21 Again

Last Monday (01) was my birthday

I was surprised by my friend with a meal and then we went to see Chicago up the west End. I didn’t know where I was going but told to dress up. I curled my hair with soft spikes and then I put 3 flat twists in one side. Intially I was going to put both sides of my hair up but I thought it looked nice like this.

This pic was taken by my sis Sat gone and i thought it showed my locs nicely so i decided to add it. I think it's a good texture shot. You can see the frizziness of my ends

Not much has changed with my hair since my last post. I'm now locked 15 months. The other day i was chatting with a colleague at work who aslo started dreds but with the tradtional method. She loves my locs for the fullness and frizziness. I love the look of hers because they seem sealed and hang nicely. It's funny how we're never satisfied. Anyway i'm learning to love my frizzy, I know it's just the texture of my hair. But a few days after a re-tight it looks messy again. I love seeing the parts and when it's just been done and my colleague hates it, such is life. I still have some that slip at the roots, I think they are rebelling LOL. I saw Liz for a re-tight and she said my hair looks good, the DIY is good and there is no probs. I had started B&B again but she said there is no need as it's to stop hair slipping at the end not the roots. Still getting dry scalp so tryin to find something for that. That's all really nothing much as changed.

Sat gone (06) I went to a roller disco to celebrate my bday. I thought it would be something different. I can't skate but it was a good laugh.

Bantu Knot Out

Last Sat i created a bantu knot out and i thought i would share it with my blogging family.

I washed my hair the Friday morning. I used IC pure tea shampoo for the first wash followed by IC Aloe shampoo for the second. The Aloe shampoo is something i have started using recently & i do like it. I the conditioned with the JML protein conditioner. My hair felt soft, however i have noticed that my scalp is drier than it used to be. I don't know if it's the shampoo or something else. I use oil on my scalp, usually JML cactus oil or olive oil. I spray my hair with water mixed with cactus oil (not every day) & sometimes rub some of the JML island oil on my locs. It should be moisturised, so i don't know. I do need more water in my diet, maybe that is it (but that is a whole other story, read my other blog if you want some info). After i washed my hair i had to pop out to docs, i had food poisoning and had to leave a stool sample (that is the weirdest thing i've ever done). It's cleared up now so i'm happy about that, lasted a week. Anyway i digress, when i got back from the docs i sprayed my hair with setting lotion and set about puttin the bantu knots in.

I took the bantu knots out on Saturday morning and i was like WOW look at the curls. I LOVED it. I simply wore a headband. The next day i noticed that the curls had dropped a lot. I was disappointed because i'd used the setting lotion i thought the curls would have lasted longer. I don't know if not having my hair net contributed to it. I got my friend to put some cane rows in the front for me. One thing i can't do is plait not matter how much i try. I did do flat twists but i wanted to try cane rows in the hope it will last longer and look neater. Unfortunately i think she did them too tight as my scalp was sore so I had to take them out Tues.

Not much news on my locs, they jus doing their thang. I'm 14 months locked now, time is flying by. I re-tighten every 3-4 weeks. I was wondering if locs can slip at the roots as a few of mine seem loose after i wash it & i know it's not re-growth.

Instead of putting loose pics i've added a slideshow.

Perm Rods

I was at my parents on a short break and i decided to experiment with perm rods. We had perm rods from when we used to curly perm our hair back in the day. I had seen vids and pics of people who had used perm rods in their hair so i thought why not give it ago. I washed and conditioned my hair. Because i was at my parents i did not have my usual stuff with me, but my sister had some Aloe Shampoo & conditioner. After checking the ingrediants i thought it would be ok to use. I do not know where she got it from i should ask her. I found them ok but i think i will stick with my JML for now. I did not have my island oil with me so i used some extra virgin olive oil to mositurise my locs.

Then i set about putting the perm rods in. I used smaller size ones for the back and near the front. I did find that the perm rods did not seem that secure compare to for example soft spikes. I am not sure if it's because my perm rods are old so the elastic is loose. After they were in i sat under the hairdryer (I really need to buy one). I was under it for approx hour and half on and off. It probably didnt need that long but i wanted to make sure it was good and proper dry, plus i was watching tv.




