My First Re-Tightening Jan 27,2008

Click on the photos for a larger view.

Went for my first session at 6 wks. It took exactly 3 hours at $35 per hour. Not to bad I guess. My head feels like I just had my weave tightened up so I'm a little tender but it didn't hurt. I know I will not be able to go beyond 6 wks for maintenance. She had to pull some of the new growth apart and that was not too pleasant on the head. She reported my locs have a good base and are doing fine. I was happy about that.

Confession: on previous posts, I stated that I was afraid to wash my hair. Well, I did not wash it prior to the appt because I was too tired the nite before. I received my Knotty Boy Bar so I will attempt the braiding and banding drill tomorrow nite. I'm just not feeling that at all. I don't see how my hair will really get clean. I guess the concept is that you are really just focusing on the scalp. We'll see. I am way too tired tonite to take that on. My scalp is fine, I have been using the Knotty Boy peppermint anti-itch spray and that does the job. I am also using the rosewater daily. No issues thus far. I'll be sure to blog the results of my wash attempt.

Learned How to Use Picasa

It's friday nite and I was really quite tired from the week. My DH comes home and insist on shooting some pics because he had a lighting system he was checking out. All be it nice to have a personal photographer right at my fingertips, it sometimes gets annoying especially when I am tired. I have my pj's on and I'm saying no and he is steady snapping.

When I saw the results I said hey, lets figure out how to work with this picasa feature that Lakia told me about. Well needless to say, now he is tired and getting impatient with me and my non techy self. Here is the result of our tired venture. I still have no idea how to do it but at least I know it exists.

We first came upon the slide show feature so that is somewhere on this blog as well. One of these days it will click for me. For now, thank God for my DH. I'm trying to convince him to let me post a pic or 2 of him but he refuses for now knowing that I won't be able to figure it out. My children and I are his practice hostages for right now but he's getting better each day and I'm proud of him.

One Month Locversary Jan 15, 2008

Well, as promised, I am posting to mark my 1 month anniversary. Time is zooming by quickly. It will be interesting to see how things progress. I really have not had any real issues. I have one that has slipped out in the front and that is it. The following few photos just show the ends and the black and gray roots of my new growth. I hope I can stand not getting color while the loc process is happening. Scary thought..... I think I am going to look a bit crazy. I wonder how long my retightening will take. I hope not more than 3 hours for my pocketbooks sake. My parts are not showing straight but I am not concerned about that. I didn't look in the mirror to see what I was doing. I know people are really sensitive about the parting thing. I do see the advantage of having it in a perfect grid but on the other hand, I'm not sure that it will matter with the particular choice of styles that I prefer. We'll see as time goes on.

Good Hair Day Jan 14, 2007

This is the 3rd day of the braid out take down and I really like it. It is much fuller than the first day. I had not planned on taking any pics today. I was actually blogging and DH decided to take some so why not post. This is actually the eve before my 4 wk anniversary so I may just post 1 or 2 tomorrow just because. I seriously doubt if I will look any different but I simply must document!

I tried to do the photobucket thing and failed miserably. Even DH couldn't quite figure it out. I will have to try it another time when I have more patience. I truly admire those of you who have so much creativity and savvy with this stuff. Oh well, it will come. Until then, this is what the blog is.

Results of Single Braid Take Down January 12, 2007

This was the result of single braids taken out. I am really anxious to style my hair so I am experimenting with braids. I spritzed it lightly with rosewater and grabbed sections and just braided it. The take down was quick and I just ran my fingers thru it. Did I say how much I like my sisterlocks??? Talk about hand-in-the-hair-itis...what about look-in-the-mirror-every-time-you-see-one-itis? I am really feeling free these days.
Actually, it was kind of flat that day. I really liked it the next day. It was fuller and looked a bit more natural.

Blog Clean Up

I just sat here for 2 hours trying to clean up my blog. As you know from previous posts, I am very new at this and tonite I was ready to delete my entire blog. I wrote to Maryee (Super Blogger Wonder Woman) a few days ago to ask for help in cleaning it up. I had not titled all of my post and had no clue how to label and make things look pretty like all of the other bloggers out there. She wrote me back and I looked at her response for 3 days before I could attempt to try. Well, tonite was the nite! It was either delete or figure it out. DH is not here and I think he may be sick of me anyway. I was determined to figure this out.

With much pain and frustration and no wine to drink in the process (just kidding), I think I figured it out. It was tedious but I am actually proud of myself. It looks much better and I hope the rest of you think so as well. I needed to write about it because I thought I was going to lose it. It's the little things in life that get to ya sometimes and this was it.

As for the hair, no real changes. Made 3 weeks on Tues, Jan 8 and I look exactly the same. I am enjoying reading all of the other blogs and keeping up with the Lock-it-Up digest. I have spent hours navigating sites and that is what made me realize that my site looked junky.

