Lovin' my Locks

I just decided to wash my hair, because my scalp was feeling a little itchy.  I washed it, towel dried it, put a little oil on it, and Voila!! I am ready to hit the road again.  Locks are really great for a busy lifestyle.

2nd Anniversary

At the end of November I quietly celebrated my 2nd anniversary of lockdom. After two years, I still have no regrets.  With each passing month, and with every inch of growth, it just gets better and better.  I am really enjoying my hair.  Even when I have not had a chance to wash and style it, I am still able to have a nice looking style, thanks to hair ties and hair bands. 

This was also a time that was tinged with sadness, as the wonderful lady who first installed my locks two years ago died. She was in and out of hospital for months, which is why I had to switch to another consultant.  She sadly succumbed to her illness.  May her soul rest in peace.  I would still call her from time to time, and have a chit chat with her. She was still interested in the progress of my hair, and was always asking if my new consultant was caring for my hair properly.  I assured her that my hair is fine.  I will miss her.

Here is a picture taken in my car, with my phone, during a rare moment of idleness.  I just washed and set my hair on soft spikes last night.  The curls are still quite tight.  As the week progresses, the curls will relax.

Pony Tail

Well, as predicted, it was an uncomfortable night sleeping on those hard Chiney Bumps.  But I persevered and did not pull them out during the night.  Unfortunately after I unraveled the Bumps, the resulting hairstyle was rather unflattering.  The curls were wild and were going in every direction you can imagine. Not a pretty sight.  Anyway, my hair tie came to the rescue.  I put it up in a pony tail.

 

Here is a picture showing the curls after a day.  They have significantly relaxed, and don't look quite so frantic.

Bantu Knots

Tonight I decided to set my hair in Bantu Knots.  In Jamaica we call these Chiney Bumps. These were fun to do, and brought back childhood memories of my mom combing my hair in these Chiney Bumps after washing every Saturday morning. I would get a really pretty, curly hairstyle after the bumps were pulled out the next day.

Each Chiney Bump consists of 8 or 9 locks. I had to secure the ends with bobby pins, because the ends of my locks are plump, and don't tuck under very well.  I mildly dampened my hair after I was finished, because it is a very cool night, and if my hair is too wet, it will not dry on its own by tomorrow morning.

I had my hair re-tightened this week, and my scalp is a bit tender.  I am predicting that it is going to be difficult to sleep with this style tonight.  I also predict that I will probably pull out many of these Chiney Bumps during the night.  We'll see.

Here we go again

Well, we are all here bracing ourselves for Tropical Storm Tomas.  Here in Kingston, he seems to be playing a bit of hide and seek with us at the moment.  We had expected that by now, heavy rain would be tearing up the place.  So far it has just been drizzling on and off.  Not that I am complaining.  Quite the contrary.  I hope Senor Tomas moves right along and leaves us all alone.

My 2-year lock-versary is fast approaching - at the end of this month.  I cannot believe that the 2 years have gone by so quickly.  Sometimes I feel that my hair growth rate has slowed down, but I regain some perspective and objectivity when I compare a picture of two years ago, with a recent picture.

That's quite a difference isn't it?

By the way, I got a new toy last week.  I purchased a Kindle.  It is just the coolest toy ever!!  My husband calls it my new boyfriend, because it gets a lot of my undivided attention, and I do snuggle down with it at times.  Ha! Ha! He is such a joker.  I have not been reading as much as I used to, mainly because I am so darn tired all the time.  I am hoping that this gadget will entice me to say awake past the first two pages of a book!  We'll see.

I love Tomoka's Hair Ties I have one, and I absolutely love it. I decided to purchase two more today.  Here are the one's that I chose:
http://www.tomokastwists.com/images/thumbnails/GoGoDark.jpg

http://www.tomokastwists.com/item_226/Rae-II.htm

Aren't they gorgeous?  Can't wait for them to arrive.

Hot Oil Treatment

Last night I decided to give myself a hot olive oil treatment.  I put small amounts of olive oil in my palm, rubbed my palms together and worked the oil into sections of my hair.  When my entire head was done, I covered it with a plastic cap and sat under the hair dryer for about 15 minutes.

I then shampooed as usual. After shampooing I towel dried my hair, and put a little more olive oil on.  I set it up as usual.  This morning my hair feels great and looks lustrous.

