curly and pinned

twisted and bantu knotted my locs. took them down and pinned them all to one side. just trying some different looks.

pics from first/only retwist so far

Supplies: coconut oil, aloe vera, honey and duckbill clips

i mixed aloe vera, honey and coconut oil.

this is what i used as the retwist gel.

pic after wash, before retwist. seems like my hair has thinned out on the top some. this scares me. i dont need any more hair loss.

gelled, twisted, clipped. slept in to dry. removed clips. post all of this...

i didnt like how thin and stringy it looked. so the same day, i spritzed with a mixture of water and coconut oil, twisted some braids together to form bantu knots. clipped. and let dry.

end result

this lasted for a while. altho the curls loosened up, it pretty much held until i washed it again.

thinking about giving up

I really really want locs. But these little braids just aren't doing it for me. I am only about a month in, have retwisted once, and that didn't last long at all. this is my hair today.

they are alot thinner than i wanted. my hair seems to be thinning out over all. and i just dont like the way they are turning out.

it's not too late to take them down. but i feel like, this is my third try. if i dont achieve locs this time, i wont even try anymore. i will just twist it up, braid it up. and take it down every few weeks.

i'm so frustrated.

i'm so....

done with this mess.

it's been a while

Update coming soon. Promise. Nothing has happened. But I will wash/retwist next week. I'll update with pics. Been real busy. Working like crazy.

third time's the charm

This is my third and hopefully final attempt at locs. Last night I heavily conditioned my hair, removed all the tiny twists, combed and detangled, washed and reconditioned. I actually slept with my hair saturated with conditioner and in big twists. This morning I rinsed. I took the big twists out and blow dried my hair section by section. And then I went to my girl's house and she braided me up. It only took her about 5 hours.

My ends are really dry and frizzy looking. So, Tomorrow she's gonna come and trim off the split ends and seal the braids with bees wax. I'm hoping that this works out. Here are some pics...

the blow out

the hair loss i previously wrote about. it's hard for me to share this pic but real is real....

as compared to the other side

braids done...notice the crunchy ends. gonna fix that soon...

i'm starting over

It's been decided.

Backtrack...

The Erykah Badu show was fkn awesome. I was on my feet the entire time. I sang along to EVERY song. I danced. I cheered. I vibed. I have been such a huge fan of Badu's since day one. I'm a writer, a poet. And I've listened to her songs and heard phrases that sounded familiar, went thumbing through my notebooks of poetry and found similar lines I had written. I vibe with her like no other artist. So, saying I was excited about seeing her perform live is an understatement.

I'm also digging this newer cat called B.O.B. Saw him live in may with Lupe Fiasco. Went and copped his album and been listening every since. So it was a bonus that he was one of her opening acts.

Janelle Monae was the other opening act. She has all of the ingredients to be an artist I dig but, even after seeing her live, I'm just not moved. She has some pipes, that's for sure. But I just wasn't feeling her.

I was so pleased to see SO many natural black women there. There were fros, twists, locs, crazy all over the place dues, nicely put up and puffed out ones. It was beautiful. I mostely noted this one lady, older woman, maybe early sixties. It's hard to tell with black women because they/we age some beautifully. But she had long, butt length locs. Salt and pepper. Beautiful. And I have to say I was suprised at Badu's new hairstyle. Long, straight, blonde. A friend of mine had a back stage pass and got to see her and meet her up close...She says that it looked like that was all of her real hair. It just suprised me because I know ms badu is very particular about what she uses on her skin, hair, and what she puts into her body. But it didn't make me think any less of her. She's still my girl.

But, back to my starting over. The main issue I am having with my hair right now is loose hairs flying everywhere. Also, it's unraveling at the roots AND the ends. I'm thinking that if these were braids as opposed to locs, that loose hair and unraveling thing will be less of an issue. So, I'm gonna start over with braids. I am looking for someone that can braid it for me because I'm not that great at parting and getting them all uniform in size. However, If I haven't found anybody by Tuesday, I will be braiding myself. I don't want to remove the twists until I am about to braid. So, Tuesday night, I will be removing the twists, detangling, conditioning. Wed morning, I will blow dry it out some. And I will either be getting it braided by a friend, or braiding it myself.

