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.

One Month Anniversary

Merry Christmas to all. Tomorrow is my one month lock anniversary. Over the past month since getting my locks, I have gone from lukewarm to really loving my hair. I have received many compliments, and only one not-so-nice comment. A good friend told me that my hair looked unkempt. I don't think she was wrong about this. I think my hair did look a bit untidy in the beginning. But as my hair is growing, it is looking less untidy. Since my first re-tightening, I have had very little slippage and unraveling. Here are some pictures that were taken today.

First Follow-up

My consultant came today to give me my two-week checkup. I had quite a bit of slippage and a little bit of new growth. The slippage was mostly around the hair line. She told me that as a result of my hair texture, I am quite likely to have slippage until the locks settle down. I think I need to stop feeling and pulling on my locks now, and just try to leave them alone.

The re-tightening took three and a half hours. My head aches just like it did when I first got the locks installed. I guess my delicate scalp is protesting against being handled so much at one time. Here are some pictures of my newly re-tightened hair.

Second Wash

In anticipation of my consultant coming tomorrow for the first follow-up visit, I washed my hair again last night. I have not had any more itchy scalp issues since I washed my hair last week, so I decided to be good and use the Sisterlocks shampoo this time. I washed my hair as thoroughly as one can with elastics on the ends, but somehow I did not get that really nice clean "just-washed" feel when I was done. Anyway, despite this it felt nice and clean this morning, when it was dry.

I used my Soft Spike Curlers to set my hair. Talk about instruments of torture. I made the mistake of sleeping in these, and they are just as uncomfortable as they look.



But they give a very nice set. The curls are softer than the perm rod set that I did last week.



I must say that I am really loving my hair now. It took me two weeks to be able to say this, but I am now excited about my hair. The true test came this week, when I went on a business trip to Trinidad. When I travel, I usually pack all my hair paraphernalia, which includes oil and moisturizer, brush, comb clips etc. And this has become very difficult since 9/11, where you are now severely limited by the volume of gels and liquids that you can carry with you.

This time, I packed nothing pertaining to my hair. It was a very liberating experience. All I did when I got up in the mornings was to wet my hands with water and gently fluff up the squashed down locks. They sprung right up and I was ready to go. Fabulous!

My girls now tell me that they love my hair.