New Revalations and a change in direction...nevertheless the same outcome

Some of you may know that I have been considering a range of things for my locs stemming from dissapointment with the way in which my locs have been progressing in terms of size, partings etc as well as critisisms from the closest woman in my life...my mum. After my recent trials and tribulations with the haphazard combining of weaker and wrongly installed mega micro locs, I decided to go ahead and install loc extensions to my locs. Now I know that this changes the direction of things and some may not agree with what I have done but as far as I am concerned...I love them and that is all that matters. 

So what do I have now? well i have a mixture of braidlocs (some that were restarted and not locked by my consultant), twist locs (some that were too small to braid were twisted), remenants of sisterlocs (i say remenants because my partings over time were defaced) and loc extensions consisting of 2-3 inches at the ends. Now I know it may not look like much of a difference but it is funny how overnight I felt my confidence grow! I have not wore my hair short like previously since I was 14 years old and the majority of my adult life has been with me in single plaits. Even my husband said to me that although he loved my locs as they were, that he hasn't seen me smile as much as I do now, which is lovely. I am not giving them a name or a brand and I am sure there will be many different enterpretations of this so for now they are MY locs, MrsMac's locs. If you buy a TV in the shop and take it home and add a DVD player is it no longer a TV?

Am I worried about the effect on my locs? No. And I'll tell you why. Over the last few months for one reason or another I have been unhappy with my locs, not because of sisterlocks, I still love them and that is what my foundation is. The difference is that with all the above I have tried so hard to recitfy the problems myself and almost came to the understanding that I would need to say goodbye to my locs and take them down, so in a way I have done my greiving should things go wrong with the extensions. I do not harbour bad feeling over the events that led me to this as I have learned so much in the process and should the extensions go wrong then I know what I want and will find a consultant that can install the sisterlocks or indeed microlocs that I want. Of course heart of hearts I am hoping that this will not go wrong and in a year or so's time I will cut off the 2-3 inches and have a good head of sisterlocks/microlocks/whateverlocs. Having said that, if I was or need to do it all again, the root beds would need to be larger because I just dont think they are strong enough to hold tiny locs but would flourish with larger ones.

After wash & dye

Is there any difference? Yes there is, I have escaped from bondage and today I dyed my hair jet balck (boring I know! but my favourite!) as well as washed without braiding and banding. My hair rejoiced halleulia as the water flowed through my scalp! I have also noticed that I dont seem to have that immediate itch as I did when I had to braid and band which is heaven sent! I will be washing my hair on a weekly basis especially now the time is warming up. I will hopefully still be going to my new consultant if she will have me and will more than likely take a class either official or unofficial to retighten my hair myself and I will be spritzing with water, rosemary oil and rose oil on an as needed basis.

After flat twisting, all apart from top left

So with all that said, no frills, nothing fancy, just me and my way of doing things. I hope I continue to receive the same support as I had done before and I continue to look forward on my journey x

An update and ramblings...

There has been so much going on since my last post! I will try to keep it brief!

4 Weeks ago I took some pictures of my back row of locks that my consultant said I had build up in. The pictures were absolutely awful and I decided that I was not going to walk around with what looked like immense build up. I sectioned off my hair and put it through an ACV wash and then a clarifying wash. I then took pictures to see the progress and if anything the specs of what I thought was build up was worse. I took the desision to undo the entire back row. Upon taking them down there was what appeared to be white or grey little balls in my hair, didnt think it looked like build upthough. I redone the back row using my nappy lock tool and at my appointment my consultant said I done a good job. Great.

During my retight my consultant said that there were more locks with build up in them and that she would not retighten them and that I should take them down and she would put them back in at my next appointment, or I could do them myself as I done such a good job! NOT HAPPY! Becasue she spent so long retightening and looking for build up she did not finish retightenening my hair and put brightly coloured rubber bands over the ones she wanted taken down. Further into the session I mentioned to her that I was not happy with the tiny size of some of them at the front and that they are always tangling and look unstable, she agreed that she had installed some of them too small in the beginning. I asked if any combining was done for it to be done vertically so that it would preserve my partings. I left the appointment as was told to come back a week later for her to finish retightenining and reinstalling the taken down locks.

