All about the hair

Checking in 4 yrs 4 months

2011-11-03T09:22:00.005-04:00

The only thing that’s different with my hair is the length. I don’t want to abandon my blog but I honestly don’t have anything to talk about in regards to my hair. Here are some update pictures.

One month short of 4 years

2011-06-16T13:26:00.005-04:00

I dont really have much to say about my hair these days besides that its still growing. I love it more and more I cant image my life without them. So here is some updated pictures.

Growth update 3 yrs 7 months

2011-02-14T15:23:00.006-05:00

Once again I don’t have much to say about my hair. I love my hair, I LOVE MY HAIR!!!!! Here is some updated pictures of my hair. Once again I am at the dilemma of whether or not to color my hair…. The reasons why I don’t want to color is its damaging it thins out my hair etc. Reasons why I continue to color is because the color complements my complexion. WHAT TO DO OH WHAT TO DO?

3 Years 3 Months picture update

2010-10-20T09:21:00.009-04:00

Sadly enough I have very little to say about my locs. I have not tried any new hairstyles (not that I did that many to begin with) I have changed in how often I wash my hair though. I now wash my hair every two weeks. No real reason Im just very busy and I tend to wash my hair on the weekend and my weekends have been very busy so I found myself being able to wash it every two weeks instead of once a week. I dont really see the need to wash my hair every week so every two weeks it is until something changes. Im not sure if I metioned this before but I never realize how much my hair has grown until I see picutures. Now Im really starting to notice how much it has grown. Most of the time I keep my hair up in a high pony tail because that how i put my hair up in the morning when I take a shower and I just never take it down. I love the fact that I can be so lazy with my hair but it still look so good. So when I do let my hair down I see and feel how much its laying on my neck and shoulders. So enough with the yacking here are the pictures of my hair that is 3 years and 3 months old.

Really?!

2010-06-24T11:13:00.003-04:00

I have a coworker who is always telling me that she wants to go natural but she doesn’t know if she can. I have gotten on my soap box more than one time with her but after awhile I just had to stop because I realize that until she is comfortable with who she really is and really ready to be natural there is nothing that anyone can say to convince her otherwise.

So the other day she walks up to me and say your hair is really cute when its curled. I thanked and started to go on about my business then she asked me so how long are you going to let them things grow. If yall could have seen the look on my face. WTF?! Im thinking what kind of question is that? It took everything in me not to say something really ugly. I simply said as long as I want my hair to grow then asked her back, how long are you going to keep going let your damage hair grow out? I think she thought I was kidding but really what kind of question is that?! I'm like what ever.

Shut your mouth

2010-06-23T08:50:00.011-04:00

Now I know my hair is growing and getting longer because I retigten every 3 to 4 weeks so I know that my hair is growing just from that fact, but the other day I really realized how long its truly is getting and I must say it took me by surprise. I started to notice that when Im sitting on the couch watching T.V. Im laying against it or when i put my purse on my shoulder my hair gets caughet under the strap. Also that that it sits on my shoulders and is getting in my way.

Can you believe this I am actually complaning that my hair is getting in my way. I must say I am not use to longer hair at least not yet. WHAT?!

I am not much into styles a) they take a long time to accomplish and due to my lifestyle the style last less than a week, b) it pulls on my hair giving me a headache, but I purchased some lock loops about a month ago and I have started using them and I must say that I was pleased with the outcome. I think the curls are very cute on me and the gets my hair off my shoulders with is a plus. What I will say over and over again. I love my hair.

My Heart Hurts

2010-04-28T21:39:00.002-04:00

I had to share this incident really quick. It really made me think, and it made my heart break. I took my daughter to the Dr office to see about her allergies. When we were called to the back the nurse that weighed her, and took her temp etc took one look at her and told her how beautiful she was. Now that is pretty normal she gets that all the time. Then the nurse goes to say and "Oh my god and your hair is just so beautiful, see you got that good hair. I wish my daughter had good hair like you. Well she does right now because she is only 2 months old. Oh and your eyes I love them, my daughters eyes are brown, I was hoping that they would come out lighter but Oh well." My heart really started to hurt. I felt so bad for that little baby girl. She as only been in the world for two months and the brain washing has already begun not by the world but by the closest person in her little life. I know as she grows she is going to always want to have "good hair" and will do anything she has to in order to get that. I hate how as a society we constantly want to look like something someone other that the way god made us. We yearn to have straighter hair, lighter eyes, some of us even want lighter skin. Even as I type this my heart is breaking, and I want to cry. It makes me so angry mainly because I dont know how to change it. The desire to be other than what we are is so strong and so wide spread that it almost seem like it will never go away. I wish there way for more women and men to love themselves. TRULY love themselves. I want to so badly be able to tell all of these beautiful brown baby girls that you are beautiful just the way you are. You don't need straight hair for the the world to see and love you................ I don't know even know what to say my heart hurts so badly right now.

Growth update

2010-03-30T12:14:00.008-04:00

It’s been about two weeks since I colored my hair and the color has calmed down a bit, still bring but not as orange.

Its Orange?!

