3rd Re-tight

Last Thursday (13:12:07) i had my 3rd retighening. My locs havent started to form yet :( i was hoping that it might of but it has not. My hair is soft so i guess it will take me a while. There was some slippage at the back. Liz said she was doing 2 rotations when it should be one. We think the problem could be down to washing as that usally causes slippage. Although i do B&B, i realise that i do the front part small and neatly and when i get to the back i kinda do it any ol how. So next time i wash i will start B&B from the back so i can make sure that is done proper. Also i do not think the styling didnt help, although there was no slippage at the front. So i will ease up on that. Liz didnt tell me off but did say i shouldnt do it, which i already knew. Nothing new to report really, not much has changed.

Below as promised, is some of the pics from the meet-up we had in Oct.

Below me and my friend , looking at the goodie bag we got

Below me looking at some jewellery. The lady made her own using real gem stones

Michelle the Co-organiser of the meet-up. There are some products from the pampering club she does

Below are just various pics

Pipe Cleaner Curls

Well i promised if i did do curls using pipe cleaners that i would post the pics, so here they are. I put my hair in the PC on Thur evening, spritzin each section with water. I would have done it after i had washed my hair but i had washed it 4 days earlier and i didnt want to curl it then. It took much longer to put in than i thought it would. I was watchin tv whilst i did it and i think it took approx 2.5 hrs! yep that is not a typo 2.5 hrs. The PC that i had were too long so i had to cut them into 3, even then they were a bit too long for some sections. I think i used approx 59 PC altogether. I left the PC in over Friday. I took the day of work but i had to go into town so i had to cover my head as the PC were multi-coloured. I had a lacy scarf i used to use but of course you could see the PC through it. I bought a new satin scarf but some unknown reason i decided to buy a bright red one, so it would have been seen through. So in the end i put on the satin scarf, then put on a black cotton one and cos i dont really like it i had to put the lacy one on top of that. Talk about heavy. Luckily i was only out for a few hours and when i got back in it was a relief to get it off. I took the PC out Sat morning, the results can been seen below




I was in two minds about whether to leave my hair like that as i really loved the curls, but when i saw the back i thought, messy and decided to seperate the locs. But now i wish that i had just seperated the back and left the front ones in. The pics below were taken after i tried to tame the curls a lil. Its a pity that you don't full effect of how curly it was in the pics. I got loads of compliments at church so that was kool. Even though i loved the way my hair looked i think it would look better once the locs are formed.





Well i have tried 3 styles now and i am gona try and hold off styling until my locs have settled as i know it hinders the locking process. But i may do bantu knots at Christmas :)

Oh on a different note. I washed my hair last sun. The T/Gel seemed to have worked ok so far. I did one wash with that concentrating on my scalp. I didnt like the SL starter shampoo so i threw the rest away and i used the JML tingle shampoo that i brought. That felt fantastic, i think bcos it containted menthol so felt like my whole scalp head was being cleansed it was lovely. And i have a cold at the mo so it cleared my head inside as well. So far my head hasnt been itchy so i will see how it goes, esp after my next retightening. I hope i have found sommit that works. The only thing i didnt like about the JML was that it was soo thick that even though i had mixed it 1:1 with water it was still hard to spray it out of the bottle.

I shall keep you posted. Thanx for stopping by

Bantu knots

Well i was inspired by Sunsil's pic so i thought i would try Bantu knots in my hair. Yes i know i am being naughty as i shudnt really be styling my hair til its settled but i am being a rebel. Anyway since tryin the styles i am loving my hair more. I wont do it too often i am jus trying for now. I wasnt plannin of doin the bantu knots, but yday i was jus sat watchin tv and i thought why not try it so i did. I jus spritzed each one with water, so i dont know how long it will hold. I am not using products on my hair. When i do i will tryin it with sommit to hold it. Also if i had planned it i would have done it in the morning so i could leave the knots in longer. But it still seemed to work ok. The only thing is that bcos i wasnt sure which direction to twist the hair, some of the curls go up instead of down, but i dont think it looks too bad. Infact my supervisor said my hair looked lovely.

