3 Years Down

Wow,

I cannot believe that time has flown like it has.

June 21st was my third year since I have had my locs become part of my life and I am still really enjoying them.

My hair is not super thick, I have had quite a bit of loss, and at times I thought about starting from scratch again, but then I thought I need to stop comparing myself to others. The only person who is worried about how thin my hair is, is me. Nobody else is complaining!

Besides...its still growing and continues to do so. And it's still looking pretty good.

I have only managed two professional re-ti's in the past 10 months, but that is due to logistics. the closest consultant that I can go to, and absolutely love, lives in Edmonton. For me to get there is a 6 hour drive, possibly an overnight hotel before I take a two hour flight from Whitehorse and then rent a car when I get to Edmonton and drive another 45 minutes. I was lucky enough to tie in my last two visits with a business trip. Jane was happy to accommodate my last minute visit; since she understands that it's planes, trains and automobiles for me to get anywhere. I feel doubly special since she is too busy and is not taking on any more clients; she appreciates the efforts I make to come see her. Besides, she loves hearing about my adventures in on-line dating. I was happy to update her on the events on my current romantic situation - which is truly awesome by the way! (see pic with handsome man).

I love Jane, my Edmonton loc lady since she doesn't judge or chastise me for not having perfect lines/parts for my locks. I am happy to still have my locks! She gave me some tips on how to make my hair look fuller. She is as confused as I am about the loss, since I do re-ti myself about every 4 weeks. When my locks break off, it's not at the root, its in the middle of the loc. The bright side of it is that I don't lose an entire loc like I used to when it was shorter. After three years, it's much more devastating losing a loc cause now you know how long it will take to grow back! Looking at the top of my head recently, I have lost a number of ones on the top of my head, but they weren't all at once so I have been able to camouflage the loss with styling and wearing my hair differently. Like I mentioned before, I am the only one that notices.

Anyhow, I will post some more pics shortly. They are on my other computer.

Looking at other loc blogs, it's funny how we swear we will keep everyone up to date...at first...then life gets in the way. Before you know it, you are down to only one post a year! Ahh well, I am still here!

All in all, it's been a fantastic year. I have just turned 41; ran three half marathons last year, got a great new job and just found the love of my life. I felt like I won the life lottery...but I am not going to let that stop me from buying a lottery ticket anyway....

Cheers folks!

Grow on...

Well I overshot my anniversary. It’s 28 months; over 2 years since I had my sisterlocs installed and I am still a happy camper. I am not losing as many as I used to and they all of course have grown back. Now the tricky part is taking care of the newbies along with the previously loc’d hair. So I am still not conditioning much as a result. I have a nice hair mist with some e.o of Rosemary that I spritz it with between shampoos, which is once a week.

I was able to go for a professional re-ti in August while I was in Edmonton. I found a fabulous consultant named Jane. Very sweet, patient and fast (it took me two hours to locate her from the airport…long story). Compared to my last appointment; Jane was much faster – under four hours for the re-ti and then another 3 hours on another evening for grooming. My last appointment was 8 hours without grooming, so really, this woman was half the time.

Edmonton is quite a ways from me, and certainly not enroute to any of my popular destinations. Now if Jane was in Vancouver, that would be perfect because I always fly through there on my way to or from the Yukon. As it is, there are no consultants in Vancouver, which I am sad but not surprised since they do not have a large black population on the west coast of Canada.

My next trip “out “ will be November, and if I make it to Charlotte, I will be able to squeeze an appointment with my favourite consultant, Nera. Hopefully she won’t have to bite her tongue as much on my next visit since my hair is way less disastrous than last year.

My hair is now long enough to put into a small pony tail, or should we call it a goat tail, since they run a little smaller than your average pony.

I have to say that when I style it (twist my hair into knots while damp and take it out) it looks pretty darn smashing.

Anyhow, here are the most recent pics of my hair…the summer of 2010. Oh yes, I just turned forty in June and I am feeling fabulous and I think I am looking great and am now training for my 4^th half marathon and having a grand time dating. Dating who you ask? Any one I want to!

Cheers friends!

Good Hair Days

March 2010

I have noticed my growth as of late. I am loving it! For the longest time it seems like nothing was happening. Here are my most recent pics from this April. I'll even add the one from February in Mexico to compare.

My self re-tis are getting a little better. Mind you it could be due to fewer locs to do from all the ones that I lost over the first year.