Wish me luck.

a few pics

I'm so excited to be going to see badu tonite. I'm already ready and there's still an hour left before I leave and two hours of driving to do.

I wet my hair in the shower, took the blow dryer to it hoping to stretch it out some. It wasn't working so I left it damp. Rubbed some oil on these locs, pinned it up and there you have it. Here are a few pics.

i've never been one to give up

I'm relentless, persistent, down right aggressive, almost annoying, when I really want something.

So, last night, after the disastrous attempt to retwist my locs, after putting my frustration on print, after feeling like I was loosing ground at reaching my loc goals...I pulled my head out of my ass and went to the mirror, vigorously removing all those darn metal clips from my hair. I started over. I just got my supplies, put a movie in the dvd player, posted up and got to work. Two hours later and way past my bedtime, I had a head full of retwisted and clipped locs. A great number of the twist still unraveled immediately. The clips were still slipping from my hair. But I just kept going until my entire head was done.

Then I wrapped my head and laid my weary mind and body down for some rest. I had a busy day today so when I removed the clips after my hair had dried this morning, I didn't take any pics. But they looked about the same as before I retwisted. Except, now I have more loose strands from pulling the clips out. But it's okay because I'm at the beginning of this journey and I know the process won't be perfect or easy. No journey is without road blocks and distractions.

What I see ahead is a fork in the road. One direction will lead me to start over with braids. The other direction will lead me to spend some big dough and get to a professional. Or I could keep on the road I'm traveling and make these current twist better.

But for now, I'm just walking ahead. My hair doesn't look bad. In fact, I get compliments.

Tomorrow night I have a concert to go to. I will take pics of whatever I decide to do with my hair before I go.

I had a great day today from start to finish. Spent some time with family. Went to a movie. That Jaden Smith is something to watch for. Karate kid was great. Watched an amazing basketball game with a room full of Celtic's fan. Listened to their sht talking when my team lost. Now I'm home and feeling a little less jaded about my hair affairs. Excited about what tomorrow will bring, relaxed and ready to get a good night's rest.

I will figure it all out. With the youtube clips and the message boards and the conversations with others who have been where I am, I am confident I will figure it out.

Hair Woes

I'm seventeen days into my new loc journey, and I must say, today is the first day that I have been truly frustrated with the progress, or rather, the process.

Today was my first attempt at retwisting. I washed my hair for the second time. (I couldn't wait) My sister/cousin had plans today so she wasn't available to help. I couldn't wait until tomorrow because I have a busy day tomorrow. And...I needed to get my hair looking right because I have an event to go to on Monday. (Erykah Badu concert)

So, I decided that I would wash and retwist myself. I have seen about every youtube clip on the subject. I had my supplies in hand. I had the determination and enthusiasm. Then....I started the process. At first, in the back as all the websites and advisors have said. But that wasn't going so well. Then I decided I would just do the front since that's the area that had the most (visible) fly away hairs.

I seperated, saturated, twisted, clipped. By the time I was done with the next preloc twist, the previous one was already unraveling at the roots again. AND my hair was so slippery and the twists so thin that the clips kept sliding out. So I started anchoring the clip to other parts of my hair. UGH! I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Also, as I was making my way one loc at a time, I realized that some of them are not in the clockwise rotation. So, as I was retwisting, I was actually unraveling. But I kept going. got the front done. All twisted and clipped to the best of my abilities. And now I'm thinking that, when I finish this blog entry, I am going to google my ass off for the nearest place that has a professional loctician. I'm thinking I'm going to have to bite the bullet, pay the money, have a professional get me started. Cause this sht here....this sht right here...it ain't cute at all.

I had a pretty long day. Shopping with my mother. A disappointing experience at the nail salon. Left there before all was done so now I have to return tomorrow for nails and eyebrows. But my feet look nice. Whatever. Then swimming with my gdaughter and niece. When I got home I was so ready for a shower that I didn't take the time to snap a pic of my hair pre-wash. I'm going to drink this glass of wine, relax, put a scarf on my head and just see what it looks like tomorrow.

But here are some pics...

supplies

fresh wash

the unraveling at the roots

retwisted and clipped. can you see the frustration in my eyes?

what did I do wrong?

all about conditioning

real quick before game time...

