Crossing Over - My Sisterlocks Journey

2006-08-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Finally, a picture of me at 9 months. My hair is growing and I'm loving the freedom I have with my SLs. I'm still braiding and banding my hair before washing and use the SL Green Tea Shampoo. I always follow my wash w/an ACV rinse, if I don't, my hair looks dull and feel very dry (I think it has something to do with this HARD TX water). In the mornings, I spritz my hair occasionally with water, but for the most part, I just get up, shake and go. It's just that simple. I'm currently in the process of retightening my hair and by the looks of it, will be retightening my hair thru this weekend. I'm still trying to make my way out the jungle, so pray for me! Until next time...

M.I.A.

2006-08-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I know, I know - where have I been? Let me tell you that the last 4 months has had its ups and downs for me and I'm finally getting back to my "normal" self. For starters, I accepted a position closer to my home & family, and I've been in training for the last 4 months, and guess what? I'm STILL in training! This is my first time working in the healthcare industry and boy, do I have a lot to learn. I am enjoying the challenge and change of pace though! During the first weeks of June, our son became ill and was diagnosed with pnuemonia after a trip to the ER. Thankfully, he was released from the hospital and within a few days, he was up and running again! During that same week, my cousin (age 30) died suddenly of heart failure and another cousin (age 24) was admitted to the hospital due to kidney failure the following week (he is doing much better now and is recovering well, thank God)! In the midst of all of this, I managed to take the retightening class on June 3rd with the one and only Gretchel "GiGi" Johnson. All I can say is that retightening my hair is no walk in the park. It's more like a long hike in a rain forest blind-folded with only my fingers guiding me along my way! Yep, it's like that my sistas! I'm telling you I almost gave up so many times - but after looking at some of my fellow sisterlocks/braidlocs bloggers (Lachanda's, Leighann's, Sandy's, TRA's and Detra's blogs to name a few) I KNEW I could do it too! I just needed to give myself a little more time & have more patience. I finally managed to retighten my hair after 10 hours of mishaps & mistakes over the course of 2 weeks (and successfully managed to lower my lock count down by 3 or 4 locks)! For anyone looking for a consultant or R-Certified instructor, I highly recommend GiGi!!
She was very patient while teaching me how to retighten my hair and is such a beautiful person, inside and out. I just can't say enough positive things about her - you have to check her out for yourself.

I'll be back in a few days to post some updated pictures and let you know which tool I prefer to retighten my hair (wait until you find out how many tools I've tried & tested). Until next time...

2006-04-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

Your Birthdate: December 1

You are a natural born leader, even if those leadership talents haven't been developed yet.
You have the power and self confidence to succeed in life, and your power grows daily.
Besides power, you also have a great deal of creativity that enables you to innovate instead of fail.
You are a visionary, seeing the big picture instead of all of the trivial little details.

Your strength: Your supreme genius

Your weakness: Your inappropriate sensitivity

Your power color: Gold

Your power symbol: Star

Your power month: January

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

HELLO WORLD!!!

2006-04-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? Everywhere and nowhere, if you can believe that! Things have been quite hectic for me, but I'm trying to take everything in stride. For all of you who have checked up on me, THANK YOU! It's still amazes me how much love & support I get from my Sisterlock Family!!!

Let's see, what's new with me? Well, I finally hit my 5 1/2 month mark and I couldn't be happier. My hair is growing and progressing very nicely (IMHO). I'm still experiencing issues with dry scalp & itching, but I'm sure I'll find the right treatment for me (hopefully, sooner rather than later). I'm hoping to take the Re-tightening class within the next month so I can start taking care of my own hair (besides, that was one of the things that drew me to sisterlocks) and I'm hoping to take it with my girl, Detra :-) (YOU BETTER WAIT FOR ME!!!!!) I'll be at my six month mark on May 10th. Time is really flying :-)

Being that I haven't been taking a lot of pictures of my hair lately, I decided to post a few Easter pictures of me and my family. Until next time...

2006-02-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

After my "mop" attack, I had to sit back and take a chill pill for a while. I was getting frustrated with "the mop", but your support and guidance through my first "challenge" helped me get through it! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Since I've been gone, I've switched consultants, have had two retightenings and am finally seeing some noticable growth, especially on the sides. This collage shows my hair at 2 1/2 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks and 13 weeks (the picture in the top right was at 2 1/2 weeks, the pictures beneath that one was taken at 6 weeks, the picture in the upper right corner was at 8 weeks and the picture in the bottom left was taken today - 13 weeks.). It wasn't until I put this collage together that I realized that my hair was actually growing. I can't wait to see what my hair looks like in a few months! Until next time...