I took the perm rods out that night as i knew there was noway i could sleep with them in. I didn't seperate the curls though and left them the little ringlets. I didnt have a hair net so i was worried how the curls would hold up. I find when I curl my hair puttin a hairnet on before my scarf at night makes the curls last longer.

The next day i seperated the curls and they had lasted. I quite like the curls. I didn't get the ringlets like i had see with other ppl but then again those were tradition locs so much thicker and were also maturer. I don't see much difference to the soft spikes so i decided to leave the perm rods at my parents so i can curl when i am there and use spoft spikes at home.




The pics below were taken 2day 4 days after i curled them. Bcos i didnt have my hairnet with me the curls began to drop but still looks good in my opinion. It's just wild and free






On a different note i ordered the nappyloc tool & i received it yday when i got back to my place. Next week when i do my re-tightening i will do a comparison and see how it goes, so watch this space
=====UPDATE======

Well the morning after i made this post i was on the internet gettin quotes for my car insurance and i ended up on youtube looking at loc videos & i was inspired to try styling my locs. I was a bit skeptical as my locs are short and these styles were done on long locs. It's almost a lochawk but not quite, i guess i don't hve a name for it jus an updo. All i did was twist up the sides diagonally and secured with pins. Intially i just did the left side but then i decided to do the right side as well. My hair could do with a retight so my partings are not that neat but to be honest i wasnt all that bothered about gettin it too neat i like the messy look. And the curls add body & gives it that lil extra sommit. Below are pics clicking on them and the ones above should show them bigger. I like the style so i think i would try it again.

In Love Again

Wow what a difference 4 days and a re-tightening can make. I know in my last post I said I wasn’t feeling my hair and after reading other blogs I know that sometimes it can happen. But at the mo I LOVE my hair. I hope the bad days will be few and far between, if at all.

I started re-tightening my hair on Mon and I finished y’day. I don’t know how many hours it took me to complete, I think on my next one I will count the hours but I know it was plenty. On Weds I did approx 9 hours. I’ve heard other ppl say they can do it in a day and Creyole can do it in 2.5 hours! When I read that I was like WOW. It takes my consultant 2 hours to do my hair and I thought she was fast. But 2.5 to self re-tighten, blew me away. I hope I get quicker and can do it maximum a day. Cos at the mo I need to set aside a week to do it and its just too much time. But as my old piano teacher used to say “practice makes perfect”. I was surprised that it needed doing already as it was only 3 weeks since it was last done and my consultant does it every 6 weeks so that is what I had stuck to. I don’t know if it was growth or slippage or a combination of both. I have read other blogs and I know that some do it every 4 weeks so I may try that, as 3 weeks its just too soon, my arms need chance to recover lol. The pics below were taken just after i finished re-tightening my locs.

Part of the way through re-tightening the front

When I was re-tightening there was a few problem areas. One lock on the hairline in the front was damaged but was holding on. My point of view is that there is not point in keeping it there so I pulled of the damaged end and started the loc again with what was left. For some reason I just couldn’t get the hair in the SL pattern so in the end I gave up and just plaited it. One of my locs I noticed has loose hair in the middle of the loc, don’t know how that happened.


I’ve also combined two sets of locs and you can see in the pics. In the first one it was at the back, as you can see one was really skinny and it kept coming out of the pattern so I joined it with a fatter loc next to it.

The other ones I think they were two locs I had joined when I first learnt to re-tighten and had to cut strands as I couldn’t separate them. They were two skinny locs but if you look at the end it was very fat. I didn’t like the way they were soo skinny so I joined them together. You should be able to make out the join at the root. When the joint bit of loc gets longer I will cut the two ends off and leave one loc. I do not know if it has messed up my partings but its done now and I prefer it this way.

