Finally 6 months! (I know I'm Late)

Wow! I can't believe its been 6 months (now almost 7). I had my 6th retightenting about 3 weeks ago and it seems as if I'm doing pretty well. Here is a 6th month pics in comparison to my locking day pics.

6 months:

Day 1:

You can see a little difference in the length.

This last retightening took a little longer than usual because of my swimming adventures in St. Thomas. However it wasn't as bad as it could have been because I followed my consultant's instructions and wore the dreaded swim cap. The swim cap wasn't so bad though. I had a blast in St. Thomas. Here are some pics:

My grandmother, fiance, and I posing at my cousins wedding. I rodded my hair with perm rods the night before.

Me and the swim cap snorkeling away in the clear waters of St. John.

Me posing at the resort we stayed at in St. Thomas. It was really nice.

Well since my 6 month post is so late, my 7 month post should be coming up pretty soon. Stay tuned!

4th retightening / 5 months

Wow I can't believe I've almost been locked a half a year! Time sure has flown fast. I have noticed a small change in the length and my hair is also curled more tightly. I just had my 4th retightening on Monday and it seems like all is going well. But I must admit, I can't wait till my consultant says those 5 magic words...YOU CAN GET COLOR NOW! I have always had highlights or some kind of color in my hair so I feel different with all black hair. Not that I don't like it, but I would rather have the color. I know that my hair is not mature enough for it yet so I will continue to be patient.

On another note, I am a little nervous about how my hair will look at the next retightening. I have a trip planned, the week before my next retight, to the lovely island of St. Thomas. I am in my cousin's wedding and I will be staying for 9 days, enjoying the beach and the tropical weather. The thing that scares me is that I love swimming at the beach and I'm wondering how my hair will hold up in the water. I'm still very much a newbie and my hair has barely begun to lock. My consultant suggested braiding my hair and wearing a swim cap (ugh!). I haven't worn one of those things since I was a child. I guess I'll have to sacrifice cuteness for now rather than pay with my pockets later. Otherwise, I am definitely looking forward to my trip!

Also, I'm very proud that more and more people are recognizing my hair as sisterlocks. I was on the metro going to the DC Caribbean carnival the other day and I sat next to two ladies. One had short traditional locks and the other one had two-strand twists. The one with the twists asked me if I had sisterlocks. I replied happily, "Yeah, you're the second person that noticed!" She said that she wanted them but she wasn't sure if she was ready to commit to locks yet. Also, when I went out to eat for my co worker's birthday one of her friends recognized my sisterlocks. She was in the process of growing her hair out and was considering sisterlocks as an option. So finally my hair is starting to look somewhat recognizable.

Well that's all for now!

3rd Retightening / Almost 4 months

I just had my 3rd retightening last Friday and it took about 3.5 hours. My locks are doing pretty well overall. I just had one that had seriously unravelled since the last retightening. But its all better now. I'm still waiting for my hair to grow. I really haven't noticed much change in the length of my hair since the beginning. However, the texture is definitely different. The ends are have really curled up and are not really frizzy anymore. I will continue to be patient.

While at my consultant's place, I purchased a new product that she brought back from a hair show in Atlanta. Its a all natural hair deodorizer by Ohm Body. Its made with an Aloe Juice Base, which makes it really light so it shouldn't build up on my locks. It smells delicious! I have been looking for something like this for a while. I hate when I just finish washing my hair and I go into a place where people are smoking and my locks end up smelling disgusting. I'll have to try this when that happens to see if it really works.

On another note, I finally got my Sisterlocks Birthday Certificate in the mail last week. Woo hoo.

Perm Rods / 3 months

Wow! I can't believe its been 3 months already. Time has flown so fast. However, I am becoming a little impatient, waiting for my hair to get long again. I like my hair at this stage but I can't wait for my hair to be long enough to put in a ponytail. I know it will take time so I'll keep waiting patiently. My 3rd retightening is in about a week.

The other day I actually decided to style my hair (most of the time I just freestyle). I had bought some perm rods a while ago so I decided to try them out. I grabbed a few strands, dampened them with my spray bottle, and rolled them up on the rods.

