Easter locks

It's been a while since I posted but this is me on Easter. My sides are twisted to the back - think Mohawk. Then I twisted each piece forward and pinned it down. And left a bang (large section). I used my Caruso curlers for the slightly bent look.

Caruso Steam Rollers

I saw these on You Tube and also on Blaqkofi's blog and I'm seriously thinking about purchasing them.  Do any of you have this and can provide your reviews/opinions on it before I purchase?

Style of the week (front)

Here is the look I rocked for a week it was twisted on the sides and the back was in a bun.

Style of the week (back)

Playing Around

Just a few styles I've played around wiht since I have a bit more length -- thanks to you tube.  You can't really see the details but here they are

Side swept basket weave and airborne twist pinned down

Basket weave going up in the back - flat twist into the front into a bun

Sideswept to the side into a bun (can't see it) with a hump in the front

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!

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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.

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

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

Creative Juices Flowing....W/a pic

UPDATE Here is a picture of the back!

I have been wearing my locks in a ponytail with a bang. But to achieve the ponytail I split my head and two and put that in ponytails and then pulled it all together in one. Then I put a roller in the bang for a curl. This morning, I think I must have been dreaming about how I could wear my hair and I woke up with a bright idea. Why not put a french braid going up into a ponytail!! I thought to myself, yes, that will work, because it would alleviate the tension I was causing with the 3 ponytails. So I did it, I didn't have to use pins or anything!!! I slept with the jherri curl rods in my bang and it came out BANGING!!!!

I received so many compliments from the ladies at work on it, so this is definitely a keeper. I tried to take pictures but it was actually so sunny out that the flash made the pictures dark. So I will post pics once I do it again. Since Thursday is my actual official loc-a-versary I will be taking tons of pics!!!

Bantu Knots

I've really been slacking on doing my retightening so I decided this weekend I would get it all done. Sunday, I worked on it all day and finished. Happily, I can report I didn't combine any locks, and if I did I was able to unhook them. I also didn't have to combine any locks because they were too thin. All in all, my locks are doing well. After messing in my head all day, I really didn't feel like putting too much tension with cornrows and I didn't feel like pulling out rollers so I opted for bantu knots (still tension, I know, lol). I've never been the master of bantu knots, but as I was two strand twisting my daughters hair on Saturday I noticed how easy it would be to do so I hopped to it. I carefully parted my sections and made sure all my rows and knots were even in size. I didn't put any products in my hair I just put my head under the shower stream for about 5 seconds (this also soothes my scalp after a retightening). It was pretty easy and I was able to tuck all my ends and they stayed in place except the back row, so I put a rubber band.

This morning I took them out first thing, my head was hurting from the retightening and the knots and here are the results. On the top view shot you can see the separation from how I did my retightening but other than that ,not too bad, looks like I used lock loops, but not as tight. What do think?


-Gigglz

Never fails

Just a quick flick of my fresh braid out, it never fails even when the curls do!
-Gigglz

A little new

Update:
I did try this overnight and the curls flopped, it was a total waste of my time, because I barely had a bend on the ends.  Womp, womp!! I will use this again if I only have a few hours before going out and I need a quick look to my locks. 

Since I was stuck in the house with the snowstorm that hit the east coast I thought I would try something new with my hair. I always love my curls on day 2 or 3 after I sweat or the curls drop a bit so I've been thinking how to get a looser curl from the door. I pulled my hair into about 10 little ponytails using little rubber bands. I then split the ponytail in two and put 2 perm rods on each ponytail. I only spritzed some water on my hair and let it sit for about 6 hours. My results were exactly what I'm looking for. I will try this again overnight to see how much better it comes out and post pics.

-Gigglz

How old am I???

Here I am with 2 ponytails and a bang. This will only be good for working out. 9 months marker, can't wait to see where I am in this journey for 1 ponytail. Maybe then I can wear it fashionably!!

-Gigglz

Lock Loop Curls vs. Jherri Curl Rods

With the successful curls that turned out with the lock loops I decided that I should try different types of rollers to see what else worked. I went to the beauty supply store and picked up five packs of jherri curl rollers. I had recently washed my hair, so I wet my head under the shower and rolled probably 10 locks on each rod. The rods were not as easy to work with as I thought they would be. One issue was when I was trying to close them they would be too loose. To combat that I wrapped the elastic around it first then snapped it closed. Now the wrapping caused too much tension so the elastic would pop out the top. It took me about 10-15 minutes to get the hang of it and put in 3 rods, but once I got the hang of it then came the actual placement. I was trying to get a more spiral rod so set so the placement of each roller was key. Only product I used was my water bottle with my EO. I went to sleep with the rollers and yes as you can imagine it was definitely uncomfortable to sleep. On top of the fact I put on a satin scarf first to hold all the rollers, then I put on a satin cap. I'm not used to so much fabric or anything on my head so it was not a pleasurable experience. Luckily, I was tired and fell right asleep, but I don't think I will be sleeping with them again. Next time around its air dry time (daytime).

