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!

And another thing

I forgot to mention that when I was in Vegas, a week a ago, I received my first random compliment on my hair. What I mean by random is that it was from a stranger. I was at a time share presentation (for free tickets you know the drill) with a couple from Michigan or Missouri. While we were waiting for our ride back to the Strip, she mentioned how much she liked my natural hair in braids. I enthusiastically informed her that it was Sisterlocs and not braids and that she should really look into it for her daughter. Her daughter is finishing university and is contemplating a natural style. I don't know how much she really listened, but I am sure the seed has been planted.

On a side note, it looks like another trip is in the works in January and I'll be able to see my little niece A.K.A mini-me. The good news is that now I don't have to frantically squeeze in a re-tight every time I vist them now. I can do it myself. Yay me...hold that thought. I still have to do it all myself first. I am feeling some new growth already (I know it's only been two weeks!) I'll have some time off over the Christmas holidays, so I will rent some dvd's and make myself comfortable.

Mission Accomplished

Woo Hoo! My trip was successful on the hair front. I was able to get a hair re-tightening and a lesson the week I was in Toronto. My original consultanttrainee surfaced just before I left home for my trip. It turns out she didn't check the email address and she was indeed in hospital, so she was not able to give me my follow up appointment or my starter kit.

Maria D instructed my on the retightening process. I am very happy I got this done since I now don't have to worry about strategically planning my trips around hair appointments. Way less stress even thinking about it. Phew!

My Aunt is still not sold on Sisterlocks, but she has seen it just after it has been done, so it's not looking it's best when she sees it. I did show her some pictures, and she did say it looked nice. I will be seeing her again In January, so I am sure that it will be looking much better when she sees me then when I next visit Toronto.

I ran into my friend Antoinette in the grocery store yesterday and she cannot get over how much my hair has grown, and she only saw me two weeks ago pre-retightening. My girlfriends who met me in Vegas were also surprised at how much my hair had grown. Actually, one didn't even recognise me from behind. She came up wondering who "that woman with the bob was". So needless to say that there has been some ample growth that is now even more apparent now that my hair has been retightened.

In February, I hope to see my brother and his family. I hope to entice my sister-in-law to get out of weaves and into sisterlocks. I told her that when she sees my hair after a year, she is going to be jealous and wish that she had done so as well. It's just a matter of time till she comes over to the "locked" side.

Now, this next phase will have me experimenting with some styling. I am looking forward to that since I am used to my hair having some body and being kind of "up" like it was when it was shorter. Now I have to get accustomed to styling my own hair which now has some weight and some length, which is a new ballgame for me. I'll start moisturizing in January, and until then will take advantage of the dry climate I live in to assist with locing my hair.

Overdue

Well, it's been far too long since my last retightening. I was not able to travel out of the Yukon as I planned until the end of November. That would be 3 1/2 months between retights, so I am already long overdue. I am sooo looking forward to my hair being done.

My original Consultant trainee is AWOL. I never received my starter kit from her, nor has she replied to any of my emails. She does have poor health , so I can't help but worry, but a sign of life would be ideal. She owes me a retightening. I will call her this week, and If I am not able to make contact, I may have to make a call to Sisterlocks to let them know that her status so they can update the information on the site for who is available.

The good news is that I have a lesson booked for when I pass through Toronto in November. I will still find another consultant to spend a few hours with beforehand to handle all the slippage. I imagine about 4-5 hours should do the trick. They won't be doing all of it since I need to leave some to work on for the training session. It's really important that I do retightening training so I don't have to worry about when my next trip is "out" to get it done. Anyhow, here is current state of my po' little head. 3 and 1/2 weeks till I get my mop all gussied up. I can't wait!