Happy Holiday Thoughts

Happy Holidays to all my blog family, I know I'm late!

As a New Year is coming to a close I always reflect on what I have accomplished, what I can do better, and what I want to eliminate or add to my life in the next year. I'm not one for resolutions because those should come as life changes not just because the calendar flips. With that said, I got to thinking about this blog. I originally created it because I wanted to chronicle the changes my locks go through and post for everyone to see. As I'm closer to my 2 year mark I haven't really noticed changes in my locks besides growth and the color change which I invoke. I do find myself taking photos but more so of the styles and not exactly a good look of my locks definition and thickness. I have not done a good job of informing those who are now considered my blog family on what I'm up to and that was the main purpose. I'm beginning to feel as if my effort or I should say lack of effort is futile to maintain this blog. I'm going to start or attempt to post monthly of what is going on and see how well that goes. Hope you all have a safe and healthy new year!!

Month 20 outings

This is basically how I'm wearing my locks lately and I can actually find wear one ponytail with hang time and using a loose ponytail holder, these are the best. Check them out here, in black of course!

20 months exactly! And its my birthday

Another year has gone by and I love my locks more and more each day. As I was grabbing breakfast I was complimented on my locks which has been quite some time. The woman was so intrigued and I totally forgot the response SL's get. She asked first 'are they braids' and I proudly answered no they are sisterlocks! She like the two-toned color and then she asked how long I had them. I sat and spoke for about 5 minutes and it really felt good to be a proud walking ad!!

Here are some pics I took on Tuesday!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Quick Flick

Just a picture from today. My curls (created by lock loops) fell right which is after a workout and wearing a hat. I do really like my locks curled but they don't stay cause of all the sweating, but I will do it if only it last for 2 days.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Doing it myself

One thing I want to add to my previous post. I really do enjoy doing my own retightenings. Hmm...enjoy is exaggerating a bit, I like doing my own retightenings. When I'm going thru my locks I can truly see the areas growing and if any of my locks are weak, which gives me total control of whats going on. I've tried so many consultants because I'm looking for that one I can use give or take 3 to 4 times a year just to check to ensure my locks are doing well. Or for that time when I need to get my retightening done all in one day for a special event, or just cause I don't feel like doing it myself. Either way, I'm not looking for that perfect one, but I'm looking for one I can rely on and be pleased when I get out the chair. But every time I try a new consultant it just reminds me that its so worth me doing it for myself. Thus far the only one I've been pleased with overall is my installation consultant because I can use her to tighten, wash, and style but I know that I have to use 6 hours of my day to get that done, and I better bring my wallet fully stacked!!!

Consultants Analysis

In my 19 months I have tried 4 consultants and I really cannot say I've been 100% satisfied with any of them. I decided to do an analysis of them all.

Installation Consultant
PROS
1. Professional
2. Clean Salon
3. Knowledgeable about SL's
4. Impeccable work

CONS
1. Did not have SL's
2. Slow
3. Expensive (hourly)
4. Far
5. Hard to get an appt

2nd Consultant
PROS
1. Professional
2. Had SL's
3. Cheap - flat fee
4. Ease of appointments

CONS
1. Dining room chair as salon chair
2. Did not wash or style
3. Slow
4. Missed locks in retightening
5. Far

3rd Consultant
PROS
1. Extra fast
2. Clean Salon
3. Styled but lazy

CONS
1. Did not have SL's
2. Unreliable
3. Hard to get an appt
4. Far

4th Consultant
PROS
1. Professional
2. Had SL's
3. Cheap - flat fee
4. Ease of appointments
5. Super close

CONS
1. Computer chair as salon chair
2. Did not wash or style
3. Slow
4. Missed sections in retightening

In looking at this list it basically comes down to wanting a professional, reliable, close, decently priced, fast consultant. I don't think that's asking too much since they are trained consultants. Basically, consultants who work in a salon I feel should be professional and reliable but they aren't. Yet those who work out of there home are super slow and they don't have a very comfortable seating which I was in for hours. Argh!! What makes a good consultant to you that keeps you going back?

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Sisterlocked Interview #3 - 1 year later

A year has gone by for us all and it has been an especially good one to this sister. She was interviewed by me a year ago (click here to read it) and she has come back to show her progress. Not only has she had a beautiful year with her SL's she has embarked on a new life by taking her nuptials. Doesn't she look beautiful!!! Congratulations!

