Back from the dead! 11th month retightening

So I've been really busy over the last 5 months and I really haven't had the time to come on here and update my blog.  I've been busy trying to finish up my classes and working.  I'm coming up on my 1 year lock anniversary very soon and I can't believe the time has flown so fast!  Next month will be 1 year since I was locked.  Here is an update on my hair.  Its doing pretty well.  I have definitely noticed the growth since I first started.  My hair is still curly on the ends, I guess as they continue to mature that will go away.  There are also some locks that have developed small holes over time but my consultant closed a lot of them this past retightening yesterday. 

Overall, I am still very pleased with my locks.  I definitely love them more than when I first started.  I haven't had any major problems so far.  I am still going to get my hair retightened because I think right now I'm too lazy and I don't have enough time to learn how to do it myself. This past retightening was VERY expensive because I had to go to another consultant to get my hair retightened the time before and it wasn't retightened very well.  The retightening took a surprisingly short amount of time and I noticed after I left the place that my roots weren't as tight as they should have been.  Therefore I payed the price this time when I went back to my regular consultant.  It took an hour and a half longer than it normally takes because there was a lot of hair that needed to be tightened.  Needless to say, I was really upset!  I definitely paid for the time and money I saved at the last retightening at this retightening.  Oh well, I guess I won't be going back to that consultant again! 

Here are current pictures of my hair.

  

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!