Don't Try This at Home!

Okay, well if you read my last post I mentioned that I had worn my hair in a ponytail during my grandmother's illness and in her passing. To be honest, I just wasn't feeling the hair very much. Besides, I had far more things to work on and be concerned with (I designed her funeral program...see the last post).

Anyway, as a result of my hair being pulled back, and my need for a retightening I decided it was best to use a little bit of gel (eek!) and mousse (yuck!) to tame the growing halo around my head.

Well as it turns out, gel and mousse are not the best products for locks (duh!!). I had buildup for days, and it wasn't that little flaky gel buildup. It was sticky, icky buildup. I was terrified at the thought of what my hair would look like if I couldn't remove it. So, here's what I did...

I soaked my hair in a concoction of veggie wash, clarifying shampoo, dishwashing liquid, and (shutter) Krud Kutter! Yep, Krud Kutter. I was so desperate and determined to remove the buildup that I lost my mind! However, I am happy to report...my hair is free of buildup and surprisingly pretty soft. I guess I must have stripped everything out, cause my scalp was a little dry, but its all good now. A few EO spritzes and all is well.

Just don't EVER try this at home.

Be blessed,

KLW

My Natural Inspiration

Greetings Friends,

Hi everyone! It feels like I haven't blogged all year. I have been dealing with some incredibly challenging situtations here lately and just haven't had a chance to focus on my hair or my blog. March 2006 is definitely one of the most memorable months of my life so far. Let me explain..
First of all, my birthday was on March 10. Unfortunately, I don't have any great birthday celebration stories to share. I did have dinner with friends and my fam even threw me a small surprise party the next day. However, this birthday is one that I'll never forget.

On my birthday, my grandmother (and natural hair inspiration--she never had a perm, color or straightened her hair!!) suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. Well, initially it was though to be a mini stroke, however after the doctors at the hospital ran several tests it was determined that she was very sick. As it turns out, we spent the next two weeks at the hospital. I took a leave of absence from teaching (not that I'm complaining) and spent everyday with my family. After that the doctors determined that they'd done all that could be done and we decided to bring her home to take care of her there (my mother, aunt and father all are medical professionals). On the eve of her return home, she died peacefully in her sleep (March 25, which also happens to be the 1 year anniversary of my DH's departure for Iraq). I guess I've been a little down and to be honest, I just haven't felt much like dealing with my hair (I spent the month of March with my hair pulled back :-(

However, I decided to do a quick wash and retighten the front and once again ...I'm in love with my sisterlocks. Its like doing my hair just brings me peace or something. Anyway, I don't mean to just ramble I'm just trying to get back in the saddle. I missed you guys!! I must get caught up with reading everyone's blogs and I promise to provide some updates real soon.

Peace and blessings,
KLW

Finally an Update...

Hey ya’ll (that's the GA Peach in me talking),

I guess you can say I’m in a little lock funk right now. To be honest, I just haven’t had anything to say and I refuse to post about how much I’m not feeling my hair (I know you all think I’m crazy, with these roller coaster hair emotions) and send negative vibes across the WWW.

Anyway, I wanted to address some questions that some of you have posted and thank you all who check on my regularly.

First of all, in relation to my hair…the color is not my natural color. It is the result of a bad hair dye job about 10 months (done by yours truly). I really like the 2 toned look now and have no intention of touching it up anytime soon.

Second, (still talking about hair) my damaged areas are really in the back (near the nape of the neck) and in the front (around the hairline). It’s the result of several things, most of all I think it is due to my relaxer days.

Finally, thank you all for continuing to check me out. Whether its daily, weekly, or monthly…I feel most honored to know that you’ve actually took out the time to step into my crazy hair obsession.

Come back soon!
Peace

P.S. Brunsli posted about music recommendations and I didn’t want to fill her comments section with my list of my top 1000 favorites. But, I must give a shout-out and recommendation that any serious music lovers (you Kem, Eric Benet, Cassandra Wilson, Rachelle Ferrell, Norah Jones and Diana Reeves fans) should really check out Lizz Wright (http://www.lizzwright.net/). I had the pleasure of attending college with her years ago and her albums are simply unbelievable.

27 Months and Counting...

While at my mom's house this past weekend my sister snapped these pictures for me. To be quite honest its the first time in a long time that I've seen all sides of my big 'ole head in one shooting. And for the first time in a long time, I can truly say that I am happy with my hair. It makes me think about what everyone says when it comes to locks. "Locking is a journey" and "Locking is an exercise in patience "(how many times have you heard those?). But the truth of the matter is both of the sayings are true. So many times in my journey I simply ran out of patience (and have the damaged locks to prove it!) but finally I feel like I've made it to the other side. Just thought I'd share!

