5 Months Update

I can't believe it's been 5 months already. In a few weeks (Jan 1, 2009), it will actually be 6 months. It seems like just yesterday when my Sisterlocks were born. I can see they've come a long way and my new consultant is really great. I've been fighting with myself trying to be patient. I want to use conditioner. I want them to be longer. I want to not worry about slippage. She just keeps telling me to be patient and I know she's right.

We had a get together of the Chicago Sisterlocks group 'Locked down in Chi-town". It was a great success. I met 12 of my new closest friends. :-) We actually plan on getting together again before Christmas. It was amazing to see so many different kinds of Sisterlocks. Knowing we all started the same way but seeing how everyone turned out different was really inspiring. I hope we will all keep in touch. It really helps to personally know other people on the same journey. There's so much we can learn from each other.

I've posted new pictures in my Fotki of the get together as well as my 5 month old locks. Take a look and see you next update.

New Sisterlock Consultant

My visit with the new consultant was a big success. I didn't experience any soreness or headaches at all. Not the day of or the day after. I was there about 3.5 hours as I had quite a bit of new growth. She gave me some great tips for taking care of my locks and said they were coming along fine. She was great and the atmosphere of the salon was very upbeat and lots of fun. I'll post some pictures as soon as I unpack my camera. I went to see my family right from the salon and spent the weekend with them. Life is good!

Week 12 Update

I have my 3rd retightening session later today. I'm looking forward to it because it's with a new loctician who comes highly recommended. I'm kind of anxious as to what she'll have to say about my locks. I washed it a couple days ago and then rolled it. It came out very very curly probably because it was wetter than it usually is when I roll it. It's hard to see a change but I can tell I have quite a bit of new growth and my scalp feels fine.

I'm driving down to Indy to see my daughter, son-in-law and grands so I'll try and take lots of pictures (especially for the after retightening look).

Week 8 Update - August 24, 2008

I had a re-tightening session last week. It was technically my 2nd since I saw my consultant week 2 right after I did my first wash and she re-tightened some that had slipped. But this was the first full re-tightening session and it took about 3 hours. The locks in the back around the edges had to be re-done as they had completely came loose. There were also some around the edges in the front that came loose but these were all very small locks to begin with.

I asked her not to make those ‘tight’ because the last time I saw her, she re-did them tight. I had a headache at work that day and my head was tender to the touch where those small braids were for a few days after. I am concerned because they are so small and because they were so tight they were curled up into little balls. She told me to take some Tylenol. I didn’t really appreciate that suggestions and again asked her not to braid them tight. So this time they weren’t as tight but later that day, my head did feel tender around those particular braids again.

So now I have a dilemma. On the one hand, I like the work she does and the atmosphere of her studio. She’s very personable and provides a lot of information. On the other hand, I don’t want someone who’s going to dismiss my concerns about the tight locs. I already know what will happen in the long run and a pain pill won’t change that. I know that I’m tender headed, I accept that but these locks are thin to begin with and the stress of having them braided too tight will only make then fragile and break off in the end. Aside from that, I don’t ordinarily get headaches unless I’m sick or my allergies are flaring up. I prefer not to take pills so if I can avoid a headache by not having tight braids, that’s my choice. I don’t want my consultant deciding that I will suffer the headaches because she wants to force these small locs to stay braided.

Her studio is very convenient but sometime over the next 6 weeks, I think I’ll have to find a new Sisterlock consultant. I hate to have to do that but I don’t see any other alternative.

4 weeks Sisterlocks - July 28, 2008

So it’s been 4 weeks and I’m loving every minute. I have some good hair days and some bad ones but I feel like my hair is really responding well to Sisterlocks. I’ve done some rollersets and it turns out very well. My hair curls so easily that it surprises me but it looks very neat for work. I still get stares from people, mostly I think trying to figure out how I got so many braids in my hair. When I do get comments, that’s the first thing they ask.

I have some slippage in the back around the edges. My loctician told me to expect that but I saw her a couple weeks ago and she said everything looks good. I have a re-tightening appointment in mid August so we’ll see how things are then. I don’t know if it’s grown so or just filled out but it definitely looks fuller than it did the first week. But my hair seems to look different from week to week anyway. I really like my Sisterlocks. Its the best decision I’ve ever made. :-)

I have pictures in my photo album. I just have to organize them and then I’ll post a link here.

Here’s the link. I joined the ranks of Fokti: http://public.fotki.com/dollhouse9/

Leaving Microsoft - July 12, 2008

Yeah, this is huge for me. I know it has nothing to do with my hair but for me to consider leaving Microsoft for Apple is whole other journey. I have been a huge supporter of Microsoft since I found PCs. We’re talking windows 3.1 and Dos, I was a beta tester of Windows 98 (OK i’m still a beta tester of Windows update). But the one thing I’ve always been a fan of is all-in-one devices. I’ve been waiting for someone to give me the ability to carry around a cell phone, pda, mp3 player and my home computer all in my pocket.

I’ve experimented with PDA phones and smart-phones too numerous to count. Either it sucked as a phone or it sucked as a PDA or it sucked in it’s mediocre effort to combine the two. Usually it’s just too much bulk to carry around. Even now if I just want to go for a walk, I have this block of a phone called a t-mobile wing and my ipod and keys and ID and money. Jeez, either my pockets are filled to capacity or a I carry a purse which isn’t really conducive to taking a walk.

Ok, enough gripping. I bought an iphone 3G today. I’ve been looking at the iphone for a while but I didn’t like the price and was still stuck on Microsoft products, OS, PC, etc. But now in one swoop, I can sell my smartphone and ipod and more than pay for my new all-in-one Apple device. Actually my romance with Apple began when I bought my ipod. Now I’ve ordered an iPhone. What’s next, an iMac?

Sorry Bill but you did leave first.

I also neglected to mention that Vista played a role in this too. After 3 failed attempts to upgrade from XP on my Dell XPS 400 (which was only a year old when Vista came out), I gave up. Mind you I spent serious cash on upgrading my video card and adding more ram. I also off loaded software that wasn’t supported all to make the transition to Vista easier. Unfortunately Vista refused to play nice so I stayed with Windows Media XP. Now more and more people are leaving Vista going back to XP. So I don’t feel bad about moving over to Apple. I’m just sorry I didn’t go with it sooner.

Family Picnic - July 6, 2008

Well I survived the family outing with mixed reactions. My brother and his wife actually asked me a ton of questions. I found out that she’s been chemical free for 3 years. I just never noticed because she’s always worn weaves. They both are interested in locks but didn’t know how to go about it. They were both surprised at how many options there are for locking your hair. So that was a very good discussion.

On the other hand, my mother and sister kept huddling off to the side, looking over at me and huddling some more. I know I was the subject and my sister was definitely not into my hair but I wasn’t surprised at how easily my mother changed positions. Like I said before, she’s been my severest critic especially when she’s with my sister. Whatever, this is still my journey and I’m glad to be on it.

Hello World! - July 4, 2008

This is day 3 of being sisterlocked and I have my first surprise. My mother of all people said she should do the same to her hair. She has been my worst critic these 8 months of being natural. I couldn't believe she actually said that. She also told me she knows another resident in her complex (it's a Senior building) that has locks and she loves touching them. She didn't know that my Sisterlocks was a way of starting them. My mouth is still hanging. :-)

Well, we're having a family cookout today so the rest of the clan will get their first look. This should be interesting.

Moved Blog and Came Back Again!

On July 4th, 2008 I moved my blog and the pictures to Wordpress.

Ok so after 2 months (Sep 20, 2008), I've decided to move back to blogger. It seems that Wordpress has so many conditions on what can be on their pages that they're not as flexible as I thought. I only wanted to add a playlist and a couple badges. You would have thought I was trying to spam the world with all the trouble I had. Oh well, I'm back.

Day after Sisterlocks

Yeah! I had Sisterlocks installed yesterday. It took about 12 hours. I'm astounded at how many there are (we estimated over 400) but I haven't actually counted them yet. A few of the front ones are a little tight but I'm tender headed so basically a total wuss. I am surprised that for the most part, this was really pain free.

She put some rods on the relaxed ends and they're very tightly curled but I really like it. I'm glad she told me not to cut the relaxed ends off because I can only imagine how it would have look without them. It's all so curled and coiled but I'm really excited. I was worried about how it would look and whether I'd want to go out in public but it's all good. :-)

I'm posting more pictures as soon as I figure out how. I don't think I need a separate photo album but we'll see.

Day before Sisterlocks

Ok, tomorrow is the day. I'm so excited!!! I loaded my before picture. Actually I should have waited until morning but that would probaby be too scary. Tomorrow will also be the last day I use a comb or brush. Wow! That is scary. :-)

Natural Journey

On Tue, July 1st I'll be 8 months natural. I still notice people doing a double take when I pass by but I smile and keep strutting. In my neighborhood beauty salons are a dime a dozen and everybody is all about their hair. So I know their surprise when I pass but it's fine. It's not about them, this is my journey. It took me 51 years to get here and I intend to see it through.

I've always known that chemicals didn't work with my hair. I just didn't know why. I thought the problems were because I was tender headed, or allergic to everything or just had the wrong hairdresser. I've always resisted going to the salon because all they ever wanted to do was cut my hair and tell me to wear makeup and visit more often. This is of course after I'd been there waiting all day. Yeah right.

I started researching black hair after my daughter went through a cosmetology program at the local junior college. I wanted to know more about my hair and why I've always struggled with it and why I kept going through this endless cycle of growing and breaking off. Little did I know that the very industry I turned to for help was creating and feeding the problem all the while I financed it. I felt used and abused. I was angry.

So in the Summer of 2007 I said 'no more chemicals' and went cold turkey. It wasn't easy. I slipped, tripped and fell when I succumbed to a texturizer in the Fall. The my forehead broke out from the crap I was putting in my hair to maintain the curl, not to mention all the hair that came out in my hands everytime I combed it. I felt like an idiot for even trying it again. I decided this time with conviction 'no more chemicals' and I haven't looked back. It will be 8 months on Tue.

So much has changed since I made that decision. My hair has completely changed. It's softer now where it was always dry and brittle. It's not shiney but my scalp is healthy. I spend more time on my hair now than I ever did but it's quality time, not useless grooming. I use all natural products, most of which I make myself. I have serious 'hand in hair' syndrome but I love the feel of it. My family doesn't know what to make of this journey but even they're surprised at how soft my hair is. I never stress anymore over what to do with my hair in the morning. I have an entire collection of headbands, scarfs and all sorts of hair paraphenalia. Oddly enough, I have even more options for hairstyles now than I ever did when it was permed or curled. It's not long, probably about 5-6 inches but considering the state it was in when I started this journey, that is an accomplishment.

On Tue, my 8 month natural anniversary, I'm scheduled to have Sisterlocks installed. I've been debating this for some time now. I'm still asking myself if this is really what I want to do. I know it's a whole other journey and Sisterlocks will take even more work to maintain. But I like the idea of locks. Moving this journey to another level. Becoming more in touch with who I am and what defines me. Finding world peace within myself. :=)

I expect I'll go right up to Tue still waging this internal debate or Sisterlocks. That's my style, to always fight with myself on major decisions right up to the end. But that's usually when I know which direction I'm going anyway. If I really don't want to do something, I'll come to that decision pretty quickly and then move on. If I keep the debate going, it's because the pros have seriously outweighed the cons. I need to take some pictures so I can have before and after shots. I'm actually very excited now.