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.