What I've been up to part 2...

Well, here's part 2 of what I have been up to recently and why my blog has been so quiet!!

I unpicked my sisterlocks!!!, that's right! As most of you may know I was increasingly finding fault with my locs and after seeing the work my NEW consultant had done with my daughters hair, I knew I had to take mines down. The main issues have always been the partings and sizing. After that marathon combine that my previous consultant had done, even after I rectified, it was not the same, there were larger locs in the front, micros in the middle and all sorts of sizes in the back. My ear to ear parting had morphed alongside most of my other straight partings and I had just had enough!! I also had a surprise call from my previous consultant that basically said after having gained a further years experience since my install, she feels she would have done it differently and that it was me who taught her her that combining where possible should be done lengthwise to preserve the partings! No comment!

The take down process...
The take down process took 3 weeks!! I started on a Saturday and ended on a saturday and it would have been quicker had it not have been for having to go to work and care for the kids inbetween...oh the inconvenience!!  My tool of choice was a needle which i soon learnt pierces the skin!! so I wrapped it with some sticky tape and worked my way from the ends up until the roots. I hadn't washed my hair so there was some natural oils in my hair and that was it!! After the take down I sprayed it with Mane N Tail detangler (brilliant!) and combed it out in sections and gave it a good wash surprised to say there was minimal hair loss! Sorry there are no pics of the process, I couldn't stand the half locked half napps look lol.

So what next?.....A new Chapter!

 That's right, a new install!! Of course I wasn't going to just take down my locs and leave it like that!! I prebooked my installation with my trusted consultant in advance, took down my locs, gave them a good wash and headed back into the chair!! I will post more pictures of the finished look when I get them. But here are the new stats:

Install date 26th and 27th October
Install time 2 days, 16 hours
Size Small and Medium
Lock count 379
Consultant = A Gem, Client satisfaction = priceless!!

Those that knew my old set will know that I had considerably more locs, but to be honest after the experiences that I had with the combining, I didn't want to go through that again, so between me and my consultant we tried to ensure that each of the root beds has a good chance. Of course there may need to be combining if any of the locs are in trouble, but a good foundation sends them off on a good start.

Day 2 after install

 

 Finally...
17 months on from my initial install, what have I learnt?.....Do your research, see a consultants work and always talk up if you have concerns!!

Join me on my new journey xx

Retightening help!!

Fellow lockers, what do you do if you have started to retighten a lock and then realise that you cannot complete the rotation, do you leave it in the direction it can comfortably retighten to or do you abandon the full rotation and try to end it in the direction of that section of hair?? confused!! what do you do??

What I've been up to part 1...

Hey fellow bloggers, its been a while since my last post and I thought I would put out an update. So much has happened in the last 4 months so this is part 1, part 2 will follow a few days behind.

Introducing.....Miss Mac!! That's right, my eldest daughter has been Sisterlocked.

This was a few months before her locs were installed, her hair was damaged by the continuous styling she done as well as peer pressure in secondary school  we reached for the chemical crack which only took 2 months to destroy her crown

Locs were installed after numerous conversations and late nights agonising over the decision!!

Loc Stats: 375 locs installed over 2 days, total of 10 hours with just over an inch new growth, standard sizing in July 2011, age 12, maximum attitude!

 

 

 

Carnival Time August 2011, can we say shrinkage!!

September 2011 and looking good!!

What Miss Mac calls spider head!! Just before a wash and after being asked again, "when can we wash it without the plaits!! hehe soon baby, soon!

Miss Mac is very pleased with her hair and still has me in knots over the amount of styling she does, but we are working on minimal manipulation whilst they settle, she has asked since day one to have her pics posted on my blog and I am so pleased with my baby girl finally embracing her natural self even going against the odds at school and holding her own, beautiful.

Update on my locs in a few days!!

So today is my birthday

Yes today I celebrate my sweet 16 times by 2 lol so I decided to do something a lil different with my fro. Last night in prep I washed with Dr Bronner's Almond soap as well as my Dread Soap and set my hair on some perm rods, I was going to use my pipe cleaners but after having them sitting down for 2 months I couldn't find them so reached for the next best thing. Given that I am usually a wash and go sort of girl I must admit that the look is a lil different, but I think I kinda like it! We got a week full of family birthday's this week so I can't wait for them to drop and loosen up a bit. Here are some pics...

Take care for now x

Stylish Blogger Award!!

Can you believe I have been nominated for the Stylish blogger award!!

A special thank you to Gerrylocs for nominating me, when you become a blogger you get the chance to communicate with people from around the world who you would not have perhaps come across in everyday life, that I am grateful for and Gerrylocs has been a great inspiration throughout my journey. Thanx hun and to everyone else who reads my blog x

The rules of the award are:

1. Thank and link back to the person that awarded you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

So here are 7 things about myself:

God is my everything, I am continually learning about how to hve a relationship with him.

I am a newly wed, I married last year on Valentines day to my best friend and soul mate in my favourite    place, the beautiful island of Jamaica.

I have two beautiful daughters born ten years apart but going through the same things! My 12 year old is going through the lippy, I know everything and can answer everything stage, and my 2 year old is going through the well...the I know everything and can answer everything stage! but i love them both just the same!

I studied ballet from the age of 4 and attended a Performing Arts School studying dance. I am now a Social Worker, working in the Fostering and Adoption arena, which is emotionally challenging and tiring but I love trying to help.

I am a fairly quiet and introvert person but I make bold statements by the way in which I carry myself, I do not follow the crowd, I do what is comfortable for me.

I can be very impatient and head strong! When I make up my mind that I want something, I have to have it now, and if something isnt going my way I get rid of it...that is true with most thigns in my life!.

I love my food! All types of food but mainly carribbean dishes, I also love my deserts, hence my larger bones!!.

My nominees for the Styish Blogger Award

sisterlocked I love her blog posts, this lady has two excellent blogs which are heart warming and real, her second blog is here raisingchildraisingself

braidlocsadventure A great blogger and sooo photogenic!

passionatelynaturalfrancesca I love her creativety with colour and passion for change

therealnique Beautiful locs

naturalhairjournalsisterlocks Another beautiful locked sister

Fresh Re-Tight 8 months...

Nothing like the feeling of a fresh re-tight...ahhhhh. This month I am going to start experimenting with some growth aids. First on my list are the bee mine products. I have purchased the bee sensitive serum which is oil free and has all natural ingredients as well as a sulphur (MSM) included. Now I am not a growth aid boffin so for more info on the benefits of sulphur and how it helps hair growth please do you research! First impressions is on a nicely retightened scalp, IT ITCHES LIKE CRAZY!! lol gonna need a wash as soon as I can. Anyhows, I am reviewing quite a few products (my kids have agreed to be test dummies a well) so the one's I cannot use I will use on them. Reviews will follow in the next few posts.

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