I am still here...

I am still alive. Just haven’t had much to blog about because some stuff is just too dang personal and I have to protect the innocent and so forth. I always feel guilty when I fail to blog, but I haven’t been doing much lately. And since it is October…it is time to do a deep cleaning of the house and get ready for…you guessed it…the holidays. And since my sister has plans to be here this year with all her children and I am hoping my brother will at least make an effort to see his family after such a long absence.  I need to make sure all the rooms are ready for guests. You know wash linens, spruce up the rooms and get the guest suite immaculate. Only problem, no one wants to sleep in there. Sighing…someone will have to. Anyway…


Today will make 2 years since my aunt passed away. I approached it this year different from last year. Last year I had a mini breakdown, this year the sadness is still there, but it is coupled with knowledge she is in a better place and as difficult as it seemed to move on, we have been able to. I think about her all the time and miss her tremendously, but knowing she is no longer suffering gives me understanding and peace.

I will be back this week with a long Jamaican story and a recipe…Until…

Five Years of Sisterlocks...

Taken on January 21, 2012

On January 9, 2012, I celebrated 5 years of having Sisterlocks. My how time flies. I do not have this long diatribe on how 5 years of having locks has changed my life or anything of that sort. As I have said over and over again, my hair is boring. I still get questions and compliments about it but nothing extreme or blog worthy.

Yes, I still band and twist my hair.  See my look of frustration.

Yes, all my hair is under 2 of plastic caps

I regimen is simple. I wash with Sisterlock Green Tea Formula and depending on my mood I will use the Sisterlock Reconstructor or Moisture Treatment. However, I have incorporated Oyin’s Handmade Honey Hemp Conditioner. It is the one new product I have tried and love how it makes my hair feel. This particular conditioner keeps my hair soft between washings and I use it as a leave in conditioner. I also use their Greg’s Juice as a spritz ever so often. Not regularly. I still hate washing my hair. I consider it a project of immense proportions. It really doesn’t take that long to wash. Usually about 20 minutes, but it is the process afterwards of separating the locks, sitting under the dryer with the conditioners and plain getting my hair dry. In the summer, I usually wash on a Sunday morning and by late night my hair is dry. In the winter, I sit under the dryer for about 30 minutes then I spend about 15 minutes or more blow drying my hair. Can’t walk around with a wet head when the temperature is low. I retighten every 3 to 4 weeks and if I wait the four weeks I have done some spot tightening in between. It usually takes me 2 hours to do the front and about 2.5 hours to do the back, because the hair is so dense back there. I find that it is best for me to retighten my hair at my own pace and while I am relaxing at home on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

See me smalling because I am done.  Hair is finally dry!

 

I still do not regret getting my locks. I still wish they were a bit larger, just because the base would be stronger. I have lost a few locks but nothing like before. I have combined a lot of them, because it was just plain necessary to strengthen the base. I try not to where my hair in ponytails a lot, because I can tell where the hair ties thin the locks when done too often. I tend to where my hair a curled bun atop my head and take it down to have a cute curly do. I normally roll my hair with soft spike curlers. I haven’t used my flexi rods in a minute, because I can’t sleep in them. I have done a Caruso set once, which gave my ends a really nice curl and giving my hair a lot of body.

Blurry picture of length.

Fresh retightening

So you see after 5 years of having Sisterlocks, the maintenance is still the same absolutely boring. One question I have been asked a lot lately is how long I will let my hair grow. I will not have locks down to my butt. I do not want my hair longer than bra strap length. This hair is hot in the summer and great for the cold of winter, but this hair is heavy and I know my limitations. Happy Sisterlock Anniversary to me!

4 Year Old Sisterlocks...My Journey

This post is four years in the makings. So I guess I have to work on it for several days to make sure I convey all there is to say about my Sisterlocks and my musings on life. (I did work on it for 4 days). When I began this journey, I was excited about the possibilities and I embarked on this path with lots of information I scoured during my research and I stepped out on faith. I was prepared for those who thought I was crazy to lock my hair or those who side-eyed me as I walked by trying to figure out what the hell my hair was doing. I have received wonderful compliments from the beginning and a few not so great statements as well. When I began this journey I purposely stated I was not my hair, and you know what, I am not. I wasn’t that way four years ago and I surely am not now.