When I cam home I was broken. my hair had rubber bands hanging off the ends 22 to be precise, the retightening of the rest was half done and I realised that the combining that was done was generally side by side and not in rows as I had asked. The result was that from around 3 rows in either side of my ears I could not part my hair straight. I spent most of that evening in tears with the tail tooth comb unpicking the 22 locks. It took me the whole weekend.

Deciding that I could no longer take no more, I enlisted the valied opinion of another consultant who agreed that there were a lot of issues with regards to my rows in the front half of my head and we discussed taking them down and redoing a good third of the front. We also discussed the build up issues and after thinking about it, what I believed was build up was more than likely lint that could have been picked out if I had known.I left sombre, but hopeful that things will get better. Hopefully this will be my new consultant from here on out. Knowing that I was on leave for work nad had a little time on my hands, when I arrived home I put myself together and decided to go through and see for myself how bad the partings really were and the spirit of DIY took me! I went through row by row re-establishing the vertical partings by uncombing side by side locks and recombining them with the one in front or behind. Where I could not undo the combined section of two locks I took it down and relocked them the way I wanted them seperately. This took me two whole days. Upon being so personal with my hair I realised that whilst I have 3 boxes in my front section, that I also had two traingle sections, well at least they were matching so I cut my looses and said that triangles stay!  will see if I can do a drawing to show what I mean by that.

Having sorted that problem and feeling confident that my parts are somewhat decent, I finished retightening the rest of my hair myself and cancelled the appointment with my original consultant. I then comissioned another peice of work to be carried out on my locks that I will not go into in this post. After being cancelled on once, the hairdresser came to do the work asked. She hadnt finished the task and said she would be back the next day to complete the work. Having worked with this lady before I agreed to pay the fee requested and agreed to see her the next day. The next day she cancelled. So once again I am back to having now a quarter or my head looking totally different from the rest and am having to wear my hair under a scarf.

Needless to say this has been a very trying 3 weeks, I am slightly discouraged with all that has happened, but am determined to have my locks the way I want them!

Stay blessed x

Itchy Scalp...Dry Hair

The product junky in me is resurfacing! I have been having terrible trouble with dry itchy scalp and dry hair that is becoming brittle.

At frst I thought it was the sisterlocks shampoo as that left me scratching straight away, so I discontinued using it. Then I have found myself having to use harsher shampoos as my consultant says that I have a little build up. So far I have tried:

Pantene Clarifying Shampoo - That was good for cleaning my hair but as I was using a bottle I had for ages the last wash left my hair grey!

Mane N Tail Shampoo - That was the bomb!! but due to it's moisturising qualities my hair felt like silk, I will use this after I am fully locked as I dont want to risk my hair turning to soft cotton wool!

Jamaican Mango and Lime Tingle Shampoo - Smelt like it would do the job but again my hair had a grey cast when it was washed out

Neutragena T Gel with coal tar - Wasnt too bad but left my hair really dry as for my scalp, it was less itchy for a while

V05 Kiwi Lime Clarifying Shampoo - Brilliant for cleaning I was shocked at how dirty my hair really was! but my scalp is constantly scratching and my hair feels brittle and is breaking with the least friction


Now the problem is I am 6 months into my journey and my cosultant says that my hair is locking fast which is good but with the dry scalp and itching issues I really am starting to get disheartened. The shampoo that does work for me is still too moisturising for me at this stage. I dont think I have an actual scalp condition as my skin is contradictory all over. For example I suffer with dry skin, on my legs I have a condition named Icthyosis for which I use creams with urea and if you take a closer look at some of my pics, on my face I have small dry patches of exema. In total contradiction I sweat an abnormal amount and it can be simply from getting ready in the morning and putting on my clothes. So if I relate that to my scalp it is the same thing, I have dry scalp but then at least once a day it gets drenched in sweat and then goes back to being dry and itchy.

I have managed to go 6 months without using anything apart from water on my hair and scalp but I think it is safe to now say that my scalp does not produce enough oils to moisturise my hair.

Ohhhhhh, right now jsut so frustrated. My consultant is not really knowledgeable on hair so this means it is difficult to get recomendations and help

Just a pic

I attended my father in laws home dinner get together this weekend and was pleased with my hair so I thought I would document it. Excuse the glasses, I had a drink or two and no matter what I did my eyes kept coming out funny in the pic!

