life of the locks

i am one month shy of having my dreadlocks for 7 years. When I think about having had shed my old life for my life of now it's crazy. I first started having thoughts about getting dreadlocks put in my hair, but they were mainly just " oh yeah, locks are really cool, i think i may want them oneday" not sure if i really did because they are a major sacrifice...you have to know that if you are going to be getting them, to get rid of them normally most people cut most of their hair off...this is because usually your hair is locked so high up that you have to cut where they start...otherwise they will keep growing as locks since that is what your hair now knows...it's wild!
after a while these thoughts of maybe wanting to get locks turned into an obsession...i was constantly thinking about it..i wondered what they would look like, what I would look like with them, and what would it feel like to have them....so basically i decided that i was going to do it..i am someone who is very disciplined..i was a vegan for 4 years of my life even when everyone was telling me not to be.....and i've lost around 30 pounds in the 4 years, and most importantly...KEPT IT OFF! so yeah, i'd say i know about discipline and sacrifice...so anyway, i did a summer semester in London and there was this awesome hair salon i found called Hair By Fairy...they did tats, piercing and the craziest hairstyles you've probably ever seen....they did locks and i saw pictures of the ones that they did..they looked amazing!
so that was it...i now had a place to go! so when i went to visit my friends in london i went to get them done....i was a little nervous because the majority of my friends were against my doing this and said it wouldn't look good, but i didn't care...too much of my life i'd wasted caring what others thought..i was gonna do this....and i did!
now i'm there in the waiting area preparing myself mentally for what is gonna be a new chapter of my life....people may not know it, but when you get locks you enter a whole new community.....they hold a lot of energy and power in them and it seems that the longer they get the more they hold....when you walk by a fellow dread there is this recognition that is hard to explain unless you have them too....but it's definitely interesting...i don't think that i was ready for everything that they were gonna bring me....but i am very grateful to have them...i love them!!!
anyway, to get them put in was a 3 hour long process...it was a bit painful but well worth it....i cut them once about a year and a half after having them, then didn't cut them again til last year..they were down to my butt....they were starting to hurt my neck and invade my life so i cut them....it was actually SOO nice to have shorter hair that i wanted to cut it even shorter....
for so long i didnt cut my hair mainly because i was so used to it being so long and that was kind of my trademark....everyone always would tell me not to cut them because they were so cool and i basically listened to them...sometimes you've just gotta forget what others say and do what you want so i cut my hair...and i just cut it again yesterday the shortest that it has been in years....probably since i first got my locks...i really like my hair now..it goes with my height...i'm short so now i have shorter hair!


ME BEFORE

Me NOW with SHORTER HAIR!