It was tough in the beginning with my hair due to slippage, braiding and banding and the awful flakiness that comes with the cold season. But I was in love with my hair then. Now, I like my hair but, hold onto your pearls, I ain’t loving it these days. Everyone around me loves it, but I think it is mostly because I have this length now that they all crave. I am ready to give up the length for stronger, thicker and sturdier locks.


Let’s talk about my regiment.


Since it is winter, I have to moisturize my hair at least every other day. This means a spritz of jojoba/water mixture, Sisterlock Moisture Spray or peppermint oil/water mixture before bed. My locks are drier in the winter than any other season so I have to moisturize.


I have to wash every other week during this time of year because no matter how much I oil my scalp with jojoba oil, the flakiness can and will get out of control if I don’t wash more frequently. Oh, and I am still braiding and banding. When I first started this SL journey, someone commented on the blog that they could feel my anguish in having to wash my hair. Guess what? I still hate washing my damn hair. Even with the few times I haven’t band and braided, washing my hair is a damn chore, which I still hate. I dread it. Really I do. No amount of time can make me love washing my hair and with this length, please. Ever washed your hair and it is still damp 2 days later? Ugh, I can’t stand it. And you know what, I blow dry or sit under the dryer before I even roll, braid or twist my hair. And then it still isn’t dry. That blows chunks. I used to think about Brunsli and others who stated their hair would take hours and hours under the damn drier to be completely dry. Now I understand fully. Why do I still braid and band? Because it is easier for me to get to my scalp completely and when I asked my consultant last year about stopping this task, she would not give me a definitive answer. When I have washed without braiding and banding, my hair is just not as clean as I like it, go figure. Maybe I should try a new shampoo. I still use SL shampoos and conditioners. I use a clarifying shampoo every two months or so.


After I wash my hair and semi-dry it, I have to figure out how I am going to style it because my hair is nothing without a style. It must be crinkled or curled or something or my hair is a hot mess. I need a minimum of 24 hours for it to work, because usually some of the hair in the back is still damp. My style usually lasts until I shampoo again.


I still sleep in a loc sock with my hair in a pineapple to keep the curls and such. No biggie here. And if I am not going anywhere fancy I do go out with my locks braided up or twisted up.


I retighten my hair every 3 or 4 weeks. Sometimes sooner, but never later because later could mean a lost lock for me. My hair grows fast. No really fast. My roots loosen up within a week, mostly because of my workout, but also due to growth. It takes me about 5 hours to do the front and 5 hours to do the back. I do my hair over two days. I have to be in the mood to do it and I have to be patient because if I don’t therein lies the possibility of lost locks. I still accidently marry them together every now and again, which usually sets off a round of curses and sometimes tears of frustration. I have combined many of my locks due to thinning roots to make the beds stronger. Sometimes this works, other times I lose two locks. My parts are no longer wonderful, they are still good but I no longer have over 500 locks and frankly I don’t care. Really I don’t - more locks means more time needed to retighten. I have to do spot checks for retightening every so often because can’t have too much slippage/growth.


So as you can see my regimen is boring, boring, boring. I don’t do anything spectacular. I have put in a rinse for my locks in the back that have so much lint in them they are disgusting, but other than that nothing awesome or grandiose has been done to my hair.


I am hoping to get in with my consultant this year and get a grooming/correcting/cutting and retightening done. It is time. I know folks are tripping over the fact I want to cut my hair, but with the summer we had last year and the fact I work out, locks are heavy and hot. I ain’t feeling that. Plus, I like my hair shorter and I just feel the longer the locks get, the heavier they get then the more strain on my roots they become. I could be wrong, who knows?


I love the ability to walk out in the rain and not worry my hair is going to turn back. I love being able to just sleep on my head, because when I was wearing a perm I slept on my arms, my hair never touched a pillow. I love being able to put my hair up in a ponytail. I love when the curls or crimps cooperate and my hair is truly the business. I love having to move my hair out of the way when I give folks hugs. I can even do a flip of the hair when I want to. I love the smell and feel of my hair after a fresh wash and conditioning. I love looking at my cousin who thought I was wearing a weave even in 2010, when I have told her 50 million times it is my damn hair! Sometimes I like that my hair is the topic of conversation. However…


If I could do it all over again there would be two things I would change. One, my locks would be larger all over. Seriously, I would. I don’t blame my consultant or anyone for that, because you don’t know until you have lived with your hair. The pattern was on target, but because my hair is so many textures, my locks didn’t swell in many places, um some haven’t even locked completely yet, those locks are just plain fragile and if they were a bit bigger they would be stronger. Oh, I learned to use the stray hairs around the locks to build up the foundation of them, but it would be a whole lot easier if they were just bigger. Me being allergic to the majority of blood pressure meds which were affecting my hair didn’t help either. However the lost locks are not visible to anyone but me, because I know when I lost them and how I lost them. The second thing I would change is I would have lived with my natural hair for at least a year so I could get to know all its differing textures. Really I would.


