6 Years Locked Down

I have been on lock down for 6 years (and 5 days). WOOHOOO!!!! 

I was not able to post a blog entry on the actual day of my locversary so it is a few days late. I can't believe that I have been sisterlocked for 6 years; the time has really flown by. 

I am still experiencing problems with the ends of my locs and I really do not know what to do about them. I am still finding that some of the ends are unravelling and it seems to be getting worse. I thought that they would eventually re-lock but that has not been happening; in fact they seem to be unravelling more. I am still finding some of my ends are weak and I am continuing to loose some of them (or I pull them off). I have lost about 2-3 inches of my ends. This in combination with the unravelling is not good at all. I have racked my brains I cannot find a reason for why the ends are coming undone. It is like my hair is rejecting the locs. The only thing I can think of is because I have coloured by hair. I did use a product that contained ammonia when I dyed it and I did put onto of each other to lift the colour, the two occasions that I did dye it. That is the only thing I can think of. I have no other explanation for why mature locs would suddenly start unravelling. It is really frustrating!

When you look at this picture compring year 6 (top) with year 5 (bottom) there does not seem to be much difference. Each year I am convinced that my hair as not grown and each year I am surprised at the comparison shots. This year there does not seem to be much difference. Although looking at it again I can see there is some. I usually wear a shoulderless top to take my annual pics but I was unable to this time or you would have been seeing more than you needed to. And it was harder to take the side shots as the hair naturally parted over my shoulders. I am not so much bothered about the length as I am about having healthy hair. Sometimes I think about cutting off the dyed ends to see if that would make a difference to my hair **SIGH**

I am still experiencing dryness with my locs (I wonder if that is contributing to the unravelling). I have tried everything I can think of combat it: shea butter (horrible), deep conditioning, vegetable glycerin, coconut oil, spritzing with water and oil blends, co-washing (I can see if working if I washed my hair every or every other day but I do not so i need a proper cleanse), caster oil, jojoba oil, aloe vera juice, homemade conditioners, pre-pooing and nothing has worked. I am really stumped with this! I wonder if the shampoo is too drying? I don't remember it being this dry when I first had my locs, so I wonder if it is stress, nutrition? I have done what I can on that front so I am stumped!

I recently did a presentation on sisterlocks at a natural hair event. At that event I won a goodie bag from Love Harlem, YEAH!!! So I am currently trying the avocado butter conditioning hairdress on my locs. I tend to use castor oil or jojoba oil on my roots and use this on the length of my hair. So far it is good and I will do a full review in the future. Trying to make my own products was getting too expensive

I also got some Rhassoul clay. I have not tired it as yet but I plan to for my next wash. It is supposed to leave your hair soft and manageable and not drying like shampoo. I have never tried bentonite clay. Some people swear by it, others say that it is really drying for their hair. However Rhassoul clay is meant to be very gentle so I am excited to dry it. 

I hope that you have been following my YouTube channel: chocolatebombuk. You can also find me Instagram: @KhandeeKhane. Below are some pics of styles I have done recently. 

I call this style a twisted bun

I Have a YouTube Channel

I have a YouTube channel where I have been posting tutorials, advice and i will be posting vlogs and reviews. Below are some of my latest videos. I hope that you will subscribe to my channel

In this video I share how I do Victory Rolls



In this video I share how i protect baby locs



I had a few people ask me how i did flat twists, and in this tutorial I show how I do them

Hair Tutorials

Two hair tutorials: The first is how i do a french twist and the second is how i did my messy side bun

5 Years Locked Up!!!

Today is my 5 year sisterlocversary!!

I have been locked up 5 years! As i said in my last post i have been completing my doctorate at the same time, and my locs have be kinda neglected; however i am trying to remedy this. As started previously some of my ends had been coming off. I have lost on average about 2 ins of some locs :( I must admit that some of them i pulled off as i didnt like the way they looked, they were weak. The picture below is a comparison of my locs from 4 years to 5 years. 

