Hair After Chemo – Starting my Loc Journey

I have had natural hair (meaning free of any texture altering chemicals) since 2005. I was a woman who loved a good relaxer! I always had a fresh bob cut on deck and at the sign of a kink in my roots, would not hesitate to slap some of that lye gook in my hair.

After my Dad’s head on car accident in December 2004 though, my hair fell out due to the stress and an underlying condition I didn’t know I had – Hyperthyroidism. I lost a ton of weight, and my hair was falling out in clumps! Needless to say, the well-coiffed shoulder length wrap that I was rocking that Christmas was an ear length bob not even a year later due to the stress and my condition.

Sadly, I was forced into cutting my hair even shorter than it was before; but I was determined to maintain it to keep it as healthy as possible. After a couple months though, I was tired of the look and wanted something different. Although I had short hair before and was confident in my current style, I was over it! Back in my college days a few of us talked about “going natural” or “locking our hair”. Mind you, no one in my family was natural so I didn’t have a reference of the natural hair journey. I was so used to what I had, I just brushed it off and kept my creamy crack on hand!

This time was different. I guess because of what I was going through mentally and emotionally, I wanted to disconnect from the familiar and step out to something new. And that I did! I let my hair grow out to a length that would at least present as a small afro, and then cut all my relaxer out. My hair grew! I got braids and sew ins to carry me through the “ugly” transition that I wasn’t really ready to face and at the end of it all, I had a nice little head of natural hair I was ready to face the world with! It was a whole new world to me. No laid edges, no wrap scarves, and no sitting in the hair shop for hours on end! I ended up going to a great barbershop called Good Lookin’ here in the city to get my new afro together with a shape up. After a while, I was able to go to the braiding side of the shop and have someone braid my natural tresses into a style! How happy was I?

I rocked my short afro the same as I did my longer natural hair, with pride! I found it was a little more high maintenance than my relaxed hair, but it was so worth it. Once my hair was long enough I was even able to get my natural hair straightened just how my hair was before it started falling out in 2005! It was a win-win for your girl! Later down the line, I did start having scalp issues (psoriasis) and my edges would get “scaly” and itched like crazy! I went to a dermatologist and she gave me a shampoo and cream necessary to help that. So…here I was a lovely natural woman living life like it was golden, right??

Enter breast cancer…

Now, you can probably attest that as kids growing up all we knew about cancer is you go bald and most likely die. That is what they always showed on TV and in movies, right? When the Big C was found it was the always the “most aggressive kind” that couldn’t be helped with treatment so that was it-you were done, the angel of death was standing by your bedside. Instantly the persons hair falls out, like as soon as they hear the news and life is over as they know it. They were bed stricken until they pass away in the arms of their loved one… you saw it right??

Now, here I was with the Big C and once it was found that I needed chemo, being bald was definitely on the horizon. But I just spent years grooming and taking care of my crown! Yes, I had gone through all types of phases with my hair up until this point (including a jheri curl in the 80’s!), but bald wasn’t one of them! Was losing my hair a big deal? Well, I was pretty confident in myself and I knew hair was just that. In the grand scheme of things, beating cancer by any means necessary was the goal, losing my hair was just a part of it!

Alas, the time had come when chemo stripped me of all of my glory and I was bald from May to October 2016. When my “peach fuzz” started growing back in the texture was ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT than what I was used to. It was baby soft and curly, versus the kinky, coarse hair I had before. Nevertheless, I let it grow out all natural. Every day the texture changed more into something I recognized. I was elated that it was growing, but after a while I wanted a more “clean” look so I started getting shape ups again – and from the same barber that cut my small afro years prior! I was so grateful for my new hair growth and putting treatment behind me! But again, I grew tired of my short afro and I wanted something new. So here I am, starting a new journey with my hair, seems fitting right?

Up until now, I never had the cahoounas to try loc’ing my hair. Even back in college when it was discussed, I thought about it, but I always left my relaxer in the fridge on standby! I’m finally ready to try. I went back and forth a few months, all the while letting my afro grow out. I have numerous friends and family that have locs that are long and beautiful, so I am grateful to have points of reference from people who have been where I am on this new journey. I am still leery though for the long term because of my past scalp issues with psoriasis but here I am! I am always up for trying something one time…so let’s see how this goes! Wish me blessings so that my scalp will behave and my hair will grow as needed… I will keep you posted!