00:00Both of your hands are like moving with the quickness.
00:03We've been doing this for years, girl.
00:04Y'all are not new to this, you're true to this.
00:06Yes.
00:09Hey guys, my name is Sojourner, and welcome to Hair Me Out.
00:15There was a time when I believed the negative connotations
00:18surrounding locks, but luckily, my mom has helped me see
00:21the life and beauty in them.
00:24I'm excited for you to follow along as I get goddess locks
00:27for the very first time.
00:31I'm Annette Roche, co-owner of Napstar NYC,
00:34and today I'm with my lead stylist.
00:36Hi, my name is Scarlett.
00:37And welcome to our salon.
00:42So what size today do you want your faux locks?
00:45I think medium, so you know, not too small, not too large.
00:49It's like a, is there like a standard lock length?
00:52Yeah, like a Smedium.
00:53Smedium, I like Smedium.
00:54And so today we're going to be using like this zigzag type of hair
00:58to baste your hair with.
01:00We also are going to be using this wet and wavy hair at your
01:02ends, so you can get that curl effect.
01:05Nice, that's the goddess effect.
01:06That's the goddess effect.
01:08And the secret sauce is that we're also going to be wrapping
01:10with this human hair that I pre-back combed for you,
01:13so it'll give it a lot of textures.
01:15So the trickiest part is how you end it.
01:17You have to like really, really, really wrap really,
01:19really tight at the end.
01:21So it's nice and secure.
01:22And then we're done one.
01:23Oh, yeah.
01:25Hello.
01:35What made you decide to come in today to get goddess locks?
01:38Well, I've always been interested in locks, and that's partially
01:42due to my mother deciding to lock her hair when she was in her 30s.
01:47Then I've also seen actresses such as Megan Good and Eva Marcel
01:51rocking these long, beautiful, gorgeous locks.
01:54All the elements of like a perfect protective hairstyle,
01:57so it's something I've always wanted to get,
01:59but I've been a bit apprehensive about.
02:01It's partially due to locks not being 100% accepted.
02:05Years ago, when I first started as a stylist,
02:08it wouldn't be accepted for you to have locks.
02:10Even the army, you couldn't have locks.
02:11And now, I do think it's becoming more acceptable,
02:13so much more versatility in the styles.
02:16So more people are feeling like they can wear locks to work
02:19and not be penalized for it.
02:20I'm in a place now where I'm ready to say, you know,
02:23whatever society says doesn't matter.
02:25I'm just going to do me and try something new.
02:28If I like it, which I'm 100% I'm going to,
02:31at the end of it, I'm just going to be like,
02:32you know what, lock my hair up.
02:33Let's just make it official.
02:3699% of people who comb their locks out within a year
02:39always end up coming and getting their locks back,
02:41just because it is literally, like, the best style ever.
02:43No offense.
02:45Even my daughter, she loved it from the beginning.
02:47She's so honest.
02:48She was, like, seven years old,
02:49and she was like, Mommy, I want to lock my hair.
02:51But I really was like, okay, let's hold up to it a little bit,
02:54because, you know, it's kids.
02:55They see styles, and they want something different.
02:58But then when she was, like, nine, I was like, okay, let's do it.
03:00I'm ready to, and you're ready.
03:02We don't have to comb your hair out in the morning for school.
03:04I don't have to comb mine.
03:05I don't have to comb yours.
03:07My mom, she doesn't let hers go past, I want to say, like, shoulder length.
03:11Meanwhile, my best friend is doing length checks every month.
03:14And that's also nice about locks.
03:15You can really see its journey.
03:17The Rastafarians, they definitely have locks,
03:19but they have different variations.
03:21I think, like, they're called, like, Bobo Dread.
03:23Rastaf call me Fashion Dread, because it's not a religious thing.
03:27It's not a religious thing.
03:27It just looks good.
03:28I remember my mom, she didn't like locks at first,
03:31because where she's from, all the rebels had locks.
03:34Like, the rebels in war.
03:35Where's your mom from?
03:36She's from Congo.
03:37But now my mom has sister locks.
03:39Every person I know with locks said they wish they would have started earlier.
03:42Earlier.
03:42Because most people hesitate.