Carol's daughter's hair smoothie is wonderful.

http://www.carolsdaughter.com/product/haircare/color_treated_hair/black_vanilla_hair_smoothie.do?search=basic&keyword=hair+smoothie&sortby=newArrivals&page=1

However, 20 bucks for 8oz is pretty expensive. But I love it so I would buy two or three at a time. Shipping is usually free if you spend more than 50 dollars.

If I ran out of that, I would sometimes use plain old cholesterol conditioners.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/image/126012/index.html?cat=69

I like the one's with carrot oil or olive oil. I rarely used the cholesterol conditioner by itself. I would normally mix honey in it or add some sort of oil.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Olivado-Extra-Virgin-Avocado-Oil-8.45-fl-oz/10448646

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Spectrum-Naturals-Organic-Coconut-Oil-14-fl-oz/10535750

http://www.walmart.com/ip/100-Pure-Olive-Oil/14122508

another great conditioner I've used is simply mixing an avocado with coconut milk and a little oil. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Thai-Kitchen-Tk-Coconut-Milk-Coconut-Milk-14-fl-oz/10309672

coconut milk stinks. So after using this concoction for conditioner, I would spritz my hair with a little water with peppermint or vanilla extract. Sometimes mixing them together.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Specialty-Extracts-Pure-Peppermint-Extract-1-oz/10308881

I've never really been into leave in conditioners. I have some of Carol's daughter's leave in that has lasted me a very long time. I would use it after blow drying my hair if I was gonna wear it loose and free. I would dilute it with water and spray a little bit on my hair. It helped to keep it shiny and moist.

In fact, I think I'll use it on my baby locs too.

Any time I did a hot oil treatment, I would just heat up some olive oil and use that. And while conditioning, I would leave it in for about half an hour with my head covered with a plastic bag.

These things worked pretty well for me. Not very expensive or time consuming. Nothing complicated about it either.

time to think...

I didn't have to go to work today. My job really exhausts me. So, I intentionally made no plans to do anything whatsoever today. Like always, I've been thinking. Today, with nothing to do but think, It's been mostly about the journey that I've been on, and where exactly I want to go. I thought about how I made this blog about hair, but it's not ONLY about hair. There are some things that I find ironic about what's happening with my hair that parallels what's happening with my life.

On October 21, 2007, I was at work when I received an emergency phone call saying my son had been hit by a car and I needed to get to the hospital as soon as I could. Even tho I didn't get much information via that phone call, I instinctively knew that it wasn't good. I was too shaken to drive so a co-worker drove me to the hospital. When I arrived, before I was allowed to see him, I was whisked into the little room that I call the bad news room. While I sat there and listened to the doctor run down the list of injuries my son had suffered, my left hand went to the nape of my neck and I started twisting my hair. I didn't even realize what I was doing until he delivered the final blow, that my son was going to die. That's when I looked down at my hands and saw several strands of my hair wrapped around my fingers.

I'm not blogging about this to go through the details of that tragic time again. And also, I am not talking about all of the significant things that happened. Since this is a blog about hair, I'm telling things related to such.

What happened after my son died, from the moment he passed, for the next few days, it was all sort of a blur. Some things I remember in detail, some things I don't remember at all. But I do remember my mom telling me I needed to wrap my hair because every time she looked up I had my hand twisted in it. She sounded frustrated as if she had told me several times to get my hand out of my hair. There was one day when she said to me, 'let's go somewhere'. I remember not wanting to leave my house because there was a steady flow of relatives and friends coming by. But she told me not to worry about that, my home would be looked after. She marched me into the salon and sat me down in the stylist's chair and told her to do something with my hair. The stylist gave me a good shampoo and deep conditioner. She put it up in some big platts and told me that she was sorry for what I was going thru. She said she knows that hair was probably the last thing on my mind but that I shouldn't forget about it. She said that if I went too long without combing it out that it would get matted, which it had already started doing by the time I got to her chair.

My god-sister and good friend, arrived in town and she did my hair for me while she was in town for the funeral.

21 days after my son was killed, his daughter was born 17 weeks early. She was in the nicu at a hospital 2 hours away. She only weighed 1lb 5oz and the doctors said she probably wouldn't make it. But she did. She's a miracle. She was in that hospital from her birth in nov to the end of february.