My hiar goal for this year is to focus on growing healthy locs. I still usually get my hair re-tightened but this last one i did it myself. It was the first time in about 3 years. It was a long process, but it enabled me to check out my locs. I actually found a 2HD that i didn't know i had. As i was doing them i was thinking that some of them were rather thin for my liking, so i was considering combining them. I do not know if I was just being overly negative, but i will see how it goes. I am searching for a new loc tool. I usually use the SL clip tool and i had always liked it; however i was finding that the clip kept getting caught and i dont want my strands to snap thereby weakening my roots and locs. I do have the nappylocs tool but i have never really been that keen on it. My friend told me about the loc-key, which i have ordered. I will keep you posted on how i find that one. 

 As i said previously i am looking for a new routine for my locs and i wanted to go 100% natural with my products making my own. My last wash, last week, i did a deep cleanse with bicarb of soda and ACV mix. I wasn't too sure how it was so i still did a shampoo on top of that. I then deep conditioned that i had made. I realised that the DC i used in my last post was more of a protein conditioner and i want a mositurising conditioner, so i did some more research about the best ingredients. I used a recipe that i had found online which consisted of: 1 avacodo, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and honey. All ot these ingredients are meant to be good for softening the hair. I blended all together, slathered on my locs, covered and left for 30 mins.

As can be seen  from the picture the mixture was not the creamy texture that i had expected. The experience turned into a nightmare!! I was left with, what i can only describe as avacado fibre strands in my locs. The pic below does not do justice to what i had in my hair, i could not believe it! I have circled some of them in red so you get an idea of what i was looking for.

I spent about 3 hours going through my locs and picking out the fibres. They were so small it was a nightmare, and i couldn't really see the back, so i wasnt sure if i got it all out. In fact i still found a few the next day. I do not know what the cause was. I had bought the avacado that morning and i picked the ripest one. Maybe it wasnt ripe enough, however i am not willing to try again.

I have also been trying to find a mosituring spray to keep my locs soft. I think this week i went a lil mad and tried too many different things. I now realise that i cannot just spritz with water i need to seal it so that the water doesn't evaporate and leave the hair dry. First i made a blend with distilled water, lavender eo, vegetable glycerin and JML cactus oil. I spritzed my hair and then sealed with my shea butter mix i mentioned previously. I am not sure about this blend and i think i just do not like shea butter on my locs. Another time i tried sealing with coconut oil. My hair still didn't feel as soft as i wanted. I kept researching and i head people say that aloe vera juice is meant to be really good. So i made a blend with aloe vera juice, distilled water, coconut oil, avacado oil, vegetable glycerian, lavender and tea tree eo. This is what i am using at the mo. I do not like the smell that much and after a week i feel that i want to wash my hair, which i never usually do (that could be because of the various experiementing i have done over the past week). I recognise that my hair will only get the softness that i want through deep conditioning so i am planning to focus on that. I am thinking over whether to make my own products. I really want to but i do not have the money to keep experimenting with different ingredients, although i know that it can also take time to find the right product. I am going to have to monitor it and really focus on my DC. 

I am not very good at styling my locs over the past few months i have tried out a few styles, which I have made into a lil video. I also did a loc bun for the first time on Saturday

Hope you are enjoying being locked up

Peace

My Adventure with Pipe Cleaner Curls The Sequel

My Adventure With Pipe Cleaner Curls

Braid Out 2011

I haven't done a braid out on my hair since the early stages of locing (click here for post). When i initially did it i was not all that keen on it and prefered the results i got from rollers (perm and soft spikes). So that is want i tend to use. However the other day i thought hmmmm let me try a braid out. I did the brand n band, wash method. I.e. i braided and banded my hair before i washed it. I liked it as on the one hand my hair was nicely in sections and i could get to the scalp easily. However i was paranoid about getting product stuck in my locs. In fact when i took one braid out i didnt like the way it looked so i rinsed it and put the braid back in. Luckily it was near my ear so it was hidden under the rest of my hair. Below is a picture of me with the braids. I washed my hair the Friday afternoon and i let it air dry. I actually had to go round to a friends house and initially i was thinking oooh i need to wear a hat. But we were experiencing a heat wave and there was no way i was going to wear a hat. So in the end i just went out like that. I think that it looked fine.

I took my hair out the next morning. OMDz it took just as long to take out as put in. The advantage of rollers is that when taking them out you can just slide the roller out. But with braids you have to unloose each one. I didn't realise how long it would take but i will know for next time. Below is a picture of the results. And i actually love it. I was surprised at how much i like this style and it may become part of my staple hair style. My hair was actually due a retight which i had done the Sunday. And the style lasted through that. Infact it has lasted all week to the time of writing and i don't see any reason why it would not last til my next wash.