Don't forget to VOTE!

It takes 2 minutes out of your day, subtract it from those minutes of blog surfing :-)
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Halloween Costume!

I was feeling myself :-)

In any event I used the bendable rollers because I wanted really loose curls and left them in about 4 hours and I ended up with this.

Change of Color

Caught you :-), not me, just my blog.

Since the weather has started changing it was time to cool down the colors of my blog. I loved the bright orange to celebrate the warmer months, this lavender represents the cooling of the atmosphere! Hah! Nothing new to report with my hair, I don't curl anymore unless I have an event to go to and that seems to be frequent lately, but otherwise its a ponytail with a bang. I find that curling on dry hair with some mousse and air drying for 1-3 hours serves up a nice set of curls. I will be rocking that for Halloween and I will be sure to post my costume :-)

You can see it here!

I'm glad I colored!!! That's all I have 2say!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Spiced Cognac - Jazzed Up

In this picture you can see the color! Hah, not really just my blonde ends look a little more reddish brown, but I like it. I'm off to a wedding and I used the yellow perm rods with some mousse (Talij Waalih..sp). I put them in on dry hair and air dried for about 3 hours. Let me tell you the curls were super duper uber TIGHT!!! Love it because I originally planned to wear my hair up but the curls were so tight I twisted up into one side for this.

In any event, these curls should last thru a few workouts so I'm looking forward to it! Back to the topic, what do you think of the color? I'm used to Jazzing running when I had a perm but its not running now, I'm not sure if they changed the formula but I have no complaints thus far!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Lock Progress ...

I found a new trainee that lives only 10 minutes from me. I was so excited when I made my retightening appointment for Friday (yesterday). Although I can finish my retightenings in 3 days give or take I wanted to make sure I've been doing the right thing. The other trainee I went to at Strandz didn't give me any feedback on how my locks were doing so I wanted an opinion. In any event, I got there around 10 to 6 and we got started right away. Well....finally around 11:30 I was finished. Yes .... 5 and a half hours. Whew! I so don't miss those days and I don't plan to do it again anytime soon. The bright side of the whole thing was that she gave me great feedback on how my locks were doing. She said I've been doing a great job and I don't need anyone to do it for me. She said my parts were still intact and my locks are the right size. Whippee!!! Needless to say I won't be looking for anyone to retighten them for me anytime soon because they are doing well and I'm doing what they would do. And who the hell wants to sit 5 and a half hrs!! Certainly not me!


Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Color I did it ...with Jazzing!

Well I colored it yet again!! So funny as you read my prior post that I wasn't going to color. After a trying evening of working on 1st grade homework with my daughter I picked up a bottle of Jazzing rinse that I purchased and got to it. Honestly, the difference is very subtle and if you don't really pay attention you won't even notice. I will post pictures later this weekend.

Color

I decided I'm not going to color right now. I was in the beauty supply store buying some more perm rods because I didn't have enough and I perused the color aisle. First, I didn't find a color I even remotely liked and then I realized I sort of like the two-tone color it seems to bring more to my look of locks. When I wear my hair curled all you see is the ends to you see the color, when I wear it up you see my natural root color, whatever that is. So for now, I'm holding still and I won't change.

Abandoned...but lets talk about whats going on at 18 months.

Wow, it feels like I have abandoned my stepchild (blogging). I'm so preoccupied in my day to day life its like I'm living in my own bubble of life.

Alot of this has to do with not being preoccupied with my locks anymore. They are definitely growing and I'm not obsessed with the length and I'm just enjoying them so lets start with whats going on in my head:

COLOR
Since fall is now here I'm feeling like I should color my hair, but it hasn't even been a year since I originally colored. I'm trying to hold off for the year mark and then maybe put a rinse in, not a dye. I'm looking more towards reds and with my lighter ends I think it will be a nice color movement from the darker red at the roots to lighter at the ends. I may end up trying a rinse before my birthday just for a different look. I like the colors of Jazzing but they bleed so much and I sweat alot during working out that my clothes may be stained in the process. I don't know I have to see what else is out there. All in all, I see it happening pretty soon as I'm an spontaneous one :-)

RETIGHTENING
What more can I say about that besides I'm still doing it myself. I find that it takes me about three days now to complete. The bad part is within like a week and a half I have fuzzy roots :-/. Again this has a lot to do with the working out, but not willing to give it up. The one issue is that the clip tool is getting too small to wrap around my whole lock that has sealed and clips into the lock instead of the entire lock. I still have my NL tool and latch hook one of them I may have to start using again. This will slow down how long it takes to complete my whole head, but I don't' want to ruin my ends by continuously clipping inside of it.