Here's a question for you loc'd ones...I notice some people are religious about their part/grid and such. I really don't seemed to be bothered by scalp grid not being perfect. After all, I am not having to stare at it, and neither does anyone else. I think. Is this wrong not to be so particular?

Far too long

Well, its been far too long and instead of filling up this space with excuses, I am just going to fill in the key details of the past year.

June of 2009, was the first anniversary of my locs. They were still looking good. I was playing round with styling it. My favourite is twisting my hair into bantu knots overnight, and then tousling it out the next morning. This look gives it curl and fullness and I got many compliments. I wore it this way to a ball. The pictures of me in black, are the from that day.

I did lose many locks over the first year. I couldn't tell you why. Each consultant I go to for a re-tight may be full of complaint and lecture before they start my nest of a head; but after our session have a much better understanding of my challenges with my hair. (I continue to do it myself in between visits). I went for a re-ti last September, with my dear Nera when I was visiting my brother in NC. I lost many locs there as she managed to salvage as much as she could. I kept them all hoping I would some day either find someone or figure out how to re-attach them be sewing them back on.

The exodus of loc loss seems to has stilled; and I am sure that it helps that I am not re-tightening them as often as I used to. I have improved greatly in doing them myself and not getting them all tangled up, so my last consultant visit at the end of January this year was better spent more on restarting the new ones that had dropped out over the past few months. Thanks to a month in Mexico swimming almost every day, not many of them stayed in. And then with all that extra sun and all, I had another growth spurt, but I am trying to keep to only once a month for my re-ties.


This one here is my first anniversary pic. What a difference a year makes.
I do really kind of miss the shorter hair days. I thought that it looked pretty good, but then I was always used to short hair. I did get a lot of compliments in those days. But then I still do!

This last summer the top and sides actually got long enough for me to tie it back or at least pull it up. The picture with my dad looks pretty good.

Ifs funny how we all go thru stages where it doesn't feel like our hair is doing anything or growing, and then you get to see some pictures and then you finally get to see the dffference.

I should be better at keeping this blog up to date as I have a new camera. I also managed to take a few pics in Mexico, right after I got my hair retightened.

Slow Learner

Hey Friends,

No luck with my camera turning up so I have been in major picture withdrawals. But I had a brain fart and figured out my how to use my webcam on my new mini laptop. Voila, current pictures.

It's been almost 11 months since my install. I am still super happy with my decision. I am also glad that I learned how to maintain my hair on my own.

I have been getting better at it, but I am a little worried by the number of locs I have lost. I am embarrassed to say the losses have been pretty numerous as of late, but I need to share that in case anyone else is in the same boat. I cannot tell you why I am losing so many, but I don't have any bald spots. Even when I went for my last re-tight with my original consultant in January, there were some she was not able to save. She put it down to the less than adequate previous re-tight I had since she could not believe I could have had so much growth in only 6-7 weeks, but I personally think that she underestimated my growth. When I saw my friends in Toronto at the end of November, the day before I got it done, to them seeing me the third week of January, they were stunned at how much my hair had grown. The good news is that hair grows back and on my next big trip out I will find a consultant to install some new ones to replace those which vacated my scalp.

In the meantime, I have to combat the loss. I haven't really started to moisturize until recently. Hopefully that will help. I reside in a really dry climate, so I thought it would help with the locing process, but apparently it may have contributed to some of the loc loss.

Again I apologize for not keeping you up to date. I did try to make an entry in March, but I lost my superlong entry trying to post it, and of course I was way too ticked and frustrated to retype it so put it off. Now it's been 3 months, and now I am armed with some technology at hand that will allow me to post more and current pics.

The first photo is in a group from last February in Miami. The webcams are from today. It looks a little thinner thanks to some of my loc loss, but I do have more length.

Any insights would be welcome. It's nice to be back.

Back sooner than later! Maybe I will play with some curls and post those....

Cheerio!

It's about time

Hey Friends;

My apologies for being so quiet over the last couple of months. I have been on the road off and on since mid-January and I am finally on my way home to stay for awhile... I promise! I've got to pay off all of these trips I have taken!