When I was done, I dried my hair with my soft bonnet hair dryer for about 30 min. Here is a pic showing the finished product.

So far its been 3 days and they're still hanging in there.

2nd Retightening/ 2 months + some weeks

So I just had my 2nd retightening on Friday...I was way overdue! This time I waited 6 weeks since my last one (my consultant's schedule is crazy!) and I felt like my hair was a mess. I wore a headband pretty much all of the previous week to cover up my fuzzy edges. I thought that this retightening was going to take forever because of the amount of new growth I felt in my head. Surprisingly, the retightening actually took 30 min less than the time before! It only took 3 1/2 hours, which I was glad for cause it saved me some money and plus I was rushing to go out later that night. My consultant said that my hair was still coming along nicely. Here is a pic after the retightening.



As far as styling goes, I haven't really been doing much since I've had my locks. I've been pretty much freestyling it all the time. Usually I just get up, spritz my hair with water, fluff it up and I'm out the door. I've been enjoying the little curly q's at the ends of my hair while they last (my consultant says they will disappear once my hair starts to lock). I did however finally buy some caruso rollers (30 pack) from Sally Beauty Supply for $30. One day I decided to experiment with them in the front of my hair just to see how they worked. They were actually really cool. I used the smallest size rollers, put them on the steamer then in my hair and followed the "quick dry" technique described in the manual (blow drying the roller). When I took the rollers out I had a very loose curl that was kind of cute. I only put about six rollers in my hair this time (I was being lazy), maybe next time I will try the whole head :) I can definitely see myself using these alot in the future.

I've been getting compliments on my hair lately even though people aren't really sure what it is. Most people think they are twists. Most of the compliments have been from my permed sistas which are contemplating whether or not to go natural. Most of them want to get their hair like mine until I tell them that I'm locking and then they tell me that they are not ready to make that commitment yet. That's understandable, this is definitely a decision that should be carefully considered over time. Hey it took me 7 years!

My First Retightening / 1 month mark

So Friday I got my first retightening. Here are before and after pics:

Before:

After:






My consultant said that I was doing well so far and that my locks were looking as expected. She told me to keep up the good work. My retightening took about 4 hours. While I was there, I went ahead and scheduled my retightenings for the rest of the year. The appointments range from once every 4 weeks to once every 6 weeks.

That's all for now!

Last Shampoo Before Retightenting

I washed my hair again the day before my first retightening.
First I braided and banded my hair.



Next I wet my hair down until it was completely saturated with water.
Since I decided to be good and use my sisterlocks starter shampoo, I diluted it about 1/2 and 1/2 with water in a spray bottle.



During the first wash, I sprayed the shampoo mixture onto my scalp and lathered. The spray bottle really help distribute the shampoo all over my head this time. I didn't use the whole bottle like I did the first time...lol. After lathering the shampoo and gently rubbing my scalp, I rinsed it out and then sprayed the shampoo mixture on each of the braids. I gently squeezed the shampoo through each of the braid and lathered until i felt that they were clean. I rinsed again and then dried my hair. My hair and scalp felt a whole lot cleaner after this wash. The spray bottle definitely helped to distribute the shampoo through my hair and helped to lather the sisterlocks shampoo. I would say that this was a successful wash.

Sisterlocks Updates...Almost 1 month

Ok, sorry I haven't provided any hair updates in a little while. I've been busy with work and school. Anyway, since I'm off tomorrow, I figured I'd update my blog. Since I'm combining everything into one, this post is pretty long.

Well not too much has changed about my sisterlocks so far. Then again I'm only in my 3rd week. The only thing that I've noticed is that the texture has changed slightly. During the first week or so, the ends that were left out were really fuzzy, especially in the front (the softer part of my hair). It was almost like an afro when it was dry. I would spritz it with water in the morning and by the end of the day it would just poof. I tried curling it one time with sponge rollers to hide the frizzy ends but it didn't come out that great. And some of the sponge roller pieces got stuck in my hair (I don't think I'll do that again). Now I notice that the ends curl a little tighter and my hair doesn't seem AS poofy. I mainly wear my hair freestlyed; I spritz with water in the morning, fluff up my hair and go. I have been wearing my satin cap to bed and I also have a satin pillowcase in case the cap falls off during the night. So far, I love this routine!

