1st and 2nd retightings

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I've been away so long. I have already committed the cardinal sin of "blog-neglect".

I had my first and second re-tightenings YAY!

Before I talk about that... I need to correct a few blunders previously stated in my blog: Salt water is not good for your hair, taking a toothbrush to the roots of baby locks is not a good thing to try, and apple cider vinegar rinse on baby locks is a no-no!

My consultant called me a few days before my first re-tightning session and let me know that I was on her "bad" list because of the things I tried on my hair and blogged about them. As many of you fellow SL ladies know dandruff and itchies aren't a new thing, after install however it's a whole 'nuther thing. So I tried a few things that I thought would help. The only one that I can say was a winner for me is using a Q-tip soaked with the Sea Breeze astringent and GENTLY rubbing my scalp. This made my scalp feel cleaner, took away some flakes, and didn't disturb my locks as much. So after my phone call you can probably imagine I was very nervous to actually go and was in a bit of a mental wreck over the idea that I had ruined my hair or not. Its nice to know that she was looking out for me but did she have to turn into "Big Sis'" on me? or was it more like "MOM" ? LOL I all seriousness though my consultant is one of the best around and I'm glad she let me know what not to do.

All in all she said my hair wasn't "that bad".  The second session was about the same only that time I had a few locks on the temple that refused to stay locked. I'll say this was my little wake up call and will try to do minimal styling between appointments, and less scratching. My next re-tightening is in two days and it couldn't come fast enough because several locks decided do they're own thing this time. 

I locked my hair so that I wouldn't have to focus on it and put my mental energy toward something more useful, but most of the time all I do is think about my hair. *sigh* I keep reading about patience, and I am remaining hopeful, and thinking about end result......pretty no-fuss locks. Some days are better than others so I'll keep focusing on the positives. I hope you all had a great Easter! I will post some pics ASAP.

Peace and Love   ^_~

Hair changes

Going into my first month of having Sl's and I am noticing a few changes:

Dry scalp-- I have read many other blogs about having the itchies, flakes and dry scalp. All of which I used to having before Sl's. But now water is my best friend :) I am really pushing to drink more water and HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE. When I made the decision to get Sl's one month ago, I tried not to use any oily hair products and noticed my hair texture is a bit curlier than I originally thought. Since the oils and conditioners aren't present my hair is free to really do it's thing.

Curly Q's-- Where are they?? I don't think I have any curly Q's. I'm probably not looking well enough, LOL The ones that Ican see look more like frizzy S's, this is particularly in the back of my hair where the texture is more dense and tightly curled.

Locs unraveling & bunching-- Many of my SL's in the back are soft and look like they are unraveling to me. I'm not too worried because I let my consultant know and she'll pay close attention to this area during my follow-up vistit. I did have two locks near my temple unravel completely.  :( I am also thinking ones in the back I should have asked to be smaller because of the big difference in feel between my SL's on the sides and hairline. I'll ask my consultant how she feels about splitting them in half. I have read that it is a challenge to do that and keep the grid pattern intact, but I am willing to compromise for uniformity. As far as bunching I think they are all bunching and shrinking a bit; a few of them already have some of what I think could be buds :)

At this stage I am a little worried that I may have rubbed then too much during the shampoos and made them too fuzzy; as I can't really see the parts well anymore. I hope that this is what they mean by "filling-in" and not over-manipuation. I actually don't mind the scalpy look though. Some days my hair feels soft, other days it feels bunchy, bumpy and resembles the look of "braids that were left in too long." Enjoying the journey and patience...

Peace.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! HAPPY LOCS :)

HI Sisterlock 'Fam!

Happy New Year to you all!

I am so excited about this upcoming year I can't wait to get started. I have a new hair do and new attitude. This year is really about not repeating some of last years mistakes and getting back to simple things that bring joy. For instance, reading a good book. I'm not talking about a 200 page urban romance novel ( however these have become my guilty pleasure *wink-wink*), but rather a 1000 page epic novel or even the memoir by Dr. Cornel West I have always leaned toward autobiographies and other non-fiction works for inspiration to gain a little insight on life. Nothing can replace some good old fashioned life experience IMHO.

Another simple goal is to chat with more ladies in my field of work. I am in the music industry and there are more and more women in the business these days, but is it still a largely male populated profession. Percussion is one of those sections of the music world that is varied, yet small when it comes to professional women. Even smaller still with women of color. I play hand percussion not orchestral. I just never had the love for the Tympani like I do for Latin and Brazilian music.

My locks are doing there own thing these days and hey they are looking amazing. AND I LOVE IT!

Peace and Blessings!

1st wash/1st week

Hey everyone!

Before I talk about hair I have non-hair topic to share with you. I had a major show last night that was one of  the coolest gigs to date. I had the pleasure of playing a holiday party for Hugh Jackman...... AT HIS HOUSE. Now normally I would nervous for this type of party, but let me tell you I was cool as cucumber. I wore my hair in an updo which I'll have to recreate later on to show you what it looked like. Before you ask... No I don't have ANY pictures, they had a strict no pictures policy and I left my camera at home by accident :( 

 Hugh's wife welcomed us in at the front door, and as we were setting up Hugh walked over and introduced himself personally to each of us. :) I can tell you who was at the party: Ivanka Trump, Barbara Walters, Gail King(Oprah was supposed to be there too), John Leguizano, Daniel Craig, Anna Wintour and Martha Stewart among many others. It was the weirdest mix of celebs I had seen. All I can say they do know how to party and have a good time :) The Jackman's were the sweetest couple.