SEALED ENDS
Uh!! Can you believe 18 months and I'm not fully locked. The back of my head is sealed but the front half is not. Its weird though, because I don't know what I do different in the back to the front. I find that when I use the SL shampoo the ends seem very unraveled, but I'm going to continue because that's what is recommended.

SHAMPOO/CONDITIONER

I have reverted back to using the SL shampoo. I purchased two bottles and I'm strictly using that as my shampoo. I am sticking to only using conditioner once a month and I'm using the Lustrasilk which I previously wrote about.

MOISTURIZER

Using green tea oil, that I purchased from Khamit Kinks and the Jane Carter twist and lock. I use them interchangeably. I more so use Jane Carter when my ends feel dry and I use the green tea when my scalp feels like it should be moisturized.

Ok enuff chatter, time for the comparison pictures.

Month 17 Looks

Here are two pics of how I wore my hair during Month 17. I have a little more length so I can defintely get my hair into a ponytail and I'm loving that. It makes not doing anythign with it so much easier. This is more so my staple style lately because I have not rolled my hair since the wedding back in early August.

I'm still here!

Yes, its been close to a month but I'm still here and still loving my locks. Recently, I pulled off the 2 headed dragon tails for the majority of my locks they were becoming to thick to pull thru my new growth. I'm now able to pull my locks up into a high ponytail/bun and I really love that because it gives me more styling options. Here is a quick pic from yesterday, with a fresh retightening..yes and as always in my car!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Bang'ed Out!

I attended a wedding on Friday and I wanted to wear an updo. I twisted all my locks into a ponytail and left a bang out with some curls. I LOVED IT!! Since then I've been wearing my hair like that so maybe bangs are for me ..in an updo at least. The first pic is of me this morning and the second is the morning after the wedding...curls a bit looser and the back I took down because the pins were killing me. I will post more pics this week.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

New way of curls

Over the past few months I have strayed away from styling because I've gotten lazy but even more so from using the lock loops and moving towards the perm rods because it gives such a nice looser curl from day one. I conditioned my hair with Lustrasilk shea butter cholesterol only for a little over an hour. I then washed it out and used only the Organix coconut mousse as my setting lotion. I left the rods in for at least 10 hours while I did housework. I took them out before going to sleep because they are really difficult to sleep in. Unfortunate for me I went for a run the next morning so I did lose a bit of the curl in the process but either way the look in my opinion is much better than the lock loops at this length and stage. The drying time is still an issue for me, but I'm still not sold on sitting under the dryer so air drying is my thing.


I have come to the conclusion however that bangs are not for me..permed or locked :-)!!! I'm going to leave those for others going forward!!! However I love, love, the way the back and sides fell.

Comparision Time Again

This is not one of the better comparisons over the months, because its a bit misleading. Number one the color throws the visual off and additionally the style is not the same so its hard to really tell the growth. However, I'm looking at the sides by my ears and I can tell it has grown not as much as I thought of course, but progress is progress so I will take it.

Retightening Finally Done

I finally finished my retightening, its taken me close to 3 weeks. I started, stopped, started again and just was in no rush. Now that I'm finally done guess what its about time to start the front and back again ugh!!! What I saw is that I had tons of hair around my locks and I pulled them all in but its only happening in the middle of my head. I must say I'm loving the feeling of my locked locks, they are soft yet with such a cylinder feeling. So with that I'm feeling a bit better and I might do some curling now just to spruce it up.

Oh one last thing I've been using Organix coconut mousse to curl my hair and it worked fantastic my curls had sheen and bounce although they didn't last for the next day because I went to a nightclub the before was worth it.

