- Hey, everyone, it's me, Hallease,
endeavoring to persevere.
As always, if you're new here, I make videos
about my chaotic good life.
Subscribe, follow, social media,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know.
Do it, you know.
So in today's video, I'm just gonna show you
how I pop and separate my locs,
but while doing that, I think I might make this
into like a series, if you will, where I call it,
let's call it Pop and Chat,
where I just kinda talk to you all
about what's going on and so on and so forth
while popping and separating my locs and whatnot.
(funky music)
So before we get into the topic,
let's kind of break down how I pop and separate my locs.
I do this once or twice a month,
and I keep it really simple.
I'm gonna go through my moisturization, moisturize my locs,
and then begin to pop and separate them.
They're still about 50% damp.
I just got out of the shower
because I went to the gym this morning
trying to lose 10 pounds (chuckles) in the new year.
So to moisturize, I use aloe vera gel.
I dilute it, half in water, and then I usually find,
I find my center part and then I take my gel
and just straight line down the center and the middle.
And then I go from side to side,
so I'll go to this side and I start in the middle
of the side and then row, kinda work it in,
and then in the middle of the quarter of this section,
I go in the middle, this front middle, work it in.
And then as I'm going through and massaging
on the tips of my fingers the aloe vera gel into my scalp,
kind of making sure that I can feel
that it's pretty evenly distributed
across the side of my head,
and then of course working in the center.
And then same thing on the other side.
So while I do this,
I'm gonna talk about what I wanna talk about today.
So on my last video, I talked about how I want to grow.
That's like the big thing I wanna do
and I wanna try to grow consistently on this channel,
and I've added a metric.
I wanna get to 100,000 subscribers by the end of 2020.
That's my 2020 goal, professionally this year,
is to grow on this channel.
And one of you all sent an amazing,
or responded with an amazing comment.
I've thought about this a lot,
and so the fact that one of you all mentioned it
in a comment was like...
See, that's why I like you all.
You know what I'm saying?
You all get me, you know what I'm saying?
So the question is from Seka on my video
talking about I wanna get to 100,000 subscribers,
and I think the video is called, "Let's Give This a Try,"
and it's a Monday Motivation video.
But Seka says, "Question, your videos tend
"to have a 100% approval rate
"(all likes and mostly less than 10 dislikes),
"most people who find you and come to your channel
"were looking for 'your content,' quote quote.
"You currently have 22k subscribers.
"Exponential growth to 100k will definitely bring
"a curious audience that's just passing
"and not necessarily interested in, quote, 'your content.'
"So, are you comfortable with dropping the approval rate?"
I was like, first of all,
Seka, thank you for understanding the plight.
You do wanna grow and you wanna get bigger,
but you do recognize how that can potentially
affect your approval ratings,
the likes, dislikes, comments, all of that kind of stuff.
And I will say for me, I really, really,
really value the community.
I just also really, really, really need to sustain myself.
But I've had this happen before.
So in 2018, I participated in Creators for Change,
and for those of you all who are maybe new,
that's a program run by YouTube
where you essentially get a filmmaking grant
to produce content on your channel combating hate speech,
xenophobia, promoting inclusion, promoting tolerance,
and that was such an amazing program
that I got to be a part of.
I ended up producing two short documentaries,
vlogumentaries on this channel in 2018
around this topic of why different people
across different religions, faiths, and cultures
cover their hair, and using that question
as a window into understanding people
that have a different belief system than I do.
It was so awesome.
If you all been here for a minute,
then you already know I did it and all that kind of stuff,
and you watched them, and thank you.
I'll link to them below if you wanna take a look,
but in the aftermath of doing that,
so part of the program was that YouTube
actually promoted that you did that video, right?
Because, you know, they're funding it and stuff.
Moisturizing using Alikay Naturals, diluted.
It's like half water, half Alikay Naturals,
and I just put it in a little spray bottle.
And I just put this on the shafts of my hair,
not on my scalp at all.
And so that was really cool,
but I remember when my first video,
the one that YouTube put on the main page,
(chuckles) they put a lot of them on the main page,
that was part of it that opened me up
immediately to a very big new audience
that don't know anything about me,
don't know anything about the type of content I make.
Opening up and being on the main page
in that way for that video was very eye-opening,
and I really did get to see like,
oh, this is what it's like to be bigger
(chuckles) in that moment, because, yeah,
I went from the video having a typical view amount for me,
which is about 1,000, 1,500 views
in give or take 24, 48 hours,
to like 10,000 views in like five minutes.
And the comments were wild, and I think that was the thing
that really made me just really step back and pause,
was that the comments were so epic.
They got so bad, I just had to turn them off.
I was just like I can't deal with this level of hate.
And I ended up making a response video then,
talking about, wow, basically Seka,
or Seka, I'm not sure how to say your name,
I'm sorry, coming to your conclusion or your point,
like whoa, if this type of backlash potential
is the thing to grow, like do I wanna grow?
So this is something that I have been meditating on
for a long time.
YouTube really holds a special place in my heart
because it was because of YouTube
I discovered my black community.
It was because I had this platform that I learned so much,
not just about myself, by how I identify,
how I got to see like-minded representation of myself.
I was the only person I knew with locs,
like having this community with my first set,
then going natural, just so much culture
was cultivated for me just by having access
to this platform, and then on top of that,
the opportunities I've gotten
just from existing on this platform,
not necessarily within a growth mindset,
but just wanting to engage with all of you,
getting the opportunity to do something
like Creators for Change
or collaborate with other creators, et cetera.
So YouTube has a really special place
in my heart because of that.
I think there's something about this platform
that really cultivates a strong community connection
and that ability to communicate with you all
so much easier than say on Instagram.