I have had some issues over the first few weeks though. First of all, the EXTREMELY itchy scalp was and still is a problem. Its gotten a little better but sometimes I feel like my scalp has gone mad! I expected it since I've read about this on many of your blogs but I didn't know it was going to be like this! I tried the spritz bottles with a few drops of an essential oil and that helped for a little while. Then it was back to itchin like crazy!

Second of all, my first wash was pretty crazy! I braided my hair into about 10 braids and banded them about 3/4 in from the end with little neon bands similar to the ones in the sisterlocks starter kit. Although I had read that many of you had problems with taking out the bands after washing, I decided to try them since I had bought them and I didn't have time to go back to the store. Big mistake. Also, my braiding is not very good (especially since my hair is shorter) so the braids were kind of ghetto. Looking back, I think the braids were too big, and my hair is so thick, so it made it very hard to braid right. So after braiding and banding, I got my aquis hair turban (which so many of you have raved about) and my sisterlocks starter shampoo and I went to work. Another mistake I made was not diluting the sisterlocks starter shampoo with water and using a spray bottle to apply it. I wet down my hair (at least I thought it was wet enough) and I started to apply the shampoo straight from the bottle. Oh my gosh, I could barely get it to lather! Do you know that I ran out of the starter bottle in one wash! And on top of that, some of my poorly braided hair started to come out of the braids. So there I was with hair half out of the braids, finished shampoo, and scalp and hair that felt hardly clean. I could also barely get to my scalp. I also tried using the ACV rinse because I thought it would help my itching scalp and keep my hair from looking so dry. This didn't seem to help that much. Frustrated by the whole process, I pulled out my aquis hair towel to dry my hair. After drying my hair, I noticed a few white lint balls in my hair. I thought this towel was supposed to be lint free! Did I get the wrong kind? Maybe because it is brand new? I washed it after that but I haven't used it since. I'm afraid that those lint balls will be all over my hair again. After drying my hair, I tried to take out the bands. It was soooo hard to get them out. They were very tangled up in my hair. I took out my braids and separated my locks one by one as I was told. As I was doing this, I counted my locks. I have about 550.

So after a week, I washed my hair again. It was right before my check up and my hair was obviously still dirty. Since I was out of SL shampoo, I decided to try the knotty boy shampoo that I had ordered. I absolutely fell in love with it! It lathered very easily and it felt good on my scalp. I was able to get my hair a lot cleaner than the last time. Also, when I finished, my hair wasn't as dry as when I used the SL shampoo. I would love to use this all the time but I think I will give the SL starter shampoo another chance. Also, this time I braided smaller braids and used the larger cloth type bands (recommended by some of you) on the ends of my hair. The braids stayed in this time and it was alot easier to get the bands out of my hair. Overall, the second shampoo went much better.

I went for my hair check up with my consultant the next day. I explained all of the problems that I had during the first couple weeks (itchy scalp, shampooing issues) and she said that this was expected because I have to get used to the sisterlocks and the new method of washing. She examined my locks and said that they were looking like they were supposed to. I also bought some dandruff gaurd substance (which she said to use sparingly on my scalp) and a bigger bottle of the SL starter shampoo. The checkup didn't last long at all. Plus I will be heading back to her in a couple of weeks for my first retightening.

So for right now I'm just freestylin it up. I do have some questions though. First of all, I don't feel like I am getting my scalp completely clean when I wash since I'm not really able to get in there and scrub. Also it is hard reaching the scalp within the braids. When my hair dries, I still see lots of flakes near my scalp. Also, the non-itchy scalp only lasts for a couple days and then its back to itch-city. Does anyone have any advice for shampooing and the itchy scalp problems? Will it get better as time goes on? Also, whats up with the Aquis hair towel? Is it supposed to shed like that? Also, with the ACV rinse, am I supposed to wash it out afterwards? It was pretty strong. I rinsed my hair with water afterward but I don't feel like the ACV rinse really helped.

