Loosely interlocking for an upcoming beach vacation

Back to Black!!!

2 Years!!

23 Months!!

22 Months!!

Almost... lol

I'll hit that on Thursday, but I've got time today, so I'm blogging.

Also, on 8/18/2013, I hit 4 years natural!! *snoopy dance*

So yeah... about the retwist and pipecleaner set... didn't happen.  LOL And for once it's not because I got lazy (well only partly.)

If you've been following me for a while, you know that my scalp tends to want to act a fool on occasion. I've actually been rolling along pretty well for a while, which led to me loosening up on my regime. I'm not going to say this was a mistake because I've had a problem-free couple of months, but currently, my scalp is on strike. My dermatitis is flaring up, which requires frequent washing until it calms back down.  Knowing this, there was no way I was about to spend all the time twisting and rolling, only to be washing it out in a few days.

I can't complain because I know there are people with conditions much worse than mine that require medication on top of extra TLC.

My way of dealing with my flare-ups are pretty simple.  (This is not medical advice! This is just what works for me.)

1. Shampoo every couple of days. I don't use a particular brand, whatever I've got in my house is what I use.  Tried to use black soap lately... but I'm stopping because that could be what caused my scalp to act up.  It's the only new thing I've used in the last couple of months.
2. ACV - as needed.  This tends to kill any of the drama happening and calms down the irritation. I don't do the soak though (again... I'm lazy lol). I put 1 part acv to 3 parts water in my bottle, spray it in, let it sit for anywhere from 10-30 minutes, then shampoo my hair.
3. Hot Oil Treatment - I usually slather my hair at night, put a plastic bag on, tie my hair up and go to sleep. In the morning, I rinse it out and keep it moving.
4. Grease scalp - as needed.  Even if I can't find the time to do my whole head, I make sure my problem areas are taken care of. 

With this system, I'm usually clear in about 7-10 days.

The funny thing about this is, before I went natural, this would have been cause for panic.  Flakes in your wrap ain't cute! lol Now with my locs, I'm immediately like "Oh, okay, I know how to handle this."  

That's one of the great things about natural hair... it gives you the time and experience to learn what works for you and what doesn't.

Funny story for my loc'd folks. I usually put my hair up in a ponytail to go to sleep.  I usually don't tie it down, I sleep on a satin pillowcase.  The other night I had an experience my fellow loc'ers will understand.

One of my locs had worked itself free from my ponytail and fallen across my forehead.  In my sleep, I thought it was a bug and slapped the shit out of myself. LOL  I woke up with a handprint on my forehead like WTF just happened!! :)

I took this picture that morning after making sure the handprint had faded LMAO!!

That's all for now.  I hope your hair is growing and flowing!!

*flips locs* Deuces!!

Making Flaxseed Gel for a retwist and pipe cleaner set!!!

New Addition: Yarn Wraps!!

Zipper Braid / Length Check

Right Now Pic: Thinking about coloring my hair... not all of it, just making the old color a new color. Hmm...

How it was... How it is...

Hey y'all!!

I had some free time today, and I was like "I need to catch up on my blog."

So here I am.

I just counted and realized I'll hit 21 months on Monday. I mean literally counted. lol I don't really ever think about how long I've had them anymore, so when I did the math, I was shocked and had to count it out to make sure. lol

I know I have a couple of new lockers following, so I wanted to do a post that shows how some of the things I worried about when I started locking are going now.

 

• The loc that couldn't -  When I started, I had a loc at the nape of my neck that kept coming undone during my first month.  It was braided at the top and bottom and loose in the middle.  I took it down and rebraided it, then secured the end with a black rubberband. I worried about this poor loc for at least 3 weeks straight. 

1 month, 2 months, 21 months

It's fine now.  All that stress for nothing because it looks just like my other locs.

• Combined locs - In September of 2012, I combined 4 locs into 2. I worried that they would be huge, or that they wouldn't lock together, or that they would be totally noticeable in my hair.

They slimmed down and started locking together. Can't see them unless I look for them.

• How much thicker will they get? - This was a concern even before I started my locs. I wanted relatively slim locs (which is funny to me now, because most of my current fav locs on other people are thick). 

Month 2, Month 21. 

 LOL The first pic is back when I first got these beads. I used to have to pull 3 braids through, now some locs are too thick for them. :) So basically, they got thicker, but not more than I expected.  I ended up with the size I wanted.

• The front won't lock - I worried about this for a long time.  My front locs didn't really get going until months 5-11.  And even then, it was going so slow that I worried they'd all be braids forever and I'd hate them. 

Month 5, Month 21

 I've still got one braid that refuses to loc... and I love it. It gives my hair character. People ask me all the time how I got that one to do that and I'm like *kanye shrug* lol Again, I notice it if I look for it, but day to day, I don't even think about it anymore.

Now you see it, now you don't lol

 First pic I held the loc out so the camera could catch it, second pic I let them fall naturally.


My hair isn't growing - It has to shrink to lock. That's a fact. The sooner you deal with it, the easier it will be. It will take you a while to see progress in length if you started with longer hair, because shrinkage is a mofo.  Don't think that because you can't see the growth in the mirror, it's not actually happening.

Top Row: Day 1, Month 10 Bottom Row: Month 17, Month 21

I hate to quote Drake but... Started from the bottom now I'm here!

If I could give one bit of advice to new lockers, it would be:

Patience is the key. Mother Nature will work it all out, so don't worry. 

*flips locs* Deuces!!

