Reunited and it feels so GOOD!

I knew that I would see him again, but just not this soon. It seemed like it had been an eternity since we were last united, since I’d last felt his magical touch. I woke up that morning eagerly anticipating our eventual meeting later in the evening, and I busied myself to pass the time that stretched long and impatient as the sun made its trek from east to west. I made a minor fuss over what I should wear…. It had to be the right combination of comfort and style. I didn’t want to be too done up, yet I also did not want to be too casual, and an abundance of make-up was pointless because I always left with it smudged and streaked from heat and moisture. Finally the time had arrived. The drive seemed like 100 miles, 30 minutes seemed like 3 hours. I could hardly contain my excitement and anticipation as I made the trek up to Broadripple. I arrived at my destination and pulled up to the building; fortune smiled upon me as I found a space right up front. This was the moment I’d been longing after for months, but had prepared to wait for years. I walked up to the door and gingerly pushed it open. At first I looked around and didn’t see him, although I knew I was at the right place. Someone saw my look of confusion and directed me toward the back of the building. I walked around the corner and heard his familiar voice, so I quickened my step and hurried further into the building…… and there he was. After months of forced separation, we were reunited again. Time melted away and it seemed like nothing had been missed. We greeted each other and embraced briefly, but it was the embrace of someone who has been lost and now has been rescued. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He sat me down and looked me over, asking me who had been taking care of me over the past several months. I told him I'd seen one person, but that it just wasn’t the same; nobody knows me as well, nobody has his skill and passion. After I had few drinks he started doing what he does best. Relief flooded over me as I felt the worries drop away one by one. Then came the moment I’d been dreaming about…. His touch was both gentle and firm, and it took everything I had not to audibly moan with pleasure. He worked his hands around, rubbing and kneading all the time and stress and cares away. Rub….. Lather….. Rinse….. Repeat…….........................................

Ok, y’all dirty MFs…. I’m talking about my beloved loctician! I’ve got him back!! As you may (not) recall, last November/December Karma gave me a swift kick in the arse and deprived me of one of the few things that has been a constant in my life for the past 8 years..... and that is my hair stylist (or more accurately, my loctician, because he only does locs).

(If you don't remember what happened, it's best to do some mandatory background reading: Please, Karma,Not my hair And the follow up: In Her Shoes Done? Ok, proceed.....)

I promised that the story would be continued..... so here it is. The shop where my loctician moved to, and the one which I was not allowed to patronize for, uh, "personal reasons", closed is relocating. I'd heard a rumor that the shop would be moving, and knowing my loctician like I do, I knew that the odds of him moving with them were just about nil unless they were staying in the same area (unlikely because the whole area is prime retail space), but I still wasn't going to get my hopes up too high. Sure enough, he gets a notice at the end of last month saying that the location was closing in 2 weeks. (*Pause* Two weeks notice to GTFO?? For real??? Yea, he was NOT happy.) On the one hand, I was uber ecstatic that my time in hair purgatory only lasted 5 months (I was bracing myself for YEARS of exile), but on the other hand I refrained from instantly bombarding him with e-mails begging to be the FIRST client at his new location because I know how much he hates upheaval, let alone upheaval that has to be done in such a short period of time. So I respected his time and space, sent him a few encouraging words, but as soon as I found out he landed a new spot, I was on it.

Take out all the sexual undertones to my monologue above and that pretty much sums up what happened (I was going to add that one of my friends who is also one of his clients happened to be in there as well, but I thought the allusion to a menage would be a little much). He shaped up my poor raggedy locs and gave me the best shampooing of my life. He told me to hold off on color and that we'd tackle that next time (I was waiting on him to bop me over the head with a bottle of hair oil for coloring it myself, but I think he understood my plight). It was so nice to be back in the chair I'd been in for the past 8 years, through almost my entire natural hair journey, having done numerous hair shows and photo shoots for him. I don't even have to tell him what I want.... I just trust him to do what he does best, knowing that he knows me well enough to give me what I want. I was so happy that I told him to go ahead and do me up and updo. And just so you can get a GLIMPSE into this man's skill, here's the end result:

And this (hopefully) concludes this particular adventure......All's well that ends well I guess (well, for me anyway). Thank you, Karma, for sparing me of years of deprivation. You can keep that rusty fork to yourself, my dear.

Fin.

(Oh, and check out Thierry Baptiste's amazing work.... he is truly a revolutionary in the natural hair and loc world. You haven't seen locs til you see Theirry's work.)