I think it was around April 2008 when I first noticed a small slick spot at the nape of my hairline. It was barely big enough to fit my fingertip into but I knew it didn't belong there. Life had gotten back into to somewhat of a routine for me. I was again paying attention to thing's I had neglected for several months. And I knew that slick spot was a result of all of the crazy life event's that had happened. After becoming aware of it, I noticed how, everytime I thought about my son, his killer, or anything that stressed me, I would nervously fiddle and twist at that part of my hair. I made a conscious effort not to do that anymore. And altho I had done pretty good at leaving my hair be in that area, it continued to come out.

Fast forward to now, I have a large bald spot back there. People give me compliments on how healthy, thick and pretty my hair is. But they don't know I have that secret baldness underneath all of this thick and curly hair. I simply stopped wearing my hair up so people wouldn't notice.

Just like I spent so much time trying to go through life as if I hadn't lost part of my soul when my son died. Just like I would go to work and pretend to be happy and stable and come home and lose my mind in tears and sorrow.

I was comfortable with who I was before he died. My world was right and life was good. But then, he died and everything turned wrong. And then his daughter was born and watching her struggle and fight just to survive was awe inspiring and scary at the same time. I was confused. Like, how could I handle experiencing the worst tragedy a mother can experience, and the most miraculous thing in his daughter's survival all within such a short period of time?

I am getting closer to right again. Learning what my life is now, without him. I don't think I will ever be comfortable like I was before, but I am living and growing and starting to have a zest for life again. I am once again feeling the need to take good care of myself. Drop the weight I've gained since he died. Recover. Renew. Revive.

So, I'm no longer trying to hide the hair I lost. Just like I can't hide the void that was left when my son died. If that hair never grows back, I'm fine with that. The rest of my hair is going to do what it's intended to do, naturally. It will loc up, coil around and grow into energy filled rods of hope and light. I honestly believe that hair is like leaves on a tree. If the tree is healthy and nourished, the leaves will be plentiful and green and flourish. But if that tree is sick and diseased, the leaves will fall off and die. Starting with my thoughts, following through with my actions, I am confident that my hair, and my life, is on the right track to becoming strong, healthy and beautiful again. As I continue on this path to become a healthier person, my hair will reflect that.

all about shampoo

I found that lots of store bought general shampoos were full of too many words I couldn't pronounce, left my hair too dry. I tried making my own shampoo once. Basically i just boiled some rose petals that I got really cheap from the florist in water. I removed the rose petals and added avocado oil, a beaten egg, and a small amount of soap flakes. This worked pretty well but the first time I used water that was too hot and the eggs began to get thick like they were cooking in my head. But when I used cooler water, it worked better.

I did the co-wash most often. It was the easiest. Co-washing is simply washing your hair with conditioner. Conditioners have a cleansing agent in them usually and it helps to keep the hair soft. I would wet my hair with warm water. Put conditioner in. The conditioner I had most handy was just plain old cholesterol conditioner or Carol's daughter hair smoothie. I'd let it sit for a few minutes. Brush out the kinks with a denman brush and rinse while running my fingers through each section.

There are ingredients in shampoos and all hair products that I tried to stay away from. These are words that I would look for. If a product had these words or any variation of these words, I would try to avoid using that product. The way ingredients are listed, the most prevalent ones are listed first. So if it was a product I really wanted to try, and the word was listed last or near the end of the list, I sometimes would just go ahead and try it. But the words...

Petroleum, petrolia, etc.

sulfate, suflonate,

alcohol

fragrance

color pigments(fd&c)

dea(acronym for some big word)

mea (another acronym)

cholorine

propylene glycol

...there's more but basically what i want to see in an ingredient list are words that I recognize and words that describe something I know. for example, extracts. avacodo extract, peppermint extract, coconut extract...i can understand that that is. If the list says 'essential oils' and doesn't name the oils, I don't trust it.

I love carol's daughter's shampoos. But I am not always willing to spend 15 bucks for 8oz of shampoo. If I absolutely had to use regular beauty supply store or walmart shampoo, I preferred cream of nature organic shampoos, and organic root stimulator brand.

I never tried to ACV(apple cider vinegar) rinse but I hear good things about it.

Coming up, conditioning.

ready, set, loc!

