Locs - 3 years, 3 months

Happy Sunday everyone! I wanted to take some time and provide an update on my locs. I've had them for 3 years and 3 months now and they are a little past my shoulders. I'm at the point where I have to hold my hair back when drinking from the water fountain. (If you're wondering why is that important, my hair in it's unaltered, natural state hasn't been past my jaw before.) So here's my hair now. 
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Some little things that I kind of like: the way it keeps my ears warm when it's freezing cold out, having to make sure I have hair pins or a hair tie just in case, putting it up when I shower, and the "hang-time" when it's in a pony tail. ↓

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I don't use locking gel anymore. Straight water. I found that the gel worked when my locs were still babies and teenagers. Now that they're adults, the gel doesn't do much of anything except leave flakes {eww}. 

I also use Shea Moisture's African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo. I love the smell and how it really gets the scalp and hair clean and itch-free. 

Once a month (usually on retwist days), I use a deep cleansing baking soda and ACV rinse (courtesy of FranChescaleigh) and oh. my. goodness. does it work wonders! Given the ingredients, I usually follow this up with washing and conditioning it.

It's been a long time since I've used a dedicated hair and scalp oil to moisturize. For a while I've been using Trader Joe's coconut oil all year long and it works well for me. A little bit goes a long way. I tried olive oil but for some reason, it made my scalp itchy, so now I stick to using it for cooking.

I've been asked on a couple occasions whether I will cut or trim it. At some point, I probably will trim it to keep it a certain length, that's a long ways away. Right now, I don't have any plans of cutting it really short or completely off.

I am considering adding some temporary color to it. Something fun and flattering but not too wild. No matter the color, I want the ingredients to be completely natural. I'm also hesitant to do it myself. Any advice?