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.

Wash time again

If you have read enough of my blog, you will recognize that when it comes to my hair, I am a little bit rebellious. So yesterday I decided that I was going to wash my locks without banding the ends, just to see what would happen. Guess what? Nothing at all happened, and not a single lock unraveled. I have been suspecting that the physical "trauma" of pulling out the elastics when my hair is wet, does a lot to contribute to unraveling. So I proved it yesterday. However, having said this, I do not recommend that you try this yourself. It just happened to work for me.

Three Months

Well, it has been just over three months since my sisterlocks were installed and things have been progressing nicely. I am due for my retightening on Friday, and boy do I need it. Since I washed my hair last weekend there has been quite a bit of unraveling and slippage. I have noticed that whenever I braid and band before washing my hair I always get far more unraveling than if I just band the ends without braiding. So until my locks have settled, I will refrain from braiding, and will just stick to banding.

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.

Two Month Anniversary

This week will make two months since my locks were installed. I have had good hair days and a few bad ones, but so far my experience with sisterlocks has been mostly good. My confidence has been boosted by the many, many compliments that I continually receive from friends and strangers alike. There have been one or two nay-sayers, but I tend to ignore them, and just focus on the positive.

My hair continues to grow quite fast. What has surprised me the most, is that even though I no longer put oil on my hair, it is doing just fine without it. My hair feels moist and supple and looks quite lustrous and healthy. I thought that by not using my usual favourite products, my hair would be dry and brittle. But nothing of the sort.

I still have some very thin spots on my head, but I am hoping that as my hair grows, these thin areas will be disguised. The slippage and unraveling has decreased somewhat. I tried to space out my washings to every two weeks, but I really cannot stand to have my hair "dirty" for more than a week. So I continue to wash it once a week. I like it when my hair smells nice.

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.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone. 2008 was a rough year for my family, and I hope and pray that 2009 will be an easier one for all. We spent New Year's Eve with friends. A good time was had by all, but I never was able to bleach too late, so we went home shortly after ringing in the New Year.

My hair is due for re-tightening in another week or so. Right now, some of my locks around the hair line are unraveling even though it is not as bad as it was in the beginning when I first got my locks installed. That is encouraging. And my hair seems to be growing really fast.

Being the recovering product junkie that I am, it has been incredibly hard for me to stop using all the products that I love on my hair. However, this week I could not resist buying Taliah Waajid's Stimulating Herbal Cleanser. I am going to wash my hair now and try it out for the first time.