OK Back to the hair...

Its been just one week and the itchies were getting to me. I  decided it was time to wash my hair a two days ago. I didn't get the complete instructions on how to dilute the starter shampoo so I tried a 4 parts water to 1 part shampoo.  I braided and banded, washed two times and then used an ACV rinse.  I rinsed, rinsed, rinsed.. and rinsed some more. I left the braids in and let them air dry. My hair felt waaaaaayyyyy different afterward. It felt stiffer at the roots and the Sl's stood up a little more. Is this bunching and has anyone else experienced this? 

This is after. I have a lot of scalp showing which I didn't mind. The itchies and flakes were gone initially but came right back two days later :(

So now the challenge is to keep these bad boys at bay.  I may have to get a dandruff shampoo, but first I'll try diluting some tea tree oil and gently brush the roots with a soft toothbrush.

Another thing I have noticed since having SL's for one week is I went from never touching hair to always having my hands in my hair and I know that may disrupt the locking process but I just can't help it. 

I LOVE MY HAIR.

Thanks for stopping by, Peace. 

Before SL's.......there was the 'Fro.

I truly loved my 'Fro and she will be missed dearly and at the request of C. Dominica I am posting a few pics of my hair her in her heydays . This was definitely my signature look during my college years. I have had other styles too from elaborate cornrows to the long yaki braid extensions. When I got my hair braided with yarn however and really enjoyed that look the most because it was the closest one that looked like locs.

Year: 1998
This is backstage after Maureen Murphy's senior recital. My hair used to be soooooo long. I remember not being able to put on baseball cap and had to comb it on the other side for the cap to fit.
After this performance I then became know as the "girl with the Afro that play's percussion".


Year: 2002 The 'Fro just chillin' ;) I think this was a twist out
but I couldn't figure out how to make my hair seem fluffy again after this.

Year: 2006 The 'Fro all dressed up for a summer performance outdoors.
The musical director hired a costume designer for this performance and I really didn't want to give her that skirt back afterwords.

Year: 2008 The 'Fro going to work. This was my "fail-safe" everyday hairstyle.

Sisterlock B-Day

What's up my peoples..

Well after about 16 hours over two days and a late fee(be on time people!) I have Sisterlocks! I have dreamed about getting locks like forever.


I have included a few pics of my process. I am still getting that hang of uploading in the correct order so these are out of order.


The first ones you see are at the end of day two. My Sweetie and I have a running joke between us about how he is really in love with the 'Fro and when I came home after the first day he says, " Hey that's not the 'Fro! Where's the 'Fro?, I don't recognize this person. " He was in awe really at the neatness and how tiny the locs are. I had a rehearsal the next day and it was freezing and very windy outside! I was really missing the comfort of the 'Fro that day...

The next photos are of some of the first sample locks. I was a little worried because these sample locks were almost unraveled by the time I had my first install day.

They next few are of day one. At this point they were kind of doing their own thing already. We hadn't gotten that much done because we were laughing it up the whole time. That's why I am so glad I trusted my gut and choose the consultant I did because IMHO, it's important to feel comfortable with the person who is going to spend so much time doing your hair. I have heard and read the horror stories about getting some bad certified consultants who didn't even use grid parting on their clients (gasp) and I am feeling lucky right now.

I can say I not in love YET, strong like YES,only because they aren't officially 100% locked. My locks and I will be making their on stage debut at a performance tonight in the City. It will be nice to only think about what I'm going to play and wear versus what am going to do with my hair. I'll keep you posted on my progress.


Take care and Peace

I'm on my way

Hi Everyone!

I am on my way to getting Sisterlocks in just two short days (Yay for me!) and couldn't be more nervous, excited, happy etc. Just to give you a brief history about my hair-story: My Mom relaxed my hair when I was 11 after I begged her to beacause the kids in my class were teasing me something awful. My Mom was busy and she didn't always have time to do our hair in the morning. I understand now that Moms are very busy people and can see how the lure of having more manageable hair and an "almost stress free child" would sound appealing.

It wasn't until my junior year of high school that I wanted to stop fighting with my hair, it kept growing back anyway and my Mom had started locking her hair. So I just let it grow out for about 6 months and wore bantu knots, and twist-outs most of the time. One key factor in my decision though was that one of the cutest guys in my class, whom I'd had a huge crush on, said, "I think you'd look really nice with your natural hair." If more young men did that for our young women I think there would be less creamy crack offenders out there. Love has been an inspiration for many of the greatest love songs, why not for natural hair too? Once I started letting it grow out I fell more in love with it and less in love with the relaxed hair. I had my big chop during the last week of my senior year in high school.

Since I have been natural for over ten years locks seemed like the most natural step. When I heard about about SL's and was smitten. (Can one be smitten over hair? ;) Well I certainly was. I hope to learn a lot about patience and myself along the way. Wish me luck and Thanks for stopping by :)