kinda not feeling it no more...

[coalblacklocs]

I have been locked for 3 years. It will be 4 this coming October. I was feeling them, then not, then feeling them, then not. Then really really feeling them.

I kept saying I was going to trim, into a shape or a style, but never did, life kept getting in the way.

I have some severe scalp issues. I had a really awesome shampoo that was really keeping it at bay for about a year. But all of a sudden, they changed the packaging, and ever since then, this shampoo hasn't been doing me as well as it had been. The formula they had at first was perfect, it had a bit of neem oil in it. but I notice since they redid the packaging, they must have tweaked the formula too, because the neem oil is not listed any more. so I tried adding neem oil to it in various different ways, but it just is not as good as it was formulated in this shampoo. Perhaps there are other ingredients that they left out as well, that I don't specifically remember, they way I did with the neem oil. (I remember wondering why it smelled so odd, and the neem oil was why. So I researched neem oil and liked what I read.)

so gradually, my scalp has started getting worse, and when you have flakes like that, it's hard to get them out of your locs. and all of a sudden, for some reason, my scalp has taken a turn and gotten really bad lately. Usually all the summer uv rays make my skin really glow in the summer and keeps scalp issues at minimum, it is in the winter with the dry air that I usually have the most problem, so this is unusual. It's starting to creep down into my forhead and eyebrows like it use to back in the day.

I have gone back to previous methods that use to work, like using 3 different medicated shampoos at once, and then rotating. This gets tedious with thick large locs that are past bra strap length. I need to wash 2 or 3 times a week, and my locs take a good full 24 hours to dry. (I don't have time to sit hours and hours under the dryer.) Then after a fresh wash, the locs themselves are kinda wonky and stiff-ish until they settle down a bit, about another full day. Usually bout by the time they settle down good from a washing, it's time to wash them again. The other shampoo use to be so good that I could wash them once a week and my scalp would be ok with that.

Meanwhile, i saw this girl walk past me with the most fiercest curly-frohawk fade that ever fierced. I almost needed to follow her. That happened about a mont ago, and I've had that style on my mind ever since.

I use to have a fade, and I vowed I'd never have another one. I do NOT like the way my head is shaped too much like my dad's. I have a giant head anyway. But, i did not have a FRO-hawk. I just realized that this is what I wanted all along. I knew what I wanted, but I didn't know it was a hawk-style, so it was difficult to convey this to the barber so I never quite walked away with what I wanted. Now that I realize that this is what I'm looking for, and I've seen the barber successfully pull off this exact style in a shorter faded version for my two little boys, I'm kinda wanting to try it on me. I might not hate a "fade" too bad if the top had a bit of length.

but I don't know, I'm attached to my locs. I finally have them to the length I wanted, and I don't want to deeply regret cutting them of like last time. I don't want to pick them loose, because long unlocked hair is DEFINITELY not for me.

I'm just having trouble deciding. (In case it matters, the husband is pushing for a fade. He's never been a huge fan of locs anyway.)

Also, I always wanted a loc bob. I was wondering if I should try that "on my way out the door". LOL. Like quodisian light says in one of her vids, it's a good idea to go for one of those edgy loc styles that you always wanted if you think you're done and going to end up cutting them all off anyway. might as well, right? I don't know.

[KnottyAuthor]

I'm glad I transitioned with a bob before I took my BLs down, it did help with the adjustment, and I still had hair down to my belly button when I took them down, then cut back to APL. I know you aren't a long haired diva-but you may decide to cut them down, let the new growth grow out, then have minimal take down for a fierce fro hawk-if that's what you want come 2015? There are so many options, this is just one idea. Cant wait to see what you do, either way! Just know the detangling game-is NO joke, lol. I think a lot of locked heads underestimate that drama and the freedom from stlying/product and detangling we get from being locked. I don't see myself wanting to deal with the length of loose hair ever again either ( may go short, but not long hair) …it's more than a notion. Keep us posted!

[Fuzziwuz]

Do it. Nurture your scalp, get the edgy cut you always wanted and minimize (or eliminate) the 24 hr. dry issues. Base your decision on a need -vs- want with no regrets. Currently the scalp needs attention. Don't fret with head size....unless it resembles Rihanna, Tyra or Gina (Martin). They make it work, so you do the same. Get the fiercest cut that compliment facial features and rock it. Once your scalp heals return to locs.

[coalblacklocs]

Thank yall for your suggestions, I think I'm going to go for it, I just need to work my nerves up.

This is my second set of locs. I kept my first for only 18 months, though. they were not this long. They did take quite a while to dry, but not this long. I waited till I had a thick layer of new growth, and then my husband cut them off for me. I remember how excruciatingly painful it was to comb even those few inches, even sopping wet with conditioner, right after I cut them off. I dread that part. I dont think my scalp ever really completely got use to being combed and brushed again. When I got tired of my fade and started growing it out, it was a nightmare to deal with in terms of detangling, and my scalp is very sensitive. I'm a carefree kinda person, but I definitely wanted long hair, so I went back to locs. If i go loose again, it would definitely be short and easy.

In some ways, my scalp use to be better in locs, because the hair stays sectioned a the roots, and lots of air hits it, which keeps the scalp issues down. It seemed worst when i had thick loose hair, and at the roots, it stayed wet for such a long time. But here lately, locs haven't been helping my scalp as much. Maybe because they have gotten so long.

I also get a lot of bunching every time I grow locs. I think if I ever go locs again, I'd handle bunching in an entirely different way. I'd catch it early and fix it rather than hoping it will condense and go away later. To be honest, bunching has really hampered my experience this time around. also I will have someone help me part it, or part it for me, next time around.