Put Your Money Where Your March Is

My friend Tracy who is an excellent writer and superb poet, wrote a piece entitled "Put Your Money Where Your March Is" in honor of MLK day. Check her out here, http://kingbentertainment.net/tracyputyamoney.html. Also, being that I am an Atlanta resident (and it is the birthplace of Martin Luther King afterall) I decided to take my little cousins to share in the MLK day festivities. As an Educator and Sociologist, I know first hand that we have a long way to go in helping today's generation fully understand the full scope of Dr. King's life and his life's work. We still have so much left to do to see Dr. King's dream fulfilled. You can do your part today, start with education ! Stress the importance and value of education with your families and communities. Talk about the dream, BE about the dream!

Peace,
KLW

The Long and Short of Things

I was re-reading a few of the comments in some of the other posts that I've done. A couple of people commented that my hair was a cute bob and liked the way it hung. And, for a minute I was thinking it was kinda cute too, then...I woke up. My hair is actually quite long in the back and though the photos don't show it well, quite uneven. I've been giving it some thought for a while now and I am seriously considering getting it cut to a more even length. The pictures to the right show my hair w/out styling (freestyle), if you look closely you can see that the sides and back are not the same length. I wonder what causes this to happen with locks? Any thoughts???

Just Because

 

Finally...the back of my head!

So, while sitting here counting down the hours until my vacation ends. I decided to add yet another picture to my blog. The collage below includes what I think is the only picture of the back of my hair (maybe the 2nd). With the hubby away, its rare that I can manage to actually photograph the back (I have pretty short arms!). So, I am rather excited to the share with you the other side of my locks :-)! Also, of note I love the color that my hair looks in these photos. It's kind of red looking, I think its just the halogen bulbs in the kitchen. Still Retightening,
KLW 

2-Year Itch

I don't know if it's a 2 year itch or something. But, here lately I've been noticing so many little imperfections in my locks. Now don't get me wrong, I love all 542 locks on my big head...but there's something not quite right. My locks seem to have a mind all of their own, there are times when most (maybe 85%) or so actually look like locks. Then there are those times where I look in the mirror and think...Who am I kidding. Now with my hair texture and all I know that it does take much longer than average for my hair to fully lock (most say somewhere b/n 2-4 years), so I have promised to give it at least a 4 year attempt. But, my concern is that I almost feel like some of my little locks are regressing. If you look closely you'll notice that it is pretty clear that my hair is primarily locked at the ends in places and somewhat in the middle in others. I'm getting a little concerned. Does this look in anyway normal? (Click on the pic for a closer view)
This latest panic may simply be due to my lack of activities during this last part of my vacation. I should probably find something else to do than pick through my hair, lock by lock. Next week when I return to work I'm sure it will all be a blur. Gosh, I sure hope so!

BTW, I received my Soft Spike Rollers!!! This weekend's task: Curl it up!!!

Self-Retightenings??? It Must Be a New Year...

Greetings and Happy New Year to All!

Well my holiday 'do is now completely done and I've really starting thinking about my new year's promise to myself. I've promised to take better care of myself physically, spiritually and financially (as I do at the start of every year...notice i didn't call it a resolution Mom!). To start, I think I'm going to knock out the physical and financial at the same time by....retightening my own locks!!! I don't know what has come over me but once again I'm ready to give it a shot. Besides, the $200 plus for my last retightening session was just too much to pay. So starting tomorrow, I'm on my way. One sad note though, I lost my clip tool and that dang hook tool is just not quite so easy to use. So that being said, I'm pulling out my Nappylocs tool and we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!


Here's a quick before photo: (Notice the frizziness or what I like to call the 'halo effect'. Two years and I still have the frizzies!) This is a bad me, good hair shot. You'd think I weighed 200 lbs. by looking at some of these...gotta work on the photography skills! :0

Locked Hair Blog Exchange

A fellow Blogger, Maryee (http://lovemylocks.blogspot.com), came up with the ingenious idea of creating a Locked Blog Exchange. There you can find links to other bloggers who are documenting their locking experience, informational websites and web groups.

Check it out sometime!

The link is http://locksblogsphotos.blogspot.com/

The Holiday 'Do is Done

I don't know if its the boredom setting in or what, but now that I've arrived back here at home I've gone a little overboard with Picasa. I have done at least 10 collages now since downloading the program and I just luv it! The collage below is what my hair looks like now, a few days after my Christmas look. Basically, pulling it up is what I do for a little something different. I know, that's not too creative...but, it's a different look! After viewing Leighann's (http://mysisterlocks.blogspot.com) cute coils, I've been reinspired to try curls again. I used to think they made me look like a little old lady. I mean, I am up there a little ways in age but dang I sure don't want to look like it! But, her hair was so cute I must give it a shot. My soft spike rollers should be arriving anyday now! I'll be sure and post updates then.