I was reading Creyole’s blog (I hope she doesn’t mind me mentioning her. Hopefully not at it’s nothing she hasn’t already posted), and she was talking about the bunching she had experienced. I was like that it so my hair, and it made me feel better. I know it will get better with time & my locs will start to behave. It’s all about the journey and patience. I know ppl do braid outs and curl their hair to try and control the frizziness/bunching, so will try more of that. I do have soft spikes but I’ve noticed on the last few times I’ve used them my hair hasn’t set fully and sometimes still damp even though I’ve left it in over night. The first time I did it, it was fine so I don’t know why its not working this time when I’ve done nothing different. I think I will invest in a hood dryer. I was also looking at getting some heated rollers, still thinking about that. First time I tried a braid out I wasn’t that keen on it. I used to do Bantu knots but for some reason the knots won’t stay in now, so I just give up and put the soft spikes in. I want something quick which is why I was thinking of heated rollers. Actually this morning I was up early for church and I was thinking about it. I still have my curling iron from when I creamy cracked (9 yrs ago), so I kinda tried to style it using that. It took me way back, I r’ber them days. Didn’t have the curls but it added body. I’ve actually got my hair in soft spikes at the mo so I hope they dry over night.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Til next time, be blessed and know that God loves you

Bad Hair Day

Hmmmm dunno what the reason is but i'm not feeling my locs today. They look frizzy, partly because i just washed it last night, partly because of the curly qs, (which i've always hated). Also i have the hair that always seem to be be frizzy. Even when they it was corn row and just been done there would be frizziness. I've just had my hair re-tightened 3 weeks ago but it looks and feels like it needs doing again. My hair feels dry although i used the JML protein conditioner and Island oil and i know it's not dry, i don't want it greasy. Plus i look at pics of other people's locs at 12 months and their had of locs look so good and mine doesn't. I know that each head would be different bcos each person is different, each journey is different and i've just got loc envy. Just not feeling it at all today. I guess there would be days like this occassionlly, hope it would pass soon

1 Locaversay - Happy Nappy Day

Wow I can’t believe that I have reached one year locked already. Happy 1 Locaversary to me.

I don’t really know what to say. I know some people have seen it as a real journey and have learnt so much about themselves. I almost want to say something deep and profound but I won’t. As I said in my last post I started my doctoral training basically at the same time I started my loc journey. Over the last 6 months or so my training took president over my hair, so I kinda just left it to do its thang. One thing I would say is that I have passed the first year of my training which is equal to a MSc. But to be chartered I need to complete my doctorate. I am talking a year out for one reason or the other, which I won’t go into right now. I just thank God that I made it through the first stage and I know he will see me through the rest.

I saw my consultant last week and I was scared that she was proper going to tell me off but she didn’t. All she said was there was a lot of re-growth, which I kinda knew already. Took 3 hours to do instead of usual 2. Mind you that did include someone else’s hair she was cutting and setting. She urged me not to leave so much growth as it can make the locs look funny. I think I only lost 2 locs below the re-growth. They were hanging on & I didn’t see the point in leaving them like that so I pulled them off. It will grow back. Hopefully with the year out I will have more time to invest in re-tightening so I can keep on top of it. Or I wont be silly and just make an appointment.

I’m trying to find something to moisturise my hair with. I don’t spray it with water every day as I don’t like the way my locs look and feel with it. I purchased JML Island oil the other day, love the smell and it seems to be moisturising my locs ok. I also bought the JML protein conditioner. Again love the smell and my hair felt nice and soft after it. It’s the first time I’m using both so I will see how it goes. I was meant to purchase some aloe but I clean 4got. If I don’t like these then I may try that. I guess I just have to try til I find something that I like.

The other day I made a hair tie, which I have gotton some compliments for. I will look to make some more at some point.

I never thought that my hair had grown. I knew it must have cos I had roots and re-tightening but I just thought it was the same length. . I saw a colleague last week who I hadn’t seen for a month & she said my hair had grown but I didn’t believe her. Until that is today when I did a collage of my hair and I was like wow my hair has grown. Still blows me away. The collage from the top is day of installation, 4 weeks, 6 months and a year. The pics of the year may look frizzy as I washed my hair two days ok and I had just finished a work out when the pics were taken and I sweat.

That’s about it really. Below are jus various pics. Oh year Liz gave me a side part because I forgot to remind her I have a centre one but I kinda like it so I may keep it.