It took two days and lots of patience, but my hair is finally on it's way to locs. My sister-cousin worked diligently for about four hours one day, and another three hours the next. The parts are nice and neat and they are all uniform in size. Now all that's left is to wait. SC has agreed to be my helper along this journey.

Every eighteen days, I get a four day weekend from my job. I figure I'll retwist during that time. But I'm gonna try to go at least a month before I do a full wash. I'll use witch hazel to cleanse my scalp and a home made cleansing solution on a warm wash cloth to clean the actual twists. This will be necessary since I work in a smoking environment and I don't want my hair to start stinking.

So here's my hair half done...

I wanted the parts more in a brick pattern but this will do.

all done..

all done, at work...

I know it looks a little weird right now. I don't have the luxury of working in place where I can cover my hair or wear a hat. I didn't want to pin it up just yet. I want to let it rest for a few days.

So today, May 26, 2010 marks the beginning of my loc journey. I know it can take 3 months to a year to have fully formed locs so I know I have to be patient.

now, a quote..."Among the Rastafarians and Sadhus, Indian holy men, dreadlocks are sacred and their formation a religious ritual. Among certain peoples in India and others, dreadlocks are an expression of their disregard for profane vanity and a manifestation of a spiritual understanding that physical appearances are unimportant. To a large degree, dreadlocks are a style in India reserved near-exclusively for holy men, expressing a spiritual significance which implies the wearer has risen above a desire for society at large to think favourably of their appearance." credited to http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/dreadlocks/meaning-and-popularity.html

Last Wild and Free

This morning I woke up feeling good. I showered and washed my hair. I was going to do the 'tightly curly' method but since I had just taken out small twists, my curls were already defined enough. The tightly curly method is simply putting a light conditioner on your hair in sections and using your fingertips to separate and define the natural curls. My hair is naturally very curly so I usually end up just smoothing with my fingers.

This is my hair soaked straight from the shower, rinsed free of shampoo and condition/honey.

I took sections of my hair and applied a light conditioner.

Then I blew dry my hair, stretching it out at the roots to preserve some of the length

There was still quite a bit of shrinkage but that's okay. The entire process took maybe 20 minutes.

The end result after getting ready for work.

shrinkage!

Now, some interesting quotes.

"The words, SPIN, SPIRAL, and SPIRITUAL have common roots! The Supreme Power spins; spirals; it is spiritual. It moves or spirals the universe! The entire universe dances in spirals and rotations; everything in it reflects the “SPIRaling, SPIRitual” essence out of which it is made! The “SPIRal,” especially the Golden Spiral, is simultaneously the most profound motion and design in the universe -built into all life forms, from seashelss to man, to spiraling nappy hair! Your blood spirals through your veins! Plants spiral up from the soil! And nappy hair spirals out from the hair roots! Ball your hand into a fist and slowly extend each finger."

"Hair is a really antenna that can receive and transmit energy! A Rastafarian explains that dreadlocks are a quality of Black people; they “are high-tension wires,” which transmits divine energy and inspiration from Jah [God], the creator, to Rasta, the mirror.” (Nicholas/Sparrow: Rastafarian -A Way of Life) As Blacks awaken to true self-knowledge and self-acceptance this brings, the negative racist conditioning with respect to their natural spiraling, nappy hair as “bad” and straighter hair as “good” will cease!"

credited to 'The Isis Papers" by Frances Cress Welsing.

Link. http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/blacked_out_through_whitewash.htm

The Plan

For about the last week I have had my hair in small two strand twists. This is how I will begin my locing process. But I have been doing my research for the last couple of days and I realize that I made some mistakes while twisting my hair.

1) Since I twisted my hair myself, I didn't take the care to make sure the parts were straight and neat. Apparently this is a no no when trying to start locs

2) Also because I twisted myself, I'm not sure all of the twists are in a clockwise direction.

3)Again, because I was going solo, not all of the twists are exactly uniform in size.

So, I have solicited the assistance of my sister-cousin(my cousin who was raised by my parents so we may as well be sisters). She's going to do my twists for me, make sure the parts are nice and neat, the twists are all the same size and in clockwise rotation.

Since I want small locs and as locs mature they do get thicker, we are starting off with very small micro twists. This will take some time and patience so we've set aside two days to get it done.

Today is Saturday. I'm devoting to day to removing the twists I had. I'm almost done.

