Both of your hands are like moving with The Quickness.
We've been doing this for years, girl.
Y'all are not new to this, you're true to this.
Yes!
Hey guys, my name is Sojourner, and welcome to Hair Me Out.
There was a time when I believed the negative connotation surrounding locs,
but luckily, my mom has helped me see the life and beauty in them.
I'm excited for you to follow along as I get goddess locs for the very first time.
I'm Annette Roche, co-owner of Nappstar NYC, and today I'm with my lead stylist...
Hi! My name is Scarlet.
And welcome to our salon.
So, what size today do you want your faux locs?
I think medium-size, you know, not too small, not too large.
Just like a – is there like a standard loc length?
Yeah, like a smedium.
Smedium!
I like smedium.
And so today we're gonna be using this zig zag type of hair to base your hair with.
We also are gonna be using this wet and wavy hair at your ends
so you can get that curl effect.
Nice, that's that goddess effect.
That's that goddess effect!
And the secret sauce is that we're also gonna be wrapping with his human hair that I
pre-backcombed for you, so it'll give it a lot of textures.
So, the trickiest part is how you end it.
You have to, like, really, really, really wrap really, really
tight at the end, so it's nice and secure, and then we're done one.
Oh, yes!
Hello!
What made you decide to come in today to get goddess locs?
Well, I've always been interested in locs, and that's partially due
to my mother deciding to loc her hair when she was in her 30s.
But then I've also seen actresses such as Megan Good
and Eva Marcille rocking these long, beautiful, gorgeous locs.
All the elements of, like, a perfect protective hairstyle,
so it's something I've always wanted to get, but I've been a bit apprehensive about.
It's partially due to locs not being 100% accepted.
Years ago, when I first started as a stylist, it wouldn't be accepted for you to have locs;
even the army you couldn't have locs.
And now, I do you think it's becoming more acceptable.
So much more versatility in the styles, so more people
are feeling like they can wear locs to work and not be penalized for it.
I'm in a place now where I'm ready to say, you know, whatever society says doesn't matter.
I'm just gonna do me and try something new.
If I like it, which I'm a hundred percent I'm going to,
at the end of it I'm just gonna be like, you know what, loc my hair up.
let's just make– let's make it official.
99% of people who comb their locs out, within a year, always end up coming and getting
their locs back.
Just because it is literally, like, the best style ever.
No offense.
Even my daughter, she loved it from the beginning.
She saw Annette.
She was like, 7 years old, and she was like, mommy I want to loc my hair.
But I really was like, okay let's hold up a little bit because, you know, kids, they
see styles, and they want something different...
But then, when she was like nine, I was like, okay, let's do it.
I'm ready to, and you're ready, we don't have to comb your hair out anymore before school.
I don't have to comb mine; I don't have to comb yours!
My mom she doesn't let hers go past, I want to say, like, shoulder-length.
Meanwhile, my best friend is doing length checks every month.
And that's also nice about locs, you can really see its journey.
The Rastafarians, they definitely have locs, but they have different variations.
I think, like, they're called, like, Bobo dreads...
Rastas call me "fashion dreads" 'cause it's not a religious thing,
it just looks good.
I remember my mom she didn't like locs at first because where she's
from, all the rebels had locs– like the rebels in war.
Where's your mom from?
She's from Congo.
But now my mom has sister locs.
Every person I know with locs said they wish they would have started earlier.
'Cause most people hesitate; they're like, okay...
They think they're like, stuck with locs for the rest of their life;
they want to get all their styles out...
Yeah, right I'm like, okay, I have – what I need a couple more years...
I have had such a love-hate relationship with my hair.
I went to predominantly white elementary schools.
Of course, my skin color is different, but like, hair.
We would have swimming classes, and I'd be the only one
wearing a swimming cap.
I was like, "Okay mom, I want to perm my hair,"
and she was like, "Okay, I need you to wait a couple of years."
And worst decision of my life...
I permed my hair.
Worst decision I could have ever made.
I went to Howard University, and everybody says,
when you step on the campus of an HBCU, when you walk in there with the perm, you're
graduating natural.
Me and some of my girlfriends were like, "There is no way I'm leaving the creamy crack,
you can't stop me!"
I remember seeing this girl walk across the yard, and she had just this
beautiful set of like, kinky, coily, curly hair, and I was like,
"How did you get your hair to look like that?" and she was like,
"Girl, I chopped off all my perm, and I just let it grow,"
and I was like, "What?!"
It was trial and error for me because I have so many
different hair textures.
I had this whole idea of what being natural was, but like, my hair just
doesn't cooperate.
I'm out here wearing braids, I'm wearing weaves, I'm wearing Marley twists...
So as I'm getting older, I don't know what to do with it,
so I'm just like okay...
Maybe these protective styles, maybe locs is just what I need to do.
I kind of feel like all of us African-American women
went through like, this journey together in natural hair a few years ago.
Everyone did like, a big chop where they were cutting off all their permed hair
and the weaves!
A lot of women would be like, "Oh, I don't like it!"
And I'd be like, "Welcome to your face.
This is what you look like.
You're beautiful."
And then we became product junkies together.
Yes we did.
And we all had like, three products to choose from.
We are that powerful as a community that we can change the way the market
makes products.
African Americans have like, one of the highest buying powers of all the
races out there, so you see companies kind of getting in line
with our wants and our needs, and now we're being represented more.
And it's all because we're supporting each other.
You know, it's beyond hair.
So the alcohol-free mousse is just so it doesn't dry the human hair out,
and that'll give you that nice, nice wave.
Would you like some gold jewelry, madam?
I would like to drip in all of your finest gold.
There's something about a black woman doing a black woman's hair.
It's just, they have the same kind of hair, whether it's a different texture,
that's one thing, but they just have a deeper history and understanding
of how our hair works, so if I'm ever going to any type of salon,
it's a black-owned salon.
Even if you were in an emergency and you had to go to a different salon that doesn't
specialize in your hair, they've never even been trained, not once, to ever
even deal with your hair.
Exactly.
And so as a cosmetologist, you're supposed to be able to deal with everybody's hair.
Our hair matters!
Are you ready to see your hair?
I'm ready!
Okay, let's turn you around.
Oh!
My!
This is my hair.
This is my hair!
That's your hair!
Oh.
Oh my god.
I know, it looks really good.
I'm next!
Thank you for coming!
Thank you so much for coming in!
I love the way my goddess locs look, and it makes me so
much more excited to start my loc journey in the future.
Having my hair done and knowing it looks good, and it's protected
lets me focus on the rest of my life and becoming more comfortable in my skin.
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Hair Me Out.
Hey guys, thank you so much for watching.
If you have any ideas for videos you'd like to see,
let us know in the comments below.
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Bye!