6 Month reflections

I made it through the first 6 months!!! I say that with great excitement as I am not known to sticking to one thing for too long! It's had it's ups and downs but all in all I love my locs.

Notice the picture on the computer screen, that was my hair last month, growth already!!

Ignore the lighting on this one my skin is really playing as well but you get the idea!

The slight wave you see is the result of a flat twist out that I done on Saturday evening after I washed my hair. It turned out alright I think but will look even better with some more length.

Reflection

-After 6 months on loc down it seems as though my hair is starting to loc, I am also noticing that it is growing as well.

- I am enjoying the freestyling of my locs although I wish the length was more uniform. I have done a braid out,a flat twist out and 2 cornrow styles in 6 months!

- My consultants chair is really uncomfortable and I am starting to "dread" my retight appointments as I end up suffering back pains anything up to 2 weeks after

- I have realised that the mountain of "grease" I used to apply to my hair was not needed to keep my hair moisturised, but that I do still need something...just haven't figured out what as my hair is quite dry and the ends break due to this

- I still get plenty of curious looks when out and about

My Routine

- I still braid and band when  washing

- I sleep on a satin headscarf tied to my pillow as wearing one directly makes me too hot at night

- I spritz with water sometimes!!

- Daily styling is running my hands through my hair...simples! lol

Pro's

- Freedom baby!!

- Save a ton on the "latest" product

- Not constantly worrying about my next weave!

Con's

- My mother  when talking to me, avoids looking at the top of my head

- Shampooing! I hate braiding and banding! I lost my sisterlocks starter shampoo and my consultant hasn't got any more. I have been having a hard time finding a good shampoo. I find that after I have shampoo'ed my hair that t looks grey in colour and that there is build up in my hair which as I don't use products, I have no idea where it stems from.

- My scalp itches from dry scalp

All in all it's been a great experience and I am looking forward to the next 6 months xx

Braid out on short hair

This was kind of an accident! I braided my hair on Friday with the intension of washing later that night. Unfortunately I have been really unwell so decided not to let water touch my head. My retight appointment has been rescheduled for next friday but I thought I would go ahead and wash anyways. So last night I washed my hair with the same braids in and sat under a hooded dryer to keep the cold from getting to my head. This morning I undone my braids for work and this is what I was left with. As my hair is quite uneven I had to tuck it up and under a little to create eveness.

Can't wait to try this out when I have some more length, this will probably be my everyday style as I have always loved curls!!

5 Months...the joys of!

Hey everyone well I have just passed 5 months and this last month has been an experience! On the previous 2 visits to my consultant she discovered build up in my back row so after some research she suggested I try an ACV rinse. So...braided and banded I go to the bathroom and carry out the nesesities. Mr Mac inspected and said that there still seems to be some left although not as much as before BUT low and behold for the 1st time since having my locs there was major slippage! Considering that my locs were retightened two weeks before I could fit a pinky and sometimes his bredren between my roots and the locked section of my hair! I was horrified. The ones around the front all but slipped out.

Decisions had to be made... so armed with my NL tool off I went to work. Now considering that I had only retightened a few in the back row and maintained the 6 babies at the front...this was gonna be a mamouth task! So I spent all of half an hour watching my fav youtube diy'ers and begun..It took me two evenings but I fixed the problems and my locs were once again defined. I felt a great sence of accomplishment and then came the realisation that I only have 3 weeks left before my retight! So i prayed lol Thank God I now have another inch regrowth in that time and am due for a reight this weekend.

Whilst I was up in my head I also had a look at some of those combined ones that was causing me concern with my partings and after watching another video seperated them and re combined them along a different line so that the partings at the front are more defined again.

Anyhows, here are some random pics of my hair in month 5, I still cannot do much in the way of styling but that is ok, although I am having a few nervous moments as my one year wedding anniversary is coming up and I need to look my best.

Moral of the story, is that when it looks as though you cannot do a thing...wait until your back up is against the wall. Of course I was terribfied that I mess something up, but it all worked out ok. Oh..pics are not after my retight! x