2010-03-17T11:58:00.000-04:00

So even though I have gone back and forth on whether or not to color my hair I have decided that I WILL color my hair every six months. I lasted colored my hair in September so its March which mean it’s time to color my hair. I went to the local store to get two boxes of Dark and Lovely Honey Blonde color. To my surprise they were sold out. The only color that they had was Light Golden Blonde so I’m thinking sure why not it’s just a little bit lighter plus I don’t feel like going to another store so whatever. I get my two boxes checked out went home and colored my hair. So I have did nothing out of the ordinary I take my shower cap off to rinse the color out and I’m like WOW!! That is so much brighter than what I’m use to I wish I would have taken a picture of that it looked like.
The morning after I’m getting ready and my daughter comes into the my closet to let me know she has let the dogs out, brushed teeth, etc and is ready for me to do her hair. She walks out of my closet then comes back in and has a puzzled look on her face and says, “Mommy your hair is lighter brown!” I’m like yeah it is isn’t it. I’m trying to play along just to see how the conversation is going go. She is still looking at me with this puzzled look on her face and the she says, “it’s Orange!” At this point I couldn’t help but laugh, and say it is very bright. So I’m about to drop her off at school and the whole time while we are in the car she is staring at me and finally she asks me Mommy why would you color your hair orange. It’s orange. Then I have to tell her that yes it very bright and it didn’t come out quite the color that I wanted but it will be alright.
After I drop my daughter off at school I scoot on over to work. At first no one notices my hair and I’m not going to announce that I have colored my hair. The coworker that I’m closes to so much that we can pretty much tell each other like it is without worrying about someone getting offended. She was like whoa are you trying to look like me now?! I tell her the story of getting the color and not thinking that it wouldn’t be all that different. She was like so when are you doing to fix it. I told that I’m not color my hair again for another six months because it is very damaging, and I will just have to live with it. I had my camera handy this time and I had my coworker take some pictures of me hair. I must admit that my hair is rather orangey.

Just Checking in

2010-01-15T17:50:00.006-05:00

I just wanted to stop by and show a little progess. I really dont have anything interesting to share about my hair. Im still retightening every 4 weeks. I dont plan to color my hair until March. I try to color every 6 months to give my hair time to recover. I personally dont see any change but then again I see my hair everyday.

Please mama can I have a mohawk?

2009-09-26T23:29:00.009-04:00

Jada came and to me yesterday as I was putting my hair up in a ponytail and aske me if I could put her hair in a Mohawk like I do mine. First thing I said was yeah we will do it tomorrow (Saturday) so we have more time to play around with it.

Saturday comes and we are just chilling watching Spongebob and Jada is like Mama can you put my hair in a Mohawk now? I was oh yeah I did say that I was going to do that for you. So as Im looking at her hair I cant think of how Im going to do it because her hair is long. So of course I go to my source YouTube to find some videos where a Mohawks was done on long hair. So after about 30mins of not really finding anything that I liked I had an idea. So tell me what you think. I do have to say that my camera battery died on me so I had to use my phone so I apologize for the the picture quality up front.

My Hair Rant

2009-09-14T13:58:00.002-04:00

Alright so I have to rant about something. On two occasions this weekend I was complimented on my Sisterlocks.

Now in the past when this has happened I corrected them and said “Oh thank you but they are not Sisterlocks. They are braid locs that I did, and as they grew I just maintained them.” Then of course the next question would be “Oh for real, can you do my hair?” Then I would have to politely decline.

Now you have to forgive me because I tend to go on a rant, and I might even ramble.

I don’t like to do other peoples hair because there was a time that I did do hair when I was in middle and high school I would do box braids and micros, I like to take my time and make sure the parts are on point and make sure everything is perfect. I would not do anything to their hair that I wouldn’t want on mine. Well there were a few people (didn’t really know them) that would get attitudes that I would not be done with their hair in a certain amount of time and would say so while Im doing their hair. Sooo needless to say unless they are family I won’t even touch their hair, and sometimes doing families hair is a stretch.

Back to what I was saying this weekend when I got the compliments on my “Sisterlocks” I didn’t bother to correct them and not because I wanted to pass them as Sisterlocks. I absolutely love the fact that people would even think that my work is Sisterlocks. I didn’t correct them because I just didn’t want to go through the whole thing of them asking me if I would do their hair. Yes I know that I can’t assume that every person that compliments my hair is going to ask me to do their but I would say 9 out of 10 if they are not locked, and they know of Sisterlocks, they are probably shopping around. I have talked to my friend about this and she just says why lie just tell them that they are not SL and you don’t do other people’s hair. One would think that its simple right? Well its not. If only you could see they way their whole body language changes once I say yes I did this but no I wont do yours its like daggers in my back, and I just don’t want to go through that.

Well that’s all for my rant today.
On a lighter side here are some updated pictures of my hair. I cant really tell if there have been any changes besides the fact that it has grown some but that is about it.

Why Michelle's Hair Matters

2009-08-30T18:25:00.002-04:00

Here is another article that I thought I would share.

Why Michelle's Hair Matters

Skin Deep - Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics - NYTimes.com

2009-08-27T14:01:00.001-04:00

Alright so Im on Facebook, I mean who isn’t, well anyway I saw the trailer for Chris Rock’s Documentary about “Good Hair” I became a fan of his Facebook page. Well he (or who ever is updating his page) just posted an article titled Skin Deep - Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics - NYTimes.com. It’s a great read and I had to share it.

