The Net and the Knot: On Locking My Hair for Good There is a kind of magic that only works if you commit to it completely. Not the kind you can undo with a good conditioner and a wide-tooth comb on a bad day — the kind that asks you to sit still for twelve hours, hand your head over to someone else's hands, and trust that what emerges will still, somehow, be you. On July 18th, my birthday, I did exactly that. I had my hair permanently locked. I've spent years with a needle in