I plan to do a deep condition this weekend, sit with it for longer than an hour just because its been so hot and I feel like my locks are a bit dry. I will be back to report on that. Additionally I've been looking @ my 2 headed dragons I think I might cut them bcuz its getting difficult to pull it all thru the new growth with the clip tool, more to come on that too....enjoy your weekend ladies!

Not exactly a rut but still moving forward.

Although I'm back I have nothing new to report. I'm not fully out my funk, but I'm not in a funk enough to even debate taking my locks down. I barely have a regimen anymore, I'm more or less just listening to my hair, when it feels dry I put some oil in it. When it smells dirty to me, I wash it that happens maybe once a week and the dryness about every 3 days. I have done no styling, curling, or rolling, just truly freestyling and hoping it looks ok.

Here is a pic from this weekend. Nothing new, feels like my locks aren't really growing, but I don't even put a lot of weight on that anymore. I have lost a lock which I combined but it got so thin that it literally came out in my hand from the back. Ah well, no love lost on that one, then today the long lock I had that would just not curl started getting longer and longer you know why because midway up the lock it was just strands holding it together. So with my fast self I just pulled it out..now all is even! Maybe later on I will join it back, but right now no Biggie!

Definitely not all LUV..in a funk foreal!

Not a clue what to do with my hair. Tired of rollers, bantu knots, braid outs, freestyle all of them just make my hair look ..I don't know but I don't like it. The braid outs leave my hair frizzy, the rollers and bantu knots only last a day even if I use the highly talked about Taliah Waajid mousse ..yeah whatever still one day makes no difference. What I've been doing is putting my head under the shower stream getting out and going with a pin up here or there. Still not loving it...where did the love go? I'm in desperate need of a retightening which I don't feel like doing nor dealing with someone else to do...what's a girl to do. I will get to it eventually.

All in all at month 16 .. Not loving my SL's they are just here. The front has still not sealed so it looks like half curly yet uneven ends. The back and sides have sealed ... Just over it right now but trying to get past this phase of funk!

Mayo n Egg conditioner part deux

Last night I once again did the egg and mayo conditioner, and this time I used one egg and less mayo. I mixed it up and put in back in the fridge hoping the mixture would become a little thicker in consistency. Well it didn't! Lol :-). There was a lot less this time so I figured it shouldn't run like it did previousl . I jumped in the shower put it all over my head and sat for an hour with little to no leaking. Yippie!

Now an hour passed and I was ready to wash it out. I remembered that I had cooked egg particles in my locks the first time so I made sure to use cold (frigid) water. Albeit uncomfortable, I withstood the water and washed it out squeaky clean. Now it was time to get that horrid smell off my locks. I grabbed my Aubrey Organics conditioner applied it mostly to the ends, put the water slightly (operative word) warmer and washed it out.

So I'm all done and I go to the mirror, do you know what I see. Egg particles!!! Humph! Are you kidding me! Now I spend a good 10 minutes in the mirror picking them out! Yuck! All of that, and I must say my locks feel no different and I don't see any extra shine. Why did I do this again????????

Next time around (my calendar reminder is set for 60 days) I'm only going to use mayo and I'm going lather it up!!!

Stay tuned.....

Back on the Scene

I was on a 6 day vacation with my girls! We had a very nice relaxing time and my SL's were so easy to deal with yet again on vacation. I forgot my rollers and any type of setting gel, so all I had were my fingers to do bantu knots and bobby pins for pinups here and there. The majority of the time I freestyled...oh yes SL's are whats up.

I will be back to post some pics of my vacation :-)

Fresh Faced

Nice and fresh faced, I'm loving my SL's. I still have my twists in that Strandz put in last week and the curls have fell, but I'm definitely going to recreate this style! And wohoo, I see my locks growing.

Compliments are Lack thereof

Compliments always come from strangers or the person who doesn't really matter in your life, but they make you feel so special for that day you are walking on cloud nine. The same holds true for negativity. These incidents happened to me a few weeks ago now and they still bother me...I know I shouldn't let them, but it does and although I'm upfront and very confrontational I will not address this because honestly the person just doesn't get it what its about for me.