Lady Gaga Poker Face Bow

2009-08-07T10:08:00.004-04:00

So yesterday I was surfing the net, reading blogs, and trying to pick up a creative hair style that I might be able to do with short hair that doesnt require alot of time. When I came across this very interesting blog by Franchesca. I have seen many of her YouTube videos and didn't know that she had a blog. Well anyway one of her blog entries was a hair style that I had seen on Lady Gaga in her Poker Face video. So after watching her Bow tutorial I was a little disappointed only because my hair is not long enough to even attempt this style. So I thought that that would be it. Then my daughter Jada came downstairs to watch Spongebob then the light bulb went off in my head to do the hair style on her since her hair is long enough. So this is a quick attempt at trying to recreate the Lady Gaga Bow. All I used was a pony tail holder, and a small rubber band. Her hair is very soft and frizzy and I didn't use any product on it because it was close to her bed time and didn't want to put all that stuff in her hair when she was about to go to bed. Well any who this my sad attempt. Let me know what you think I will have to try this again but use product and make it look neater.

Chris Rock's "Good Hair" Documentary

2009-08-01T18:47:00.006-04:00

For more information "Good Hair" Sundance Festival

I cant wait till this comes on HBO. I will make sure I post the time and date when this comes on.

Im addicted

2009-05-12T10:14:00.004-04:00

I have a confession. I am addicted. I’m addicted to coloring my hair. I have cracked under pressure of wanting to do something different. I colored my hair on 4/16/09. I know I said that I wasn’t going to color my hair anymore because it is soooooo drying and make the ends of the lock bunch, and over time the color makes them weak and brittle. I NEED to do something different, and since I’m style challenged this is the next best thing that I can think of to do something different with my hair without going broke going to a salon to get a style that I will take out a week later. I even though about cutting it a little just to even out some, but I will resist that urge until my hair is long enough for me to cut it all the same length, or at least that’s what I’m saying now. A lot of people have suggested curling my hair, or the braid out, and so fourth. I personally don’t like my hair curled or crinkly, so those ideas are out.

So what I have decided to do to curb the dryness that occurs when coloring the hair, I planned on using Pantene conditioner with the women of color. I use this on my kids hair and it works great. I also started using. I bought a bottle of it when I was at the hair show here in Atlanta. I works great my hair is soooo soft, and I can feel the moisture that it holds and its not sticky, greasy, or cakey. So for now I think its safe to say that I have found a product that I can use in my hair when ever I color it. Its not something I would use everyday though. Since I have given in to the temptation of coloring my hair. My question now is how often should I color it? I’m thinking every 6 months I think that’s a good amount of time to let the hair recoup before putting chemical in it again. Any suggestions?

Picture updates

2009-02-26T07:16:00.018-05:00

In my last update I failed to show pictures of my hair growth from the beginning and now. Forgive me....

This first set of pictures is when day 1 of my sisterlocs. I like to show the growth that I have had over the entire period of locing. I use this also as a reminder to myself that my hair is growing and before I realize it I will be complaining again about needing to cut (even though I just typed that I find it so hard to believe that I will ever say or think that I need to cut my hair).

The second set of pictures is day 1 (as close as I can recall) to day 1 of my braidlocs.

Third set if my 7 month stage. Last but not least the fourth set is my current length at 14 months.

15 months

2009-02-24T14:04:00.007-05:00

So it about to be March and my locs will be 15 months old. WOW!!! It seems like yesterday that I did my hair. I can remember being jealous of everyone who had their locs longer then I had (well I still am a little jealous), and remember thinking a year is forever.

I’m still very much in love with my hair; I find that I’m not as into it like I was before. I long for the days that I can style it in something other than just letting it hang. I have tried the crinkle look (takes to long to achieve this look and it only last maybe a week if not a drop of water touches it), I don’t think the curly look is for me (based on the fact I have never tried it on my locs and it reminds me of when I was a little girl when I had a press and curl). I have thought about adding hair just for length but my girl friend was about to curse me out saying as much as I get on my soap box about staying true to the natural me, and thats the way God intended me to be and not needing anything fake to make me look beautiful. If I were to do that I would be a big fat hypocrite. So that made me say well yeah I do preach that all the time, but what about my right as a woman to change my mind like the wind. I think the fact that I feel stuck creatively my hair is not such a big deal to me any more. Any suggestions?

Another thing I would like to confess is that although I have said I will try and retighten my hair every 4 weeks.... Well I have a patch containing 36 locs in the crown on my head that has not been touched since Sept 08. Oh GOD!!!!! Just typing that makes me cringe. One might ask why in the world do you have a patch that you have not done?
What had happen was…. I had not even retightened my hair until the end of Jan from the previous time in September. So when I got to that last little patch I was so tired of having to tighten an inch of new growth and since the patch was well hidden I didn’t feel the rush to do it.
In this picture its not real clear but I have my middle, ring, and pinky though the new growth which is 1 ¾ inches.

Now that it's been about month since I last tighten my hair I will hopefully be able to attack those 36 straggling locs.