Here are some update pics. My SLs don't look too much different than before.

I've been Tagged!

So today I found out I had been tagged by Treklocs! I'm not too sure about this since I'm really new to this blogging thing. So here goes...

First the tagging instructions:
1. Post seven random, quirky facts about yourself
2. Link to the person who tagged you.
3. Post the instructions on your blog.
4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. They cannot have been tagged before.
5. You must notify the people you tag by leaving a comment on their blog.

Now here are my random facts:

1. I was a competitive gymnast for about 9 years. My favorite event was the floor exercise because I am a tumblemaniac! My idol was Dominique Dawes.

2. I used to be obsessed with the Tazmanian Devil character so much that I just knew I would get a tatoo of him when I turned 18. Thank God I didn't!

3. I am nerd deep down inside, even though sometimes I try to deny it. I love science, computers, and other electronics; sometimes my fiance and I have long conversations about IT stuff and new gadgets and electronics (I love smart men!).

4. I loooooove to dance! I've gone to club a couple times and literally danced from start to finish, nonstop. I've tired a lot of guys out that way. I have been thinking about taking a dance class for fun but right now my schedule doesn't really permit it.

5. The shower is my own personal concert hall. I love to sing, and what better place to do it! I used to sing in the church choir when I was in high school. I really liked it but I haven't done much organized singing recently.

6. I really detest glasses (on myself)! I started wearing them in the 4th grade and stopped when I finally got contacts in the 8th grade. Ever since then, even if I put on a cute pair of glasses, I still feel like that geeky looking kid that I was before. So for now, i'll stick with the contacts, or maybe I'll get Lasik someday.

7. I play football in the fall and spring. Not tackle of course! I play coed, two-hand touch football for a baltimore city league. I didn't know much about playing football when I first started but I quickly fell in love with it. Its really alot of fun!

Now for the fun part. Tag, your it!
http://www.theartisthaha.blogspot.com/

http://curlielocs.blogspot.com/

http://purehappyness.blogspot.com/

http://blessedgemlady.blogspot.com/

Still looking for more people to tag... It looks like most people have been tagged already.

Lockin it up...All Done!

Today was the second and final day of my locking session. It was very long (and somewhat painful because I am tenderheaded). Both my consultant and I breathed a sigh of relief when it was complete. I am now officially a member of the sisterlocks community (Yay)! It took a total of 18 hours (over two days) to install my sisterlocks. I am very pleased with the result. My consultant, Sharonne Jackson-Little, did an awesome job. When she was finished installing the locs, she wet my hair down so that I could freestyle it. My hair has shrunk up alot but its still cute. I can't to start playing with it. Here are the final pics.

My hair is so thick you can't see any parts or anything!

I scheduled my "check up" visit for about 2 weeks from now so my consultant can make sure that my locks are coming along fine. Boy was it hard to get on her schedule! She is one busy lady! But I was able to schedule in my 1st and 2nd retightening for now. Stay tuned for more pics to come!

Lockin it up! (Part 1)

Yay...Today is lock day! Today was day 1 of my locking session. I was there for about 81/2 hours and only got almost 1/2 of my hair done. I don't think my consultant realized that my hair was so dense. And I guess I have a big head too...lol. I carried over my schoolwork and did some reading and we also watched some movies. Boy was I glad when she was ready to quit for the night. My butt was hurting from sitting all day and my neck was beginning to get stiff. But I can't complain because my consultant was on her feet for most of the day. She was worn out too. So back again tomorrow to finish my do! Hopefully I make it out tomorrow at a decent hour since I have to go back to work on Tuesday. Here are some pics from the first day. These are large locs in the back of my head. She left bantu knots in the front of my head until tomorrow. Can't wait till its all done!

One step closer to locking!

Saturday was my sisterlock consultation. I drove to Baltimore and met my consultant for the first time. We watched the sisterlocks video, and I asked alot of questions about what to expect, the average locking time, whether or not I should color my hair before locking (she advised against it...noooo!), looked at her portfolio, etc. I really liked my consultant she seems like a very nice lady and is very knowledgeable about sisterlocks. She put about 6 test locs in my hair, three in the front and three in the back. They are sooo tiny!