Here goes......I told someone who will remain nameless that I was going for a retightening, actually I said I was going to get my hair done because the person in particular doesn't fully understand. So after I said that they ask "are they going to clip your ends" I respond, "no, why". They say, and I double quote "because they look raggedy". RAGGEDY!! Hmm, do you have any idea what you look like with permed thinning hair ... .are you kidding me! OK so needless to say this was not the first time that they said something to me that got under my skin so this comment just boiled my blood. A few days prior to this incident they pointed out someones hair to me and I said oh it was a wig but it did look nice. They comment, I'm surprised you haven't bought one for a "CHANGE". Hmm, a change, they just don't get it, not that I'm on the Black Panther Revolt but the fact of the matter is my hair is natural and I love it the way it is every single day. I don't want a change, a change to me is pulling it up instead of to the side, curl and pin instead of let it hang free. It's mine all mine and I don't have to worry about taking it off daily or how I need to sleep for a CHANGE...

That felt good...so what comment has set you off?

2nd Retightening at Strandz

As you know I have been extra lazy on wanting to do my own retightening so I went back to Strandz over the weekend for my retightenting. There was some confusion as to the time of my appointment, but it got straightened out and a different person did my retightening for me (the issue with going to salons, when you DIY no time confusion). Anyway, although I ended up with a different girl doing it who talked (and stopped as she was talking), she also had to stop to style someones' hair (which came out like FIAH), and talked some more it took her 3 hours. Just imagine if she didn't chat so much. In any event, this time around I got a style and it's nothing fancy but it's a change. I put some perm rods in for the curl in the back, I'm not overly thrilled with it but hey it will probably only last a few days because my head is feeling a bit tight. The one thing I did take out were the two twists on the side, I looked like I was 15! Now I look 17!

Additionally, I do wanna state is that Strandz can really do some natural hair. The styles that ladies are walking out with are FIAH, and they know how to care for natural hair as well. The shampoo they used and I don't know what it was had my scalp tingling nicely and then in the end my locks are so nice and soft. I loved it!

With all that, I made my next appointment for four weeks out :-). Summertime just doesn't feel right with me sitting in the house in the evening tightening my hair, I'm just going to have someone do it for me for at least July and August..unless they get on my bad side :-)

Retightening needed @ month 15

Here is a quick flick I took before going out to a dinner party on
Friday. My roots are a mess can you see the nonexistent parts.

Aubrey Organics Review

Lately I have been feeling like my actual locks don't smell to good. As they move past my face I was not happy with the odor. So yesterday I jumped in the shower and did a good wash with the Aubrey Organics shampoo, first started on the scalp and then used some more shampoo on my actual locks. It did lather up very well but it was a hard feeling to the my locks you know the one you get when you use any of the sulfate shampoos. I did three shampoos without diluting it. I then used the Aubrey Organics conditioner and I tell you my locks felt like butter. I left the conditioner in only a short time as I washed up and then I rinsed it all out. My locks feel so nice and soft and the smell that I've been experiencing is gone. In my book this shampoo/conditioner combo will be in my collection for a while. I don't really suffer with an itchy scalp so I'm going to stay away from the Suave and VO5 that I currently have in my shower. What I like about the Aubrey is that it does have any sulfates and is great for all hair types in addition to it was not tested on animals. So if you're looking for a new shampoo I recommend this one.

Creativity...maybe not

Trying to be a little creative..my curls fell out so I did a quick braid up and left the side out.

Totally Slacking on my Macking

Its been way too long -- well 11 days actually but I've totally slacked on blogging. Its probably because I have nothing new to report. I don't do anything with my locks besides freestyle, wash, do a bantu knot out, and then let the curls fall to the end of the week and redo the cycle. I did run out of the sisterlock shampoo so I purchased Aubrey Organics shampoo and conditioner from Whole Foods (I love that store). I only used the shampoo thus far for a one rinse so I can't do a full review on it yet. I plan to wash & condition this weekend so I can post my results on Sunday.

Retightening done by Strandz..

