Packing for Atlanta

I am ever so excited. Next month mother and I are heading to Atlanta for Paulette's meet & greet on April 26th and the Natural Hair Show April 27th - 28th. I'd love to meet some fellow blog buddies so do tell if you are available and would like to meet up.

Yours truly

Wrapaloc Set

My wrapalocs orders consisted of 4 medium packs, 2 small packs and the instructional DVD. I washed my hair and then blow dryed it a little. Instead of a deep condition, I opted to use the SL cream moisturizer on each section of hair. I did NOT use any setting gel, foam or spray. I used about 35 small tools and 18 medium tools. To save time, I purposely used about 7-8 locks per tool with the exception of the front. Whether I actually saved time or not is definitely up for debate. I would say I spent about an hour putting the tools in. Another 20 minutes was spent gawking in the mirror and saying to myself, "What are you doing? This doesn't look anything like the instructions." So out the window went the benefit of not being able to see the tools in the hair.

I contemplated wearing a covering on my head the next day. But I played with the sections some more until my hair had more of a bantu knot look. Since under normal circumstances I don't know how to create bantu knots, I was perfectly fine with this look.


My co-workers sure know how to make a gal feel special. The compliments kept pouring in and I believe they thought the tools were some sort of hair ornaments. But since I was too self-conscious about the tools showing, I only wore them in for 1 day. When I took them out the next day, below is the result. Not bad for somebody who didn't follow directions.



So after all is said is done, is wrapalocs worth the money? I'll put it this way....
YES - if you love your soft spikes curler set but wish the curls would last a week or two longer.
NO - if you complained your soft spikes set was too curly and you purposely went out of your way to make the curls looser.

Pictured above, the curls have fallen after about 4 days. Since I don't see myself using the recommended 3 locks per tool right now, I am perfectly happy with my results. I'll reserve this for use in the future as my hair gets longer. However, I will strive to hide the tools more in the front next time so that I'll feel more comfortable wearing the bantu knot look a few more days.

On Having Longer Length

I get bored with the same old style very easily so finding new ways to style my hair is definitely not a problem. It's more of how long it takes to get these styles that is the problem. Fortunately, updos usually take no more than fifteen minutes. Such as the one in these photos. I've got my single plaits for braidouts down to about 30 minutes and I don't want to spend more than 45 minutes on roller sets. So this means I'll be using more locs on each roller and I'm perfectly fine with that. Since I just got my wrapalocs order, I won't have to worry about the curls not lasting long enough.

On the flip side, the chore of washing it was it was a bit overwhelming at first. I remember when it was nothing for me to come home after work and wash my hair in 15 minutes, towel it dry and be out of the house afterward. That ritual is truly a thing of the past. The new ritual is to wash the loc ends 2.5 times and then wash my scalp only for 2.5 times.

Condition it, moisturize it, and blow dry out some of the wetness. If I do a braid out or roller set, this entire process is at least 2 hours. But my scalp and locs are getting so much cleaner now. I've commented on a few blogs how the dandruff that was getting trapped in my locs was very frustrating. Something else that seems to be a thing of the past, I hope.

As for lint, what lint? No linty particles shall come near these locs I say! I am all about avoidance. I just prefer this approach instead of dying, cutting, scrubbing, etc. Consultants are quite surprised as I get commented quite frequently, "I see you don't have a lint problem." That's exactly how I intend to keep it.

Tagged

I can no longer brag about being cavity free. I got my first filling in October of last year.

I don't like taking pills, medication, or visiting the doctor. I'm one of the wait until the last minute folks when it comes to such. However, I am definitely in favor of trying natural remedies.

Despite the above, this year I opted for my first flu shot. I did get sick a few weeks later. Fortunately, it wasn't a deathly ill kind of sick. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it wasn't.

Four or five years ago I stopped wearing a watch. The battery went dead on the one I was wearing at the time and I refused to relace it or buy a new watch. Since the time is all around me, I feel there is no need.

CSI, Law & Order, Cold Case - I can watch them over and over.

I don't particulary care for perfume per se. I opt for the heavy cream lotions by Bath & Body and Victoria's Secret instead.

I love a good Riesling and that's pretty much the only wine I really previously cared for. A few months ago I expanded my horizons and I found out that I love a good Cabernet Sauvignon along with other reds and whites. My taste buds are finally opening up to dry wines as well.

