Dr. Bobbi Edwards
People often ask me how long I’ve been wearing dreadlocks. The transition was more than 17 years ago. Before that, I was a “perm girl.” I loved my relaxer because I worked out daily and sweat a lot, so it made life very easy. I could wash my hair whenever I wanted, throw my hair into a ponytail and keep on movin’. After years without issues, my hairdresser told me that I had a broken patch of hair on the left side of my head, in the back. She had cared for my hair since middle school, so I had no concern about hair. It did regrow successfully, and stayed pretty good for the next 2 or 3 years. Lo and behold, the same spot broke off again and that was my end point. I decided that my body was unhappy with my hair styling and I needed to do something different. I stopped getting touch ups and so began my journey.
We first tried straightening the hair. There was too much head-sweating for that to look good (without me putting heat on it daily), so we tried Vigorol to hold the press longer. This was not much more successful for me. Next was braided hairstyles with extensions. For a couple of years I wore medium-sized individual braids, and occasionally cornrows. My hair grew out just fine, but I had no idea what I’d do next, so after my natural hair got pretty long, I started wearing it braided with no extensions. I was young – my favorite style at that time was corn rolls up into an afro puff.
One of my girlfriends turned me on to twists. She was wearing her hair that way and she was also doing some of our friends’ hair from time to time. The first time she twisted my hair, I hated it! I cried in the mirror for an hour. The look was just not that I expected. Kind of scrawny and the ends were straight, even though I had no leftover relaxer in my hair. She wasn’t hurt by my reaction and encouraged me to just give it a few days. I hoped I could make it through a week – so I found a couple of clips to pull it off my face. The style was short, about to my ears. A few days later, my hair started to puff up a little bit and I began to like a A LOT. I clipped an inch off my ends so they would curl up a little more. Two weeks later, I was in love with my hair! I got my hair re-twisted every 3 to 4 weeks. I would usually wear it twisted for 2 weeks, then wear a funky “twist out” for the last week and then get it redone. I did that for 3 or 4 years. I loved that style, but eventually my hair started locking before it was time to re-twist. By the way, I did have to clip my ends at least three times before the ends coiled properly. The ends of the hair in some parts of my head were straightening out over time – without relaxer. Go figure. Eventually that stopped happening and the ends were just as curly as the rest of the length. Because the hair was locking, I started considering dreadlocks.
If you had asked my in the beginning, I wouldn’t have locked for a million dollars. Why? I wanted versatility. I though I might want to straighten my hair sometimes or wear it curly, or put in a ponytail, or do whatever – and I felt that dreadlocks would limit me in some way. So, I got the bright idea to straighten my hair one last time before I really made the decision about locs. It happened to be on Circle City Weekend in Indianapolis. My family went every year at the time, so I washed my hair and had my nurse press it out. Oh my! The hair did NOT like being pressed. It was so long and beautiful, but it would not stay straight even for a few hours. My hair went down to my tailbone once it was pressed out. I took my electric pressing comb with me on the trip and it was an awful nightmare. I had to hold that pressing comb on my hip like a gun in a holster to touch up my hair every 5 minutes! My hair wouldn’t hold that press to save my life. That weekend my hair was so unruly that I made the decision to go ahead and loc my hair when I got home. The next twist was the last time my hair was down. It took about nine months to loc and the rest is history.
Since then, my hair has been long, short, in a beautiful updo, hanging straight, and recently shaved on the sides and back. Will I ever go back to straightening my hair? I won’t know until I do it. Straight vs. kinky-curly is one the most important self-discovery decisions I’ve ever made. I found out through this transition that the outward appearance was the smallest change that occurred. My versatility was never lost, and in the meantime, I learned that I am beautiful. I came to appreciate that my kinky-curly hair is strong but needs a lot of attention and TLC, and I can’t necessarily do what I see other women do on TV or in magazines, and that I don’t have to. My hair is full of body that the other hair types can’t match and I have so many styling options that I don’t have to worry about what comes next. I also came to understand that my natural hair looks great on me and I love the way it looks – that’s how God made me. I now know that as many different hair phases and styles are available to me, my hair is only a small part of the much more complex and wonderful me.
… and however I wear it, I can rock it!
The Skin Skoop 
You go girl! I love it. When a sistah rocks locs….I say how beautiful.