Memorial day is here and I decided that I didn't want to DIY for my retightening this time around because I was hosting a BBQ that was going to take the majority of my evenings. So I made an appt with a salon in NJ called Strandz, they have no website but I went on yelp.com and read only 2 reviews which weren't the best, but I heard from word of mouth that they do good work. I went on Friday and got my retightening done in less than 2.5 hours and I was shocked that she did it so quickly. The previous times the trainees did them they all took 4+ hours, needless to say I was pleased with that fact alone. I didn't get any styling because what was offered I knew I wouldn't like it. In any event, I had a new lock installed in the area that I lost one a while back and all the stray hairs I was mentionining before is actually not new hair growing apparently I have been doing my tightenings too tight and causing my hair to break. I'm glad I went so that I now know that I can correct it ASAP. I already scheduled my next retightening for the end of June because I'm going on a girls trip and I don't want to spend a week doing my hair at that point either. I'm feeling quite lazy with that these days, maybe because its summertime and I have better things to do then be stuck in the house retightening my hair in the evenings I want to be out and about enjoying the weather. My color is looking even better in the sun and I have no plans to color it anytime soon but I'm appreciating it more and more as it grows in, and the only styling I've been doing is bantu knots they haven't been lasting all that long but I like the looser curl which hangs a bit better ... from the senorita picture.

Senorita...

An overcast Sunday, trying to bring some sunshine to the day. Throwing something new in the mix...I like it. I tried the flowers as a loose natural and it never really worked out this is much better. I can't wait to wear it with a nice sundress on my girls trip in June :-).

And for Bajan Lily - the ample pink is in full effect!!

-Gigglz

Month 14

Been a while since I posted some pictures here are the sides. I'm stuck at home waiting for the contractors to finish putting in windows so here it is. Nothing is new with my locks they feel heavy and I've been freestyling a lot more not because I even really like the look just because I've gotten lazy with the whole curling and braiding thing. I don't sleep with my satin cap anymore and I find myself taking a shower without a shower cap those drops of water provide a new fresh feel to them.

Mayo n Egg Conditioner - UPDATED

After my horrific experience with the ACV rinse that I thought would give my locks a new sheen and it didn't, I thought I should go out and purchase the cellophane color that is clear but adds shine. Well, since it was Mother's Day and I really didn't feel like leaving the house to go anywhere I opted against it. I happened to be doing my daily stalking of blogs and ran across Kalia Dewdrop's mayo and egg conditioner. I youtube'd it some more and decided it was a good idea. I looked in my fridge and darn it, I only have light mayo, not exactly what I'm looking for. I called my cousin who luckily lives close and she brought me some mayo. I mixed up the mayo (which I didn't measure, I just went off the eye) and threw in two eggs. I mixed it up and then put it back in the fridge because I was still retigtening my hair. When I mixed it up, it was quite liquidy, so it was evident I didn't use enough mayo so the mixture was runny.

I started applying the mixture with my fingertips on the sides in the roots and worked my way to the middle; then I went to the back and applied only at the roots and worked up to the middle, then I did the other side. By the time I was done with that I had the mixture all over my sink. I then just took a scoopful and put it on my roots and kept doing so until the bowl was almost empty. When all my locks were saturated I bent my head over, took the bowl contents and poured the remainining on my head. I put on a plastic cap and started the time. I figured since it was the first time I didn't want to go for 90 minutes, I would do an hour and see the results. As I sat around it started leaking down my neck and that confirmed that I didn't use enough mayo. After an hour I was ready to go; now I specifically recall that I shouldn't use hot or warm water to wash it out. So I set the water to cool and washed it out until the water ran clear. I put some Organix conditioner in to mask the smell, but where I messed up is I turned the water temperature to a little warmer and I washed the conditioner out.

Pros (immediate difference)
*locks felt a bit heavier
*locks felt solid
*softer

Cons
*washing with cool water
*if not, white chunks,

As for the con, I immediately put my head back under cold running water, but to no avail I had to pick it out. It wasn't too much but I know next time. In any event, I'm defintely going to do this every 2 months because its natural and I see immediate effects. I'm hoping over the long run I will see the difference in my root to tips.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all those who are already mothers, expecting mothers, and single father's out there! Enjoy your day!

Let's Play Catch Up

I have been a delinquent in posting to my blog and there is so much to write about and definitely not enough time in the day for it all. Not enough time especially since the weather has been warmer and I've been spending much more time outdoors so lets get to it.

So about a two weeks ago I tried the ACV rinse.