Loving Accessories

Greetings everyone!! Length + maturity = I really get to enjoy my accessories to the fullest. Pictured above I'm wearing the Betty Davis Tomoka Twist. Sensational is all I have to say about this collection. As a matter of fact, it describes all of the pieces on the site. More sets are definitely in my future.

Below are a few pics of me wearing my Loc Soc. A different variation of how I wore it here in the summer. Versatility is so great.





As for washing, I took advantage of Chosenvessel's Komaza product post by going to the site and purchasing a few samples of the shampoo with emu and tea tree oil. Since it helps alleviate the itching and dandruff, I've splurged on a full bottle purchase. I have absolutely nothing against the Nizoral, but I would like to stick with natural remedies if possible. I will admit that I really don't look forward to washing my hair anymore. But that's just another one of the growing pains I guess.

At first I just knew I would keep growing my hair until I could at least sit on it. Strictly from a maintenance perspective, that probably won't happen. I'm pretty confident no hair cuts up until I hit my 4th year. After that, I'll just have to go with whatever feelings are driving me when that point in time gets here. In the meantime, I'll keep looking at Audrey's gorgeous Sisterlocks to help keep me motivated.

Self-retightening is still in the works. Despite the $250 for the SL training, I definitely have no regrets on taking the class in July of this year. Initially it's tedious but still liberating. Life happens and you never know when a situation is going to arise prompting you to have to give it a go yourself. My first try was over 30 hrs, the second was in the neighborhood of 20. I only have ambitions to get down to 10-14. In a couple of weeks, I'll have another try to see how close I come to getting there.

Class or no class, knowing that you can touch up your locks if needed is truly no understatement.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS HAPPY HOLIDAYS HAPPY HOLIDAYS HAPPY HOLIDAYS HAPPY HOLIDAYS HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2 Year Growth

Muslimahlocs said...
Happy lockiversary! Your sisterlocks look fabulous. They have grown so much in the past two years. How have you grown with them?

Getting Sisterlocks have allowed me to truly fall in love with my hair. This is a feeling I never had prior to having them. As far as I can remember, I was brainwashed to believe that my was so bad that it needed to be fried, tamed and broke down to do right. I was so miseducated that I actually believed my hair wouldn't even do right when locked. That belief is one factor that played into why it took me so long to start locking in the first place. Due to reprogamming from the past two years, I accept and love my hair in all its glory. It may not be as soft as other people's, I don't care. It's not as thick as somebody else's, I don't care. I may have to go through a few extra steps for pretty curls to hold, I don't care. I am not longing for anybody else's hair texture. I love my hair for what God blessed me with.

I'm done judging and being judged. Everybody doesn't wear locks for the same reason nor do I believe they should have to. Everybody isn't going to lock their hair the same way I did and I don't feel they should have to. Am I biased? Of course!! But at the end of the day based on my circumstances from two years ago, I feel good about my hair decision to lock and how I chose to lock. Right now, nothing is broke so I don't need to fix it.

If I ever have to cut my locks off and sport my loose hair texture, I am now ready. To sum up my overall reflection of how I feel about my hair....I am at peace. This also means being tolerant of other people's hair decisons regardless of whether they are good or bad from my point of view.

The Take Down

I wore the updo plaits for five days and received many compliments on it much to my delight. Turns out it was quite a hit and I had nothing to worry about in the first place. I'm even more pleased with my crinkly braidout result. Funny it kind of reminds me of my jeri curl do from back in the day. If it holds a little past the weekend then I will consider it a definite success. Since I did not use any setting lotion, I guess it will be interesting.

2 Year Update

I am over the blog lazies long enough to do my two year update. Yeah baby! The below collage is my two year growth compared to my day one installation.

Next are photos of this years growth compared to my one year growth.

Despite the ups, despite the downs, you all know the speech - I love my hair! To all the newbies, keep toughing it out. The growing pains don't last forever.

At first tonight was just a wash. Then I wanted to do something different so I decided to single plait for a crinkle look. I did this back in January and loved the volume but the style was gone the next day. Therefore I wanted to keep the plaits in for at least 2-3 days, but then there is work. I thought about wearing a Loc Soc but only as a last resort. After putting in the plaits, I remembered some advice I gave Chosenvessel a while ago and I started to pin up the plaits. It's a bit on the eclectic side but hopefully I can pull it off. I'll take my Loc Soc with me to work just in case. I'll wear this up style until early next week and maybe my crinkles will have a fair chance.





A little bit of length does come in handy. Whoohoo!

