Afro Barbie - My Journey from Relaxed to Locked to Loose Hair

Hello ladies. I’d like to introduce myself. I’ve been lurking on this forum for months. I‘ve been inspired by so many of you that I feel that it is time to speak up. So here's my hair story: My hair was relaxed when I was young. Not sure of the age, but I think I was in Elementary school. I had some bad breakage from time to time and my mom would stop relaxing and just press my hair until it got healthy again. Then back to relaxing again. When I was in my early twenties, I had a bad experience while getting a touch up. A hair dresser didn’t completely wash out all the relaxer from the nape of my neck. The resulting chemical burn damaged my hair to the point where that area of my hair still doesn’t grow in completely to this day. Hair dressers always called it my stress spot, but I know it was due to the burn. Yet, even after that experience, I still continued to relax my hair. I was the girl that was in the salon every 2 weeks to get my wash and set, wrap, touch up, etc . I wore my hair shoulder length, short, up dos and would get braids from time to time to give my hair a break.




My journey to natural hair began when I found out I was pregnant with my first child in 2000. While I was pregnant, I wore my hair in braid extensions. After I gave birth, I realized that I didn’t want to relax my hair anymore. I was tired of the chemicals, breakage, and hair dresser drama. I wanted to do it, but wasn’t sure how it would look on me. What would I do with it? How would I wear my hair for work? My husband was my biggest motivator. If I didn’t have his support, I know I wouldn’t have taken the leap. He kept pushing me to do it. He was a big fan of natural hair. I transitioned by wearing braid extensions. I also wore transitional styles like Bantu knot outs and rod sets. After a while, this got to be too high maintenance for me. So I decided to lock my hair. My husband’s hair was locked and it was grow our locs it together. I cut off all the relaxed hair and started my locs from comb coils in 2003.


I loved my locs and my hair grew beautifully. The longer my hair got, the more versatile it was to style.

In 2008, I started craving a change. I was seeing more women with loose natural hair and desired that freedom. Once I started talking about that, my husband took the leap and cut off his locs. I wanted to do it too, but didn’t want to loose all the length I had gained. I spent hours on YouTube and blogs looking at women who had combed out their locs. I decided that I was going to do the same. In 2009, I started combing them out in the back. But, got discouraged by the time and effort involved. A few months passed and I still longed for a new look. I would look in the mirror and felt weighed down by the locs. On November 14, 2010, I had a dinner to go to in the evening. My hair was at the stage where it needed to be retwisted and looked a mess. Early that morning, I decided that I was not going to retwist and got the scissors. I cut the locs short and then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon combing out the short locs. It was easier combing them out because it mostly newly locked hair. It still was a time intensive process. My husband even helped with the ones in the back. :-)
This is how long my hair had gotten right before my big chop of the locs.

After the Big Chop. Yeah..I know...it was a drastic change!!!

After they were all combed out, I felt so relieved and excited about my new look. But, I was also nervous about what to do next. When I showed up at the dinner that evening, everyone’s jaw dropped. My hobby lately has been spending time on sites like CurlyNikki for product and styling tips. All of the product options can get to be a bit overwhelming. I’m still trying to find the best products for me. My biggest challenge has been getting a style to last more than a day and combating dryness. I’ve had the most success with Bantu knot outs and twist and curls. This is a dry twist out that I did. I haven't been able to get my hair to come out like this again. Oh well...I had blown it out, then twisted. I know that's not something you should do regularly.

Anyway, I look forward to keeping you all updated with my progress. Thanks for reading!!

Welcome Afro Barbie! Your hair looks good. My story is similar to yours in that I was natural before and had locs and now I'm back again. Sometimes you just know what works for your hair and being natural is a sure thing for me.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to following your progress. There is so much to learn here. I've learned a ton. Enjoy!

Wow!! You remind me of someone else on this forum. Hmm...


Welcome Afro Barbie! I love your story. You have been through a lot. I look forward to reading more.

What is your regimen now that your hair is loose? Does she have a name?

The ladies on here are a ton of help. I have learned so much.

I'm not much help because I keep my hair twisted most of the week and wear it out on the weekends. I know you want something a little more versatile for work, but protective styling is key to holding moisture.


Everyone else, help Afro Barbie feel welcomed. This is my cousin!!

Wow your hair was very long when you had the locs.I'm happy that you decided to keep a little of your length.Congrats on your new look. Welcome to the forum!

Great story! Welcome to CurlStreet!

hello hello hello neighbor!!!! welcome to curl street

Thanks ladies!!!

Hey Afro Barbie...Welcome to the Street! :-)

I look forward to seeing your progress!

Hey lady!! GReat story!! I am newly natural and I need some help.YOur locks are wonderful!

Hi AfroBarbie...

I heard that you can transition from locs, but it is a long process. I love you hair both ways and you really wore you locs well!!!

Welcome to CS and you will get all the advice you will need here. I always share the one thing that took me a long time to understand. This natural beautiful curly, kinky hair of ours need moisture and lots of it. You have to find the right product for your hair, and try to avoid become a product junkie. I failed, but I'm in recovery right now!! LOL

Happy Birthday Afro Barbie! Show us that birthday hair.

Hi Afro barbie,
Welcome. Your hair looks great both ways. I'm considering locing my hair so I might be asking for some advice in the future . I keep my hair mostly in braids, so can't offer you much advice in terms of variety.
But as KinkyNappyHappy suggested finding the right product combination and then sticking to them really is key. GL on your loose hair journey!

Welcome. Your locks were amazing.

I like your BC picture too.

Ladies...thanks for all the welcomes!! Thanks MomNWife....my hair was pulled back in a headband for my bday. I didn't spent much time on it and didn't take any pics. :-(

KinksNCurls...I can offer any advice you need on locks. It was a great journey. Looking forward to another one.

BlackAngelPlayah...I'm here for whatever you questions you have about combing out your locks. I took the easy way out and cut mine short. But, if you have the patience, it's definitely worth it. I'm glad I managed to what I did to hold on to some length of hair to work with. I look forward to reading about your journey.

Hi there! Welcome to Curl Street! Girlfriend, your locs were beautiful! I'm sure your natural, loose hair is beautiful too and will become even moreso once you have a regimen. You might want to try wearing your hair in twists as Chrs suggested. Many here do that. I'm more of a twist out kind of girl so I'm always wearing my hair out. Plus I'm just not that adventurous! BUT-- on the weekends I've been wearing the twists in longer. You should give it a try.

Also, are you keeping a journal? That will help you too. If you are using your blow dryer on a low heat setting I'm thinking it wouldn't be too damaging to style your twists the way you did in the pic you liked. But experiment, experiment, experiment. Maybe you can do them on damp hair instead?

Welcome!