Sisterlock Pattern Change Working!

If you've been following my blog you know that I was initially a pattern 4 and after going to the retightening class I changed to pattern 3 as of August 26th. I've been saying that my hair is much fuller and fluffier and I attributed this to the satin pillow case. Now in thinking back this is actually largly in part due to the pattern change and not the satin pillowcase. I've done two retightenings using the 3 pattern and I see a huge difference in body and volume of my locks, which I'm absolutely loving. With the 4, my locks felt strangled and they weren't allowed to breathe so I'm happy that I did change and I expect to see a lot more changes to come in terms of volume! Quite possibly I may not have to use my lock loops because they will curl on there own to give its own distinct styling, left to be seen. This is a picture from the lock loops that totally dropped because of the humidity but look at how full it still looks (please excuse the poor quality and the facial expression).

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Supporting Black Owned

My previous post on Chris Rock's movie prompted a film maker to leave the link to their you tube video which speaks to the takeover of the black owned beauty supply stores by the Asians. For the sake of anonymity a friend wrote the following on shopping in black owned stores/beauty supply stores etc.

Part of my reason for going natural was to stop with all the products already.  Weaves, braids, products, etc etc..  It was insane.  Now my routine is simple and I use just a few things here and there on my face, body and hair.  I love it.  But I have to say, going to black owned businesses for me can be a trying experience.  Who wants to walk into a store where the person who is supposed to be helping you out treats you so badly, refuses to answer questions and generally makes your shopping trip a nightmare?  Not I.  I support black owned businesses where I get good customer services.  Shean'More is an online shop owned by a black woman.  I go there for my shea butter and africa black soap and direct my friends and family to her as well.  I have talked to her a couple of times and she is respectful and helpful and offers tips and suggestions.  I don't know her, have never met her but I like her and I like shopping from her.  I can't say that for many black owned businesses and that really saddens me.  I would love to give my few dollars to black owned stores and business but honey...... not when I get an attitude- laden, gum chewing, deep sighing when I ask a question, sister at the counter or on the phone.  Sorry....no can't do.

Well for me, I would always attempt to go to the black owned shops but they always seem to not have the stocks shelved, they wouldn't have the product I went looking for, or the prices were more expensive. I'm all for supporting my own, but I am also for getting what I'm looking for and not what I have to settle for. So after a few trips to the black owned shops and coming back empty handed they were the last store that I would think of when it was time to go pick up the latest products. Now when I headed into Newark or Brooklyn all I saw were Asian owned stores and of the course the shelfs were overflowing and prices were cheaper. Whats a girl to do???!?!?


So what do you think? Now that you are natural your trips to the beauty supply store are far and few in between. However when you were making frequent trips what was your preference of stores? How did you get treated? Did you go back? Did you see anything that turned you off from either?

A Better Look

Saturday was so humid outside that I lost alot of my curls and ended up with just having a lot of my hair revert to a freestyle with a bend.  This wasn't too bad, hey as long as I don't have to do much with it lately after a roller set I'm good to go.  I'm getting really lazy lately about styling I don't even bother trying.  After my wash on Friday, my hair is not feeling as bunched as it did when I initally colored it so hopefully over the course of the next few weeks washing my locks with the SL starter shampoo will help my locks revert back to what they were prior to coloring (thats my hope).  I started feeling through my locks and more than I thought have sealed ends and it seems like alot more are well on there way to sealing and giving me some more length (yes, I'm obsessed with length).  I don't have much going on today, but wanted to show a better picture of my hair color; as you can see not a huge difference but in the right light I can see the dark red tint on the ends, and that probably took because my ends were lighter.  

Opinions on Chris Rock "Good Hair"

Let me say these are not my thoughts but the thoughts of the writer on theybf.com I thought it was very intersting critic of the movie "Good Hair" and before even seeing it this is what I was thinking to a certain degree..guess I will have to wait and see the movie.

I hit up the screening for Good Hair here in DC last week.  My take: Funny (of course) and indeed a necessary discussion of such a big issue for the black community and women as a whole.  But I do have mixed feelings on the over-generalization, over simplifications, and assumptions made throughout the documentary.

At times, it also felt like black women, in particular, were being belittled and slapped in the face for how many of us choose to care for our hair. I also took issue with only one type of hair salon/hair care “professionals” that was being portrayed.  I guess perpetuating the “black ghetto girl” stereotype is great for laughs and all.  But there’s indeed a much more fabulous side of black hair care that could have been portrayed as well.  On a more positive note, I do applaud Chris for taking on this project and not waiting around for someone outside of the black community to talk about the issues of our own.  Just my opinion…

Another One Bites the Dust...

I decided to approach my retightening a little different this go around and I sectioned my hair off in four (lower half of the back, crown, right side, left side).  So I started on Monday and completed a section each night, I really didn't check how many hours it took because I was stopping for anything and everything.  I just wanted to finish off a section every night.  This go around my index finger isn't throbbing from the tool, and I didn't intertwine as many locks as my last retightening, learning my lesson :-).  It is definitely getting easier and I'm also getting more proficient in it, I can tell which rotation I left off on just by feeling the lock and I don't need a mirror or as many clips to keep the locks surrounding the one I'm working on from getting caught.  Right now I'm on a 4 week schedule and I get close to two rotations so I may push my schedule to every 3 weeks, but that might be a little too frequent (more than my mos cycle) LOL!!  

Now this is the first time I washed my hair right after doing a retightening and it actually felt so soothing to have the water run through my hair with the roots being tight.  The benefit of this is I didn't have to separate because there is no new growth to matte together, it was great!

So I'm now an official DIY'er!!