Accessorize?

2008-10-22T12:40:00.002-04:00

Alright I needs some help here. I’m have been trying to figure out how to attach jewels to my locks. I don’t necessarily want to add them now I think I will wait a few more years but when I do how in the world to I make them stay? I want to say I remember someone saying that you sew the jewelry into your lock to ensure that it won’t slip out. Even still how do you sew it in? do you do it like a button where you just keep going through that same holds, do you knot the string? What if I want to change them? Is that even an option? I want to know if there any other ways before I settle on that one. I have been looking at a few items from a site (New Bein') that I found and it has the exact jewelry I was looking for. I just want to make sure I know what I’m doing before I start.

Tagged Again

2008-09-08T07:53:00.016-04:00

Here are the rules:

Link to the person that tagged you..... I was tagged by Nihuru

Post the rules on your blog

Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself that have not been shared already

Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs

Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

I just moved into my first house. It was a pain in the @$$!!!!!! I hate moving….. but I LOVE my new house. I moved to a less crowded area, better school distinct, nicer neighborhood, property value is going up and not down. Any people familiar to the Atlanta area I moved from Snellville to Loganville (sounds country huh LOL?). Im away from the city but not to far from it where people have to pack a lunch to visit me. Its about 30min to Downtown Atlanta.

I am a movie buff; I have seen just about every main stream, and some indie films you can think of. I have a subscription to Netflix and I have seen 1,875 movies and those are just the ones that I have rated on Netflix.

I still watch Cartoons. When there is a new kid movie I use my kids as an excuse to go and see the movie.

I recently started getting into the Egyptian culture, ie gods, goddess, and the symbolism. I have always been interested by it but now Im just starting to research, study and understand at least a little bit of it.

My favorite color(s) are black, brown, blue and white. Not so much blue anymore Im starting to stick with the earth tones but every now and then I will see a shade of blue in something that I have to have.

I have a self appointed addition to chapstick. Only the brand chapstick I have about 10 tubes all around the house. In my car, in a purse, in the bathroom, in my makeup bag, on my nightstand, at work and somehow I will end up losing them all the time. I try to keep a tube all the places that I spend a lot of time in but I always lose them.

Now I get to tag 6 lucky people:

Locmocha

Luvlockd

Rchgrl

BrownSuga

Eyedinity

Nickie

8 months

2008-07-24T10:10:00.016-04:00

My braidlocks are now about 8 months old and I have not really noticed a lot of growth except when its time to tighten my hair (which I do every 4 weeks). Everyone who has seen my progress from day one always tells me that they can see how much my hair has grown. I guess because I look at my hair every day I really can’t tell until I look at pictures of my self from different months.

One of my co workers said that she thinks that my hair grows over night; I was actually shocked that she said that because she is still living the lye and I didn’t think that she of all people would even noticed. She also made the comment that she needs to find something to do with her hair because it was so damaged. I had to stop myself from getting on my “Happy to be Nappy” soap box because I have learned that if a person is not ready to let go of the lye no amount of preaching, examples or proof will stop them from slappin that crack on their hair every 6-8 weeks, but I digress back to my hair.

Even though I have braidlocks when I still band my hair (from my SL days) or at least just band the very ends. I only do the ends because they are loose and with the constant rubbing and rinsing I don’t want them to come undone more than they already are. One thing that I have started using is aloe gel. I started using this when I was on vacation. I went to Pensacola for 2 weeks and even though I live in HOTlanta it is no comparison to Florida sun and heat. After only 2 days in FL my hair was just really really dry. Since day one I have only used water in my hair but that was not cutting it anymore. I remember someone saying that Aloe gel is great for added moisture. So with this in mind I went to Wal-Mart in hopes of finding aloe gel, and since I didn’t know where any health food stores where in Pensacola Wal-Mart was my only choose. As soon as I walk into Wal-Mart is see the Aloe gel and it’s in the sunscreen/sunblock section. I don’t know if this is the same stuff that everyone is talking about using but on the front it says 100% pure, so I get it just to see doesn’t hurt to try new things. Long story short I still use it till this day. I went to FL June 1st and it is still keeping my hair nice and soft.

Things that I have noticed about my hair are that I can tell that some of my locks are really starting to lock.

When ever I’m playin in my hair where I’m used to feeling my little curls at the ends but now I feel my curls turning into little balls. That’s make me so excited because that lets me know I am one step closing to being fully locked. Something else that I have noticed is when ever I finger comb my locks in the morning after I have sprayed some water, and aloe gel my hair sheds. It’s not a lot but enough for me to notice it, and sometimes the balls on the ends my locks fall off. I guess this is just another phase that my hair will go though. Also like most people the hair in the front is no closer to being locked than it was on day one. It makes me wonder if they will ever lock, but I don’t really stress about it because I know my hair is going to do what it wants to do when it wants to do it, and its best to just leave it alone.

One of my accomplishments is the fact I can almost put my hair in a pony tail. Well right now it just an “ony tail”. I can only put it up with the front half of my hair, and still have a few stragglers that don’t want to go along with the crowd. What I can do though is put it in two little pony tails with the front half of my hair. With my two little pony tails I look like a little school girl. I actually wore my hair like this while I was on vacation. On the beach I wore a visor and the only way that I could wear it and it be comfortable was to put the top part of my hair up but since its not long enough for a full pony tail I have to put it into two.