When I originally purchased the vinegar and put the bottle to my nose I thought, yep smells just like vinegar with a hint of apple. I love red vinegar or balsamic vinegar in my salads the more the merrier so I was quite pleased that the smell was along the same lines. I jumped in the shower put half a bottle of vinegar in my plastic clear bottle filled the other half up with water and started pouring the solution from my front hairline and working backwards. I didn't feel a huge cleanse feeling on my scalp so I left the solution on while I did my shower duties. I diluted another half bottle and mixed with water and then..what a STENCH start to emerge in my entire bathroom. My boyfriend just so happened to walk in and ask "WTH is that smell"..needless to say it was unpleasant. I began to wash out the 2nd ACV rinse and noticed no difference, my scalp didn't feel especially cleansed but my face felt burnt!!! I did a quick conditioner only on the ends of my locks put it in and washed it out. I jumped out the shower and thought nothing else of it.

Now the following day I went to the gym and as usual sweat in my head...WOW that dang stench was back! It was a mixture between someones butt crack and another person's buttcrack ..hehe! I came home and washed my hair. Needless to say I won't be doing another ACV rinse because I certainly didn't feel like my locks felt uber soft afterwards nor did I feel my scalp and locks were extra clean.

Moving on, in a previous post I asked about cutting off processed ends, not permed ends. After the beautiful responses I got I cut the ends of about 5 locks. I checked them out and I liked how they progressed so I got to snipping on the majority of all my locks. I still have ends that need to be cut which I'm doing a little bit each day as I see them. My ends are definitely looking more sealed in the front and middle and my overall appearance looks a bit more clean than undone.

One last thing to catch you all up, I purchased the Taliah Waajid Crinkles and Curls because literally no matter what product I used for my curls they aren't lasting more than 2 days. So many SL wearers have raved about this product so I of course have to give it a try.

Whew...now that we are up to date there is nothing much else going on. This week I've done about 7 flat twist in a somewhat side going back direction and pulled the back up into an 'onytail'...you know the immature ponytail :-)!

Air Drying Time

Nothing new to write about. Oh wait yes, I did an ACV rinse, I have to take some time to write that story but for now here is a pic from this morning with my lock loops on day 2. I couldn't take a pic on day one because I had to drive (yes drive in the morning commuting traffic) with my lock loops in because my locks still weren't dry after 10.5 hours, wth? How long does your locks take to air dry nowadays? I'm still have no plans to use a blow dryer or sit down dryer so I better make time for air drying.
-Gigglz

How do you do it?

If you recall in one of my blog post I switched to washing my locks weekly because they looked so fresh and I would always get compliments after a fresh wash. The 'fresh' look wasn't happening after a while and it felt like the dirtier my locks the better they fell and curled. So I went back to washing every other week. With my bimonthly washes I use the SL starter shampoo for one wash and Suave clarifying shampoo for the other. On the wash I use Suave I follow up with the SL moisturizing conditioner. As my locks have gotten longer and have more hang time, during my workouts I feel and see the perspiration dripping from the end of my locks. I just purchased ACV and I have yet to try it but based on what I heard it will give my scalp a good clean feeling. I know I can't use this weekly. So for this reason, I'm going back to weekly washes so I ask you.

How often do you wash? And do you use the same product each time until the bottle is finished?
-Gigglz

Thank you for keeping me blogging!

I'm a bit late, but I want to recognize the first day I started my blog which was 4/9/09. I started this blog with the intention of documenting my journey which I didn't know what to expect and I think I've done a pretty nice job of doing so. Of course I deviated from time to time and I took hiatus when I had nothing to say. However, if I ever had a bad hair day or bad day at all, I could unconsciously lean on my blog family. Over the course of the year I have met some great woman with a strength that is undeniable. I want all my followers to know that I appreciate every comment, question, and even just a thumbs up that you have given me over the past year it is greatly appreciated. As I noted in another post I will continue to blog and keep my dedication to my blog the same as it was in the first year.

Stay tuned for more product reviews because I've become antsy for some new ones I'm definitely in the mood for some new styles!

Looks this past month

Normally I do not put any products in my hair for styling, but I think its time. As you will see in all of these photos the curls in my hair are GONE!! I just have to find a good product for hold, and that's also a good hold for after a workout which is key!

Note....I'm prepping my daughter for her photos...check the crook in her neck!!LOL!