"Why" you ask?

From the time I was in Middle School I'd wanted locs. I remember telling my Mother I wanted to loc my hair, but she wouldn't allow it and then proceeded to go on a rant about why she doesn't want me to loc my hair. She had a few different reasons, but the primary reason was because she associated it more with Rastafarianism and their practices (being the old-school Jamaican mother that she is). Just so you understand, my family (including my extended family) is quite religious. We are many in number and are full of pastors, ministers, faithful church-goers, et cetera. Some of the Rastafarian practices are not acceptable in the Christian religion.

While I understood her reasoning, I couldn't help but debate the fact that not all people with locs are to be associated with the Rastafarian religion (needless to say, my argument really didn't matter since my Mom already had her mind made-up on this topic). While I do view locs to be spiritually symbolic, I cannot connect them to any specific religion. My locs are to symbolize my own personal spirituality. The growth of my locs would represent me growing in my spirituality, faith, and womanhood.

It is for this reason that I am no longer debating the idea of loccing my hair; I have planned to loc. I am home in New York at the moment, but before I head back to school in North Carolina on August 13 I will start my loc journey. A friend of mine (she has been locced for several years now) will be helping me start them. This is all in good timing too, because my 21st birthday is in 3 days. So even legally I am freed from more restrictions (NOTE: I don't drink, but it's good to know that I could if I wanted to o_O) and am growing more into my womanhood.

I'm a bit excited to start, but I admit that I am a little nervous. Naturally, I'm nervous about other people's reactions (I still haven't told my boyfriend about it), it's accaptablility in corporate settings, how it would look (especially during that awkward phase that all locs must go through), et cetera.
Hm...I guess that's where the faith comes in...