That’s about it for my 8 month milestone I don’t know of any other significant details that I have come across that I have not already spoke on. I will say this thought just in case it’s not already obvious. I LOVE MY HAIR and I would not trade it for any other type of hair in the world. It just amazes me that it took me this long to understand that my hair is one of a kind. We are the only race of people on the face of this earth that have the type of hair that we do and I wish more women, and men would realize that it’s a gift and not a curse or something they should be ashamed of.

Patience is a virtue

2008-05-13T14:22:00.007-04:00

Alright I think I need a dose of just have some dang patience because the ends of my hair… still loose. They have not sealed up knotted up or done anything they are just there. I have a few things that could contribute to why they could still be loose, ie I just colored my hair, and washing my hair every week, I just would like to know from those who have braidlocs did your ends ever seal, and how long it take. Did you end up cutting the loose ends off? Did you put knots at the ends? Or do I just need to accept that this is apart of what my hair is going to do.

Fun with Color

2008-04-30T11:12:00.018-04:00

For a long time now I have wanted to color my hair the color it was before I started my lock journey. After reading blog after blog and chat forums everyone was saying to wait at least until your hair fully locks to prevent any slippage and the fact the hair my go straight that will also hinder the locking process. First I didn’t know how long my hair would take to fully lock, a year, two years, what ever that case might be I didn’t want to wait that long to color my hair. Being so new to the world of locks I was scared that if I colored my hair before time my locks would be messed up. I got my SL done in July so had I stayed on that path I would have been 9.5 months locked, but since I started over in November I am only 5 months locked. There are about 20 or so that are fully locked so again I didn’t know what to do.
Monday on my way to drop my daughter off at tap/ballet I looked in the rear view mirror was decided that I would color my hair and if it mess up SO WHAT!! It’s my hair and I can always do it over if I needed to that’s the beauty of being a DIYer. So after dropping Jada off I went to Kroger and bought two boxes of Dark and Lovely Golden Bronze color. At the self check out I kept looking at the boxes asking my self if this is what I really wanted to do. Finally I just paid for the boxes and left before I changed my mind for the 100th time. After picking Jada up from class 7:15 then picking up my son (Sean) from my moms house 7:25, then going home making some thing to eat, giving them baths, and ready for bed it was nearing 8:45 which is close to my bed time 9:00-9:30. I knew it would take a long time to twist and band my hair, put the color in, let it sit, wash it out let my hair dry all before I went to bed. So I said I would do it tomorrow.

Tuesday I pick Jada up from School, then pick Sean up from my moms house and Im at home by 5:30 more than enough time to get everything done, and I didn’t have to cook. My grandmother, who lives with my mom, and watches Sean while I’m at work, made my kids dinner. I started doing everything else besides start doing my hair, cleaned the cat litter box out, played a game on the computer, watched a show on TV then I just stopped what I was doing and told myself I wanted to do this so I need to stop playing around and making excuses. I started twisting my hair, and banding it. I didn’t want to twist tight so the color could saturate the natural color of my hair. Mixed both boxes of color then before I could think about it I just globbed it on, and hoped for the best. I was just so tired of changing my mind and thinking the worst was going to happen. I had to do the same thing when I cut my hair. I kept going back and forth with the idea. So after I waited for about 45 mins (although the box says 30 mins) I took my shower cap off and looked at what had changed already. I could see that my roots defiantly took the color well the rest I could not really tell. After I washed all the color out and washed it again about 3 times after that with my own shampoo I looked in the mirror and really couldn’t see any change. Yeah it was lighter just a smidge but nothing really popping out at you. I knew it would not come out the color on the box because of the color I started with but I wanted something just a lighter. Oh well Ill just try again at another time. I let my hair dry wrapped it up and went to bed.

Well when i woke up this morning took my scarf off I could see the color. I was pleased with it still not look at me I colored my high light but I can work with this. I really like it.

How did you do that

2008-03-26T08:55:00.006-04:00

I was asked the other day if I had step by step instructions on how I did my hair. It was very flattering to be asked this, because I would have never thought that my work would inspire questions as to how it was done. So I will do my best to explain how I did it.

As I have mentioned before as far as parting my hair I didn’t do much with that. I took the existing parts I had from my SL, combed the SL pattern out and replaced it with a small braid. Now to tighten the new growth I just followed the Nappyloc method (which is also the SL method, just can’t call it that unless you have spent $1,500.00 to take the class and you have the “special secret tool”).

*1* The first and most important thing I do is make sure that my hair is sectioned off, so I don’t have to worry about stray hairs getting caught in with a lock it doesn’t belong to, some people call this marring two locks, I call it a pain in my butt.

*2* Take a lock fold it close to the tip and thread it through my NL tool, like trying to thread a needle. I do it this way so what ever loose ends I may have wont fray by it being pushed though the hole. Now the NL tool has a cinched tip so you can secure the hair between the cinch and not have the tool fall off your hair. In some cases my locks are too small to be fully secured so I just hold it as I work.