In my last post you may recall that i said i had started using natural shea butter. Well i have stopped using it on my hair. After i started using it i noticed that my hair felt very itchy. Intially i didn't think anything of it. But it was getting ridiculous as soon as i washed it i felt like it needed to be washed again. In fact at one point the itchiness was driving me crazy and i was waking up scratching. It got to the point that i thought i had cuaght nits from somewhere. But a check revealed that i hadn't. So on this occassion i just washed my hair again and i just used my hair oil blend. And there was no itchiness, none whatsoever. So i can only assume it was the shea butter. I have no idea why it itched me but i have stopped using it on my hair. Luckily it is versitile and i use it to cream my skin :o) I'm now looking for something else to use as i don't think the hair oil is enough. Too much makes my hair greasy, not enough it feels dry. I need something else so any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I need to remember that my locs have been dyed and i need to look after it.

What has happened which has been a shock to me is that the ends of some of my locs have come off. I noticed that some of the ends looked weak and i put knots in some of them. However doesnt seemed to have helped. I noticed that some of them locs were hanging on and i am one of these people that i will just pull it off, so i did for a few locs. I do not know what caused it: poor re-tightening at the beginning stages, damage from colouring, i just don't know. Although i had noticed the weakness before i coloured. Anyway it is something that i will monitor. I do have some of the ends that came off. I will take a pic and then post so you can see. I'm not overly worried about it, just disappointed.

Anyway that is all for now and i still LOVE MY LOCS!!
Peace
xx

Four Years

WOOHOOO MY LOCS ARE FOUR YEARS OLD!!!!

Happy Locaversary to Me

Ok technically 2 days ago (21^st) was my loc birthday but I have reached 4 years. Wow the last year has flown by. Sorry haven’t updated my blog but I have been mad busy with my doctorate and trying to get going on my thesis. On the home straight so hopefully will be finished soon

Below is a comparison from year one (top) to year four (bottom). I love comparison shots. I’d forgotten the frizziness that I experienced in the early stages. I was actually convinced that my hair hadn’t really grown this year. I knew it must have done as I had roots from my re-dye but I really didn’t think was a great deal. People told me it had grown but I didn’t see it. When I compared year 3 and 4 I was like WOW my hair has grown! In fact even now I can’t stop looking at it. I don’t know what prompted me not to wear my usual necklace. It was a little tradition with myself each anniversary but this time I haven’t.

Below close up of locs taken from the side

Not much has changed with my hair routine. Still go to my consultant for re-tight every six weeks. Oh yeah last re-tight she gave me a groom. She said i have unruly hair which i have to agree with as i had hair sprouting everywhere. My hair defo looked neater but to me it looks thinner. No change in my shampoos but I wash weekly. In fact recently my hair has felt itchy and I want to wash it more often like every few days. I do not know the cause of the itchiness but it is really annoying. Maybe I need to use more oil on my scalp. I do drink enough water so I don’t think that is the cause. I don’t seem to get the funky white goo any more. I have recently bought natural organic shea butter and I am using it on my locs with my oil blend. I melt it first so I don’t get build up. Anyone who uses or seen shea butter will understand. My sister is considering sisterlocs which is amazing. I never thought she would leave the creamy crack. But she seems to be transitioning to natural and seems to be loving it. So time will tell. A few others have made noises but nothing so far. It’s not that I am on a mission to get everyone into sisterlocs as it’s a personal choice, do what is best for you. I just want others to experience the joy, freedom and love I feel with my locs.

So I dyed my hair again in Jan the same raging red as last time. I had bought 4 boxes so had 2 left over. Once again the colour has washed out so I am left with a brown. I don’t mind the brown actually. Not sure I will dye it again or not? Below are pics of when it was dyed.

I am trying to do a lil more styling with my locs are few pics below.

Lockhawk 2011. Click here for lochawk 2009

Just a quick update

Stay locked and happy

Peace

Third Locaversary

Yesterday (21st) was my third locaversary. My locs are 3 years old WOOHOO!!!