I think I will try to do this every month.  I am sure my hair will thank me for it.

Relief

As I mentioned earlier this week, I have a dry, scaly and itchy patch on my scalp.  In fact, my entire head has been very itchy.

I decided to try good old Head and Shoulders dandruff shampoo.  It worked really well.  After just one shampoo, the itchiness has calmed down completely.

After a week of torrential rainfall that has caused much property and infrastructural damage and some very unfortunate deaths,  the rain seems to have abated.  This morning it is just drizzling.  I hope the sun comes out again soon.  I offer a prayer for all the families that are grieving this morning.  Property damage is one thing, but when your family members die because of a collapsed building, that is a whole other nightmare.

This sort of tragedy really puts things into perspective.  I realize that my complaining about a leaky roof and wet spots in my house really sounds whiny and pathetic, When you think about families who are wondering where they are going to live, and how are they going to feed their children, after this devastating storm.

It is very humbling.

22 Months

Today is my 22 month anniversary of lockdom.  I am still happy with my decision to get locks and so far I have had no regrets. In fact, I think that I am now more or less over the more difficult, early part of the lock journey. Getting through this tough stage was a learning experience for me and I think I am a stronger, more confident person for having gone through it.


For a couple of months I have been feeling like my hair has not been growing much.  Maybe I am mistaken, or maybe not.  Perhaps the rate of growth has slowed down a bit. On the other hand, my hair has become immensely annoying at night, when it gets in my face while I sleep. Ha! I didn't think I would ever live long enough to say that!  One thing that pleases me is that I can now do an up-do using a hair band.

 The up-do looks nicer when my hair is curled, but it works out just fine even when my hair is not curled.  Finally, some versatility!!

Here is a picture of just-curled hair. This was taken just before my re-tightening. You can see lots of new growth at the front.

Right now I have a dry, scaly patch of scalp at the front of my head.  I am not quite sure why this is happening, and I am not sure what to do about it.  Maybe I will try some dandruff shampoo. Can anyone recommend anything will be easy to wash out and that wont get stuck in my locks?

Great Summer Almost Done

Well, it has been a very hectic summer. My two girls were very busy with summer activities for all of July and into August.  This meant that we parents were super busy transporting them all over the place from one activity to the next.  The only reprieve that we had was when they spent a week at camp.  They enjoyed themselves tremendously and we enjoyed the week of quiet tranquility.  Truth be told, I missed them after a few days, and the silence in the house started to drive me crazy.

My cousin from Canada spent a week with us.  That was a lovely week spent with her, just catching up on each others lives. She has some really beautiful locks.

Then we spent a weekend in Negril. We all had a grand time there. We spent time on the beach and spent a day at a water park. I really love summer holidays.


























































Then we spent last weekend at another beach in another part of the island.  This time in Trelawny.

Here's a picture of my mom, my girls and me.  Three generations vacationing together.  These are precious moments that I truly treasure.  My mom will be 70 years old at the end of August. Can you believe that? She looks great and she is enjoying her life.

Dad and his daughters. These three would get up at the crack of dawn to play in the pool. Before breakfast. Talk about energy!

With all the sea, sand, sun  and chlorine, my locks held up very well.  They are a little fuzzy and could probably do with re-tightening now.  But I don't think I can find the time to do this before my scheduled re-ti at the beginning of September.
Just as I am settling into the groove of summer, it is almost over. Sigh......my two weeks off is over and I am back at work. And we will soon be gearing up for back to school.  So not much time left to relax.  I think we will try to squeeze one more beach weekend into the remainder of the summer.

Happy Happy Day

Today one of my dearest friends got married.  Of course I had to try and glam it up for my friend. It has been really hot, rainy and extremely humid this weekend, and I had to figure out what to do with my hair, so that it would stand up to the weather.  I washed it last night, and spritzed it with diluted Lotta Body setting lotion before putting in my soft spike curlers. I don't like to use Lotta Body because it makes my hair feel hard, but with this weather, I had to pull out the big guns. It worked.  My curls held up nicely all afternoon and all night.

Doesn't my friend look gorgeous?  I wish for her a happy, happy life with her new husband.