03:44They're like, okay, they think they're, like, stuck with locks for the rest of their life.
03:47They want to get all their styles out.
03:48Is that right?
03:49I'm like, okay, I need a couple more years.
03:51I have had such a love-hate relationship with my hair.
03:55I went to predominantly white elementary schools.
03:59Of course, my skin color's different, but, like, hair.
04:01We would have swimming classes, and I'd be the only one wearing a swimming cap.
04:04I was like, okay, mom, I want to perm my hair.
04:06And she was like, okay, I need you to wait a couple of years.
04:08And worst decision of my life.
04:10Yes.
04:11I permed my hair.
04:12Worst decision I could have ever made.
04:15I went to Howard University, and everybody says, when you step on the campus of an HBCU,
04:20when you walk in there with a perm, you're graduating natural.
04:22Me and some of my girlfriends were like, there is no way.
04:25I'm leaving the creamy crack.
04:27You can't stop me.
04:28I remember seeing this girl walk across the yard, and she had just this beautiful set
04:33of, like, kinky, coily, curly hair.
04:35And I was like, how did you get your hair to look like that?
04:38She was like, girl, I chopped off all my perm, and I just let it grow.
04:41And I was like, what?
04:42It was trial and error for me because I have so many different hair textures.
04:47I had this whole idea of what being natural was, but, like, my hair just doesn't cooperate.
04:52I'm out here wearing braids.
04:53I'm wearing weaves.
04:54I'm wearing Marley twists.
04:55So as I'm getting older, I don't know what to do with it.
04:58So I'm just like, okay, maybe these protective styles, maybe locks is just what I need to do.
05:03I kind of feel like all of us African American women went through, like, this journey together
05:07in natural hair a few years ago.
05:09Everyone did, like, a big chop where they were cutting off all their perm hair and the
05:14weaves.
05:14A lot of women would be like, oh, I don't like it.
05:17And I'd be like, welcome to your face.
05:18This is what you look like.
05:20You're beautiful.
05:20And then we became product junkies together.
05:23Yes, we did.
05:23And we all had, like, three products to choose from.
05:25We are that powerful as a community that we can change the way the market makes products.
05:30African Americans have, like, one of the highest buying powers of all the races out there.
05:34So you see companies kind of getting in line with our wants and our needs.
05:38And now we're being represented more.
05:40And it's all because we're supporting each other.
05:41You know, it's beyond hair.
05:44So the alcohol-free mousse is just so it doesn't dry the human hair out.
05:48And that'll give you that nice, nice wave.
05:52Would you like some gold jewelry, madame?
05:54I would like to drip in all of your finest gold.
05:57There's something about a black woman doing a black woman's hair.
06:00It's just they have the same kind of hair.
06:03Whether it's a different texture, that's one thing.
06:05But they just have a deeper history and understanding of how our hair works.
06:09So if I'm ever going to any type of salon, it's a black-owned salon.
06:13Even if you were in an emergency and you had to go to a different salon that doesn't specialize in
06:16your hair,
06:17they've never even been trained not once to ever even deal with your hair.
06:21Exactly.
06:21And so as a cosmetologist, you're supposed to be able to deal with everybody's hair.
06:24Mm-hmm.
06:24Our hair matters.
06:25Our hair matters.
06:31Are you ready to see your hair?
06:33I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready.
06:34Okay, let's turn you around.
06:35Okay.
06:37Okay.
06:38Oh!
06:39Oh!
06:41My...
06:42This is my hair.
06:43My next hair.
06:44It's like you.
06:44It's like you.
06:45Oh my god.
06:47I know, it looks really good.
06:49I'm next.
06:50Thank you so much.
06:52Thank you so much for coming in.
06:53I love the way my goddess locs look, and it makes me so much more excited to start my loc
06:58journey in the future.
06:59Having my hair done and knowing it looks good, and it's protected, lets me focus on the rest of my
07:05life and becoming more comfortable in my skin.
07:08Thanks for joining me on this episode of Hair Me Out.
07:15Hey guys, thank you so much for watching.
07:18If you have any ideas for videos you'd like to see, let us know in the comments below.
07:21To subscribe to Refinery29, click here, and to watch more videos, click here.
07:27Bye!
Comments