Below is a pic comparing the day they were installed (top) with 36 months (bottom).

Erm things have been mad busy for me in recent months trying to complete my doctorate (jus about to enter my final year), so i haven't given much thought to my locs. I still go to Liz for re-tightening, it's much easier for me timewise. I get re-tightened every 6 weeks. I only use my own blend of oils after i wash my hair and somtimes if it feels dry. I spritz every now and then with my own spritz blend. I think i added recipes in an earlier post. I wash my hair when I feel like it, usually every 2-3 weeks but I thinking of doing every week. I tend to curl my hair when i wash it so i like to make the most of the curls. I currently use Tresemme colour shampoo and conditioner. I still find a funky white goo on my scalp when i wash which is very stubborn. I don't know what causes it but i wonder if it's the oils that i use? It usually takes bicarb of soda to get rid of. I love bicarb to clarify my hair.

Erm that's all i can think of at the mo i just let my locs do its thang. Still madly in love with them. Love being a walking advertisement, love the compliments, and love when people recognise they're sisterlocs.

What happened to my colour??


It was red as you can see but now it looks more brown. I was told that red is a hard colour and tends to wash out. Not sure if i will dye it again. Would love a deeper red but it's good for now. Plus I'm not one for dying my hair too often.

A pic of a style i did. Curled with perm rods and then pinned a flower in the side. I like this look

25 Months - Bit of this a bit of that

Hello blogging family

Hope all of you are happily nappy :o)

If you recall in my last post I was going to decide what to do about my re-tightening. The last one I did again took me aaages. Well partly because I some how hurt my neck and back in the middle of me retightening, which stopped me from continuing. I do not know what happened I just woke up like it. It was very painful and I had limited movement. Took a week to recover. I also have hair sprouting everywhere (see pic below) and I am finding it hard to get into a loc neatly. So for those reasons I have had enough and I’ve decided to let Liz do my re-tightening (well at least for the forseeable future).



The other week I had a nightmare hair washing experience. I decided to use my Avalon Organics range, even though I had not used them since my last bad experience. I used the Lemon clarifying shampoo. Even though I rinsed and rinse I was still finding white build up (what I do when I was my hair is scratch my scalp and make sure there is no gunk/build-up/product under my nails). So used some bicarb of soda. I then conditioned with Lavender nourishing conditioner. Because of my last experience I made sure I diluted the conditioner. I did my scratch test and kept revealing product, kept rinsing and then I used bicarb of soda. Finally I thought I had rinsed all the product out, the water was clear in my hand (another test I do is to squeeze the locs into my hair and check to see the water is clear). When I looked in the mirror this is what I saw





I could not believe it!! No matter how I rinsed, used some bicarb of soda I could not get it out. In the end I had to use IC Fantasia Pure Tea Clarifying Shampoo mixed with bicarb of soda and that got rid of it. It took be nearly two hours to wash my hair, I was sooo not impressed and I had to go to work with wet hair. I do not know how other people find the range but for me it has been a nightmare and I will not be using it again.

On 26 Sept we had a SL meet-up. I decided to try an experiment with a new hairstyle. I curled my hair with perm rods overnight. I then put my hair in a loc-hawk/mo-hawk (welll my take on one). I can’t braid or I would have tried some cornrows or flat twists up the side. Anyway I think it turned out really good and I got loads of compliments. I inspired a lady at church who put her locs in an up-do Sabbath gone. And I also inspired my friend whose locs I had previously re-tightened and she bought some perm rods. She curled them and pinned them up really nicely. I like inspiring people and showing them that locs are versatile and you can do loads with them. I can’t wait to get more length and try more styles




The pic below is my consultant and some of her clients

20 Months & Curly

Hello blogging family

Tuesday gone my locs were 20 months old. Time is flying by and soon it will be my two year locaversary. I was in the middle of re-tightening the front on the Tuesday as for some reason that was really messy and in a need of a re-tight. But the back is not quite there yet and I don’t want to force rotations so I’ve left that for a lil while. I really didn’t want to do this but it’s the only way.