To seal everything in, I use an oil blend.
So I use an apricot oil base in this,
and then I usually just use some kind of oil blend that,
ooh, got hairs all over it.
You all, I'm nasty.
So what I do is I take just a little bit in my hands.
I would say that's like a quarter, quarter and a half amount
and then I rub it in my hands,
and then I just work it through,
and I focus the oil mostly like here down.
Because I am an oily person, my scalp doesn't need help.
So yeah, it's really hard trying to balance
that wanting to grow, wanting to continue
to cultivate the community,
but then understanding that with that,
there is a price you pay.
I think you have to learn
to have a stiff upper lip a little bit.
Not everyone is supposed to like me.
I think it's more about thinking about it
in terms of I think there are at least 100,000 people
that would enjoy being subscribed to me.
I think there's at least that many people,
but maybe I'm wrong, and that's okay
because again, for me, I've gotten so many opportunities
just by being on here.
For me, now it just feels like the domino that's missing
is the analytical growth.
And to be fair, I'm very analytically-minded.
That's why I really loved your comment,
'cause you were like, "Your approval rating is this,"
and I was like, "Ooh, you went all up in,
"you did some research, girl."
But I really appreciate that.
I was like, ooh, that's right,
I do have mostly 100% approval, you right.
Again, what I do is I go back to my center part,
I find it, and then I just kinda like
I use my fingers as very soft malleable combs,
and I just kinda comb down, and I can literally hear
(hair popping)
them kinda beginning to pop and separate,
because with my fingers I can hear like, okay,
kinda move and there's the gap, you know?
And I learned this from quotidian light,
old-school, freeform, semi-freeform YouTube loccer.
I don't even thing she make videos no more.
I think she's a missionary now, I don't even know.
If I can find that video, woo, that's like a video
from a smooth six years ago.
And I wait until I don't really hear any popping any more,
and then I just start on one side and just start separating,
and it's super light.
And sometimes I'll go through and kind of semi-rewrap,
plum-roll, but I really don't do too much of that at all.
So I was telling Mr. Hallease about your comment,
and he was like, "That's interesting,
"so what's the compromise?
"Do you have a compromise in mind?"
Oh, I don't have my hair tie with me, pooper.
I'll just use one, just use a loc.
Woo, this video messy, but it's fun.
I kinda like doing this.
Let me know if you all like these.
So, yeah, Mr. Hallease was like,
"Well, what's the compromise?
"I feel like it'd be cool for you to hit 50k subscribers,
"but your approval rating still stays good."
But the thing is, analytically, (chuckles)
I already know that for the most part
if I don't actually change anything about what I do
and I just keep making videos
more or less at the rhythm that I'm making them
without making more, then I'll hit 50k
by March of 2021, so a little over a year.
That's cool to know that just analytically
if I just keep doing what I'm doing, I'll get halfway there.
For me, it's about though, I like a challenge.
I feel like if I do that and I just hit 50k,
it's like by March of 2021, then it's like,
yeah, I didn't even change anything.
I didn't try anything new.
I didn't actually give it a full college try.
And I'm okay with it looking like maybe I hit 100k this year
and I realize that, oh, it didn't actually really help
that much or it really actually didn't change things for me,
it isn't my domino, dang, you know?
Maybe I realize that, that's okay.
So much about all of this is about experimentation.
That's why I stay on here.
I experiment with my channel all the time.
You all saw a few weeks ago I put out a hella abstract
loc thing, just because.
(laughing)
And so in the same vein that I experiment with my creativity
and my cinematography and all of that,
I also experiment with the analytics, with the metrics,
like, oh, what happens if I try to grow?
Or what happens if I post weekdays?
What happens if I post weekends?
Yeah, what happens to my approval rating?
Maybe it does go down, I don't know.
Will I be okay with that?
I kinda won't know until it happens.
I think for me it's about understanding
I've gotten to a point where I realize
there's no barring or hurting someone
or doing something just spiteful,
there's no wrong way (laughing) to do this.
You just gotta do, you just have to act.
That's the big thing.
And I find that for me I need goals, I need metrics,
'cause otherwise I just feel like I'm flailing.
I'm not seeing a measurable change.
Change is inevitable, change is the only constant in life,
but I feel a peace when I can understand what has changed
and define what has changed, if you will.
Seka, Seka, I really liked your comment.
I really like that you're out here
being analytically minded watching my videos.
For those of you all who are new here
and somehow have made it this far,
there's something about me you're jiving with,
(laughing)
so go ahead and subscribe if you haven't already, okay?
Why haven't you?
And then shout out to my Patreon producers legitimately,
patreon.com/hallease.
More than likely they will have already
been done seen this video
like a smooth three to five days before you all.
There I post videos early
for them to see before anyone else.
I also have private weekly vlogs.
I also give them announcements
way before you all, everything.
And then for example, I run a production company,
so I talk about that with them.
Money, income, grossing, netting, all that kind of stuff.
So if you're nosy, you wanna know how much I make,
patreon.com/hallease, you will see it,
because I overshare.
(chuckles)
That is who I am to my core, I am an over-sharer.
'Cause I don't want people to make the same mistakes I do.
And I think that's, yep, that's all of them.
That is what I do, that is literally all I do.
And, oh, let me see, actually let me see, here we go.
This little guy in the front,
my front has taught me acceptance.
That's what my front locs have taught me.
They have taught me to accept
that my edges are just buck wild.
Thank you, Seka, Seka, for your comment.
I really appreciated it.
I think I responded to you, but just like super simple,
because I was just like,
oh man, I wanna make a whole video about this.
Thank you.
I'm Hallease again, and I'll see you when I see you.