The Next Day

Well, after spending a day not feeling too happy with my new look, I think it is beginning to grow on me. I wore my silk head wrap to church this morning, because I did not feel confident that my hair looked good. By the time church was over, I couldn't wait to get home to rip that scarf off. It was so hot!!! I decided that I was being silly, and I am just going to have to live with my hair as it is now. It will look better as the days and weeks go by.

It actually looks better today than it did yesterday. The locks have relaxed a bit and they don't look quite so short today. My mom counted them for me this afternoon, by bunching and clipping them together in groups of ten. I have approximately 460 locks.

Installation Done!!

Well, after twelve and a half hours over two days, my sisterlocks are finally done. I cannot believe that I was able to sit still for so long. Fortunately there was a What Not to Wear marathon on TV yesterday. So I pretty much zoned out in front of the TV. CurlyLocks did most of it yesterday, but ended the session after eight and a half hours. I was in a dilemma, because I had a work-related dinner to attend last night. I certainly couldn't go out with a half done head, so I rifled through my stuff and found a silk scarf which seemed to work well. I got a lot of compliments on the covered head look last night.


She came back this morning and after four hours, she finally finished. I must admit that it will take a while for this look to grow on me. I am not loving it right now. It will be interesting to see the transformation taking place.

Waiting to Exhale

Well, I finally did it. I called Curlylocks and made an appointment for her to come and install my sisterlocks. November 28, 2008 is the big day. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. She told me that it will take two days to do my hair, so I have applied for the day off on the 28th. She will finish it up on the following day. I have already asked my DH to step in and do the school pickup on Friday and the dance class drop off on Saturday. All the logistics have been taken care of and I am ready.

As I mentioned before, she put in three sets of test locks. One set is doing much better than the other two. The set that is doing well looks neat, and is not unraveling. The other two sets look "tortured" and seem to be fighting to come undone. They don't lie down well and are unraveling like crazy. It will be interesting to see which lock pattern she will choose for my installation. I am guessing it will be the pattern that is behaving nicely.

Since the test locks were put in last weekend, I have washed my hair once. I banded up the ends of the locks with small elastic bands and washed my hair gently. I am imagining that this process is going to be tedious when I have a head full of these tiny locks. A few nights ago I put my little locks in soft spike curlers, and they looked rather cute the next day. I am clearly having fun with my hair right now and I think I am getting over my anxiety about what my short hair will look like in sisterlocks.

Just three more weeks to go!!

Consultation and Test Locks

Well today was the day for my consultation. I got up earlier than usual since Curlylocks (this is N'Drea's name for her) was coming at 9am. I got the family organized with breakfast and the usual Saturday morning business, so that when she came, I would not be distracted by anything.

I really like Curlylocks. She is very sweet and down to earth. We talked about the sisterlocks process, and we talked about my hair in particular. I was worried that my hair is not long enough to start, but she wasn't worried about this at all. In fact, she said she has worked with shorter hair than mine. After a bit of talking, she got right down to it. She put in about fifteen test locks, in different sisterlocks patterns, in different sections of my head. I will keep these in for at least two weeks, then she will come back and do the full installation. She told me how to care for them when washing, by banding them up with elastics and gently washing the scalp.

When I examined the teeny little baby locks, I became a little bit apprehensive about my whole head being covered in these. I cannot quite picture it, but I am imagining that it is not going to be too cute at first. In the meantime, I will have to do some creative combing to cover them up and let them blend in with the rest of my hair until it is all fully done. Wish me luck.

Appointment Made for Consultation

After a really nice chat with my buddy N'Drea, who is always so positive and encouraging, I decided to call the locktician and make an appointment for my first consultation. We meet on Saturday morning. I am nervous and excited all at the same time. I am not sure if my hair is long enough for locking yet. Here is a picture of my length now.

Tag Time!!

Hoo Bwoy! I've been tagged by Nique http://therealnique.blogspot.com/
Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.....
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself that have not been shared already
4. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

OK here goes:
1. I hate taking medication. I don't even like taking a tylenol for a headache.
2. I work out at the gym 3 to 4 times per week.
3. I actually hate working out. I only do it for my health.
4. I have a HUGE sweet tooth. Another motivation for the gym.
5. I love to travel.
6. My favourite time of the year is Christmas time.

I am tagging:
Lochmocha http://locmocha.blogspot.com/
N'Drea http://ndreaswrite.blogspot.com/
Sunsail http://sunsail.blogspot.com/

The Legacy to my Girls

One of the reasons that helped to shape my decision to go with sisterlocks is that I have two daughters, aged 9 and 7, who emulate everything that I do, and like sponges they soak up everything around them. I want them to recognize that there are options for lovely hairstyles, which do not involve chemically altering their hair.

They are heavily influenced by what they see on television. And the television programming that the watch is mostly American. I became painfully aware some time ago that they longed to have long, straight hair like the little girls that they see on Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel.

I have been on a campaign to constantly reinforce the fact that their long, thick, Afro-Caribbean hair is very beautiful. I make a big deal about getting their hair done up in two-stranded twists. Jodie is the lady who does their hair. She comes to the house and the girls get comfortable with a computer game or a TV show or whatever strikes their fancy. Under Jodie’s care, their hair has really flourished. They get many compliments on their hair, and Jodie has gotten many referrals from me to other moms with little girls. I think my babies are now beginning to realize that they really do have beautiful hair, just as God gave them.

My 9 year old has beautiful red-brown hair, which glistens in the sunlight. She has never really enjoyed her hair colour because it is different from the average hair colour. You know how kids are; they never want to look any different from their friends. I have to keep on reminding her that many women spend lots of money at the salon to get that lovely colour.

In the same vein, my 7 year old has exotic hazel coloured eyes. She tells me that she doesn’t like her eyes. I know the reason that she says this is that her eyes make her different, and they draw attention to her, which makes her uncomfortable.

My girls are both aware that I am growing my hair so that I can get sisterlocks done. And they are excited. They observe me as I search the internet, looking at pictures and getting as much information as possible. In fact, my 9 year old asked me if she can get sisterlocks when she is older. Now, if that isn’t progress I don’t know what is.

We as women, regardless of colour or ethnic background, tend to be so very dissatisfied with our hair. Those of us with straight hair want curls, those of us with curls want straight hair. Those of us with thin hair, put in extensions to make it thicker, and those with thick hair……well you get the picture.

I am encouraged and so grateful that there is a sisterhood that encourages all of us to embrace our natural selves. We need to ensure that we are not passing any of the old negative values about our appearance on to our kids.

More Anon.