This is a picture of the Nappyloc tool the smaller part of the tool can be adjusted with needle nose pliers. When I bought the tool it was suggested to me that if I wanted to make the cinch smaller put a rag or paper towel over the NL tool before I use to pliers so the pliers won’t damage the metal.

*3* With the tip of the NL tool and the hair cinched on the opposite end I insert the tip East to West (3 o’clock to 9 o’clock) into the new growth closes to where the lock is forming.

*4*Pull the tool and the hair through and remember, or say out loud turn 1, I think that it’s important to count the turns as your doing them so in case you have to stop or the tool slips out of your hand or what ever might happen that will hinder your flow you know where to pick up again.

*5* Again with the tip of the NL tool with the hair cinched on the opposite end insert the tip into the new growth closes to turn 1 south to north (6 o’clock to 12 o’clock) and pull the tool and hair through Turn 2.

*6* Insert the tip of the tool with the hair cinched on the opposite end into the new growth closes to turn 2 West to East (9 o’clock to 3 o’clock) and pull the tool and the hair though Turn 3.

*7* Insert the tip of the tool with the hair cinched on the opposite end into the new growth closes to turn 3 North to South (12 o’clock to 6 o’clock) pull the tool and the hair though Turn 4. This completes a full rotation. Just repeat over and over again until there isn’t any more new growth to tighten.

***Important information***
I think is important to remember to make sure that a full rotation can be done before you start working on one. Meaning make sure you can complete turns 1-4 on the lock that is being retighten. I say this because when you come back to do your hair again you don’t have to try and remember where you left off. You will know that you always start East to West and always end on North to South.

Sisterlocks to Nappylocks to Braidlocks

2008-03-12T13:57:00.014-04:00

Alright here is the update a lot late but an update all the same. I finally finished redoing my hair 12/5/07 could have been a few days sooner I forgot to take pictures as soon as I was done. Now when I first started redoing my hair I was doing the same “Sisterlock” pattern that was done when they were installed I.E. clockwise; East to West, South to North, West to East, ending the rotation on North to South. With only being able to do about 10 a day and making sure the pattern was tight it was taking me FOREVER, and I was getting frustrated all over again. I was almost tempted to take them all down. So I got another bright idea to just braid them instead. My hair was already parted so it would be easier and quicker, and I would not have to worry about my hair unraveling as much. Needless to say when I started doing my hair this way I was actually seeing progress a lot faster
,
and I could still maintain them with my Nappyloc tool so all in all I was happy with my decision. Also with me turning my “SL” into Braidlocks I could see the length of my hair and see how much it had actually grown since the first time my “SL” was installed.

After I was done with my hair I was delighted. I could see length; I didn’t have to worry about my hair unraveling and I was still able to achieve the micro lock that I wanted in the very beginning.

Now that I have had my newly redone locks (Braidlocks) for 3 months I can’t be more pleased. Now the only thing that I debate about is when I should celebrate my 1 one year lockversary. Should it be when I got the SL installed or when I finished my Braidlocks?

I have found about 10 SL that I never took out b/c they seem to be settling quite well and didn’t see the purpose of taking me out. Well, those bad boys are locked down. The ends are sealed and feel very dense and they have hang time. Makes me wonder if I had left them alone like most people do if more would have been locked down by now. I don’t really dwell on tate b/c I had to do what made me happy.
I have read a lot of blogs and one thing is consistent. You learn a lot about yourself when you take this journey of locking. I learned that I am not as patient as I thought. More so than ever I am a DIY type person. I take pride in the fact when someone comments on my hair and asks who did it or who keeps it up I can sey ME!!!! If I have not said it before I love my hair and like most people say I wish I would have done this 10 years ago when I first realized locks were beautiful and an accent of our heritage.

A girl and her hair

2007-11-20T08:27:00.001-05:00

Alright I know, I know, I know, I have not posting in almost for ever the first few times I posted I was so excited about my new SLs and then all of a sudden I was gone into thin air. A lot of things have happened since I first started to post I moved, started a different type of job, and life in general has me running like a chicken. As far as my hair goes I have mixed emotions. I love my naps but as far as my “Sisterlocks” I really don’t know.

When I got my SL they were installed by a nice woman by the name of Yvonne after my first retightening (because it was free) I never went back, not b/c I didn’t like her or she did anything wrong, just b/c I wanted to do my own hair. I figured that if I messed it up in any way I could take them out and start all over again plus it’s MY hair I want to know how to do MY own hair. I have to back track just a little so you can understand the full story. Before I got my SL I was trying to figure out how to recreate the look but not spend the money it would take to do it (not that Im cheap I just like to spend my money on my kids and bills). I was not all into the name of having SISTERLOCKS to be frank I could care less I just wanted my hair to be dreaded and be free from the lye. I got the nappylocs training video and it came with a booklet, and the tool. I was more than excited I was thinking finally I can dread my hair. After trying and failing so many times I decided that I would wait until my natural hair got a little bit longer b/c it was hard trying to reach around the back of my head and barley getting any hair in a full rotation. This upset me very much because Im very much a DIY type of person, and I didn’t trust anyone to help me. This made me decided that I would get the SL and then learn how to retighten them myself, the only thing that the SL did that I couldn’t do at the time is part my hair. It would have taken me a month as particular has I am about my parts being straight.