After I finished re-tightening the front yday I decided to curl my hair. At the mo I really like my hair when it’s curled. I wasn’t planning on washing my hair just yet but I ended up doing it (B&B the front). I find the best way to clarify my hair is to use bicarb of soda. I’ve tried clarifying shampoos but bicarb of soda seems to get it the cleanest and clarified. After I washed it I put my hair in perm rods and sat under the dryer for an hour. I actually left the rods in over night. I’ve never done this before as I thought they would be too hard and uncomfortable but for some reason I decided to try it last night. And I must say it was not bad at all. In fact it was more comfortable than sleeping in soft spikes. This morning I took them out and then ran my fingers to it to separate. I actually got a few compliments at work.

I actually now remember what I wanted to put in my other post. When I was in St. Lucia I went to the cinema and a lady stopped me and asked me if I had sisterlocs. I was surprised as this has never happened to me before. Also I was practically half way round the world. Unfortunately we were late for the film (Medea goes to jail, proper funny would recommend it) so I didn’t get chance to speak to her.

I was wondering what people do when they go to the beach. It’s not something I do often but when I was on hol I was wondering what others did. I actually only went to the beach 3 times whilst on hol and the 3^rd time I didn’t wet my hair. After the first time I washed my hair with shampoo. The 2^nd time, 2 days later, I decided to just rinsed my hair with water. I don’t know if I should have done a shampoo or of the rinse was sufficient. So I was wondering what others do when they go to the beach?? Although when I washed my hair when I got home I did see sand in the bath. It scared me to think that sand had been sitting in my hair. Although I didn’t rinse it after I was under the waterfall as it didn’t click to me that although it was not sea water it could still have grit in it. But there does not seem to be any damage to my locs. They did feel a bit battered out there and if I had been at home they would never had gotton to that state. But they seem fine now.

I was also looking for a deep conditioner and I found one totally natural SLS free – think happy organic surge citrus mint intensive hair treatment. Can’t r’ber the exact price but it was over £6. I saw it in the shop seemed good so I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately it didn’t click to me at the time that it was a thick cream and therefore probably not suitable for my locs. So I watered it down but I think I was a lil scared of getting product stuck in my locs that I may have watered it down too much. It was runny enough to go through a spray bottle. Therefore I am not sure how effective it is as a deep conditioner as I don’t know if watering it down would have affected it.

I’m now looking for a new shampoo. My A’kin shampoo is nearly finish but it’s soo expensive I’m loathed to buy it again. I’m half wondering if I should just use the old shampoos I have even though they have SLS. Money is tight and I don’t want to waste the products (some are practically full). But since I have gone natural with my hair products I’m loathed to go back. Decisions decisions.

I haven’t attempted to sew back on the lock that I accidently chopped off. I was thinking about it when I was re-tightening but I manage to use the tool and didn’t see the point. After all it’s only hair and it will grow back. As you can tell I’ve over my grief and accepted my loss lol.

I have a feeling that I have forgot to include something but if it comes to me I will add it another time.

But for now stay nappy and happy

Love

Khandi

A bit of this a bit of that

Hello my blogging family, hope that all is groovy with you all.

Well I was thinking the other day of updating my blog and now i can't r'ber what i said i would include :o/ LOL Never mind

I was re-tightening my locs the other day, it was getting late but i wanted to finish a section, plus i was watchin desperate housewives and i noticed a few hair strands had joined together. So i reached for the scissors to cut the strands as i couldn't undo them. Can you guess what happened?? That's right i cut my lock!!! You read that right I accidently cut my lock. I couldn't believe it.



What have a learnt from this, don't rush your re-tightening, stop when you are tired and concentrate on what you are doin. I still have the part i cut of and i was thinking of trying to sow it back on so it's not so short as i don't think I could retighten it the length it is. I haven't done it yet as i'm not sure i can see the angle properly. Apart from that there has not been much change in my locs since the last post.

I put perm rods in my hair last Thur but the curls didn't last long, more of a wave now. I did a new updo on Sunday where I pinned up both sides almost like a loc-hawk (but that was not what i was going for). I was inspired by a hair style i saw but i don't have a pic to show you. It didn't turn out how i wanted but i still think it looked nice. I will try it again when the curls are fresher.













Now O/T I recently spent 3 weeks in the Caribbean and i thought i would share some pics. I spent most of my time in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I spent 3 days in St. Lucia and I was in transit in Grenada and had a wistlestop tour. Hope you enjoy