When I went natural and there was no information available about hair care for coily and curly hair, I predominantly wore braided extensions with the aim of growing my hair. In the middle, my hair had broken off right down to the scalp.

My very first Loc Extensions.

Once my broken hair grew back, I thoroughly enjoyed my hair. It was a journey of rediscovering my own hair, which I had never really learned to manage properly. Honestly, it was pure laziness, because I never really liked combing and styling hair.

My first Afro after I decided to go natural.

Even when my hair was relaxed, I found setting rollers too much effort. I hated tongs, because no matter how carefully I did it, the hot tong always burned one of my ears. I simply couldn't blow-dry, so I didn't even start with that.

Once natural, I hardly wore braided extensions anymore. I loved experimenting with my hair. The two hairstyles I mastered were the Afro and a Twist out!

My Twist Out Click for the book 50 HAIRSTYLES for your Natural Crown.

Admittedly, I still couldn't summon the patience to spend hours on my hair, but when I did, the result was worth it. Ha, if I do say so myself.

If an opportunity arose, I would go to the natural hair salon. With all the master techniques I supposedly thought I had mastered, I didn't come close to the stylists who mastered flat twists, cornrows, twists, and braids and could combine them into unparalleled artistic hairstyles. See here a few of my hairstyles with natural hair.

When I wanted to write about dreadlock extensions, I felt I had to experience them myself. I'm so glad I did. First of all, they looked unexpectedly good, and even friends believed it was my own hair. That's how natural they looked. My husband, not a fan of fake hair, found them sexy. That's how I started to consider dreadlocks for myself.

Locs with extensions

I was especially impressed by the hairstyles you could create with locs. The loctitian made hairstyles that I would probably never be able to create myself, but I could also easily create a hairstyle myself.

One of my favorite hairstyles was this simple loc bun. Super easy, I could get it done in about two minutes. I never thought I could do this with my own hair. Less than three years later, it happened. Without realizing it, I created the loc bun with my own braidlocs. See the video as proof.

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My own hair.