Rocquelle // Natural Hair Style Icon

*Prepared for BGLH by Meosha Tall of 1MeNaturally

Introduce yourself!
R: My name is Rocquelle, and I am from Houston, TX. I am a full-time graduate student, run a style blog, Consider Me Lovely, and am the owner, creator and designer for Clutched & Covered, a company/shop that makes clutch covers, a means of giving your favorite clutch a new look. 

Why did you make the decision to go natural?
R: I’d been wanting locs since I was a little girl, after seeing one of my older guy cousins with them. I simply thought his hair was beautiful, and when I later learned it was locs I decided it was a style I wanted, but my mom said I had to wait until I was an adult to make such a hair decision, lol. After a failed attempt or two during my freshmen year of college, I wore braids and twists for about 8 months, had my perm cut off, wore a small afro for about 3 hours, and have had locs since. I’ve been natural for 8 years.

How would you describe your texture?
R: When it comes to the numerical/alphabetical term that describes my hair texture, I’m honestly clueless, lol. I have always had very thick hair, whether permed, pressed, natural, or loc’d, and I guess I’d say my strands are coarse and tightly curled. I am often asked why I am not a hair blogger, it would be because I am clueless about questions like this, lol. All I know is my hair is my hair :-).

Did you start your locs yourself or did you go to a loctician?
R: I went to a loctician for the first 4 years of having locs. They were started using a bit of back combing and palm rolling. The last time I counted a few years ago, I had around 300, but I’ve recently started combining a few of them in hopes of maybe making my job a little shorter when I maintenance them myself, lol.

How do you style your locs?
R: When I style my hair, rubber bands, jumbo hair pins, and elastic headbands as hair ties are my go to daily products. I like to try new things with my hair and I very rarely wear it down, so these three products are essential for me!

What does wash day look like for you?
R: Wash day looks like a VERY long day for me, lol. I have a lot of hair, and it takes FOREVER to dry (I often air dry or do a mix of air drying and sitting under the dryer). When I wash and maintenance my own locs, I am currently using Eden BodyWorks Jojoba Monoi Moisturizing Shampoo and Revitalizing Conditioner and Taliah Waajid Lock It Up Gel. I’ve not really had any residue issues or anything from using this gel, but I am looking to start mixing my own product for loc maintenance soon, after I do a bit more research. Aside from this product, I use olive oil and/or Doo Gro Stimulating Growth Oil for oiling my hair.

Tell us about your hair color?
R: My hair is dark brown with teal (and maybe a bit of red) tips. I did not do it myself, I went to my loctician, who’d dyed my tips red about a year and a half ago. I don’t recall the names of the products she used, but dyeing my tips teal was a two step process. The first visit she bleached the red out (or as much as she could without damaging my hair) and put a coat of teal dye on my tips. About two weeks later, I went in and she applied a protein treatment to my tips and another coat of teal dye. This dye choice was more intense than any other I’ve had before on my locs, but I have not really noticed any affect it’s had on my locs, or their texture.

What are some of your problem areas (if any) that require special care and attention?
R: With twisting the roots of my locs during monthly maintenance (and sometimes during the day when I am daydreaming, lol), I try to be sure to pay attention to my edges and ensure that they aren’t thinning, which is why I oil my edges with olive oil regularly, even if I don’t have time to oil the rest of my hair. Also, the longer my hair gets, I’ve noticed some breakage here and there on the tips of my locs, so I just try to make sure moisture is reaching the tips of my locs as well as my roots.

What are 2 do’s for your texture?
R: Moisturize: There is nothing worse than dry locs. Cleanliness: I wash my hair every 4 weeks, sometimes 3 now that I’ve started working out. In having locs, washing my hair too much will not aid in the locking process of my new growth. Creativity: One of my goals in starting my locs was to prove naysayers wrong who said I would be limited in what I could do with my locs. As a result, I am always experimenting and trying out new hairstyles.

What are 2 don’ts for your texture?
R: I’m no hair expert, as evident in my answers to some of the previous questions, lol, so my biggest don’t is to not limit my locs. I am of the belief that my locs can do anything some other hair texture can do, natural or otherwise. I just may have to go about a different route, but it is certainly doable :-).

Is there a blog/webpage where we can find you?
R: Yes, my style blog is Consider Me Lovely, www.considermelovely.com, where I share the occasional hair tutorial among posts of style and empowerment. My shop where I sell handmade clutch covers is, www.clutchedandcovered.com, is my biggest project right now. Clutch covers come in fun prints and bold colors; I’m predicting them to be the next big thing, hehe ;-).