Funny thing about Sisterlocks that even though I can go out in the rain with them, have you ever been out, like to a bar or club with them? SweetMaryJosephJesus! Seriously, I have been known to opt out of outings of this nature because the damn smoke or smell will be in my hair when I leave. When I cruised with the family, I was like I can’t be in the club long; once the smokers start I am done. I recently went to this bar here and it is a nice little place, but you should have seen my ass grabbing my stuff and asking the person I was with to walk me to my car when the crowd started coming and the cigarettes and cigars started smoking up the place. I wasn’t in my car 2 seconds before I felt the beginning of tears. No really. No seriously. I knew I was going to have to wash my hair when I got home. I was just devastated. Least you forget, I hate washing my hair. I wasn’t mad because I had a good time, but I knew washing my hair wasn’t going to make for a great late night. When I let my friend know I was home I was like, “I should have brought your ass home with me to help wash my hair, geez!” They laughed and mention the Prince song, If I Was Your Girlfriend.


After 4 years, I like my Sisterlocks; I am just not in love with them. Maybe with some more therapy and my hair being healthier overall things will change. I knew this journey would not be easy and I knew there would be times I would be angry about the jagged path I was on, but really my locks have helped me learn so much about myself. It made life easier when I needed it to be. Frankly, Sisterlocks allows me to enjoy my life with locks and being natural. My hair has come a long way in 4 years…let’s see how much farther we can go…

Finally Pictures...


Peep this: On January 7, 2010 I celebrated having Sisterlocks for 3 Years!

Happy 2 Year Locversary to Me!!!

December 31st, January 08, January 07

Today is my 6-Month Anniversary



My sisterlocks are officially 6 months today. I love them just as much as I did the day my consultant finished them on January 9th. I gave them a good wash on Saturday and realized that I have gotten the washing down to a science and I no longer dread the experience as much. I am not obsessing about flakiness or itchy scalp.


Now I am trying to wonder when the heck I am gonna start budding, but I know, I know patience. It is getting fuller and longer with just basic help from me. Still freestyling. Shoot me - I am lazy with my hair and until I can pull it up in a ponytail I ain't roding or using SS for those tight curls. I recently read Mel's blog and I cannot help but laugh at her facial expression when she says she didn't like the front of her hair after using the SS. Priceless. However, she was able to do a cute style and all was not lost.


My best friend called me on Saturday. She lives in Denver and lawdy she is a talker. One thing I can say is she is still a perceptive sista. She asked me 3 times how I was doing and I responded the same way each time, 'I am fine'. After talking for 2 hours, she knew my definition of fine wasn't her definition of fine. Let me just say right here I am not a religious person in the sense I got to church every Sunday, Bible Study on Wednesday or choir rehearsal kinda thing. I believe in God and I have a spiritual connection with him and you will find me praying and meditating with Him all the time. I consider that Spiritual. Lately, my constinence has not been strong and I know he realized it and he made sure my best friend called me. She got saved a couple of years ago and although she is the same person she is a different person and she also possesses that Spiritual quality about her. She counseled me in her way and I listened closely, because God was speaking to me. I needed to hear what she said because the devil has been riding me hard lately. Her talk lifted some of my pressure and gave me peace, which is all I have been wanting for a long while.


I said all that to say God talks to you, but you have to be quiet enough to hear him. I heard him this weekend. Now I have to be obedient and know my time of peace is coming upon me soon.



Sorry to sound all melancholy on this anniversary post, but I had to put out there to not let fear overwhelm your faith.


Now on to some more positive stuff. I have lost 15.5 pounds still trying to eat healthy. Got to do more exercising, but had to wait on my pulled rib muscle to heal before I got back on my ellipitical machine. Now I just walk the stairs at work.

This post has been sitting in draft since July 9th. My life just got busy during that week and could not get it posted.