Twice a year, like clockwork, I used to visit my natural hair stylist to get my staple two-strand kinky twists. I loved the beautifully crafted style and mix of 1B/30 coils. Each time I walked through the door with my fresh twists, my son would ask if it was all my hair, and each time it saddened me a bit to admit that I’d had added hair to my own to achieve the 3-month hairstyle.

I’m not a huge proponent of long weaves because I believe a lot of African American women use them to cover up their hair so they don’t have to “deal” with it, while also assimilating to the culture of often long, carefree, tresses. Just my thoughts. But, I always saw singles and kinky twists differently; As if these styles are more true to our culture, so it didn’t really start bothering me until my son kept asking if my hair was real.

That’s just one of the many reasons why I was so juiced to get sisterlocks. No more extensions. Just my natural hair, doing what it wants to naturally do — lock; yet in a uniformed grid pattern.

Now, when my son asks, “Is that all your hair?”, I can answer proudly, “Yes. Yes it is.”