I made my 1st re-tightening appt for Jan 27 which will put me at about 6 weeks. So far I have had one loc in the front come out and my consultant says that is normal. I also ordered a knotty boy soap bar and am anxiously waiting for it's arrival so that I can wash my hair on my own. I have the SL starter shampoo as well but I am actually afraid to try it due to the mixed reviews. My consultant is not an advocate of it so I purchased it just to have it but have not tried it yet. I am hearing stories that range from hair hardness to headaches. What is that all about. I don't want any issues. I am trying to learn from all of the other bloggers and there are some real stories out there. I am praying for an uneventful journey. My nerves can't take it.

I will post pics at 4 weeks so that my "archives"/ "labels" will look good. After all that work in clean up I can't stop now. Thank you all for your patience.

Valdomene Butler (Val) loc'd since August 1999

Introducing Val..... this is the other sister at my church who was the 1st set of SL's I had ever seen. I knew there was something different about her locs and it was always so neat and well maintained. Val and I sing in the choir together, she is a Soprano and I am an alto. The way we sit for practice always places me behind her so I was always staring at her locs and asking her questions. At that time I never thought about locking my hair but I new if I did, I wanted them small. She never told me they had a "name" She just said she knew she wanted them small. It was not until my girlfriend Renee (in previous pics)was lamenting about what to do with her hair that I told her about Val and how different her locs looked, that is when we started searching the web for "small locs" and such. Lo and behold we came across the sisterlock site and the rest is history.

Val is a sharp young lady and to this day is my SL idol. She got to church later than me today so was not around when Jacinth, Daena and I took pics but as soon as I saw her I grabbed her and asked her permission. She graciously said yes and I thank her. I am so happy to be a part of the Seventh Day Adventist Church that I belong to. The women are open and willing to share. We have so many ladies that are wearing their hair natural and traditionally locked. We are embracing our heritage and what God gave us naturally. I am loving the journey and being able to share it with others is so fulfilling. I just wanted to share with the rest of you ladies some of the beauty that I am surrounded by every Sabbath that I attend church.

Back view of Val's lovely locs.

Val does her own maintenance! I can only imagine how long that takes. I don't think I will ever be interested in doing that myself.

My DH and I are both talking to her at the same time!

3 Loc'd Ladies

And there you have it.

DH likes to make sure he gets every angle!

I'm so glad my friends are allowing me to share their pics. They are all so beautiful.

Jacinth Green SL'd since March 2006

This is another loc'd sister at my church. There are 4 of us total now. I admired her from the very 1st time I saw them. I conversed with her prior to my installation just to get her perspective and of course it was positive. Just another confirmation for me.

Loc'd Friends

It's amazing how all of us look so different. I love the uniqueness of SL's!

Results of Cornrows Taken Out

Well, this was the end result after my first wash. I was happy with the results. I'm sure it will fall as the days go by. We'll see how long it lasts

Lorryn Daena Logan

This is my girlfriend Daena who has been SL'd since March '07. I also have pics of her installation day - but I need to find them. She is not the type to blog so she has given me permission to post her pics on my site.

Pre New Year's Eve Party

My DH found a few more snapshots.

Pre- New Years Eve Party Dec 30,2007

Some friends decided to have a party on the day before NY's eve so that folk could do what they wanted on the actual eve. Most of our friends choose to be in church on NY's eve so it was nice not to have that conflict.

This is not in order but my DH reminded me that I changed my style to an up-do for the and had not documented it! Who's into this more??? Him or I? I think he is just as excited as I am about this whole loc journey.

I use one leg of a pantyhose to pull my hair up. It works very well because it is invisible to those trying to figure out how your hair is up. I never use pins. Too much on my scalp. I know he took more pics that nite but not sure what was happening with the camera.

My First Wash

Went to have my hair washed for the first time. My consultant owns a shop and she wasn't there so someone else had to do it. When I got there, she took me to the shampoo bowl and was getting ready to douse me with H2O and I said, "Don't you have to band it or something?" She thought my locs had been in for a while based on how they looked. I told her that it had only been 2 weeks and she said that my hair was going to loc fast and take very well. I suppose that was good news. She then proceeded to braid it in sections and washed it well. My scalp was so itchy but when she was done I could feel the difference.

I asked her to cornrow it going back because I am having a minor procedure done tomorrow and didn't want my hair all over the place. (Truly, I was just itching for a style...) I plan on taking it out for church on Saturday. Will definately post pics of the take out. I felt her tighten about 3 around my hairline so that wasn't bad. Overall I think it went well. Just got a little awkward when she said that the cost would be $25.00. I quickly let her know that I was told that the 1st wash was included in the initial price of the installation and ya'll know that wasn't cheap! Talk about an elephant in the room... Need I say more? I tipped her and got the heck out of dodge. I really wish my consultant had been there, it would have made it a lot easier.

The Count Result is In

Well, I did it. I counted my locs last nite. Drumroll please.......... 510 locks in my peanut head. I had to convince DH to help me in the back. I often wondered how people attempted to count. It was tedious indeed but I just had to know. I am still quite happy 2 weeks into my decision. I go for my first wash today. Not sure I am looking forward to this whole braiding and banding drill. We'll see. It is 20 degrees in the DC area today so the idea of water touching my head is not appealing. I am hoping that she will at least give me some sort of style afterwards. I am truly having style withdrawal. I will post pics hopefully this weekend.