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