In the interim of anxiously awaiting our favorite salons to reopen, we're all looking for tips and tricks to keep our hair healthy. The options for protective styles are endless but can border on repetitive. First, we mastered jumbo twists and knotless braids; now, we're lusting after godless locs. A more dramatic protective style, goddess locs are the perfect way to break up the monotony, but only if you have a plentitude of patience.
What are Goddess Locs?
Different in various ways from its traditional counterpart, goddess locs are a more bohemian style with a curvy or wavy texture to them. The hairstyle can vary based on the type of hair chosen, but it's common to have a curl throughout the loc or unsealed ends. The look is soft, feminine, and ridiculously pretty, all amplified by the waist-or-longer length.
Unlike twists or braids, goddess locs can be a more difficult process. Even though they are more lightweight and easy to style, it can take three to three hours to install the style. There are two common ways to do it: an individual method and the crochet method.
Goddess Locs: The Individual Method
According to Jasmine Pierce, a celebrity stylist, the goddess locs individual method takes a bit longer than the crochet method (six to eight hours) but gives a more realistic-looking result. You start by braiding your natural hair, then feed in an extension, ensuring the ends are left loose and curly. She explains to Cosmopolitan:
"Then grab another piece of braiding hair and, starting at the root, wrap it around the braid really tight so it mimics a loc. You keep wrapping until you get to the end of the braid, and then seal it off with a couple of drops of superglue or nail glue."
The Goddess Locs: The Crochet Method
The goddess locs crochet method (think: three to four hours) is installed with a latch hook and doesn't put nearly as much pressure on the root as the individual method does. You start by braiding your hair into cornrows, then gently crochet in the goddess faux locs. Pierce says you can add a few individual goddess locs around your hairline as it looks more natural and hides the crochet.
The Goddess Locs: Maintenance
To maintain this look, simply keep the hair hydrated with oils that prevent dryness and breakage. An important tip to remember is to cleanse your scalp to break down any buildup - a little shampoo and a water bottle for easy application is a quick fix. Pierce also suggests if you use the individual method, to avoid getting your locs wet when rinsing your scalp.
Lastly, it's also a good idea to keep a leave-in conditioner and a good spritz nearby. This can be a great first step for anyone looking to begin their loc journey. And if you don't want to loc your hair, it's recommended to take your hair out after two months max.
If you're looking to achieve a bohemian look this winter, look no further than faux goddess locs. Keep scrolling to see how these ladies style their goddess locs on Instagram.
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Featured image by Giphy
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Chalk it up to naivety, or simply the hopeful romantic in me, but love never seemed like a distant concept to me. Sure there were tough lessons I had to learn and breakups that I needed healing from, but the hope of finding that special someone still remained. Yet, in my reflections, I couldn’t help but wonder why I kept meeting men who seemed good enough for the moment but would be better had we met at another time.
That is, until I considered one fated component of my dating life that was simply out of my control: and that was time.
When you can’t make sense of things on your own, the TikTok algorithm has a way of leading you to the answers you’re seeking. And during a recent scroll, I stumbled upon a thread of women echoing the sentiment that “men marry the woman in front of them, at the time they are ready to be married” — but could this be the root of my dilemma?
This notion, known as the "Cab Light Theory" is a concept that was introduced in the hit TV series Sex and the City. In the scene, lawyer Miranda Hobbes suggested that men are like taxis - when they're available, their "cab light" is on, and when they're not, it's off. “When they’re available, their light goes on. They wake up one day and decide they’re ready to settle down, have babies, whatever, and they turn their light on. The next woman they pick up — boom! That’s the woman they marry. It’s not fate. It’s dumb luck,” she tells her group of friends in the ladies' room.
GiphyThe theory is that men are ready and willing to pursue a romantic relationship when they're emotionally available and interested (light on), and if they’re not, well, it’s on to the next pick-up they go (light off). While men are not modes of transportation, there is a point to be made about how a passing notion in a TV series from the start of the millennium could still hold some truth today.
In the original video shared by creator Tay Talks, her take on the “Cab Light Theory” implied that men aren’t necessarily marrying their soulmate or even the love of their life, instead, “it was just the girl he was dating at the time he was ready to get married and settle down.” The “dumb luck” that Miranda Hobbes was referring to in the show is the chance encounter that a woman would find a man who is both financially sound and emotionally available enough to stop his dating pursuits and commit to one woman forever.
But as dating trends shift with new social and economic factors at play, how could it be that more “lights” aren’t going off for men?
In an illuminating piece by Psychology Today, men are more lonely than they’ve been in decades and their soil for choice isn’t helping. The article shared that dating apps drive new connections but have a gender imbalance, with 62% of users being men. And with women becoming increasingly more selective in preferring emotionally available men who share their values, men are now facing a relationship skills gap that can lead to fewer opportunities for long-term partnership if growth, healing, and deeper emotional intelligence are not achieved.
While it’s easy to oversimplify the headaches and frustrations that come with modern dating, we can’t forget that while timing does play a factor in us finding “the one,” we also have the power of choice within our grasp. Men and women both need time to heal, grow, and discover themselves on a deeper level — so would we really want to “jump in the cab” of someone who hasn’t gone through that process already?
Since love is one of those forces that we can’t just make happen a the snap of our fingers, it can be easy to fix a blanket theory into the reason behind our singleness, but it’s important to remember that we can choose to pursue other candidates who date with openness and desire for commitment rather than waiting until someone’s light hastily cuts on.
While love can be sublime it shouldn’t be random. And when love finds us, we shouldn’t have the question in the back of our mind whether we were the best our man could do at the time. We deserve to be sure.
So yes, the “cab light theory” is a cheeky concept that prompts us to appreciate the timing of our love life, but it should also remind us that alignment is everything.
Because the real question is: was his light not on, or was he simply not the one?
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