Bring it back to speed as I was getting my SL installed although I didn’t see what Yvonne was doing I could feel her rotations, and from watching the nappylocs training DVD I pretty much figured out what she was doing. After the instillation was done I was sooooo excited here I was dreaded finally. Like most my hair in some places would unravel particularly in the front. At first I tried not to touch them b/c I was going back to get my first retightening, but I couldn’t help it I took out my nappyloc tool and started to fix the ones that were unraveling. After I fixed the first one I knew then that I would maintain my hair from here on out.

After my first retightening (which was included in the price of the instillation) I made sure that I paid extra close attention to what was being done with my hair. Though out this whole time I was getting my hair done I was think that I could still come to get my hair done depending on how long it would take her to do it. At first she told me that it would take 3-4 hours so Im thinking well that’s not too bad at 25.00 an hour but that just if I had the extra money to treat myself. After my hair was done it took her 6.5 hours to complete my whole head so that’s approx. 162.50 round up 163.00 I DON’T THINK SO!!! I was thinking to myself in order for this to work I would have to stay on my head like everyday in order for them not to unravel to the point I could not follow the parts. I was doing good with making sure that my hair didn’t unravel I was redoing my hair about every two weeks and it would take me two week ends to do it so one can pretty much say that every weekend I was doing my hair. Then I had to move back to ATL b/c of my job transfer me there. After getting aquatinted again with my home town I started doing my hair again this time I was only doing it every month with still was taking my two weeks to do it. As my hair grew I noticed that the ends look nothing like they did in the beginning. The ones in the front were completely unraveled except for what I did so it looked like a fuzz puff with no curl pattern on the end of a skinny loc. All of my locs in the front looked like this and I hate it. I don’t know if this is normal seeing as how I don’t have a consultant but to tell you the truth I don’t even trust a consultant to tell me what my hair is suppose to look like. I just think they will say yeah it suppose to look like that but when my hair is all funked up they will then say OH NO ITS NOT SUPPOSE TO LOOK LIKE THAT! And then tell me that I need to spend X amount of dollars to fix it. Then I stared to get into a funk and contemplated taking them all out and just rocking my afro for a while which I loved even if it was a TWA. Then I got the bright idea of redoing my hair my self taking them down one at a time and just redoing them. This is an overwhelming decision in itself b/c all the while I’m redoing my hair it’s still growing and if I don’t at least retighten the lose ones in the front they will unravel completely and will really look crazy.
I started in the back and I noticed that the ones that have redone thus far show the length in my hair. I don’t know if its b/c they are fresh or if the there is something that I’m doing that’s different then what was done when I first got my hair done. Either way I’m happy about it. I just fear how long its going to take me to do it. Well here I go.....

Tag your it

2007-07-20T10:49:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I believe I was tagged by Dstdiva.
Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.

Alright this is going to be hard. There are so many things to me but tryin to think of them enough it type them is another thing but I will try.

1. I have two kids, Jada is 4 going on 14 and Sean is 17 months. I was in the Navy for two years got out of active duty and joined the reserves when I got pregnant with Jada.

2. I have 11 tattoos and 6 piercing. I am done with tattoos but I want to get some more things pierced.
3. I have a slight case of Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD). I have a thing with glasses. If I see smudges weather on the outside or inside I need to wash the glass. No one else can wash it but me, that way I know it’s clean to my liking. When I have a deck of cards in my hand and I’m not playing with them I have to put them in order. At work my desk is color, size and function coded. When I staple paper the staples have to be in the same place and paper that’s being staples have to be aligned all the way around. I am very meticulous when I do my daughter hair and have to part it. I will be late to work trying to make sure that the parts are straight. I can’t help it, it really bothers me if it’s not fixed.
4. I love music doesn’t matter what kinds. When I hear it its does something to me, it almost feels like I can feel everything in the song. I can feel the emotion in the words that are being sung. I listen to more Old School then I do whats on the radio today. Half the time people older then me know more about whats being played then i do.
5. I have a thing for shoes (Most women do). I have shoes in my closet that I have never worn but when I seen them I had to have them. I have more shoes than I have outfits to wear them.
6. I have a thing for electronics. Any new gadget that comes out I have to have it. It’s almost like I need it. I feel like I’m missing something if I don’t have it. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t get it when I want it I just keep thinking about it and save up until I can afford it.
7. My favorite cereal is Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I will not eat any other cereal if I can help it.

Washed for the first time

2007-07-18T08:54:00.001-04:00

I washed my hair last night for the first time I was so scared I would do it wrong. I still dont know if I did it right but my hair didnt unravel so I guess i did a good job. Also when I washed my hair I counted my locks, when they were being installed Yvonne (my consultant) lost count at 130. I bundled them in groups of 20. I counted 544 baby locs.

