Loving life with Locks

Well this weekend started with a bang.  Along with old school friends, we celebrated our 30th anniversary since graduating from high school.  Yes I said it. 30 Years!!!

We had a cocktail party on Friday night, where we hosted our old teachers.  The ones that we could find, and who were still alive and well. You know I had to try make the locks look smoking.  The weather was not cooperating however.  The hair looked ok, but not as nice as it can look.  We had quite a rain storm in the early evening and it was very, very humid.  Nevertheless, I did get lots of compliments.

Then the next day we went to the beach.  It was really nice to reconnect with old friends, whom I have known almost my entire life.

For the beach, I just used a simple head band to keep the hair out of my face.  No fuss.  No makeup.  Au Naturel.

This is the high school crew.  Not bad for having graduated 30 years ago!!

This is my family.  They tagged along and had a grand time.  We do love going to the beach.

Baby Lock Survival

Remember how I had a few baby locks installed at the front of my head a few months ago?  Well, there is one survivor.  Of the four or five new locks, this is the only one that "took".

Not bad huh?  It is the only one of the new locks that did not unravel completely.  And not only has it survived, but it is growing.










It has been raining almost continuously for the past 4 days.  The rainy season is upon us now.  I did a pipe cleaner set last night, and this is the result.  Because of the high humidity, the curls didn't last more than just a few hours.  But it still looks OK.

Caruso Steam Set

I just bought a Caruso Curler kit and tried it for the first time this morning.  I didn't know what to expect, and I didn't know how my hair would turn out. Well, I was pleasantly surprised.  I didn't get tight curls, but I did get some really nice waves and plenty of body.

From start to finish, it took me about 20 minutes to heat the curlers and set my hair.  And I left the curlers in for maybe another half hour. It is time consuming because you have to heat the curlers one at a time.  Anyway, I am pleased with how it turned out.  I think if used the smaller curlers, rather than the jumbo ones, then I would get tighter and more defined curls.

Stylish Blogger Award

I am so happy to be nominated for this award.  Thanks very much to the lovely Love, Life & Locks for nominating me.  She is such an inspiration.  You should check out her blog, if you haven't done so already.

The Stylish Blogger Award Rules

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

So,  7 things about myself.  Hopefully these are things that are new to you:

1.  I love to cook and entertain and I love to try new recipes.   

2.  I go to the gym........ahem....let me re-phrase that...........I try to go to the gym three days a week.  I hate exercise, but the health benefits are immeasurable.  Plus the exercise allows me to indulge my sweet tooth.  shhhhh! don't tell that to my trainer.

3.  I started a vegetable garden this year, and it has been a very rewarding experience.  I have tomatoes, cucumbers, callaloo (Spinach).  Gungo peas (pigeon peas) are coming up. Every time food prices go up, I get inspired to grow my own food.

4.  I am not averse to getting a tattoo.  If I decided to get one, I would do something small on my hip, at a place not visible when wearing regular clothes.

5.  I no longer sweat the small stuff.  After my father died at the age of 69, it really struck me that life is short, and precious, and I made a conscious decision to enjoy life to the fullest. I work hard, play hard and love with all my heart.  I love my family, and I tell them.  I love my friends and I tell them. I love my God and I worship him.

6.  I don't buy cheap shoes or clothes anymore.  It is better to have one good pair of leather shoes, that are kind to your feet and will last for years, than to have 4 pairs of cheap shoes that hurt your feet and give you corns and callouses.

7.  I love to travel.  It is good to get out of your own zone and see how other people live.  If nothing else, it makes you appreciate what you have even more.

Here are my nominees:

1.  BlaqKofi  She is such a queen.  Her hair blog has inspired me more than she will ever know.

2.  Locrocker  Her blog is bright and colorful and just plain entertaining.

3.  Love, Life & Locks  This is one really cool lady, who has gone through major hair loss, and she has handled it with such grace and style.

4.  Thandi is my South African online friend.  I love her stories on life and raising kids in a culture that is in many ways different from my own.

5.  And the lovely Dewdrop, who is an awe-inpriring do-it-yourselfer. 

6.  Euphoria.  Love her hair and her blog.

7.  Karen has an amazing blog.  Beautiful. Colourful.  Inspiring photos.

8.  Chescalocs has gorgeous locks, and a very interesting video blog.

Growing by Leaps and Bounds

It seems that once I passed the two-year anniversary of lock-dom, my hair has just been growing really, really fast.  There was a time during the first year when it seemed as if it wasn't really growing all that much.  But that has changed now.  The growth rate is very surprising to me.  My locks are now 2 years and 5 months old.

Here's a picture of me and my hubby at a friend's birthday party earlier this month.  This is a soft spike set, which didn't dry properly, and so the curls are very loose.

Happy Again

So I went back to my colourist today, and she fixed the unsatisfactory colour job from last week.  I love my colour again.  It is back to my natural dark brown, with none of the greys showing.

It struck me today how far my hair has come.  My locks are now just about 2 years and 4 months old.  I started with really short locks, and if you have been with me from the beginning of my journey, you may remember when my hair looked like this:

Sore Head

I had my re-tightening done today. 
Note to self: DO NOT wait for more than four weeks before getting hair re-tightened!
How many times have I said this?  But I had intended to do my own touch-up re-ti at home, before the professional one.  I last had my hair done about 5+ weeks ago, and that is just too much time between re-tightenings.  I had so much growth and tangling of the new growth, that it was very painful to get it all sorted out. My poor head is still quite sore.

Last week I did my colouring to cover up my grays again.  My colourist and I agreed that the last time, my hair looked too black.  I actually liked it for a few days, but it really looked too dark and unnatural on me.  So this time she decided to tone it down a bit.  Well, it went too far the other way this time.  It is too light on the crown, where the texture is different, (and far less dense), from the rest of my hair.  So on Thursday I will get the colour corrected.