2006-01-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, so over the course of two days, I braided and banded my hair in bundles of 10s. Why in 10s? Let's just say I kept losing track of how many I had counted when I was trying to do bundles of 25, 20 & 15. As I was saying, I wanted to kill two birds with one stone - counting my SLs and trying out a new look. Being that it took me two days to braid & band my hair, I haven't had a chance to take down the braids for my very 1st braid out, but I do know how many SLs I have! DRUM ROLL PLEASE - 525 baby sisterlocks! I thought I would have around 400 or so, but no I have over 500 babies in the process of locking up. (No wonder my arms got tired of "hanging" up there and I had to keep stopping). I knew I had thick hair, but I didn't realize I had such a big head of thick hair! Lord have mercy! Now, I know some people are very concerned about the number of locks they have and feel that they were cut short if their lock count is less than the "average" number of locks Dr. Cornwell mentions. But it is so important to keep in mind that no two heads are the exact same and when the word "average" is used, it refers to a sample of hundreds of people. For me, I'm just happy to know that my SL journey has begun and that I have a number of people out there ready to cheer me on! On that note, I have to say thanks to my SL sisters for the suggestions, love & support I received from all of you. The encouragement I received was unbelievable!!! Peace & Blessing

2006-01-06T14:40:00.000-08:00

You Have a Sanguine Temperament

You are an optimistic person who is easily content.
You enjoy casual, light tasks - never wanting to delve too deep into anything.
A bit fickle, it's easy for you to change plans or paths when presented with something better.

You enjoy all of the great things life has to offer - food, friends, and fun.
A great talker, you can keep the conversation going for hours.
You are optimistic and sure of your success. If you fail, you don't worry about it too much.

At your worst, you are vain. You are obsessed with your own attractiveness.
A horrible flirt, you tend to jump into love affairs and relationship drama easily.
You're very jealous - which just magnifies the craziness around you.

What Temperment Are You?

2005-12-31T11:33:00.000-08:00

You see what I mean? Mop city...Someone help a sista out...

2005-12-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

This picture is for ILLUSTRATION purposes only! Now that my disclosure statement has been published, I have a question for you - what to do with my hair? Every day my hair looks like this - A MOP! I wake up, spritz, shake and MOP!!! In the beginning, I was okay with my mop look because I had worn my natural hair in an afro puff for the longest time - it was my signature style. Now after having my "mop" style for over a month, I want something different. I've tried headbands and clips, but only get a pushed back mop look. Don't get me wrong, I love my sisterlocks, but being that I'm only 1 1/2 months into my journey, my styling options right now are limited and I want a new look. Any suggestions?

1st Retightening

2005-12-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

Today I had my first retightening and I was amazed at how much my hair has grown. For those of you who go to Ms. Elaine Hill of Salons of Dallas as your SL consultant, you know that she always starts the retightening session by shampoo-ing your hair! I almost fell asleep as she was washing my hair, but I didn't. Instead, I took a quick cat nap while she retighten my hair. Am I the only one that tends go to sleep whenever any one is in my hair? Since I had some slippage and unraveling, it took 2 hours for her to retighten my hair. When she was done, my hair looked and felt fabulous! I just love my sisterlocks!

2005-12-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

Has it been one month already?

2005-12-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

I can not believe that it has been one month since I got my SLs. I have received many compliments and have been asked the infamous question "Is all of that your hair?" more times than I care to remember. Right now, I have some slippage and unraveling around my temples & back of my hair (mainly where my hair's texture is soft and has a loose pattern) but I am not stressed out about it. Since my hair is thick. you can barely tell that some of my baby locks have come apart.My daily routine consists of spritzing my hair with water and shaking it out. Sometimes, I'll put a head band on, just for a different look. Either way, I never spend more than about 5 minutes in my hair in the mornings. At night, I tie my hair down with a silk scarf to protect itI am really loving my SL journey!!!

Happy Birthday!!

2005-11-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

Today is our son's 3rd birthday! So far he is our only child and believe me, it shows! To celebrate this joyous occasion, we had a 'mini' party with his favorite foods - pizza, cake & juice. I just couldn't let this day pass without creating a post for our handsome, little man. Happy Birthday!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

2005-11-27T18:25:00.000-08:00

I started my journey about 2 weeks ago and had taken many pictures of my freshly installed SLs. Unfortunately, I had a digital camera mishap and lost all of my pictures, but here are a few shots of my hair at 2 weeks. More to come soon...

Discovering Sisterlocks

2005-11-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

After being natural for about 2 years, I felt the urge to take the next step in my hair's natural journey - locks. So in April 2005, I began my quest to find the best locking method for my hair. I wanted locs that were versatile and did not require creams, gels or beeswax to be used to aide in my hair's locking process. While searching the internet, I ran across Sisterlocks and LockItUp. After spending hours researching Sisterlocks, reading various Sisterlocks hairstories and viewing pictures of people with Sisterlocks, I knew this was the locking method I had been looking for.

The first step in getting Sisterlocks is finding a Sisterlocks consultant. You can go the Sisterlocks website or click here to find one in your area.

After meeting with several consultants in the DFW area, I finally found a SL consultant for my hair. When I met with Elaine Hill of Salons of Dallas, she showed me the Sisterlock video and photos of her client's hair. My sisterlocks were born Nov. 10th and I have not been happier.