- Hey everyone it's me Hallease,
endeavoring to persevere as always.
If you're new here,
I make videos documenting my chaotic good life,
subscribe, follow, social media, blah blah blah.
Anyway I reached out to y'all on Instagram
and in the community tab here on YouTube
to send me your loc questions,
and y'all came in clutch
with a lot of the LOC questions, wow!
(electronic music)
- All right so first things first,
I define myself as semi-freeform,
there's a lot of ways you can define
your loc journey, if you even want to define it,
you could not that's a thing you could do too,
but for the sake of helping people find me on YouTube
on Instagram whatever, I call myself semi-freeform,
and the reason why I do that is because
I have not retwisted, reinterloced my hair since year one.
Once I felt like my locs were pretty much formed
and cohesive I stopped doing traditional maintenance,
so I stopped palm rolling, retwisting,
interlocing after year one.
I don't retwist, so a lot of you asking,
how often do you retwist the answer is I don't.
The way I maintain my locs if you will,
is just by separating them so you know,
popping and separating and that's pretty much it,
I don't really do much else.
Every now and then in my front,
if I don't notice that you know like this one,
I usually have this huge tuft that just hangs out over here,
I'll kind of wrap it around and then I'll...
And that's it, like I'm very low-maintenance with my locs.
Oh my god I'm still counting.
All right 124, I have 124 locs
and that's counting the ones that have merged.
So for example this even though there's two here,
they are merged so this is one loc for me.
Another question that I get a lot is my regimen,
how often am I shampooing my hair
and whatnot and things like that.
And that really hasn't changed,
like throughout my entire journey that has not changed.
I shampoo my locs generally about twice a week
and in every session I always shampoo twice,
so the first shampooing sort of lifts the dirt
and then a second shampoo removes it out,
I use head and shoulders because I have allergies,
and in Texas there's a lot of just stuff
in the air and whatnot, and so with head & shoulders,
I'm making sure that my scalp is getting really clean.
I don't dilute it, come for me in the comments if you want,
but I don't dilute the head & shoulders
or anything like that.
And then to moisturize when I get out of the shower,
I usually use just aloe vera gel on my scalp
to moisturize my scalp.
And then to moisture the shafts of my locs,
I'll use Alikay Naturals, Lemongrass Leave In Conditioner,
I've been using it on and off for years,
it's a good conditioner, again I don't dilute it at all,
sometimes I'll just spray it in my hand
and then rub it through my locs,
sometimes I'll spray it directly on my locs.
And then finally if I feel like I need to,
I'll put a little bit of oil,
but usually it's from the likes halfway down,
like I don't put any oils on my scalp,
I know a lot of people swear by doing that
but again it just messes with my scalp,
it breaks it out, all sorts of stuff.
I'm generally an oily person,
so I have found that I don't need a lot of oil
and I tend to just focus it on the bottoms of my hair.
And the type of oils I use honestly at this point,
I mostly just use olive oil just because
no matter where I'm at most people have olive oil
in their kitchen so that's why I use olive oil.
For me that's the whole point of having locs
is to not think about my hair as much,
there's other things I want to think about besides hair,
you know.
So let's get into these questions,
I'm gonna look for,
I'm gonna do the community tab folks first
because YouTube you know what I'm saying?
So this is actually a good one,
do you ever feel tempted to dye your locs,
and that's a few of y'all asking this on Instagram too,
are you gonna die your locs,
do you ever feel tempted to dye em'?
This person specifically was asking,
do I ever feel tempted to dye my locs
to kind of hide that you know as you keep having locs
you get sun exposure,
and so they just kind of start to get a little lighter
towards the ends and stuff like that.
No don't really care about that,
again for me it's about not having
to think about my hair too much,
and having you know your hair
kind of change color throughout the process,
is part of the process,
so I have no intentions of dyeing my hair anytime soon,
whether for you know fun or for to hide things, no.
Do I ever avoid different types of like cloth products,
and things like that?
Basically how are all the ways I avoid lint
and the answer is I don't,
again I don't think about my hair as much as y'all,
but I don't really actively think about avoiding lint
or anything like that,
I haven't like not bought a specific shirt
or anything like that just because I was scared
that there would get lint in my locs,
I'm just not thinking about it fam,
it's just not on my mind.
I have noticed that sometimes
there are little pieces of lint in my locs,
and then I usually just brush them and it goes away,
you know or just like pick it out and it goes away,
but I feel like if you're gonna have locs,
you kind of gotta just roll with it a little bit.
And like minimizing lint,
I mean there's things you can do obviously,
you can sleep on a satin pillowcase, things like that
but it is what it is you know.
Another question I got asked was if I ever had children,
would I let them loc their hair,
and yeah sure I don't see why not.
I mean it's their form of self-expression you know, so.
Have you ever, have you noticed any differences
in how society perceives you with locs,
compared to before locs specifically in business.
No if people have felt a certain way about my hair,
they didn't say anything or they didn't show it.
You know my philosophy with that sort of thing
of just like have you noticed a different perception
or do people say things or whatever,
it's just like, other people's opinion of me
is not my business.
