Coloring, Repairing and What-not



Slippage (hole) in permed end of loc



Holes, Slippage &Repairs:  Shortly after starting my Sisterlock journey, I took the course and learned to do them myself.   Yay for me!!!    After that class I also took the time to interlock the permed length of my hair.    It is in this area that I have experienced the most slippage.   A little before starting the blog I started slowly repairing slippage in my locs. 



"Say hello to my little friend"...um... new tool



   My favorite tool is a beveled tip upholstery needle (see pic).   The beveled tip is THE BOMB, and it glides easily into the locs with minimal force or damage.  Because of this, it can also be used to tighten up the holes in locs that result from incorrect rotations.   The eye of the needle can be enlarged by using a reamer for beads.       I started at the nape doing a combo of repairs and retightening.     Before I knew it I was using this new tool for the whole repair/re-ti/compacting locks process. 

Before this repair session many of my locs essentially looked like this

<<Professionally SL install **    Permed hair that I interlocked with (==slippage or loose hairs)

Scalp[<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<** ========<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<============

Trims:   About every 2 weeks I like to flatiron my hair.  Every couple of months I’d pull my newly straightened locks under my chin and trim .5 to 1 inch off.   Of, course this has led to a lot of slippage on the clipped locks (I’ve just come to realize this).    Now that I’ve retightend these, I will refrain from trimming for quite some time, the permed hair is not “locking”, and I don’t want it to unravel any more.   

Spray on Tem’pry hair colors:    This week, I also decided to check out a new hair color, “Black”.  The color looks both natural and good on me.  I used a spray on hair color by Jerome Russell (available at local BSS).   Careful though because I found that the color rubs off easily.  I also have a blonde color that I’m toying with. 

Pros:   Can’t damage hair; allows you to change up the colors as often as you’d like; allows for creativity with color applications;  very cost effective means of coloring at $4. per can.

Cons:  The Jerome Russell brand rubs off.  Careful application requires or you’ll look “spray painted”.  (hold head upside down and keep the can at least 10 inches away….then run your fingers through the hair to help distribute the color)

Brown hair

Black Hair, instantly!

Bling, Nape, & Repairs

The title of these 1^st few entries will be very “random” since I’m trying to recap my 1^st year with SLs.  

Bling: I’ve enclosed a closeup shot of my “nourished” locs just to show a lil’ bling that my otherwise, thirsty-dirty-dishwater-brown hair is currently rocking.    I believe this bling is credited to my glycerin water mix and the Honey/Vitamin E Oil rinse I did a 2 days ago.



Nape loc'd at 10 months



Loose haired Nape.  Longest length

Nape:  The point of this is to show that “retention” is very important to seeing length and determining growth results.  I’ve always hated my nape.  It looks like a Z drawn by a blind 4year-old (not neat at all).  The 1^st nape shot is from my nape when my hair was “loose” and about 2yrs into my babying this area by applying the perm last, and texlaxing(underprocessing) all at the same time, this was about as much length as I ever held on to.    The 2nd nape shot is of the same area with a 10month old Sisterlock install. 





Repairs:  I’m slowly interlocking the back of hair from the nape up.   My “endstate” should be locs that are tighter and less frizzy. 

Mentioned earlier: I started twisting (instead of latching) sometime in October.    

Perhaps I should also mention that:  At some time during my journey  (April-June) I began interlocking the relaxed portion of my SLs, this was a very-very-very- tedious process but I wanted all of my hair done, so I started this DIY project.   The process was never completely finished because I had a lot going on during this timeframe. 

With that said starting from the nape up, I’m now going through loc – by – loc and repairing.  Tip-to-Middle and Root-to-Middle as needed.  The picture here shows the newgrowth & the repaired “compacted” area of the loc.   I hope to be done with this phase before spring .  (I’m in no rushing)  

Repair for: unraveling
 permed ends & flyaways

I HOPE TO GET BETTER WITH PICTURE PLACEMENT, LOL

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

The flyaways pre-extensions,
 OMG the controversy!

 (after all we've all walked away from the "relaxer")




What an honor, the Dr's is in!
She visited our training class

  

Bottom line up front:  I have been surprised to find that in the Black hair communities strongly biased attitudes are rampant (Natural, Loc’d, Relaxed, Mixed or whateva).  