The pics below were taken after i tried to tame the curls and do some styling. I also went to the shops and brought some handbands. I love this one but i now realise that its too tight so it hurts and was givin me headaches :(




I have also managed to get some pipe cleaners, so when i try that i will post some pics

Fed-up and braid out

Last week Thursday i woke up and i felt really fed-up with my hair in fact i thought that i hated it and i wanted to shave it off. I was bored with it, and i was sick of the constant itching. No matter what i tried, ACV, tea tree EO, witchhazel it didnt seem to make any difference. Also some of my locs seemed lumpy. There was one loc i had noticed at the back that seemed to have a knot in it. I couldnt for the life of me seem able to get a pic of it so i could have a look at it. I know that Liz said my hair was fine and is doing what its meant to, but i was feeling fed-up. Anyway i did a post on LIU and i got some supportive responses. One of them suggested using original listerine. Never tried that but it may be something to consider. There was another suggest of using Scalpicin. I have never heard of it and i hope i can purchase it in the UK. I will check when i'm next at the hair shops (none where i live :( I did purchase some T/Gel therapeutic shampoo so next time i wash my hair i will give it a go and see if that will help.

I was looking to purchase some soft-spike curlers although Liz said not to style my hair just yet as it's soft. Also too much styling can hinder the locking process before the locs have settled. Then i saw a blog (sorry i cant r'ber her name) where she used pipe cleaners to curl her hair, and they looked gr8. So i am gona try and get some of them and give it ago. However it is harder to find pipe cleaners than i thought it would be. I havent given up yet few more shops i want to check. I think i may do curls for my bday and if i do i will post some pics.

On Sunday i was doing some house work and for some reason i started to plait my hair. I did one or two and thought oh why not try a braid out. I only half heartedly did it. The plaits were different sizes. Also by the time i finished what i was doing and sat down to work on the back i was too tired so i didnt really pay much attention to it. In fact some i two-stranded instead of plaiting. I just sprayed each section with water before plaiting and left over night. I took it out the next morning and i was like WOW my hair looks mad. I loved it, although i looked like i had a big boff on my head. It was mad, wild and free and i loved it. Although some bits seem to stick up at the back, but that was my fault for not paying attention to what i was doing. The pics below were taken as soon as i had taken the plaits out.

2nd Re-Tight Updates

Well i don’t know where to start with this update, as there have been things that I wanted to post but I have been too lazy to post, as I knew I would be doing a post after my 2^nd re-tightening.

Ok I will start with my worry. I thought that some of my locs were looking lumpy and bumpy. Some of them to me seemed to have 3 parts. A lump where the re-growth ended and the loc started, a lump where the loc ended at the installation and a lump where the curly qs started. I tried to take pics to show what I am talking about but they haven’t come out very clear, but you can see them below to get an idea. Also it seemed to me that my hair was shrinking and comin out of the pattern at the side of the locs, its hard to describe exactly what I mean and of course u can’t tell in the pics. Anyway at my 2^nd re-tightening (06:11:07 or for the Americans 11:06:07 (you do your day and month the other way round to us Brits), Liz said that everything was fine, my hair was doing exactly what it is meant to be doin. I also had one loc that had a hole in it, and that worried me as well. Anyway I know that I am prone to worry and I knew Liz would say that everything is fine. I have noticed however that some of the locs seem to curl up near the root and seem to form a knot, but it I pull it the knot comes out. And no I do not think these are buds as they wouldn’t come out. Too me it seems that my hair is coming out. I think that my hair is just mad. Don't get me wrong i know things are fine i am jus sharing some of my worries which were laid to rest when i saw my consultant.

Below are pics I took before and after the re-tightening. The ones on the left of the sets were taken after i had washed my hair before the re-tightening. The ones on the right were taken after the re-tight

My second wash was fine. I had read on LIU that someone does not braid their hair but two-strands it and then band. I do not know how mature their locs are but I thought I would give it ago. There did not seem to be any probs with me doin this and it is soooo much quicker than braiding. Although I do find the whole process tedious but I understand that it’s necessary. I brought Fantasia IC 100% tea shampoo (whose smell I love) as I wanted a clarifying shampoo. I was not certain if I could use it for two washes as it did not say on the bottle and most say rinse and repeat. So I used it for the first wash and then I used my SL starter shampoo that I had. I don’t know if its right, but I think the journey is about trial and error and finding out what works for you and your hair so that is what I am doing.

The London Sisterlocks and Natural Hair Meet-up was on Sunday 28:10:07. The meet-up was informal more of information gathering of how ppl would like the meet-ups to go. It was nice to see Michelle (the organiser) and hear her story. It was also nice to see other ppl there with SL. One of the down sides was the restaurant, which we had no control over. On their website the restaurant claims that they are open for business from 3pm, which is the time we booked for. But when we got there the shutters were down. Michelle had arrived about 15 mins earlier and was only able to get in bcos someone was there on other business. Apparently it was a mess and she had to clean up. The owner didn’t come until after 5 and I had to wait til after 6:30 to get my food. I can tell you I was not impressed. Esp as you know you are going out to a restaurant you don’t eat as you are expecting to eat and you don’t want two meals. That aside on the whole it was nice. I did take my cam, but ended up not takin pics bcos there was a photographer there. Michelle promised that she will send me the pics so when she does I will update my blog.