15 Minute Knots - Knot Out Prep

Nappy Rootz

Beat the Heat Bun

Braidout!!

19 Months!!

Hey y'all!!


I just hit my 19 month anniversary last week!! *snoopy dance*


Nothing too big is going on except I'm experiencing a ton of new growth.

You'd think that would encourage me to retwist more, but to be honest it doesn't.  I actually did a retwist on 4/21/13 to go to a funeral.  Probably wont retwist again til end of this month.



Here's what my hair looked like before maintenance.

Here's what it looked like after:

My routine has stayed pretty simple:

1. Wash with whatever shampoo is on hand. I'm currently using Aussie Moist watered down with a little peppermint oil added. 
2. Hot oil treatment with Hot Six Oil every 3rd wash.
3. Grease scalp with Sulfur 8 Light (blue jar) when needed.
4. Spritz with water, lemongrass and sweet orange oils daily. (Usually after a workout.)

Here's some random styles I've been rocking lately.

Length check!!

Talk to y'all soon!!

*flips locs* Deuces!!!

Random Collage #2

Random texture collage!!!

A Very Merry UnBirthday Pt. 3!!

Hey y'all!!

I've been trying to keep up with my picture taking so that when I have an opportunity to blog, I've got something to show you.


I'm at 16.5 months and I still love my hair.

I pretty much just wash when I need to, retwist when I feel like it, and go on about life.

Besides shampoo I have been using Sulfur 8 Light every 3 days or so to keep my scalp from going nuts.

I also use Earthbalism Herbal Hair Rinse, except instead of using it as it a rinse, I use it as my daily spray.

I brew it like a tea, strain it, and put it in my spray bottle.  I keep the bottle in the fridge to keep it from spoiling and I go through a bottle a week. 

It keeps my locs supersoft... and since I don't use conditioner anymore, it's pretty much become my favorite thing ever.  I've been using the Flower Power one, but I need to re-order this weekend so I'll be trying all three varieties this time.  It smells amazing and whenever I brew it, my house smells like a garden for DAYS!

I've still been rocking bantu knot outs when my roots are out of control, but I'm too lazy to retwist.

It takes about 20 minutes to do and the curls last for about 2 weeks.

Here's another lil collage of just random shots, but you can see my beads.  I haven't been wearing a lot of loc jewelry lately, but I'm never without my beads.  I got 4 of them on clearance for like $1 a year ago and now I wear them regularly.  I take them out when I wash my hair and they're rarely on the same locs for more than 2 weeks.

Pretty sure this was after my last retwist about 2 weeks ago.

Here's a random loc shot so you can see the length and thickness of my locs.

That's all for now folks!!  I'll be back whenever I get a chance, but I'm still taking pics so you can see how my hair is thriving.

YAAAASSSSS!!!  lol

*flips locs* Deuces!!

15 Month Update...

Yeah so... I was going to update sooner, but the way my attention span is set up... *Kevin Hart voice*


LOL My bad y'all.  Last time I was here I was gearing up for my one year anniversary and now it's 3 months past that.  I've been busy!  It sounds trite, but it's so true. lol  I've got a bunch of stuff going on in my life (good things) and blogging about my hair tends to fall to the side as those things take over.  I'd promise to do better, but we'd all know I was lying. :)

So anyway... let me tell you about my hair.

It's going great.  The front left side has is about 80% locked so I'm almost completely there.  I still have 3 stubborn braids that refuse to give in, but I like them.  They give my hair personality.

I have stopped interlocking and started retwisting.  I used to really want neat roots and since I have to wash my scalp so often, that made twisting out of the question for me when I first started.  Now I couldn't really care less about my roots.  I'm a retwister...when I have something special going on.  For the most part, I just separate when I wash and go on about my day lol  I haven't interlocked since that last post I mentioned it in September.

Don't act like y'all don't see that length!!  Ow!! Get it!!

Style-wise, I usually just wear it down.  Sometimes I do a twistout or an actual style, but for the most part, I just chill and let them hang.  I have also become one of those people who wears a ponytail holder like a bracelet so I can pull them back out of my face if I want to.

Right now I actually have a bantu knot out going.  Bantu knots have always been tricky for me.  They never came out the way that I wanted.  This Sunday, I was watching Walking Dead (that's my show!! lol) and I decided to try again and I love the way they came out.  Plus it only took like 15 minutes to put the knots in.

I have been getting compliments on this left and right.  Like my boss literally came out of his office to come tell me how nice my hair looked.  So that's a win. :)

My routine is still pretty simple... I wash when I feel like it or when my scalp starts acting up.  I've been using a cheap V05 shampoo followed by Aussie Moist shampoo. I have been doing a hot oil treatment every 2 weeks with Hot Six Oil.  Basically I just heat it up, smother my head, put a plastic bag on it, and sit under my dryer for a half hour. That's actually the only time I use my hair dryer.  I let my retwists air dry unless I'm in a rush and I try not to do it when I'm rushing.

Those locs that I combined in September are doing well and I've actually combined a couple more since then (I sewed the newer ones together, then pulled the thread out when they started meshing). I think I'm done with combining.  I've got them all pretty much where I want them now.

So that's what's going on with me.  Hopefully, I'll do better with updating but if not and you just want to keep up with me, you can catch me on Twitter or Instagram. Both of my pages are locked for privacy but if you send me a request, I'll accept. :)

Until the next time folks... Keep it nappy!!

*flips locs* Deuces!!