It's never hindered me from getting work,
and if it has then I just don't,
I wouldn't want to work with you anyway,
like if something about my physical appearance
puts you off that much,
then I shouldn't be working with you anyway right?
I don't know, I will say that you know,
if I'm in a sort of professional setting,
maybe I'm on set or something like that.
I do tend to put my hair up just to keep it out of my face,
and you know because for me
that just feels more professional than just having it down,
I'll usually do one of my roll, tuck and pin styles
and have it just up and that's it.
But you know I've had locs working in the corporate sector,
you know, I will say that currently what I do,
I'm a full-time artist creative,
whatever you want to call me, digital storyteller,
filmmaker, all the words, and so I think coming
into a creative field like this,
you get a little more leeway I will say professionally.
You know I feel like a lot of people in my industry
have a lot of tattoos or body piercings and this crazy hair,
you know colors and all sorts of stuff,
and you kind of can get away with that a little bit more
because it's understood that you're an artist
and all that kind of stuff.
But at the same time
before I started my production company,
I was working full-time for a video agency
and doing things you know producing content
with CEOs of big tech companies and whatnot,
so a very corporate setting,
and yet you know here I was with my locs and whatever,
but you know the work spoke for itself,
it didn't really matter, the big thing again was that,
for me I just felt better just putting it up,
so I just made sure that it was up and out of my face
and that's kind of it.
You know you're already black, so it's just like,
you know, people are gonna feel
how they want to feel about you, you're already black.
(laughs)
As your locs get longer and thicker,
do they put more weight on your edges,
if so how do you ensure your edges stay intact
as my locs get thicker,
do they put more weight on my edges?
So I don't know, maybe, I've always my,
the edges of my front have always been super delicate,
and need extra love, and even with my first set of locs
which were very manicured,
my front would always just not grow into the loc
and it always felt like I had to maintain
and all that kind of stuff,
so coming from the first set to this set,
I've just kind of left my front, I just do what they do.
I can't really say that I've noticed that
as my locs get longer,
my edges get like worse or something,
they just are always,
my edges just really don't care you know.
If you, I'll see if I can find it,
but there's a picture of me when I was like four,
you know with just my little french braids amen,
and my I still got willowy wisps, (laughs)
that's just something that my hair is,
it just, the front always is willowy wisps,
you know what I'm saying so,
I've just learned again I think with having locs,
at least for me a lot of my loc journey
is about just acceptance, you know accepting my hair
for what it is, accepting my body for what it is
and that sort of thing.
So I've been natural all my life,
I cut my hair four years ago, they grew back healthy
but now it's kind of difficult to handle them,
as a college student I don't have much time,
so I was thinking about having locs instead,
so what kind of advice would you give to a beginner?
Is it necessary to cut them to have semi-freeform locs?
Are loced hair easier to manipulate than normal one?
Do they need less care, time, products?
What kind of different styles can I make with them?
Thanks.
That's a lot of questions that I feel can be answered
by just watching more YouTube videos on locs.
But I would say you know the main thing
is just go for it you know what I'm saying,
there's nothing I can really
there's no advice I can really give to a beginner
because every journey is a little bit different,
you just need to be comfortable,
whether you decide to have more manicured locs
or freeform semi-freeform somewhere in between,
you just need to be comfortable in yourself.
The first year, your hair will transform a lot,
really like consistently a lot,
and you're gonna look a little you know,
look a little weird, you know what I'm saying?
If y'all go back and watch my videos
for the monthly updates for the first year,
you know that I'll go back
and I look at my video sometimes
and I'm like dang I look busted,
but at the moment I was so into it,
and I was so into the process that it didn't even dawn on me
that I looked you know unkempt if you will,
it just didn't dawn on me to even think of myself that way
because I was just in it and going through it,
and I was just fascinated by it, you know what I'm saying.
And I think a lot of that is because I had had locs before
and so I kind of knew
what I was getting into starting another set,
and I knew the stages you know.
I wouldn't say it's,
I know a lot of people call it the ugly stage,
I don't know about that I don't think it's ugly
I think it's just a process
and you're in the thick of the process during that time,
but yeah looking back on those videos and seeing myself,
but oh dang sprigs are just,
here there and everywhere you know. (laughs)
It's good times, good times.
How can I lock down a focused dimepiece like yourself?
I think you need to work on yourself first,
you know what I'm saying,
I think you need to make sure
that you are a complete and total human being
and can actually offer a woman something,
that is worth being offered you know.
I found that when I focused on myself
and made myself the best version of myself,
that was how I ended up meeting an amazing man.
So that's my advice on that.
Have you always had locs,
if not what made you decide to transition?
I have not always had locs, new person,
I had my first set of locs, 2008, 2012 roughly,
then I combed them out, that was a whole situation,
and I became a loose natural,
and then I was a loose natural up until 2017,
and that is when I started this set.
In between there, I shaved my head all off,
that was really fun, check that video out, if you want.
Hallease Big Chop, you'll find it.
