do stress if u choose to cut they can always go back.
@Blah
I don't have to cut, so that's why I'm waivering back and forth. I don't know...
@Miz JJ
Oh you got the stamina, mama.
*hehehe*
@RD
That's the thing about locs early on. Good days and bad days. If you have the patience, your shit will be TIGHT!
Oy vey, why did I talk about unsolicited advice?
Why would you think your opinion doesn't matter to me? I'm listening.
@OneFrom
It probably doesn't happen to you at this stage, but in the beginning didn't people always offer their (negative) opinion on your locs?
I had this old cat in my frat ask me "Why you got that pickaninny hairstyle?"
I actually had one of my ex-staff people in tears asking me why I sabotaged my career.
@Sweetness
I don't know if I'd have the patience to grow them back.
KZ
For better or for worse, natural Black hair is very popular now. I mean think about it, even fifteen years ago you would never see natural hair on TV...Now you got big burly outta control afros, braids and locs on commercials, soap operas, the NBA, etc. So if nothing else, your hair is popular and white folks (and Black folks)in the workplace should be used to it by now.
I know I dont have a say, but I dont think you should cut your hair. How you wear your hair reflects your inner self. When I got ready to put my middle finger up to Boston I cut my perm out. I was long and natural when I first came here (with a strong a$$ 1675 watt blowdryer) and I will be natural till I am able to leave.
A natural lets them know, ahead of time, even in your suit, tie, suspenders and gators, you might just start the revolution up in that piece, so they better back the f*ck up! LOL
who hates locs? that's the craziest thing i've ever heard!!
i suppose being from california they are just about the norm. my mom has had locs for almost twenty years although this is her second set. she's opposed to having them longer than the middle of her back so she cuts them...
my god father has had locs my whole life if not longer.
do whatever makes you feel sexy!
"People fuckin' hate dredlocs. Nobody knows that more than people that have them. I think Black people hate 'em more than white people."
*sigh* you know, there are those bad days when i believe this with every fiber of my being and then there are those good days when i don't. yes, it's true that our hair can cause quite a "stir" in the working world, but then again, what form of expression doesn't? it chilled me to the core when Hampton University's business school "outlawed" certain "ethnic" hairstyles citing them as "unprofessional." i've been through it all too zeddy ruxpin. i was just explaining to my staff why i've been wearing my locs pulled back into a 1970s looking ponytail lately. i've described the difference in the way i'm treated not only when i'm out and about, but when i'm in class too. my granny is constantly asking me, "are you gonna let them grow to your feet?" i always laugh and say, "i don't know granny. i just take it a day at a time. but i do know that i'll never have anything but natural hair for the rest of my life. so whether that's locs, braids, faded, or an afro, so be it."
and uh, yeah, you dumb as hell for not only wasting that damn $100 dollars, but for also wasting that loctician's time! you coulda spent that money on whatever new version of "madden nfl football" was out at the time on playstation! LMAO!
I went all natural...got the fro trimmed up and everything. You can go to my blog to see the pic. I just about freaked out on Monday morning when I realized I was going to have to go to work that way...I'm not sure why. I've went to work with a red faux mo hawk so...LOL! I love my blackness...sometimes that...puts fear in my heart, cuz not everyone loves ALL of my blackness. Holla!
you know what's in your heart, mind and spirit. you know i can't say a word about cutting you locs. i absolutely loved my locs, but i also wanted to have this gigantic fro. i'm slowly on my way. plus i know i will loc up again.
i agree with you. most of the flack i've gotten with my locs was from black folk. they couldn't believe that i actually liked my hair nappy and didn't mind showing it.
my Mom has locs
she is happy and proud but she does catch flak from ppl--Jamaican people no less--that she should stop loc-ing and perm her hair. Some nerve. But I get it though. Rastafarianism wasn't always respected in the West Indies and many Rasta communities were persecuted and sometimes attacked.
Ok well now that you've given me the green light here is my solicited advice LOL!!
I personally like your locs but I also thought you were handsome without them (it was an old pic you shared where you were next to your bangin azz Suzuki LOL!!). If I had a preference I think I would say locs...just cause I love a man with loc'd hair. So yeah that's my advice...don't cut it LOL!!
Ok I'm done!
Shit!!! You complainin I wish I could grow hair in the middle of my scalp! Think I shave my head clean because its cute..lol
@Chezniki
I realized something in a hurry. Once they're "used" to your locs, they don't think a revolutionary lives in your heart. There is no outward expression that will change their minds except strategic arson.
@Miss Ahmad
Trust me when I tell you locs are hated. There are progressive thinkers and then there are the rest of 'em. The rest of 'em outnumber the fuck outta progressives. And the rest of 'em hate locs.
@BTB
Or I coulda used that $100 to buy pussy or liquor! What a waste!
@Mrs TJ
Why the pre-work anxiety? I think back to that and I wonder about it myself.
I saw the pics. Way to do that shit!
@Aqua
These naps are supposed to be a source of shame, I guess. I say "fuck 'em all". Not literally!
@GC
I've heard that before, I just don't understand it.
@RD
Awww shit! Don't take shots at "Medina". That Sidekick was all world to me. It's still my favorite car, probably because it was the first car I ever bought on my own.
I kinda like the idea of never cutting my hair again. I'm a little primitive in that way.
@Slish
That's a minor setback for a M-A-C-K. I got a head fulla hair and no women.
@Mack
One day I'll put up a picture of my "African Experiment" from 1993. You'll see some beastly shit right there.
KZ
LOL@ "Strategic Arson"
I dont know...Ive had perm, long natural, afro, jherri (dont ask), locs, braids...and my employers (and most of my coworkers) never get fully comfortable/complacent with me. I dont let them.
An educated, well spoken, Black person with a backbone in the workplace is still considered a threat, regardless of hairstyle. Sometimes just standing upright when they expect you to be prone is a revolution all by itself.
Maybe your coworkers dont expect a revolution, but I bet they dont want to cross you and find out otherwise either...
;-D
@Chezniki
Sometimes I do little shit to shake 'em up and let 'em know what's what. As soon as they get comfortable, school's in. It's some fun shit to do.
KZ
Post a Comment