A Visit With Paulette

Yesterday I was in Detroit visiting with the very lovely Paulette. Her new shop Locks4Life is now open. The product junkie in me just couldn't resist buying a couple of Loc Socs from her new display. I've been wanting to try one for a while but the website has been under construction. Last I heard, some folks were still having trouble with the site so I'm not sure of its status. I guess it would be safe to send an email to the owner before making a purchase. They are advertised to be very very versatile.

Let's Talk

I can't wait to hear from everyone. This should be fun.

Interview From Cluizel

1. Three wishes that you can use on yourself...what are they?
a) I really need some height. In another life, at least six inches should do.

b) To have been smarter in math and science.

c) No more debt. Please just make it go away.


2. Stilettos/flats/sneakers?
Flats - I must have comfort over beauty, unless I can get both in a perfect world.


3. Favorite condiment?
That would depend on what I'm eating. If it's fries...ketchup, a hotdog....mustard, and grilled meat....bring on the barbecue sauce!!


4. Sisterlocks...any regrets? Would you do anything differently?

For the most part, I've had a pretty good journey and I have very few complaints in regards to Sisterlocks. In lieu of previous posts, perhaps I would have gone with bigger hairline locks.


All of my other issues were due to me having to come to terms and love the hair texture I was born with. I still have not given my loose natural hair a fair shot until this day. One of these days, I hope to rectify that.

5. If you could wave a magic wand and make an ex disappear would you? Why?

No, I don't think I would want to make any of my ex's disappear. I think they were good guys for the most part, just had some problems. And until a sista ties the knot, you never know.........

If you want to give your interview a shot. Feel free to let me know.

Lock Repair

After having my locks retightened two weeks ago by new consultant, I had a WTF moment when I saw one of my front locks had a bunched knot right near the root. I'm saying there's no way she didn't know she did this. It feels like a hot mess! Urghh. And it is one of my front locks. So everytime my hand-in-hair-itis struck, of course my finger landed directly on the bunched knot. This unkempt lock was really irking me.


So each day as I would say to myself the least she could of done was try to fix it. I mean just take a comb and...... well that's it! I knew at that moment what I had to do. I found one of my rat tail combs and started combing at the bunched knot. When it was loosened enough, I finger rolled it back into place with the rest of the lock. No more bunched knot and my lock is back to looking all perfect again. I'm learning from this locking experience, sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.

Don't be afraid to trust your own judgement.

Thinning Locks

I asked Muslimahlocs if she has micro micro locks and her response was, "Compared to your picture definitely."



While those super micro SLs are gorgeous, I knew hands down they are not for me. First off, I would have to forget about ever doing my own retightenings and second, the tiny locks I do have, have me so paranoid that they are going to break off. I've already combined some of them but they are still much to little for my own personal liking. I really don't want to do anymore combining if I don't have to. So I'm hoping the roots will grow in thicker.
Of course these problem locks are at my unstable front hairline.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if my locks started out that way. But I suspect some of my locks have thinned due to natural hair thinning and/or retightenings done where the tension of the lock was done waay to tight.

In this pic here, note the difference of the lock I'm pointing to versus the other locks around it.

I guess I will have to do what's necessary and hope for the best.

Tagged...here goes

1. I'm the oldest of 3 siblings. I'm 5 years older than my brother and 12 years older than my sister. That's why you see my mother and I hanging out so much. Lil sis isn't even old enough to drink yet.


2. The reason I haven't blogged about my husband or kids is because...there aren't any. It's just me.


3. I got my BS from Ithaca (across from Cornell). It was the only school I applied to outside of Ohio and they happened to give me the best financial aid package. The first time I ever stepped foot on campus was for the start of class. I have a long history of making blind faith decisions. Mom was happy I was far enough away from NYC.

4. I use to run the 200m and 4x200m relay for track and field in junior high. One day I told coach I wanted to try my hand at 100m hurdles. For someone being 5'0", it was an interesting experience but I didn't keep it up very long. I'm sure I was shorter than that back then.


5. My favorite ice cream is pralines and cream and butter pecan respectively. Haagen-Dazs makes wonderful flavors of these.

6. My passion for Sisterlocks stems from a) I am such a wannabe entrepreneur. I hold the utmost respect and admiration for Dr. Jo et al for taking on the entrepreneurial challenge of providing women the benefits of Sisterlocks. b) I had to put up with that nappy hair does not equal good BS for so long, it really feels good being on the opposite end of the spectrum with my SLs.

7. My favorite quote in this year's Sisterlock calendar is from March:
Who can deny the beauty I behold?

I am the beholder!

