traaaaaansitioning

on outward manifestation of my future geographical transition.
so today i went to get my hair did. DID. for the first time. in 3 years.
it has been 3 years and 2 months since i last gave money to a hairdresser.
and today i plunked down 180TT to get my hair locked.

but that is not quite right.

i started the PROCESS of locking my hair.

which means many things
-it'll take 6months to a year to fully lock
-during this period i cannot wash my hair myself (i shouldnt so that things dont unravel)
-i need to visit the hairdresser every 3ish weeks to get shampooed, treated and re-handrolled
-even though i'll be going to tobago next month, i can NOT dive in the water and get all submerged
--THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF GOING!!!
--i'm going to avoid crown point at all costs. i'll spend the whole time travelling to the argyle falls. steeeeeeeeups

-my head hurts
--she's twirled it up tight and then dried it
--so things are tightening up and over the next few days they'll puff out
but when she was done, i seriously looked like medusa

and as i contemplated what i would look like, the fact that the kids will miss my fro, the fact that the aunties (and possibly my gran) will spaz, the thought of retiring my afro pic, the thought of putting all those scarves away - at least til my hair gets longer- i felt a bit sad.

but of course, if i hate it, i can always shave my head and wait another 4 years for another massive fro.

when i asked people about their process, no one told me about the no swimming part. i figured i'd start things here so that it would cost less and so that by the time winter hits, i should be good. i almost feel i should have just waited til i got to toronto (and paid 6 times the price). the thought of going to tobago and NOT going under the water is causing me physical pain! kind of like indigestion! but oh well. no one told me about the NOT fun stuff.

the hairdresser, maria, was catching jokes off my ignorance and shocked looks to all her answers to my questions.

but, you can't put a toque or a hood on a fro. cant really put a toque on dreads either, but we'll worry about that later. still, my hood is pretty deep, so i'll manage i'm sure.

oh the things we do. i just have to keep thinking about the fact that in a year, i'll have something new and i'll be set.

its kind of like when i went from straight to natural (again). i knew it would take a long time. THAT was a long ass transition. noone thinks of locking as transitioning. people talk about getting dreads as if you just go and pick up the style at the grocery.
-30 minutes and PRESTO!-

yyyyyah.

not so much