Happy Easter

I hope you all had a happy Easter!  Mine was very good, what with church services on Friday and Sunday, and a big family and friend gathering for Sunday dinner.  I took it easy on the bun and cheese too!

I am in the process of retightening my hair myself. As always it takes 4 to 5 sessions, each session lasting about 2 hours. It is getting easier, but boy is it tedious. I have one more section at the back to complete, but I thought I would just take a snapshot now.

My hair is going through a growth spurt at the moment.  It seems to do this from time to time. As I go through the retightening process, there are some locks that require 3 or 4 rotations.  That's a lot of growth.  And there are some locks that have not budged since the last retightening 6 weeks ago.

I have added black castor oil to my hair care regimen.  After washing with White Rain Shampoo, I use it on my scalp and hair.  It really gives my hair a nice feel. And it is not as greasy as petroleum based oils.  I often use a heavy conditioner (like Pantene or Redken Smooth Down Butter Treat on my hair because it is so dry. I live in a hot dry climate, which makes the hair dryness worse. In the mornings I spritz with a mixture of water, vegetable glycerin and lavender oil.

On another note, I am very impressed when I go out and observe just how many women are wearing natural hair styles.  It is heart warming to see so many women just rocking their afros, twists, locks, plaits etc. It seems to be a growing trend, and I think it is just wonderful.  There's nothing wrong with wigs, weaves, extensions or relaxed hair in my opinion.  I say do whatever it is that makes you feel pretty and empowered!  Life's too short to be making a huge fuss over a hair style.

Empowered

Since I learned how to re-tighten my hair on Sunday, I have been feeling mighty pleased with myself.  Each night this week I have working on small sections of hair, and doing a pretty good job so far. One thing that made the whole process easier for me, was that the trainer showed me how my hair was parted initially, when my sisterlocks were first installed.  I had just assumed that my hair was parted in four sections, two at the front and two at the back. And I could never ever find that middle part from front to the back, which was very frustrating for me.  However, it was pointed out that my hair was actually parted in five sections, two at the front and three at the back.  That was when the light bulb went off.  My AHA! moment. 

So each night I have been working on one of the five sections.  I have completed three of them, and just have two more to go.  It is a nice feeling to know that I am gaining independence from my consultant.  I will go and see her soon, just so that she can check that I have been doing OK with the re-tightening.  I did manage to knot two locks together, but with the help of my daughter, I fixed that.  The secret to preventing this from happening is to use clips to keep neighbouring locks out of the way of the lock that you are working on.

Still can't manage the back

So I went for my professional re-tightening today.  The front of my hair which I had done myself looked great, and was done well.  However, the back was another story.  I only did a few rows, but they were not well done.  I apparently messed up my lock pattern on some of these locks.  My loctician encouraged me once again to take a retightening class so that I can be taught properly.  I am seriously thinking about it.

By the way, my retightening session lasted one hour!! Yes, one hour!!  This was because I had done the front myself, and therefore cut the loctician's time in half. This really encouraged me to continue to try to help myself.

Doing it Myself.........Again

I bought a Nappy Lock Tool some time ago, with the intention of doing my own retightenings.  Well, I have not been very good about doing it myself.

Well, I now have a newly revived enthusiasm for doing my own retightenings.  I hope I can stick to it this time.  Last night I did one half of the front of my head, and tonight I did the other half of the front.  It took about 1.5 hours to do each half, which included fixing slippage and loose tufts of hair.  As in the past, I have found that the front is easy to do because I can see what I am doing. The back of my head is the real challenge.  I really need to overcome the difficulty of feeling what I am doing rather than seeing.  This will take patience and practice I know.

The main difference between a professional re-ti and my DIY re-ti is that my head is not sore at the end.  I don't tighten my locks so much that there is tugging at my roots.  And because I don't tighten them too much, I don't have too much of the "scalpy" look.

I will tackle the back tomorrow.  And I will do a post on my progress.  Any tips would be more than welcome.

Helping Myself

Yesterday I decided to do my own re-tightening.  I bought the Nappy-Lock tool some long time ago, but I haven't used it recently.  I did the front of my head quite easily, in a few hours, but I did not have the energy to do the back.  Truth be told, I still cannot do the back of my head, without creating a mess.  Because I can't see back there, I tend to get locks tangled up with each other.  I also fixed some locks that were bunching and I sewed in some loose strands of hair that had slipped out of locks, using Dewdrop's method

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!

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.

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.

10 Months

Well, 10 months have passed since my locks were installed at the end of  November last year.  I can honestly say that I have not had a moment of regret about locking my hair.  In the beginning I had moments of insecurity about how looked, but I have never regretted it.

Here is a picture taken a few days ago before re-tightening. It is very fuzzy and is looking a bit untidy.

Yesterday, I had it re-tightened.  Here is a picture after re-tightening, washing and setting.  Looking and feeling much better.

My consultant is pleasantly surprised at the rapid growth of my hair.  She is also urging me to braid and band when I wash.  I stopped doing this months ago, when I found it to be too much of a chore.  Since she asked me to do this yesterday when I was feeling tired and grumpy, after sitting for 5 hours getting my hair done, my immediate response (in my head) was "She has got to be kidding me".