In January, 7 months after my original install; I finally connected with my original trainee who installed my locs. She was sick and unavailable every time I passed thru TO ( passing through is a two day trip for me to even get there). So I was never able to get my follow up retight until January. Of course by then I had started retightening my own hair, so it worked out fine, since she now had to clean up my failed attempts at avoiding my two headed monsters. I didn't get time to get it all done; since I was traveling back home that day and had to catch my flight. The good news is that I finally got my starter kit. As it turns out, I don't really care for the shampoo anyway. Go figure?

Now you must be saying to yourself, " where are your pictures?" Well it's because I am saying to myself "Where is my damn camera?" I haven't seen it since I left Toronto last month. I used it the night before I left and I am pretty sure it was in my purse; but I haven't found it since I got home. I am really missing it! I have had another growth spurt. I am sure that when I get home, my friends who haven't seen me before Christmas, are going to be stunned at my hair growth in such a short time.

I think a big reason for the growth is the lack of shampoo. I have been using a dilution of Dr. Bonners Organic Oil Soap instead. Doing some research I found that SLS; the major ingredient in 99% of all shampoo and body cleanser products; is toxic and actually irritates the hair shaft and slows growth. I have to believe that since I have never seen my hair grow like this since I have gone natural. I have a co-worker that I shared this info with and it made sense to her why her hair grew while she backpacked for three months in Europe; she washed her silky black shoulder length hair very infrequently since she was travelling and on the road all the time. When she returned home; her family could not believe that her hair had grown so much in three months; it was almost to her waist when she returned. Food for thought people. Do our homework!

Other than that it will be good to be back home; I have been gone since Feb 2nd. I had a great trip though; I went to a conference in Miami to learn about my new business venture (btw if you like shopping online; feel free to do it through my web portal at www.marketamerica.com/shopyukon; most of your favourite stores should be under the "shop partners" section thanks for your support if you are gonna shop anyway!) There I learned about all the new vitamins they are bringing out; I learned how to do blend custom mineral foundation; both liquid and powder! That's right, custom make up with no parabens fragrance or talc! Very cool; my friends are looking forward to me coming home so I can hook them up with their own foundation recipe; and very cool other stuff.

I then headed to Orlando for a few days to do the tourist thing. There I was able to meet up with a friend that I haven't seen in 22 years. She was my best friend when I lived in Africa for a few years growing up. It was fantastic to see her and her family. They are from Zimbabwe, so I was able to get first hand info on what is happening down there these days since they still have family there. It's pretty devastating and the politics are so evil. I can't even begin to tell you what stuff isn't even making the news.

The last week and a half has been in Charlotte; hanging out with my mini-me who knows me now as Auntie Lue. I am very happy that she will remember her "Auntie" from now own. Oh, by the way while I was at my brothers Chiropractic and Wellness Clinic last night; another woman in the workshop noticed my Sisterlocs, since she had them too! She was admiring how well mine were locing. We didn't get a chance to chat since the Drs Report was commencing but if she becomes a patient of my brother, I am sure that I will see her on my next trip there.

Anyhow, it should be time to board; Gotta run. hopefully some pics soon!

P.S this pic was from Nov 08 at 5 months

Monsterhead

Well, over the past few evenings I have started retightening my hair myself for the first time, I would say with varied success, but I am sure it will get easier as time goes on. I think my consultant will have some work to do when I see her next month. I only lost 4 locks! lol I am however, even more happy with the decision I made to take a class. Best investment of the year I think. Even if I have a half-dozen two headed monsters! Well, really, monsters is a strong word since they are so small, so lets call them creatures for the time being.

Winter Solstice, December 21st, marked my six month Sisterlock anniversary. In the past month since my last re-teightening, I too experienced that "shrinkage" everyone else seems to go thru but I think I am getting past that stage for the time being.

I am at home from work (office closure for Christmas..yahoo!) for a few days and while sitting here I am thinking, why not try some styling in the comfort of my home home? So I think I will play around, even though I don't have any accessories I will borrow some of the creativity I have read on other blogs. Also, while I was puttering around the house feeling pudgy, I thought that this may be the time when I need to start training for a half marathon. I am not even a runner, so I will start my 5 k training first, which has been my goal for the past three years. Now that I promised my friend that I will do a half marathon with her next fall, I really have to get my but (one "t" in butt used deliberately since mine is soo flat, this baby go not back) in gear. Note to self, stop making promises and plans while drinking wine! Anyone have any tips with mass perspiration and sisterlocks?

Anyhow, I have attached a few pics from my second retight at the end of November last month, as well as the most recent from the last week or two. I'll post my attempts at styling soon!