The pics below are a comparison of the day my locs were installed (on left) with my 2nd re-tight (right). I know its a little early for compariosn but i wanted to do it

I lost a loc already :(

One of my locs has dropped off I was soo sad when it broke off. As my locs are not mature i didnt think that it could break off but it seems like it can.



After i washed my hair on Friday i noticed one of my locs had slipped and had what appeared to be a knot on the end (see pic below). I didnt think much of it and i just thought that Liz would jus retighten the loc at my next appt


But yday when i was at church the end just fell off. And i know that ppl would think that i must have been pulling it but honestly I wasnt. Upon closer inspection it looks like what i thought was the knot was dirt matted in the hair. Why its there i dunno as i have washed it. Maybe its cos i cant do i really good scrub. I don't really know. The pic below is the part that came off.


Below is a pic of what is left after the end dropped off. I spoke to Liz and she said that it happens, locs can drop off and not to stress it. I just wasnt expectin it this early in the game


This last pic is jus the top of my locs. I tried to get a good texture shot but it didnt quite work out. My locs seem bumpy. Hope it is all jus the natural process of my loc journey. I am 2 months locs so i dunno if the bumpiness is the beginning of the locs forming ie buds. I dont know what they look like. I try not to stress it too much

My First Wash

This pic was taken 4 days ago at my friends graduation celebration. I like it so i thought i would add it on here.

Well i decided to wash my hair. I wasnt going to wash it until before my next retightening but it was dirty and i wanted to wash it. I have been using a few drops of witch-hazel in my spray bottle which I use every day to spritz my locs. I could have put some on a cotton pad and cleansed my scalp that way but i wanted to wash it. I was really nervous about doing it correctly as this is my first time. I also wanted to do an ACV rinse but i didnt know the concentrate or whether to do it before or after the shampoo. I tried to find some info on the net but wasnt really sucessful. In the end i decided to use the ACV that i had from week two. i'm not sure if it had gone off as it smelt a bit funky, prob as i had left it on the window-sil even though my blinds are usually drawn.

I braided and banded my hair. I think maybe i will try some smaller braids next time and i will use different bands. I think i may have done the braids too tight, not too sure. Anyway this is my first time and its a learning curve. The pics below are the result of my B&B




I was a lil worried about those lil ones at the bottom as i cudnt get them in a braid

I mixed the SL starter shampoo from the starter kit in a spray bottle 1:1 with water and washed my locs. I sprayed it inbetween each braid and on the scalp. I gently rubbed each braid to get the scalp clean and also around each braid. I am not sure if i diluted the shampoo too much as it didnt seem to lather. After i had shampooed twice i sprayed my hair with ACV and covered with my cap while i finished washing. I do not know how long you should leave the ACV on for etc but this is what i did. After i washed myself i rinsed it out. I made sure i really rinsed it as i was scared that i would leave product in my hair. I used a towel to get the excess water out and then i took out each B&B and seperate my locs. I hope all is ok. The pics below are taken straight after.







Ok i know this pic is bad as i am in shadow but i still like it and its my blog LOL

One thing that is worrying me a lil is that as i write this i have put my hand is my hair as its damp so it makes it itch. But my fingers feel sticky like i have put grease in my hair when i know that i havent. I know that i rinsed it out properly. I hope that its jus my mind playin tricks on me as my hair is still damp.

I Feel Pretty Oh So Pretty!

LMAO! As you can see i am a lil mad but i still feel pretty in this pic :oD And yes i can move one eye ie go cross eye with one eye while keepin the other str8. Been able to do it since i was young. Some ppl find it freaky. I think its kool jus wish i could do it with the other eye as well

Well I have just got back from my first re-tightening. Liz says that my locs are coming along beautifully and that they have filled out. The re-tightening only took 2 hours, she is soo quick. She also gave my hair a quick wash. It soo nice to be FRESH AND CLEAN! My hair feels sooo soft and light, I jus love it. Because of the wash my ends are curlier which i find cute. I am a lil nervous about doing my own first wash but i am sure that i will be fine. Not really much to say jus over 6 weeks locked.

The collage below is pics of b4 and after the retightening. The ones of me in the pink top are taken the day b4. The ones in the blue top are taken as soon as i got in from the re-tightening so my hair is still damp in the pics. I didnt realise that i pose the same in my pics so I managed to get matching pink and blue ones. If it is showing up small if you click on the pic it should come up bigger.




Jus more pics of me messing with my cam as i was sooo happy as you can tell with that BIG cheesy grin








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