Product Junkie at it again

As a recovering product junkie, I back-slid this week and found myself wandering through one of those large beauty supply stores. I wandered the aisles ogling all the products, knowing that there are very few of them that I would actually use on my hair now.  However, this one caught my eye - Dax Vegetable Oil Shampoo.

I tried it this evening, and I was not disappointed.  It left my hair feeling very clean without feeling either too dry, or too silky.  This is a problem that I have with some of the shampoos that I really like - they make my hair too soft, and makes some of my locks unravel.  The shampoos that are usually recommended for locks leave my hair feeling dry and trashy, like straw.  This Dax Shampoo strikes a good balance between these two extremes for me.  When I comb out my soft spike set tomorrow, I will see what my hair really looks and feels like.

Let's Twist Again

I made another attempt at the Flat twist hairstyle.  This time I used smaller hair sections (two rows of locks) and I used bobby pins to secure the ends of the twists, instead of hairpins.  I think it is an improvement over the last attempt.  I am so tender-headed these days, that my head feels quite sore, even though the twists are not tight. Maybe I need to massage my head everyday in order to overcome the tenderness.  Whenever my hair is manipulated in any way, my scalp feels sore. It is especially sore after a re-tightening session. I think this is because since having locks, my hair and scalp are no longer used to be touched, combed or brushed everyday.

A New Beginning?

It seems that my consultant will be out of commission for a long period of time, so I found myself a new consultant, and I had my hair re-tightened today. It hadn't been done professionally since the beginning of April, so it felt really good afterwards. My new consultant did a really good job and she completed the re-ti in record time - 2.5 hours. She also groomed my locks by clipping off the fuzzies and cutting off the balls from the ends.  My hair looks so much neater now.

She shocked me by asking if I would consider taking down my locks and starting all over again. Huh??  She said that my parts are not straight (this is no surprise to me), some of the partings are not square and that some of my locks are too big.  Wow!!  I sat and thought about this for about 20 minutes, then decided that I would live with the imperfections.  The thought of the expense, the time, and just the idea of starting all over again.........not worth it just to have perfect looking hair.  What would you do if given this choice? I am interested to hear your opinions.

I ordered a hair tie from Tomoka's Twists, and it arrived in the mail today.  I love, love, love it!!

The one thing that I cannot stand when my hair is re-tightened is the scalpy look.....ugh!

Flat Twists

The front of my hair has grown long enough now, that it flops into my eyes.  I usually pin it up or wear a head band to keep it out of my way.  This morning I decided to try flat twisting the front.  It is not exactly "pretty", but it will do. I am sure I will get better with practice. I just realized that the parts that my consultant made are not very straight........Hmmmmm.

Braid Out at 18 Months

Last night I decided to do something different with my hair. I wanted to try another braid out, since my hair has grown, since the last time I tried this style.  I dampened my hair with my water-glycerin-lavender oil mixture and plaited it in sections.  It dried overnight.  Well, it did not air dry as thoroughly as I had hoped, because it rained all night long.  Anyway here are some fuzzy pictures to show for my efforts.
By the way, it is my 18 month anniversary with locks. The time has really flown by fast.

Time for some DIY

My last re-tightening was almost eight weeks ago!! My dear consultant has been sick and has not been able to make it to my last two appointments. Needless to say, my hair is looking a little wild. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands......with my Nappy Lock tool.

Now, I am pretty good with this little tool when it comes to doing the front sections of my hair.  However, when it comes to doing the back it becomes very difficult for me, simply because I cannot see what I am doing, and have to rely on touch only.  I have accidentally joined a few locks in the back, and it is hard to undo them.
Here are five locks which have been  re-tightened.

See these two locks at the front of my head? Look at the one on the left.  It is hanging on by just a few hairs.  The hair at this part of my head is quite thin.












I decided to join the two of these locks together, thereby strengthening the weak one.  How's that for taking things into my own hands?  It is actually quite an empowering feeling.

Essential Oils

I really enjoy reading other people's hair blogs. I have learned so much, while being thoroughly entertained.  Well, I have recently been reading about glycerin and essential oils. And, can I tell you, I am intrigued.  So I went to the Health Food Store and bought some pure vegetable glycerin and some lavender oil.