[ByHis Grace]

Have you tried to add tree tea oil to your shampoo or scalp oil prep?

[coalblacklocs]

I tried tea tree oil in every way shape and form over the course of 10+ years, from the time when I was a teenager battling this. It never has done much. I have seborrheic dermititis. Sulfer/salicylic acid mix shampoos are what seemed to help the absolute most, and that's what my favorite shampoo was. But I think they changed something about the formula. I found cedar essential oil to work better than tea tree oil. but when it gets bad like this, it takes a lot to get back to where I was.

The trick is to never let it get too bad. but once it does get bad, there are lots and lots and lots of dandruff flakes, and therein is the problem. They get caught up in the locs. It's so many of them that all of them will never come out. even if I could snap my fingers and make my scalp clear as a whistle today, all those dandruff flakes from the past weeks are still in there. And we're not talking about a few either, it's lots and lots and lots.

Also, the medicated shampoo I was using is thick and heavy, and I think it's responsibly for some buildup at the end of my locs that I can never seem to get out completly. I was willing to work around this. It seemed like it built up the most in my ends from back when I had started with twists, and it was thick and looser, and the shampoo settled into the hairs. But at the inches closer to the scalp, there was no build up, because that's where the weave of latching is showing more, it's tighter, and the shampoo doesn't sink down into that part as bad, so there is no visible buildup there. I *had* planned to trim or cut the build-up bunched larger ends off and go from there.

but then my scalp started flaring up and meds stopped working, and now I have lots and lots of dandruff settled into my the inches closest to my roots, and build up in the lower inches, and I just dont' feel like trying to work it all out any more.

[LBellatrix]

I've never had the kind of scalp issues you describe but as soon as you said you were washing 2-3 times a week...My locs were never as long as yours but they still took forever to dry. I couldn't imagine spending most of the week with wet locs. They'd have BEEN gone...but that's me...

You know I'm not one of these long-hair-at-all-costs kind of people but have you considered finding a different shampoo? If you don't already have a dermatologist, could you find one that might be able to give advice?

Good luck with this...

[coalblacklocs]

There are a lot of dandruff shampoos out there, but the base of them are the usually the same 3 or 4 ingredients. Salicylic acid, coal tar, or Keto-whatever it is that Nizoral is. Then there is Pyrithine zinc (or whatever you call it) what Head and Shoulders is and also, there is whatever Selsun Blue is. There are different brands, some with extra things that don't really do anything, like aloe and menthol, but those are always the same basic ingredients. I've tried them all, many different brands. I've been battling this off and on since I was a teenager. I"m in my 30s now.

The thing about seborrheic dermititis is that it becomes resistant to one treatment after a while. That's why it's good to hit bad cases with 3 different types of those shampoos at once and then rotate them. it doesn't become resistant to one shampoo so fast when you do it that way. I did this back when I had a fade. It worked ok, but it was kinda tedious.

Once I found sulfur-salicylic acid combination shampoos, I found that it knocked out my dandruff better than anything had done before. I had not seen my scalp look that clean since I was literally, a child, before I had started to break out. I could go a week before having to wash again. It worked for a long time too, with little to no rotation necessary. That's when I decided to try locs again. I love short hair, but I love it better on other people. But I'm not afraid to go short again, just don't prefer it on me. I have coarse thick strands and large-size curls, and a short cut looks more masculine on me than it would if I had finer tighter coiled strands. It makes for short stiff, broomstraw-ish, standing out spikes on my head that don't lay down. Not unlike a military buzz-cut.

I've tried other sulfur/salicylic acid mix shampoos and soap bars, but it just doesn't do the same as the orignal formula of Jason's that I used.

I still wash my hair once a week, but it's getting worse and worse, and I know that once it becomes this way, the only thing that works is going back to hitting it with three different shampoos in one washing, and then rotating, and washing several times a week.

this is what the dermatologist suggested last time I went to one, several years ago, and it did work, albeit not as well as the Jason's shampoo use to. I will try the rotation again, but I don't feel like dealing with locs with all that. If after cutting and going back to several washings a week rotating shampoos doesn't work, I'm going to revisit a dermatologist.

I will say that this is the longest I've ever been without a flareup of this magnitude.

[Denny]

Do what is best for your hair and scalp that is more important than hanging unto locs. All the best on your journey

[coalblacklocs]

god, i posted a long reply, and then it deleted by accident.

basically was saying that last night i washed my hair in prep for the bob cut today, but the young woman who is suppose to cut it was nowhere to be found and not answering her phone or texts. She is my husband's tax client, and has her own hair business, and has some experience with locs. My husband has all his clients on his facebook, and he said he noticed a status with her involving a family emergency, so that might be where she is at.

i always notice new length after every wash, and for the first time ever, i noticed that the curled up loose ends of my back locs stretched out reach my WAIST now. The last time my hair reached my waist was when i was a little girl. I never thought I'd see these lengths again.


and yet, even though i wash my hair last night, i'm still feeling scabs in my scalp today. it would be nice to not have that dead skin build-up in my locs. I mean, you can't *see* it unless you get real close, and i kinda know it's there. I wash and wash and wash, brush, but we all know that if it gets to be too much, there is nothing that will get it out. I mean it's skin. You can dissolve some products away with the right kind of shampoo or cleanser to break down that product, but to dissolve away dandruff (basically dead skin) thoroughly for a good clean, the product would also have to dissolve away the hair, since it's so close in molecular structure, you know? And if my scalp keeps on and on breaking out like this, even if I were to clean it good it would still start to scab up and get nasty again by the next day. :/

I guess I need to keep my mind on the curl frohawk I'm going to rock. I'm wondering if maybe I should cut my own bob, though.

I kinda don't want no one looking at my hair in this state.