Tagged......Hmmmm

I'm still pondering what other tidbits of information I'm willing to share. It took me forever to come up with the responses I shared last time. But in an effort to keep the good spirits of the game, I will tag:

Onyxcherry
Cashana
Mrs Dee
Still Waters
Ja Stu
Detra
Jeri

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.

How sweet of you Kim, Mel, and Locsuluv.

On the Hair Front

1. I was retightened over the weekend by a local consultant here in Cleveland. She is very sweet and I am quite pleased with the results of her work. To find somebody who won't jeopardize the integrity of Paulette's foundation is more than a notion. But I do believe this new consultant may be a keeper.

2. I am finally scheduled to take the retightening class on June 30th. I'm anxious, scared, nervous, and excited all at the same time. I'm still appalled that the price doubled since two years ago.

3. Check out the two new baby locks! Like many others, my hairline suffered something terrible from the braids and relaxer damage. I was almost starting to believe the damage was irreversible. Nearly two years later, better late than never sure is the truth. I'm still hoping to gain enough peach fuzz on the other side to form some new locks.

4. The dandruff and itching was getting the best of me and I had to try something new. I went back to Sunsail's blog and decided to try her Nizoral shampoo remedy. I ordered the 2% solution from a Canadian pharmacy website. From reading over some product reviews, I learned that in the US you can only get the 2% solution with a prescription and it cost a pretty penny. The Canadian pharmacy sold it for a fraction of the cost and no prescription needed.

I diluted it with water because heck, I dilute almost everything nowadays that I use in my hair. After two weeks and just one time of using the shampoo, I went from 100% filthy, McNasty head full of dandruff to maybe 10% dandruff. I suspect that as I continue to use the shampoo, the dandruff will go away even more. It's so nice to not have my shoulders and pillows buried in dandruff. Girl, you know I'm kicking myself for not trying this stuff earlier when you wrote about it.

5. Last but not least, I love my Sisterlocks!

Growing Into My Hairties

I couldn't be more excited that I'm able to sport the true pineapple look with my Brunsli Hairties. Today I wore the Amy for the first time since I bought it however many moons ago and decided to compare these photos against my Renee hairtie photos taken eight months ago. You can really see in the back how I can pull up the back locks so much higher and they are not constantly falling out of place.
When I wear my hair in a hairtie, curls or some other style and the implication of how come I don't wear it in these styles everyday really irks me. Of course
I shake it off but the nerve to imply my freestyle isn't good enough for daily wear does strike a bad nerve in me.
Oh yeah, I am 100% over my post-grooming freestyle jitters. It's on and poppin once again.

Movie Quote

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world Goodnapps didn't exist.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Back Down Memory Lane

Over the weekend I attended a fantastic natural get together here in town hosted by Linda. I can't say enough of how awesome it was and I even got to meet fellow local blogger Mali as well. It made me realize that I've met a lot of good wholesome folks doing this LockItUp and Blogging thing. Gals who live in California, New York, Philly, Detroit, Miami, Dallas, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, etc., etc. The fun is no where near over. I know I still have plenty more folks out there to meet. But I couldn't resist the opportunity to go back down memory lane.

So What Am I Free From?

When we all made the decision to go with Sisterlocks, I'm sure there were plenty of reasons that motivated us to do so. We wanted to be free but free from what? Some say Sisterlocks are too costly and time consuming to offer any kind of freedom. But I think until you've been in a person's situation, you are in no position to pass judgement.

But for me, my #1 and #2 reasons to go with locks and subsequently Sisterlocks was to be free from that chemical damage of the relaxer. Not because I hated wearing my hair straight. Not because I never wanted to spend another penny paying for my hair to be done. Not because I never wanted to step foot in another beauty salon. Not because I look forward to doing my hair myself. Not because I was looking for a new fad hairstyle. Not because I was looking for some inner spiritualness of being black or to be a rebel against conformity and the white man. Do I receive some of these benefits? You betcha. But they weren't my primary motivators.

I WAS TIRED OF THE RELAXER DAMAGE AND GOING BALD BECAUSE OF IT.

Some of my other motivators in order of importance are below.

3. I didn't want to deal with my hair on a day to day basis.
4. I didn't want anymore combs going through my hair.
5. I want hair that's past my shoulders, healthy and mine. Not fake, glued or sewed in.
6. The same styling versatility that I received from wearing a relaxer.

I can't speak for anybody else, but I got the freedom I was looking for and a lot more extra.