Thursday, August 27, 2009

Mini Transformation Part I: My Journey Into Locdom...


It's been done a million times, but it's hard for me not to discuss the subject of locs without including Lauryn Hill circa the 90's. As a young black woman who was a preteen/teenager during the years she was last popular (I say that because I hold out hope that she'll one day be fiercely popular again!), she was as awesome a role model as a celebrity could be. She was conscious; brilliant; she held her own in the infamously male-dominated hip-hop world (if not better than many of her male counterparts); she was fierce yet feminine; and of course she is dark-skinned and gorgeous. I must stop with the posthumous references because she is certainly still with us, although just in a much different capacity than what her fans desire. However I must digress as this post isn't solely about Lauryn, it's Part One of my Mini-Transformation. MiSS Concrete Jungle is locking her hair! I just happened to come across this pic of her and realized it epitomizes the type of woman I'd like become, yet it makes me miss the Lauryn Hill we once had. Sort of bittersweet...But anywho, yes I've decided it was time for me to loc my hair.


I've been wearing my hair 100% natural for a little over a year now, but locs were a style I always admired. I actually thought about wanting to loc my hair in high school, but at the time I cared about what others thought of my appearance. All it took was my mother giving me a look of disgust when I put "What if" and "loc my hair" in the same sentence, and the mission failed.

Then I'd decided I wanted to pursue a career as either a news anchor or news reporter, and being natural--let alone wearing locs (gosh that's a whole 'nother subject) was instantly and totally out of the question. I’m sure I could’ve pursued my wishes if I wanted, but I really didn’t have the effort in me and decided that really wasn’t the career I wanted anyway. So here I am now with a much different outlook and attitude that doesn’t care what others think of how I choose to live my life (huge victory for me by the way)! I twisted my hair two weeks ago this Saturday to start my locs, and already I’m so excited about doing something that is 100% for Miss. Concrete. Jungle. and no one else.

Check out my photo albums here: www.fotki.com/missconcretejungle/
This is where I’ll be documenting my journey through pics. Peace!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself...

Wow...it's been exactly 7 months--yes SEVEN whole months since my last blog post! I wasn't sure I would want to write or blog again, but I want to give it another go. So here goes =)


As far as where I've been--to be honest, it's been a rough year for me and writing or updating a blog was the last thing on my mind. I tend to distance myself from friends and loved ones when things are going on in my life partly because I don't like for people to worry about me and partly because the pride I inherited from my Daddy keeps me from wanting others to pity me, so I needed some time--or long time haha--to deal as well as evaluate why I started a blog in the first place.

When I started this blog last summer, I was pretty late into the game. So many people had been blogging about any and everything for a few years, and though I wanted to write and share what I wrote, I wasn't sure where I actually fit in. I needed to find my voice but didn't know where to start. Luckily taking a break to go through what I was dealing with sparked me to make some lifestyle changes, which has helped me find that voice!! I plan to document those changes right here, and even if no one reads this I trust getting out it somehow will help me remain motivated. I invite you along on my journey, I'm so excited about the possibilities! Stayed tuned as day by day I'll go into each aspect of my mini-transformation!

P.S. Thanks to Javacia over at GeorgiaMae for encouraging me to continue writing here.