A few weeks into my locking journey I sat in a room full of varied hairstyles (who were all there to learn become Certified SisterLock ™ trainees).  The list below includes several of the comment I received because “I” chose to alter my SLs by “adding” length to the shorter ones in my crown/bang area (and Yes, I did this myself before I knew this was taboo).

ü  “You can’t do that to SLs they aren’t SLs anymore”.

o     (My thoughts: Ummm, I paid $400+ for this “install” and I’ll damn well do with them what I please.  Besides if your loc’ snapped off you’d tried to “attach” it back…..)

ü  Just cut those “dead” ends off!!!!

o    (Coming from a someone with a lovely head full of someone else’s hair with an agreement nod, from a relaxed sistah)

ü  “Long-hair is a crutch”, “It’s just hair, it will grow back”

ü  “You can’t manage two hair textures”

ü  “Why would you flat-iron your “locs”?

ü  “Whyyyyy would you do that to your hair?”

ü  “How long are you going to keep that style?”

ü  “Loc’s are dirty"

o    (this from a SL’er referring to the usual types of Locs)

RANDOM COMMENTS FROM OTHER RANDOM FOLKS:

Ø  “Cultivated locs are not real locs, they are a fashion statement... My locs are “real” or …”Those are SLs? I have “real” locs”

Ø  “That’s why Madame CJ Walker invented the Straightening Comb”

o    (from “permies”) … ugh the irony!

Ø  Strange stares followed by…..“When are you going to comb you hair.”

o    Notice I did not put this down as a question, I know this was a statement about what I need to do with my hair, LOL.

Ø  “I can’t be looking crazy, that’s why I wear my…….. “

o    (from wig/weaver)…”

Ø  I have been totally amused when on more than one occasion I’ve seen a weave wearer sit amongst a group of non-black’s and diss another sister’s hair

o    ….Talking about “s-t-u-p-i-d”.   Child please! Acting like “you” have overcome…..

In closing, I'd just like to pray that we in the natural or (tightly coiled) community rid ourselves of the Negative Energy, Comments, Vocabulary, and Perceptions.    Heck if "We" don't then "They" never will. 
 

A few members of my training class.  We're now Certified SisteLock Trainee's! 
I'm om the end rocking a briad-out.  6weeks in to the Journey

A Loc Delayed Is Not a Loc Denied,....

(I am Installed, Loc'in & Luv'in it!)

     First off I should point out that  I'm starting this blog about a year into my journey with SisterLocks.  Secondly, it has took me 3 years to start my lock journey.  I did a lot of researching, had 2 consultations, and then of course a lot of researching.     

     I have fine and what some would call thinly populated hair all throughout the crown of my head.  Though my first consultation was "very discouraging” it’s fair to say I did not give up "completely" I used the time during this “setback” to decide whether I wanted to even "try" this or not. 

My Stats: 

• SisterLock Install date:            02/07/2010
• Install time:                              18 hours
• Loc size:                                 small & medium
• Starting length:                        about 3" of new-growth with at least 6" of relaxed hair
• Pattern:                                  4 point
• Number of locs *to start:         436   (I've since increased the count to 470)
• Sisterlocks Consultant:            Rita. faithfulness70@yahoo.com

     Regarding my consultations, understand that I have n-e-v-e-r had short hair, and my 1st consultant offered up some great suggestions regarding the thinness of my hair at the crown.  HOWEVER, he also suggested that I cut my hair down to 3” (new-growth only) and then comeback for a very expensive install.   < IT DIDN’T HAPPEN>. 

     I waited 3 year transitioning from perming my hair every 4 weeks to “under-processing my hair, to braids & twists; all the while massaging, and trying to coax life back into my underperforming follicles.  <NO LUCK!> 

 I tried the two-stranded twists for about 3 weeks; when this didn’t work I decided once again to find a consultant who would lock my hair as it was.  < IT HAPPENED, .........."Thank you" Rita!>. 

      

The above picture shows the "combover" style that I felt most comfortable with due to my "scalpyness".

Stay tuned, there's more to come later.....