Well, with all the trouble the results were a more loose, bouncy, yet fluffier curl from the lock loops and the curls have last much longer and have what seemed like a longer way to fall out. These pictures were taken two days later

Lock Loops.....looking like a poodle!!!

Well I'm back...and I'm in love with my SL's!!!  Just dropping in to show you my lock loops back at work!!
This is them after a fresh wash using a bit of VO5 as a clarifying shampoo, starter shampoo as my deep down shampoo, and condition with Organix coconut conditioner...yes PJ at its finest!!!  I let them fully air dry throughout the day and then I rolled them up with water in a spritz bottle with rosemary EO!!!  Viola!!!!

 

I took the pins out and this is what I have...either way works for me, but it will definitely be the look for New Years!

Change of Mind

So I changed my mind and I wasn't too fond of my freestyle look, so I did about 7 cornrows last night and this is what I have.  You know the funny part is that my hair doesn't look that different, this whole thing is MENTAL!!! Maybe I'm just a mental case, but in any event. I like this much better, or I should say I'm satisfied with it.  The best part is that I didn't put a drop of product to do my braidout and it came out well.  Normally I do it after I wash my hair.  So....this is a keeper!!!  Just a close up so you can see the body a bit more.

Back to Basics

Its been quite some time since freestyling with my locks.  Everytime I wash my hair I've been feeling the need to do a braidout or use my lock loops.  On Friday night, after washing my hair I decided to let my locks air dry a bit before putting some cornrows in and then it hit me.....I can just let my locks air dry.  I just let them do their thing, when I woke up Saturday morning it was surprising to see that I didnt' experience any shrinkage.  I was definitely happy about that, what I wasn't too pleased about is the fact that you can really see the difference in length and fullness between the left and right.  Ugh!! I'm probably making it a bigger deal than it should be, but it really baffles me.  Its about a good half inch difference in length.  Look at the right side closely (although I'm wearing black) you can see the fullness and length difference. As I sit here typing I can feel the right side touching my back as well as the middle and nothing doing on the left. Oh well....can't do much to change it.

So as usual I digressed off topic...I come back to freestyling.  When my locks have no additives (braids/curls) its seems a bit flatter and without body then when I actually do something to it, but you know its a great way to rock if I just need a refresher in the morning.  Although its chilly here, I will wet my head under the shower stall and then jump in my car and go to work in a heartbeat.   Hopefully I will avoid a pneumonia!! 

By the way -- which way do you like better? Center or side part?

And another one

I finished my full head retightening on Thursday morning and I combined a lot more locks because I've noticed that a few were thin and needed to be combined.  I'm still using a 3 pt rotation and I'm finding that even at a 4 week cycle I have to do more than one rotation so I know that my hair is still growing at the same pace as before.  For the locks that I did combine I'm debating if I should sew the strands together so that they lock together.  I don't know about that one because its currently not noticeable.  Going through each lock it seems as though they have really plumped up on the ends.  A lot of them in the back and middle have locked halfway up the lock and I'm really excited to see this change happening.  Although I don't think they will get much bigger I don't want them too because I really love the size of them now.

I washed my hair put my trusty lock loops in and was happy with the results.  A friend of mine who had traditional locks told me about a new styling technique.  Basically curl around your finger and clip, almost like a pin curl with some gel.  I'm going to use mousse instead and see how that comes out.  Of course pics will be posted.  Till next time.

The Take Down!!

Although the style was smoking it can't last for me. There are a few valid reasons that this won't make it longer than a few days. My hair is so DRY!! Its not dry to the touch, but the hair out looks brittle and this is after adding oil to it, on numerous occasions. I'm definitely not used to my hair looking dry, PROBLEM. Its almost as if I've had the style for weeks already. Secondly, my hair looks fuzzy, the twists are fuzzy!! Yuck! Again like I've had it in for weeks, and I'm wrapping my hair at night. Thirdly, I'm getting tension bumps in the back because its a bit tighter than I like. Not tight where I'm in pain, but enough for bumps. Fourth, my hair is itching. I've you've kept up with me you know that itchy scalp is not something I suffer from, so PROBLEM. Lastly, I'm just over looking at myself with this side going crazy, just over looking like this. BS (before SL's) I changed my style frequently, and SL's provide versatility, this is versatile for an event but normal activities, I pass. All in all, I think this is all due to the shampoo, conditioner, and mousse she used to do my hair. Just a reminder, that not all products work on my locks.

Someone please remind me when I get a bright idea to get my hair styled that I should have a place to show it off!!!

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