Today, I am well rested and in a much better mood, so I am considering it.  I have already been cussed by N'Drea and JaStu for not braiding and banding, and for committing all sorts of other sins, so I know all the arguments for braiding and banding.  But, grrrrrrr, it really drives me nuts.

For the most part, my hair is very far along in the locking process, but there are a few areas which are steadfastly refusing to lock.  In fact, along my hair line in the front, the short length plus the texture of my hair in this area is such that the locks won't even stay in place.  Some of them completely unravel by the time the next re-tightening is due.

I still get lots of compliments on my hair, which is very encouraging, and the people who see me fairly infrequently are astounded by the rapid growth that they observe each time they do see me.

The gray hair at the front is beginning to drive me crazy.  I don't think I want to colour them though.  I am just afraid that I will have to colour forever and ever if I start.

Retightening

Well, I finally got my hair re-tightened after 7 weeks. My goodness! I had a lot of tangling at the roots and unraveling. I will certainly try to re-tightening every month from now on. It is really growing fast now, and even my consultant was surprised. It is now long enough for me to clip up the sides with fancy clips, and I now feel comfortable with free-styling.

Six Months

My sisterlocks are now six months old. I have seen a definite change in the locks over the last two or three weeks, where the locks are now fatter and are very unruly. I am not sure if this is just part of the locking process or it is because I am desperately in need of a re tightening. I am going on seven weeks now since my last re-tightening. Ohhhh!! Bad idea!! My consultant comes on Friday and I can't wait.

I have been doing a little re-tightening myself, mostly with my fingers, and sometimes with my nappy lock tool. This maintenance has helped to keep my hair looking fairly ok, but it is really time to get some professional care.

I treated myself to one of Tomoka's hair twists. I got it today and I really love it.

DIY Retightening

Being an avid do-it-yourselfer, I have been itching to learn how to re-tighten my own hair. I have been wonderfully inspired by Kalia Dewdrop and her lovely hair, and I decided that if she can do it, then so can I. Hee Hee! I really cracked myself up with this one. The task of doing my own retightening was definitely more difficult than I thought it would be.

I bought a Nappy Lock tool, and got going with the retightening. I spent an entire Saturday on my hair, and I managed the front really well. The back however, was a different story. I couldn’t see properly and was more than a bit apprehensive to tackle it. So I left it alone. I had my hair retightened by my consultant a few days after my own attempts, and she found nothing to complain about. She actually said I did a good job with it. Well, I am more than a little puffed up and pleased with myself about this. So, I am encouraged to try the back next time around. I am beginning to relax a little about my hair now that I do not feel that I am entirely at the mercy of my consultant.

I am feeling so positive about this that for my next appointment with my consultant, she will come back in another seven weeks, rather than 4 weeks. Within that time, I plan to retighten my entire head. How’s that for confidence? Will keep you posted.

3rd Retightening

I had my hair re-tightened this weekend. There was not as much slippage and unraveling this time around. I asked my consultant if my hair is beginning to lock at all. She said no, not yet. I was a little disappointed to hear this, but I guess my journey of patience continues.

My hair seems to be growing really fast, especially at the sides. One measure of how much my hair has grown is that I no longer need to use perm rods when I wash my hair. I have now moved up to the small magnetic rollers. Once I set it up, the curls last until the next wash, even though I put water in my hair everyday. I definitely could not do that when my hair was relaxed.

The top is still quite thin, and re-tightenings just seem to emphasize the thinness, but I know that after a few days it will look better. The re-tightenings also emphasize the centre part, which I absolutley cannot stand. Grrr! I try creative roller setting to hide it. It sort of works I guess, especially after the second or third wash, when my hair fills out and gets a bit fuzzy.

One really nice thing that has happened to me since I got my sisterlocks, is that my confidence in how my hair looks has really increased dramatically. It is really amazing. I get up in the mornings and wet my hands, fluff up my locks and I go. No more fussing about my hair. I still do have the occasional bad hair day, but even when it is bad, it is really nothing to worry about. My mom who really hated my new look when I got the locks installed, now smiles when she touches my hair.

2nd Re-tightening

I got my second re-tightening yesterday. I washed my hair on Thursday in preparation for this. For the most part my locks were intact up until I washed my hair. I just had three or four loose locks. After I washed it however, I had a lot of slippage and unraveling. Perhaps I was too rough with the scrubbing. I think I am going to try washing my hair every two weeks, instead of every week. This might help with the slippage.

My head was so very sore and tender after my consultant was done. My hair is not done too tightly, I know that for sure, because she kept on asking me during the entire process. My theory is that my head has become unaccustomed to the handling that is involved in a retightening session. My head is barely touched anymore, since I no longer comb it, except with my fingers. This is the good thing about having locks. The low-maintenance is great.

I am not fond of my centre part, and I managed to train my hair (with perm rods) so that it was obscured. But after the retightening, it is very prominent again. I guess I will have to put up with it until my hair grows long enough to cover it over completely.

I did not bother to post any pictures here, because there is not much difference in how my hair looks since the last photograph.