Glycerin is a humectant, which means that it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. And the lavender essential oil just smells heavenly. I got my old, faithful plastic spray bottle, which I think holds about 10 ounces.  I added about two teaspoons of the glycerin, and about 10 drops of the lavender oil. I then filled the bottle with water.  I didn't fill it all the way.  I left enough space to be able to really give the mixture a good shake.  Then I gave my hair a good spritz.  It smells AMAZING! The smell just really lifted my spirits. And my hair feels nice and soft.  I hope that this glycerin mixture lives up to all the hype over the long haul.

This is what my hair looked like minutes after spritzing.

Unraveled locks

I washed my hair on Friday, and some of my locks have unraveled.  This unraveling business is really getting on my last good nerve.  I have this problem at the front of my hair and at the back.  When I try to fix the ones at the back myself, I end up joining locks together because I can't see what I am doing.  I have to wait for another 10 days for my scheduled appointment with my consultant.  This is really frustrating.

Tired of the Gray

Well, I have finally taken the plunge to cover up the gray hairs.  They are now just a little bit too much and I am not quite ready to embrace so much of it.  So I bought a little bottle of black semi-permanent colouring and I did it myself last night.  It didn't turn out too badly, but next time I will have to leave it in a little bit longer, to really cover up those stubborn babies along my hairline.

I resisted for a long time, because I feared that the colouring product would damage my hair.  I have not noticed anything bad going on with my hair this morning.  In fact it feels quite moist and healthy. We'll see what happens over time.

A Pony Tail

At long last I got my hair in a ponytail!!  My hair is pulled back so tightly, I am pretty sure this must be what a face lift feels like.

Locks on the go

I just finished a wonderful visit to Cape Town in South Africa.  This was a business trip, but I had to squeeze in some fun.  I have an adventurous palate and had a great time trying out some weird and wonderful dishes.  There are a gazilion types of  restaurants to choose from in Cape Town and I did try quite a few different types.

This is a dish with Kudu and Springbok (two types of Antelope) and Ostrich.  The white thing is called Pap. Some people call it polenta and in Jamaica we call it "Turn Corn Meal".  This was a truly delicious meal.









The next unusual thing that I tried was crocodile.  I was definitely not sure that I would like this, so I decided to try just a small amount, so I ordered a crocodile kebab.  It was really very, very tasty.

I was really surprised that being in Africa, I didn't see more natural hairstyles.  Most of the black women had relaxed hair, wigs and weaves.  Imagine my absolute delight one evening when I went out to dinner with a colleague and his wife. When I met the wife for the first time and I saw her head of gorgeous traditional locks, I almost fell out of my seat with excitement. I was dying to ask her about her hair, but I didn't want to be impolite.  At the appropriate time in the evening I complimented her hair, and it turns out that she was just as excited to see my hair.  She didn't know what it was - twists? Glued on hair?  When I told her it was sisterlocks, and it was my own hair, she was even more curious.  So I explained to her how it was done and I gave her a demo on one of my loose locks, using my fingers.  She asked me to send her pictures of my hair.  She is a dermatologist, and is quite distressed at the huge amount of hair damage and hair loss that she sees in her patients who relax their hair.

My locks did very, very well on the trip.  Here are a couple of pictures. Along my journey, I stopped off in London to visit with relatives, and again, my hair created quite a stir among my aunts and cousins. They all want to have my hairstyle.  They all hesitated though, when I told them that it is permanent. Nope, can't undo them!!

Here I am at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront.

Here I am with my new friend in her stall at the Pan African Market.  If you are ever in Cape Town and you want some authentic African art, crafts, masks, etc. then this is the place to check out. I got some really nice batiks, tablecloths and necklaces from her.  And I haggled with her and got what I thought were some great bargains.

I couldn't resist posing beside this big fellow.

Just a sampling of the hundreds of masks from which to choose.

I am freezing here during an early morning walk with giraffes on a safari.

15 Months

Well, I just got my hair re-tightened.  It was a bit of a mess, because I hadn't had it done since before Christmas, eight weeks ago.  I have been trying to space out my re-tightenings to more than four or five weeks, but I think eight weeks might be pushing it too far.

There isn't much going on with my hair, except that it is continuing to grow quite fast. I can't wait until I can get it in a ponytail, but I think that is not going to happen until I grow a few more inches. My locks are settling nicely, but there are still some locks on the top of my head that are open, and steadfastly refusing to lock.  Here is a picture three days after re-tightening, a wash and a sponge roller set.