Pics of my test locks:

I scheduled my locking session for Feb. 10th and 11th...woo hoo! My consultant is a very busy lady! Her calendar was full for the whole month of February (with the exception of the 10th and 11th) as well as March. I might have to schedule out my retightenings for the rest of the year at this rate! I'm soooo excited!

Loc Adversity

So...I've been getting alot of flack from my friends and my fiance` about getting locs. It seems like no one really wants me to get them except for me and my family. Everytime I mention getting locks someone gives me that look like "why you wanna do that?" I'm starting to get a little bit annoyed, but not discouraged. I tried to explain to my fiance about sisterlocks and I showed him some pictures. He says they look nice and he trusts my judgement but he is still a little uneasy. It has helped alot for me to read the other sisterlocks blogs out there that talk about how they handle their loc adversity. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm still a little scared though...

Now you see the hair...now you don't!

Through my research of sisterlocks, I learned about how these tiny locs could look so great and be styled so many different ways. But I also learned about the hefty price tag! Being that I had about 12 inches of thick hair I could only imagine how much it would cost. Thats when I decided to make the big chop! Some of you might think that I am being really cheap but I would rather cut my hair and save $300. This is because:
1) I have cut my hair off before, I already know how I look so it should be no big shocker
2) My hair grows pretty fast so it will come back
3) It is so much easier to comb and wash my short hair. I might as well enjoy these last times before the locs. With longer hair, it took me about 2 hours to wash and comb out my hair. With my short do, it takes about 30 min.

Although I did not mind cutting my hair, unfortunately my fiance`, friends and family did not feel the same way. I guess no one likes to see long hair go, so no one wanted me to cut it. But you know what, all of those people that complained did not have to help me comb my long thick mane and would not be compensating me with the extra $300 it would cost to keep it. So I made the cut. Here are some before and after pics:

Before the cut:





After the cut:


My hair is now exactly 6 inches. Not so bad... We'll see how it looks when the locks are put in!

My Hairstory

I have been natural for about 7 years now. I made this decision after some convincing from my mom (who went natural 1 year before me) and my personal feelings of being fed up with my relaxer.

From the beginning...Well I was born with a head full of extremely thick hair. When I was a little girl my mother and I used to literally fight over combing my hair. Everytime I saw the comb I would run. Because we were not educated on how to care for natural hair, my hair was always dry, tangled and unmanageable. For this reason, my mother put a relaxer in my hair when I was just 6 years old.

When I got my first relaxer, I thought I was all that. I would sit in front of the mirror and shake my hair like a white girl. Unfortunately, my hair began to break off because my hairdresser at the time was not the best. I went to another hair dresser and she started taking care of my relaxed hair. It finally began to grow back. Because my hair was so thick, I had to use a Super Relaxer in order to get it really straight. When I left the hairdresser, my hair would be bone straight up until the time that I washed it, then it would just look like a bad press. I had to get a relaxer very often because my hair grew very fast and I couldn't let those roots get nappy or show them "nigga naps" (as the kids called it) in my kitchen. This process continued until after my first year of college when I finally had enough.

When I graduated from high school, my hair was pretty long and healthy thanks to my hair dresser at the time. However, when I got to college, I could not find someone good to do my hair. My hair started breaking again. My mother encouraged me to go natural. When I got back home for summer break, I decided that I would cut off all of my permed hair. I had never had short hair, let alone, short natural hair before so I was very scared. My mother and my friends encouraged me and I finally made the big cut. It was probably alot easier to mentally transition into natural hair since I attended a HBCU where there were many natural sistas around.

I continued to grow my hair over the past 7 years. Even though I had better learned to care for my hair it was still extremely thick and difficult to comb especially since it was so long. I continuously wore my hair in two strand twists, washed it and combed it out, and it was back in two strand twists. I loved it when my hair was twisted; I didn't have to comb it or do much of anything to it in the morning. I would just get up and go. I eventually decided that I really would not mind combing my hair ever again. My mom told me that I should probably consider locs. I researched the different types and decided that sisterlocks would be the best for me.

Permed Hair Pic: