I Colored It...

On Sunday, I threw caution to the wind and colored my hair. Kittylocks gave me the courage to say the heck with it. I did some research on dyes I've heard about from loose naturals that have worked called Naturtint and Herbatint, so I went to Whole Foods because they sell both of them. Coincidentally, there was a traditional dread who was assisting people in the beauty/health dept and so I asked for her assistance. Granted her locks were far from appealing to me, but she was my only resource. In any event I purchased Naturtint for $18-this might seem expensive but since I spend no other money on my hair besides my product addiction I bought it, a matter of fact I bought two.

The two I bought were dark brown (not black because the associate said the jet black is more unnatural looking like shoe polish) and also mahogany chestnut to get a dark red tint in the light.  So I went ahead and used my "Handy Manny" lock and did a strand test on it.  I mixed about 60% mahogany chestnut and 40% dark brown and let it sit for 20 minutes.  I didn't see a difference, so I just threw the color on and sat for 20 minutes.  I jumped in the shower and washed it out with VO5, SL shampoo, and the conditioner provided in the box...hmm....

I had to wash my hair numerous times, like 5 to see the water run clear and then I washed again just to be sure.  Although the water ran clear, when I put the towel on my head (I used a white one) I still saw a very, very light tint of red.  So I washed again, with all these washing and no B&B I got a little nervous.  My hair felt hard (really hard) you know the feeling you got when you had a perm and used the neutralizing shampoo, yeah that feeling.  So I used the SL moisture treatment that I got when I went to the retightening class and let that sit for about 5 minutes.  Oh boy, did that have my hair feeling nice and soft.  Ugh, not good!!!

With all that, you know what hair my color turned out..BLACK!!!!!  Now I know that natural hair doesn't take color as well, but brown and mahogany = black!  Well thats what I get trying to get all experimental when I only color my hair black.

So now the ramifications of coloring---I do have some bunching but it only seems to be in the back bottom of my head at my line of demarcation ... 100% natural hair and the processed hair (with a silkener from Miss Jessie's...like a texturizer).  In addition, the ends seem a bit looser, but I like it.  Yesterday my hair felt a little too soft so I B&B and washed with the SL shampoo.  I let it air dry and my hair was literally all over my head this morning.  The one thing is that my hair feels much thicker as well..it may be because I now desperately need to retighten or the color and shampooing have swelled my locks...

A better picture later to come, to see uhm yeah more black!!!

Length Check

So don't ask me what made me want to measure my hair but the idea popped into my head today. Now when I got my SL's installed I paid for 6 ", because that was the longest that was measured at the crown. I had 4" around my edges but of course I had to pay for the longest portion of my hair regardless of what the rest measured at. With my "man down" lock I decided to measure it and it came to (see for yourself)....

Now what in the world is this.

So I moved on to the front of my head which is 4". I know with locking my hair I lost a few inches, but its been six months how is it possible I'm just getting back to where I started on March 18th?!?!? I'm not "that" hung up on the length, but its very interesting, isn't it?

Damn my face is oily...LMAO!!!

Man down!!!! Don't pop hair while retigthening..

Man down!!!! I've actually lost one of my locks. In actuality I cut it out because it was literally hanging on by 4 strands of hair, which you can see at the beginning of the lock. So how did it happen you ask....well I explained that on my first retightening I did for myself with the NL tool I kept pulling neighboring locks in the new growth. When I did do that and I was unable to pull it out I would pop the hair (yeah bad idea) because in this case it only left a few strands of for the lock to hold on to.  I didn't notice this until I retightened the 2nd time and I just left it hoping that enough hair would grow and I can retighten. That was wishful thinking because even though I have new growth I didn't know how tighten it with just a few strands and then new growth. Although its been holding on for close to two months I didn't want it to one day drop out as I was walking so I cut it and started a new lock with the new growth. With a "man down" I was able to inspect the lock much closer which started intertwining so I'm so happy that my hair is well on its way to locking!!

Lesson learned don't pop my hair when retightening!! And since noticing this I'm even more cautious when separating.

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VO5 Conclusion

If you have been following my blog you know that I tried a new shampoo yesterday hoping to get rid of the white bulbs of my hair showing (see previous post).  Yesterday I left the lock loops in until I had to run out but my hair didn't completely dry so this is what I ended up. Since my hair didn't completely dry I can't blame the lack of curls on VO5, but I wasn't too pleased originally and I planned to wash my hair again with the sisterlock starter shampoo last night, however I fell asleep.  When I woke up this morning I was much happier with the feeling and look of my locks.  All in all ,VO5 has some pros and cons and I will keep it in my arsenal for future use because it also has a great smell.

 

Pros:

• The white flakes are not showing (big relief...biggups to A sista who locked)
• My hair is very soft
• Locks feel squeaky clean
• Scalp is clean (needed after all these months)

Cons:

• Curly Q ends have lost curl and are BUSHY (like the 1st day after installation)
• Hair may soften too much and slow down the locking process

The pros outweigh the cons 2:1 so I will use it once a month to make sure I get a good clarifying shampoo and the other three washes I will continue to use the sisterlock starter shampoo

VO5 Shampoo...could it be the solution to the white balls???

In deep discussion with A Sista Who Locked, she recommended that I use VO5 to get rid of the white balls showing in my locks, I am truly fed up with them so I figured its worth a try, so I ran to the grocery store on lunch yesterday to buy a bottle and I could not believe my eyes for two reasons. 

First reason the price was .77, yes you read correct thats .77 cents!!!
Second reason, I flipped it over to read the ingredients and what was staring me in my face as the 3rd ingredient.  You guessed it SLS, and the second was Sodium Laureth Sulfate. 


For the price why should I expect that it wouldn't be one of the ingredients.  So I purchased the bottle which specifically notes that it is clarifying and this is how I defend purchasing it (defend it like I'm on trial, lol).  SLS is known to remove buildup and dry out your locks/hair.  Well right now, I obviously have some type of buildup that needs to be removed and if I'm not using it as my main shampoo then I should be ok.  Basically the past six months my hair has not had a good cleansing so why not try it?!?!? RIGHT!! LOL!

Well I tried the shampoo today and although I loved the way it felt like I got a good cleansing I wasn't too pleased with how my ends came out, see for yourself and I did bundle.

Right now the lock loops are in and I'm waiting to see the final outcome.  But, can you imagine if my locks actually still feel soft and the residue is removed?  All these years I’ve been spending so much money on hair products---why!!  I guess, because my hair was in an unnatural state and the products needed to have all these extra additives in order for my hair to stay half way healthy!! Absolute insanity when you think about it!

Update to come...

Lock Looping Again

So I washed my hair on Friday night and used the Lock loops again.  I'm really enjoying the look now that my hair has more length.  Here I am on Monday, my curls still intact but yet a bit looser.  Today is Thursday, the curls are still here but not so much, which I think is great, because I got a good week out of the curls.  In addition, I rolled my bang going straight back so I had the 70's wind blown look once the curls dropped. I loved it :-).  And as you can see the Oyin's Juices and Berries didn't weigh my hair down -- Oh yeah I'm loving it all right now! 

Satin Pillowcase

I mentioned on an earlier post that I purchased a few satin pillow cases a few weeks ago and after sleeping on one for about two weeks I stopped wearing my satin bonnet. So last night while I was sleeping I found myself lifting and "laying" my hair on my pillow not to press against my face. Now the operative word is laid my hair on the pillow....lol!!! My hair has some length...its so exciting.

But...seriously speaking the benefits of the satin pillow thus far is that I have a lot more body in my hair in the morning compared to the bonnet. In my own mind I feel like my hair is growing, which I would say has to do with less shrinkage. So far so good on the pillowcase and of course at night I no longer look crazy :-)

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Comparison for Month 6

Looking back into my pictures for the first month I noticed I don't have to many, give or take 5 as opposed to the gazillions I take now.  The one thing that stood out is the first few pictures after my installation I was not smiling so much, and in retrospect its because I was a little unsure of my look and if I made the right decision especially since its permanent. However, as the pictures go on my smile gets brighter and wider; my confidence came back and I was certain that I made the right decision for my hair. Oh, what a shame that even when you're confident in yourself and have no more self-esteem issues that actually inhibit your thoughts that you can still have one thing define your happiness!!! I'm so over it, and I know that I made the best decision for me!!!

So here are comparisons from May 19th --- yeah my 2nd month to the 6th month.  Around May is when I really stepped it up on my blogging skills and realized I should be taking shots from all types of angles...LOL!!!! Enjoy....but I'm so proud of my bang that its made it thus far.  The back shot I realized that I bent my head back in May, but you can still see that my locks have grown well.  And do you also notice the difference in width.  Ok, ok....enough, here you go and my disclaimer -- (I look a little crazy today lol)

To Color or not to color my Locks...

After looking at the picture from yesterday and these (enlarge them), I'm so distraught about the color of my hair. It really looks pretty awful to me, I'm so tempted to go pick up a rinse box and work it out on my locks and its not like I'm trying to change my color, right now I'd be just happy with jet black.  What is stopping me seriously is the adverse effects that will happen, and I have no idea how to fix the issues that may arise.  UGH!!!! Feeling like I'm between a rock and a hard place.  Its about to start getting cold up here and in the winter months I don't do too much, maybe I can just tough it out until March at least...alright just needed to get that out my system, feeling better now that I have talked myself out of running over to Walgreens to buy hair dye at least for today :-)!

Oyin's Juice's and Berries

Update:

Oyin's is RECOMMENDED.  This morning, my hair is not sticky, my curls are still extremely bouncy and tight which means that it did not weigh my hair down.  Although, I cannot smell the aroma personally I'm sure it smells much better than what my hair has been smelling like!  Go out and get it ladies!! Its a keeper for the arsenal!  It states its a moisturizer so I will be using this 3x a week and continue washing weekly.  I'm also hoping this will solve my issue of seeing white bulbs in the front.

Ok, so I'm going on a tangent, but using the SL starter shampoo has brought out more white bulbs in the front, but I'm positive that once my hair has sealed in the middle that this will no longer be an issue.  However, I'm going to try and combat the issue with a deep conditioning moisturizer that I received from the retightening class.  I'm going to use this after shampooing and let it sit for about 15 minutes with a cap and hopefully that will help..and of course I will let you know how it goes (smile). 



My Oyin Juices and Berries (see previous post discussing this) finally arrived today, I ordered on 9/2 and viola 17 days later I got it. Luckily they warn you when you order that it will take no less than 2 weeks to receive the product because they are specially made to order. The spritz could not have arrived with better timing because I washed my hair last night and put some lock loops in and I curled them really tight and this is what I have.

I spritzed some of the Juices & Berries a few minutes ago and I'm hoping that it won't weigh my curls down or be greasy to the touch later tonight. As I stare at this picture, look at the dirty ashy look of my ends, YUCK!  I may have to try dying or at least rinsing my hair sooner than later, this looks pretty bad to me. 

6 MONTHS SISTERLOCKED!!!!!!

Oh my, oh my, I can't believe today marks six months exactly.   March 18th I was locked and I have absolutely no regrets; as I was on my cruise I was feeling so good, because I didn't have to worry about my weave tracks showing, my braids falling out, or even worrying about my hair in the slightest.  Although these six months felt long, it felt long in terms that I can't even remember how much work I used to put into my hair to make it look a certain way, in retrospect I was trying to make it look real, big, curly with all those extra packs of hair types I tried and I have that look now almost effortlessly!

Six Lessons Learned in 6 months

1. My hair still shrinks after washing
2. The less products I use the better for my locks which also includes spritzing with water
3. When my locks are dirty they don't hold curls (just like permed hair hah)
4. Since buying a satin pillow case, I have more body & bounce when I wake up
5. My hair isn't as coarse as I thought it was, but its much thicker than I knew
6. I love that I can look different every day.
7. And a bonus :-) although, I'm thrilled about how much my hair has grown, I'm still obsessed with having my hair touch my collarbone :-)

Comparison pictures will be coming shortly!

Carnival Cruise Lines - A NIGHTMARE!

Hey online family.  I'm BACK!!!  Did I miss anything???  Seems like everyone was blogging while I was gone and I need to catch up.  I was out of pocket because I went on a 5 day cruise on the Carnival Destiny ship.  Let me say first that I've been on two other cruises, my first was with Carnival Cruise lines back in the late 90's and the second was with Royal Carribean.  This time was with Carnival again, and as you know I've was looking forward to a nice vacation, but I was up for a big surprise.  The itinerary for my cruise for 5 days left from Miami Florida and it was:

• Day 1 - At Sea
• Day 2 - Ochos Rios, Jamaica
• Day 3 - Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
• Day 4 - At Sea
• Day 5- Miami, FL

We flew to Miami on Saturday morning and everything went smoothly.  In the Miami airport, we were told that the boat came in late and that we could just hang out in the airport until the bus was ready to take us over to the port.  Ok no biggie, because no need to rush to the port if there was nothing there to do, see, or eat.  We hung out in the airport for about 30 minutes and then we were on our way.  After we got off the bus and we are walking into the security area of the cruise line we were given a letter that states they are changing the itinerary due to the ship being unable to sustain the proper cruising speed to take us to Jamaica and Cayman Islands.  I continue to read the letter and it states that the new itinerary is:

• Day 1 - Key West, FL
• Day 2 - At Sea
• Day 3 - Nassua, Bahamas
• Day 4 - Freeport, Bahamas
• Day 5 - Miami, FL

Are you f---ing kidding me?!??!!?  We went from going to Jamaica and Cayman to FL and Bahamas.  To begin with the price value does not even compare to going to those places, and now we are basically sailing around in a cirlce for 5 days.  Why in the world would I want to take a cruise to Key West, FL from Miami!!!!  I continue to read the letter and it states (for our inconvenience) that our future cruise we will receive 20% off the booking cost.  Why would I want to travel with them again when we were notified via letter an hour before we leave and there is no real compensation for an issue with there equipment.  In addition, the awful ports of call that were changed the only thing that they felt would ease our disappointment was a $25 credit for each passenger towards your purchases on the cruise.  Seriously, are you kidding me!!  The best port of all was Nassau and that still doesn't compare to Jamaica or even the Cayman Islands.  I must say I'm never cruising with Carnival again!!!

So with the whackness of my cruise I didn't take alot of pictures as I normally do, but here is a few looks that I rocked with..nothing new :-)

Out of Pocket

Just posting to say I will be out of pocket until the end of the next week. Don't worry when I get back I will have some new pictures of my hair, doing exactly what I don't know, but pictures in any event :-).
Toodles till then!
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Lock Loops Holding Strong

Its Day 3 with my lock loops and the curls are certainly holding strong, so much better than my one day braid outs (lol).  I don't know if it has to do with having some more length, but only a few months ago around month 2 and 3 after a few days my curls fell out, literally.  Hopefully this trend will last, because from reading other blogs it seems the longer your locks the harder it is to keep a curl.  What's been the best part for the last three days is that everyday I wake up I have a new style because the curls look slighlty different.   

Nothing much else going on with my hair lately, I haven't been spraying anything on it and its about that time to wash my hair again.  Hmm..I think the weekly wash may be helping as well.  Until tomorrow.... 

Lock Loops - Day 2

Its day 2 with my lock loops and they are still holding strong.  I didn't take step aerobics yesterday at the gym so I think my curls were able to withstand all the "head sweat".  Not bad, right?  I do notice that I have more body and I'm wonder if its because of using the 3 pattern instead of 4 for my retightening so it gives my hair at the roots right now some more volume, if it is I love it.

On another note, yesterday was the BIG reveal of Tyra Bank's natural hair. When I say natural, not our definition of natural (smile), I mean natural without any wigs, extensions, clip-ins, etc. Surprisingly, her hair looked extremely healthy and full. So it shows you can sustain healthy hair under all those extra additives, but then again when you have a glam squad anything is possible, LOL!

An Oldie but Goodie..Lock Loops

I decided to try something new last night. When I jumped in the shower, I put my bare unbraided and banded head under the faucet and soaked my head, and the water flowing through it felt great. When I got out I pulled out my lock loops and rolled up each lock nice and neat instead of sloppily grabbing sections. I ended up using about 20 lock loops and here is my look this morning. The longer side isn't so prevalent and the curls seem to have taken a bit better with my hair being soaking wet. The test is to see how long the curls last, day one and counting :-)

Feeling Lopsided

I took this picture yesterday and it is clearly obvious that my right side is noticeably longer than the left side. Unfortunately, I cannot do anything about it and I wonder if the left side has more shrinkage. When I wash my hair this week I will be able to tell more so, but whatever it is it has me feeling a little self-conscious. Unlike with permed hair, I can't just pull the scissors out and even it all up, for now my solution will be to start rolling my hair again or wearing the back up. I will figure something out tonight, but how weird is that. Its like all of a sudden there is a drastic difference.

All done!!

I am complete with my second DIY retightening. This marks my 5th retightening since having SL's in a little less than 6 months. The back definitely had the most new growth, took the longest, and caused me the most trouble because of the new growth. I still pulled in some of the neighboring new growth in when retightening with the SL tool, but it was easier to find the entry point and remove it. Since the back takes the longest, for my next retightening I'm going to start there.

One thing that was clear is that my right side is longer than my left. I constantly pull and play with my hair on the left side while driving I hope this is not causing to slow the growth on that side.

I was able to get through a full rotation and with some 2 rotations so for now I'm going to stick with a 4 week cycle and see how that goes.

I am so proud of myself I must say!!!! Retightening definitely takes patience and what I call "sticktuitiveness" (aka commitment). Lol!!!

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DIY-Rocks!!

Say what!!! I finished my right side in under 2 hours!!! I didn't really want to go out with half a side of my head tightened, so I started at 830 and finished a little before 1030. I'm getting the hang of this!!! Oh yeah!!! Since I have no major plans I may tackle the back of my head tonight.
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DIY Retightening #2

So tonight I was ready to put in a good four hours or more to retighten a section of my hair. I started on my left side @ 630 and I was finished by 930. I stopped for about 15 minutes, but to my surprise I was flying through my rows. I think it had all to do with not having to "thread" each lock when I was ready to tighten (see my previous DIY post).


What I found out is with the SL tool I didn't have problems like I did with the NL tool of pulling another lock through or even catching some of the new growth. This of course sped up my session and saved time trying to remove one lock from another. Surprisingly enough, even though I didn't separate my hair after washing it earlier this week I didn't find a section that I had to pop...that is at least on the left side.


I cannot stress how much better I like using the SL tool than the NL tool. At this rate I should be done in another 6 hours. Lol!! 6 hours still sound like a lot but compared to my first try of 5 days and about 3-4 hrs each day this is progress!!!

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Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend in the tri-state area is HUGE for my family and HUGE for the West Indian Community. Family and friends come into town and the festivities begin in NJ and end in NY (well at least for my family). Trinidad carnival is the beginnning of the season and Labor day ends it, so since Wednesday, I have been eating, drinking, and dancing with the family and tonight they are all headed to Brooklyn for parties, breakfast parties (4am-12pm), jouvert, and more parties. I never really make it to the parties, because my mother is partying harder now then she did before she got married had kids etc. so my babysitter is busy for the weekend, LOL!!! I think the only thing I will do is go to Kiddie's Carnival with my daughter, cousin, and her kids which is on Saturday. But, with all thats going on, do you know what I will be doing? NADA! Not exactly, nothing I will be retightening my hair and I will try to get it done in 3 days, so I'm thinking if I should wash it before starting, but I just did that the other day so I will wing it.

In any event, what are your plans for the weekend?

Thank You

I just want to say thank you to you all who stop by my blog and leave comments, and/or even take the time to read my thoughts or hey just look at the pictures :-). There are so many blogs out there that you have many to choose from and I am very appreciative that you choose mine.

2nd Day Hair

So I wanted to post a picture today of what my hair looks like on the 2nd day of a braid out. NOT so much a braid out anymore, I'm going to stop bothering I tell ya. I need to go back to rollers for variation. In any event, it also happened to be my daughters 1st day in Kindergarten, so I'm killing two birds with one stone. Enlarge the picture, for the true hair details.

Must Read Article

This article has been posted on many other blogs, but its such a great article that I want to make sure that all my the ladies who share in my journey have also read it.

Its Called, Skin Deep, Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics

Reading this article, leads me to the question what do you consider to be "NATURAL HAIR"?

PJ at its finest!!!

A natural co-worker brought in her Oyin Juices and Berries product so that I can see it, and let me tell you it smells delicious!!! It is so enticing, that of course I had to spray some on my own hair. As I sit right now I can smell it and the BF is going to LOVE IT, lol!! Since I'm an absolute product junkie I went on the website and ordered $30 worth of products.

The product description is:

Greg Juice" has been one of our most popular products since its introduction more than two years ago - "Juices and Berries" is the same oil-free mixture of vegetable moisturizers and herbal essences; the same beautiful amber pump spray bottle. The change? The fragrance... Juices and Berries is fragranced with the juicest, fruitiest, brightest fruit scent we could find! Perfect for summer, or anytime you want to sweeten your day.

The therapeutic effects are the same as for Greg Juice - spring water, strongly infused with a variety of herbs known to help stimulate the scalp and encourage hair growth; vegetable ingredients for detangling, moisture and suppleness; vegetable glycerine for humectancy and shine; and an essential oil blend nutritious to the scalp.

This formula, like Greg Juice, is excellent for a daily pick-me-up on cornrows or twists. My sisters say it keeps their locs moisturized without weighing them down. And if I tried to detangle my hair without a bottle standing nearby, it would stand up and laugh at my comb. Many uses, this potion has. Cop an 8 oz bottle and find out for yourself. . .

Naturally preserved with grapefruit seed extract and citric acid.

And I would like to highlight this sentence of course "My sisters say it keeps their locs moisturized without weighing them down." I cannot wait for my order to arrive so I can smell like juices and berries!!!

Week 1 in my test

If you recall, last week I said I will begin washing my hair weekly, so last night I washed my hair and let it air dry as usual. Of course I'm still braiding and banding, but I skipped the separating the locks afterwards because I went out to dinner and I'm sure I'm going to pay for that when I retighten my hair this weekend.



I came back home, put some cornrows in went to sleep and I ended up with this look this morning. Nothing different then when I freestyle, so why do I bother spending 20 minutes cornrowing my hair, who knows!!

Remember how I mentioned that a co-worker always notices when I wash my hair. Well a few minutes ago, another co-worker just asked if I got my hair done--see what some water and shampoo will do!!! LOL!!!!