I'm really grateful that I did the loose natural thing,
so I could actually learn about my hair,
because I went straight from permed processed hair to locs,
and this was right around the time
when you know the natural hair movement if you will,
was kind of getting kicked off here on YouTube,
and so I really didn't know a lot
about my natural hair at all
and that was what made me want to comb my hair out,
so I could actually see what I was doing,
and figure out just like what my hair likes,
what my hair doesn't like and all that.
And if you go back in my videos you can see,
as a loose natural I experimented,
there was a point you know,
I think eventually just going through
the loose natural journey, it brought me back to locs
in a very organic way.
'Cause at one point,
I was just doing like daily wash and gos,
and like legit wash and gos,
like I would just wash my hair and go, and have a fro.
Like I've always just been trying to figure out a way
to care for my hair but not focus so much
on the aesthetics of my hair,
eventually I just got sick of it and shaved my head,
and then I just had this realization of oh,
when I see myself in my mind, like my sense of self,
I have locs, but it shook me shaving my head to know that.
You know so it's a whole, you know black women and hair,
it's a whole thing (laughs), it's a whole thing
that we have just learned to go through,
and you know you lose yourself, you find yourself again,
it's a whole journey you know.
Not to make it too deep,
but I think for us it is kind of deep
because of just the struggle of it all you know.
How do you feel as a black woman
with locs navigating through your world?
I attended an HBCU and originally had freeform locs
that were deemed unprofessional for my major,
which was broadcast journalism, yeah.
So I keep them maintained now,
but I would love to be more free like yours,
I love all the work you and Evelyn do, thank you.
And then she goes on to compliment me even more,
thank you.
So it's interesting, I mean I definitely understand
where they came from with saying that
with broadcast journalism
you need to look a certain way or whatever,
but it's also my counterpoint to that is,
well how will things change and hair textures
or hair types be more accepted,
if you don't have people that are willing
to break outside of that assumption,
like who made that rule, you know,
who made that rule
that a broadcast journalist can't have locs.
At the same time I know it can be hard,
everyone wants to be liked, myself included,
I've definitely come to learn
that people don't necessarily need to like you,
they just need to respect you,
that's all they really need to do.
Some thing I will say though is that
if I ever did get more into narrative acting,
because you know right now I host a show
and with that it's more,
you're just a variation of your true self right,
but if I ever got into acting, you know,
narrative work filmmaking that sort of thing,
I would probably shave my head again,
because I feel like as an actor,
you need to physically take on, sort of,
as blank of a slate as you can,
so that way you can embody
whatever character you need to embody.
And so I feel like locs are a statement
and so that does I feel like you know if you're an actor,
that's gonna clash with what you're actually trying to do
which is not necessarily to live in your own authenticity
but live in a character's authenticity,
and a character may not have a strong sense of self
and have locs, you know what I'm saying,
thing they might be working through something.
So if I were to become an actor
and be more serious about it,
like truly that would be like a career shift,
I would probably shave my head and just have,
just be bald head, so I can embody more characters.
What's your favorite thing about your locs?
That's a good question.
It's actually a hard to narrow it down to one,
I just love them you know I'm saying,
because I feel like so much about, and that's,
ooh that actually relates to another question,
which is it what was the biggest challenge
with having these locs,
so it's like what do you love about 'em,
what do you hate about 'em.
I don't really hate anything about my locs,
I get mildly annoyed about
the whole ends getting frayed thing,
but I know that's just because for a little while,
I interloced them in the beginning and, in the beninging,
and I think it's best, my hair works best,
when I leave it alone.
So even with the few times I did interlock,
I'm seeing now two and a half years, three years in that
that was not the best thing to do.
There you go.
I think the thing I love about them the most,
is that I don't have to really think about them.
That's a good answer to that.
The thing that I love about my locs the most,
is that I don't have to think about them.
Ooh here's a good one.
Assumptions people have made about me for having locs.
Yo I am not from the Caribbean,
I'm not from the Bahamas, I'm not from Jamaica,
I'm not vegan, I never said I was,
but some of y'all for real think I am,
and I know it's because the hair, I'm not vegan,
I have no desire to become vegan, I eat meat.
I'm not a hundred percent natural, nope,
I'm all down for trying natural remedies
but if they do not work,
then go to something more medicated.
That is my philosophy on that.
I'm not Rastafarian, I'm not, you know,
cuz y'all be mad, y'all be real mad,
y'all big mad when you figure out that I'm not these things,
and I'm just like, I never said I was. (laughs)
You assumed that not me.
I feel like that's more or less everything,
I hope this helps, if you have more questions, lea,
which how like how do you have more first of all,
leave them down below in the comments,
and I will get to them, I will answer you in the comments.
Also check out this video,
because YouTube seems to think you'll like it,
and finally check out this one,
which is a playlist of all the videos
that I have ever done about my hair
for this particular loc set and it shows the breakdown,
month by month of the first year
of having this set everything I did so.
And it's more, you know it's authentic
cuz it's in the moment,
you know what I'm saying, it's in the moment.
So check that out, I'm Hallease,
I'll see you when I see you.