Tonight I will wash with carol's daughter shampoo. http://www.carolsdaughter.com/product/haircare/shampoo/khoret_amen_shampoo.do

condition with some regular general store bought cholesterol condition that i'll add honey to. Rinse and apply carol's daughter hair oil http://www.carolsdaughter.com/product/collections/khoret_amen/khoret_amen_hair_oil.do?search=basic&keyword=hair+oil&sortby=newArrivals&page=1

sleep with a plastic shower bag on.

Since I don't have to be at work tomorrow until 10am, I will blast my roots with the hair dryer in the morning and style with my fingers and head off to work. It will be my last day of having loose hair so I will take a little extra time to mess with it and make it look cool. Maybe stick a flower in it or something.

Sunday night starts the real work. I ran out of carol's daughter hair smoothie conditioner. Since I won't be using it anymore I didn't want to waste the money purchasing more. So, I'll probably just use whatever conditioner I have to help with combing out my hair.

One of the things I never liked about wearing two strand twists is that once you take them out, it's so hard to comb and detangle my hair. But doing it while it's wet and saturated with conditioner makes it a little easier. So Sunday night while watching the Lakers beat the Suns, I will be dedicated to getting all the kinks out of my hair with my denman brush, of course. I will leave the conditioner in, comb it out, put it in six or seven big twists. Hopefully I'll be done by the time The Boondocks come on.

Monday morning I will rinse the conditioner out, leaving in the big twists, while in the shower. Then it's just waiting for my sister-cousin to come get started on my twists.

All we need is

1)denman brush to come out larger sections of my hair

2)a few clips and ponytail holders to keep hair sectioned

3)rat tail comb for parting and combing out small sections before twisting

4)a spray bottle of water since it's recommended to twist hair while wet

5)carol's daughter loc butter and beeswax(used sparingly only on ends to help keep them from unraveling)

So, I'm gonna get back to untwisting my hair. I will take pics in the morning before I go to work to preserve the memory of my very last day of loose unlocced hair.

Hair Herstory

I'be been natural for several years now. In 2004, I did my first big chop, going from shoulder length to about 1/4 inch. My brother at first refused to cut my hair for me but after I butchered with scissors, he was nice enough to finish it off for me with the clippers.

My hair grew very fast and I loved my natural hair. But after about 2 years, I got lazy and relaxed it. Immediately after I relaxed it, I regretted it. I never relaxed again and ended up doing another big chop about 3 months later.

Now I am shoulder length when stretched. On my birthday of this year, Jan 8th, I cut about three inches from my hair. I hadn't been taking very good care of it. The ends had gotten split and untamed. It has grown back plus maybe a little more length and now I feel it's time to go ahead and start locs.

Why locs?

I have always admired locs. I've seen beautifully groomed locs as well as ratty and untamed locs. Of course I will do my best to keep my locs looking good, neat, and clean. See, it's about more than a particular hair style for me. In fact, all of the transitions I have gone through with my hair these last several years has been about way more than hair. It's about a spiritual journey as well. It's been about having tremendous pride in my african heritage, being disgusted with society(particularly american society) that paints a picture of anything being ethnic to be unattractive. It's about rejecting the notion that we as black women can only be beautiful when we alter our natural appearance with harsh chemicals that makes us closer to the white woman. It's mostly about loving myself and finding beauty in the way the creator designed me.

As I became more conscious and spiritually aware, I became less satisfied with my artificially straight and colored hair. That's not in any way saying that women with relaxers are ignorant to their ancestry or that they can't be spiritually intact. I am telling my story from my own personal point of view.

Which brings me to locs. If I go a day or two without combing through my hair, I notice that sections of my hair naturally wrap around one another and try to form locs. I think there's something significant and cool about how my hair is a spiral. Our galaxy is a spiral. The root to spiral is spir, as in spir-it. In mathematics and physics, the spiral is significant. Even the earth moves around and around creating a spiral affect. The spiral occurs naturally. Look at the weather radar of a hurricane. Look at the movements of the ocean. I know I'm getting a little analytical, but that's how I am. I'm a deep thinker and the most natural and most spiritual thing I can do to my hair is to let it spiral together and loc up, collecting energy like antennas tuning in to the universe.

So there you have it. For the most part, my reason for getting locs.