Warning: I'm on vacation until Jan 6, more collages are on the way:')

More Christmas 'Do Pics!

 

To Dye or Not to Dye...That is the Question

Greetings People,

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying a beautiful start to Kwanzaa. To anyone to whom I have not had the opportunity to say so, Happy Holidays! Here are a few pics I’ve taken over the past few days to showcase my Holiday hairstyle. I wore 2 strand twists over 3 days to achieve this look. I think it turned out kind of cute! It was very full and bouncy, but the wet weather took its toll and it started to droop a bit.

The only bad part was that my hair almost didn’t look locked from a far…whew, that’s pretty scary. I can’t imagine not having my Sisterlocks! Also, if you look closely, you’ll notice that my hair is 2 toned. I dyed it in May and am seriously thinking about dying it again so that the colors aren’t so drastically different. I’m a bit perplexed about the issue...to dye or not to dye that is the question.

Peace, KLW

Much Ado About Nothing?

Thanks to those of you who responded to me both publicly and privately regarding my retightening concerns. As promised, here's the latest...
So, I know this sounds crazy but I went back after part 1 of our session. I expressed all of my concerns to her (using the latch-hook vs. SL tools, the combining of locks in the back, cutting the few that were too big, etc..). After throughly expressing my concern and knowledge of the SL technique (I did take the retightening class after all!) we came to an agreement -- no more cutting without my prior approval and no combining unless we both agree that it is necessary.

And to be quite honest I am very pleased with my hair. She actually stopped in areas where she felt as if she wanted to snip or combine, gave me the mirror and let me feel each one before taking any action. And she gave me an hour free!

Overall, I really like her. I like the idea of going to a shop as opposed to someone's home, she's very quick and seemingly thorough ( I'll let you know after tonight's wash) and generally just a nice lady. Now with a freshly retightened head...maybe I'll pull out the old tools in about a month and try it on my own again.

KLW

SL's retightened with a Latch-hook?

I'm smiling here...but there is really very little reason to celebrate. I went to check out a new consultant today (as I have given up on retightening it myself) and half way through my hair I really feel like screaming. First of all, the sister did not even use sisterlock tools. She retightened my hair using a latch-hook! Okay, I know its the technique itself that makes Sisterlocks Sisterlocks. But, I am quite disappointed about how my hair has turned out. I questioned her use of the latch-hook and she explained that it does less snagging than the SL tools.

She combined about half in the lower back so far and even cut a few off that she said were too large. I'm going to let her finish it up as I must have my hair finished before my Christmas vacation, but I am a little scared. Y'all pray for me on this one, I'll keep you posted!

KL

In the beginning...

Greetings all, I located a few pictures of my hair at the start of my locking journey, October 2003. It's amazing how quickly time flies when you're happy, nappy and free. A few days ago I reached my 26 month milestone. It's been over 2 years now and I am just getting started. Initially, I thought I'd be locked completely by now, but as they say no two heads of sisterlocks are alike. I alsways thought I had "nappy" hair but through the process of locking, it has been detremined that my hair is rather soft and loosely curled or waved..definitely not the best hair for locking.

But despite all that, the many twists, turns and tears...I've made it and I am happy to stand before you as a Sisterlocked sister, one of a family of thousands who share the joy of living in a natural world.
To those of you with that "difficult to lock" "ain't never gonna lock" "too soft" "good hair"...be encouraged. It will happen with time. I'll be posting new pics tomorrow after part 1 of my retightening (Wish me luck, I'm going to a new consultant this time). In the meantime, here are some pics from the very beginning (Day 1).

A Locking Journey: The Intro

So, after reading the many posts, blogs, websites and emails of others who have began the locking journey. I've decided that today is the day...to start my own blog. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Katika and I am a proud, loud sisterlocks wearer of over 2 years. Proir to starting this blog, I documented my locking journey through my website, http://katikalovett.tripod.com. I've kept it since the beginning of my journey and up until recently. I must admit though, I haven't kept it up nearly as well as I'd intended but it does give you an indication of the stages my hair has gone through.

At this point, my hair is about 85% locked (or partially locked) and 15% unlocked. It's been such a long, bumpy road but I'm glad to be on this journey. Thanks for stopping by and please come by often.

Peace,
KLW