Im Locked

2007-07-17T08:18:00.002-04:00

My beautiful babies after I got them installed. I could not believe I finally got my hair the way I truly want it. I now see myself as a Nubian beauty and no one can tell me different. I am showing the world that I love my African heritage and I still look good doing it. I absolutely love it my hair. I can’t stop looking in the mirror. The day after I got my SL installed I went to Burlington and as soon as I walked into the door there was a sister that was all natural and she was rocking a TWA. She could not take her eyes off of my hair. I saw her looking but I didn’t want to be rude and turn around and ask her if she like what she saw. I just thought to myself I will just have to get use to this. People don’t know how to react to something they know nothing about, I didn’t get upset I just smiled and kept stepping. After I left Burlington I went to TJ Maxx and the same sister that was in Burlington was in TJ Maxx this time she came up to me and was like “girl I love your hair, who did that for you?” I told her I got my SL installed yesterday. She looked at me with the most puzzled look and asked me what is SL? I told her that it is a technique that locks the hair. I could tell that she still didn’t understand so I just had to break it down and tell her that they were locks. I gave her my consultants name and number, all she just kept saying I love your hair girl. Needless to say I felt good, and that was not the last time that I heard that. A lot of women don’t like the look the first few days and thinks that it looks like a wet chicken. I don’t think that my hair looks like that, but I also know that everyone’s hair is different.

In the Beginning

2007-07-16T15:45:00.002-04:00

In November I made the decision to get locs I didn’t know what kind what type or anything. All I knew was that I wanted them and I was going to do it myself. I have always done my own hair with the exception of the occasional perm, when I had the time to sit in a salon and the extra money to treat myself (or so I thought). So when I did my research on locs I wanted to find something that I could do my self. I looked into comb coils, but you couldn’t wash them as much as you would like, I looked into natural locs but I didn’t like that b/c I wanted a manicured look. I came across Sisterlocks I loved the manicured look, I love the fact that they were thin and could be washed to same day you got them installed if you wanted to, but off the bat I didn’t want them b/c it was something that I could not do myself. As I search I transitioned with doing kinky twist, which I learned to do myself. I was going to keep them in until I had about 6 inches of natural hair to work with but after keeping them in for 3 months I took them out.I looked and looked and kept looking and no matter what avenue I went down I kept coming back to SL. I finally decided that the only way that I will be able to get the look I wanted I had to get SL. So I began my search of what I needed to do to learn how to do SL. I went the website and saw that they offer training classed and there was one that was being held in Atlanta which is 350 miles from me plus that’s where I was from. So I looked and the price of the class and almost lost my eyesight, but I was determined to get the money to learn how to do it. Needless to say by time that class was being held in Atlanta I didn’t have the money saved. So I then I was at a lost. I didn’t want to pay anyone to do my hair when I could just learn how to. So I got depressed for a while. I knew I didn’t ever want to perm my hair I just didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to wait a year or more until the class was offered again in Atlanta so I just had to get it in my head that I will find a consultant and pay her to do my hair. Back to the SL website I go. I search consultant name in my area which is Savannah, Ga. and Jacksonville, FL. There was no one in Jacksonville and closes one was in Fort Lauderdale which is about 300 miles from me which was out of the question. If I was going to drive that I might as well go home and get them done. So I looked for one in Savannah. I called the number that was posted on the website but the person that answered the phone acted like they didn’t know what I was talking about. I didn’t want to drive all the way up to ATL just to get my hair done b/c when I do go home I spend that time with my mom and visiting family. I didn’t want to spend that time getting my hair done. So I looked over at the trainee list. I found some closer to my area. Brunswick Ga., and Fernandina Beach, FL. The trainee that is in Brunswick sounded highly HIGHLY unprofessional. The trainee that is in Fernandina her number was disconnected. At this time I thinking Oh my goodness why cant this just be easy for me? Am I not suppose to get SL in my head or what. I finally got a number of a consultant, which lives in Jacksonville, Fl. I got her number from one of the ladies that belongs to a yahoo group that I am in. After I got the number I then did some thinking, should I or shouldn’t I cut my hair. I had about 7-8 inches of permed hair. I knew that SL could be start with permed end but my hair in some spots was broken off all the way to my natural hair. Plus I was thinking I wanted to get rid of the old Saabira the Saabira that thought long straight hair was beautiful. That the only way I could be beautiful was to continue to kill my hair, and add weave all down my back.So I kept telling myself I will cut my hair. Im going to cut my hair and I will not regret it. After going back and fourth with myself I came home from work one day. Took a shower, washed my hair and just cut a patch before I could even think twice. By doing this I had to cut it all and I knew if I didn’t just do I would never do it. I wont even lie I wanted to cry after I cut my hair I thought I looked like my brother. I hated I didn’t even want to go to work the next day. When I went to work I wore a scarf over my head and did that for the next two days. I even went to the local beauty supply store and bought a wig. When I put the wig on my head I wanted to cry again b/c I knew I could not go forever wearing a wig on my head. I read several blogs and found the strength in me and knew what India Arie was saying when she wrote that song “I am not my hair.”

After Im comfortable with my TWA I made the appointment to get my test locs installed. I was so excited I could not wait for the two weeks to go by to get my whole head done. I found myself dreaming about how good my head would look once I got it done. Finally the day came for me to get them installed. July 13-14……….. 21 hours 45 mins, a numb butt, sore neck, back, and shoulders later, my babies where born.