19 months in...

Ok fam,

So I've been sl'd for 19 months now and I've had my ups and downs through this journey...mainly ups. Not much has changed since last post except my hair growing some more. So here's where I am. I can see how some locs are starting to get fuzzy along the shaft of the loc. Maybe they're starting to mat up which is good. However the ends still look wavy and are not really doing anything. They look pretty much like they did when I started. But I've learned especially with this process that patience is key. So I am being really patient with my hair. I've never used anything other than sisterlock shampoo, water, and a spritz I make from rosemary and eucalyptus essential oils. My consultant warned me that my hair would take longer to loc so I've been refraining from doing things that might be harmful or slow up the process.

My retightening this time didn't seem as taxing. I think it was because I left all my braids in from washing the day before and just retightened one braid at a time. Usually I take all the braids out and then section off row by row. (Can you believe I'm still braiding and banding?) Anyway it seemed easier this time.

Anyhoo, I 've been exercising like everyday when I get up(for the most part) and not much has happened. I did lose a couple lbs but then I went up to my dads for a week and gained 7. So now I'm trying to get back to where I was before. My friend told me that your body has a certain weight that it gets to and you plateau. I guess that's what's happening to me. My husband keeps saying I don't need to lose weight, but I have this seemingly unreachable ideal weight in my head. I'm thinking 137 lbs. I don't know where this number came from, but I feel like I should be this weight. I plan to keep working out through the rest of the summer even if just to stay where I am.

I'm going home (Baltimore, MD) in a couple days. I plan on staying for like two weeks. Hopefully I can find something fun to get into. I have a class starting when I get back and it'll be back to nose in the books. Well I hope everyone has a great summer!!!

Til next time babies,
Tee

Spring is here!!

Hey fam,

So I had my first "I'm tired of this s*%&" moment with my hair two days ago. I was trying to rationalize to my husband why I should pay $125 to have my hair retightened. I didn't really have a good argument except, "I don't feel like it." I mentioned to him that I was considering chopping all my hair off and doing something else with it. What was scary to me was that I dreaded doing my hair so much that I was actually considering it. I am down to it taking me just two days now to fully retighten. I gained some perspective and realized how silly it was of me to think that. After all I took the retightening class so that I would save money and not be at someone else's mercy for my hair maintenance. Plus you get such a feeling of accomplishment when you look in the mirror after you're done that's priceless. Now that I have freshly tightened locks I'm back to loving my hair :-)

Anyhoo, spring is here and summer is right down the street. So I keep telling myself I am gonna lose about 10 lbs so I can be totally confident about wearing summer clothes. I know that I need to cut down on eating some and definitely exercise more. I haven't been that successful with either yet. Since school is out coming up I won't have much going on so I really will try to exercise more. I got some cool birthday cards from family and I'm meeting a friend for lunchtime sushi tomorrow. Joe is taking me out to dinner and saturday we're meeting some friends for dinner. Tomorrow I'm also getting a facial and eyebrows threaded and a massage. So the next couple days should be fun. I can't believe I'm turning 32. Sometimes I don't feel like a grown up.

I feel like I should be saying something else but I can't think of it. Well that's it for now.


Later babies,
Tee

One year lociversary!!

Hey fam,

Yes it's finally here...my one year mark. I can't believe it's been that long. I was officially locked on November 15, 2008. I had to retighten so I'm a few days late. This mark is double special for me because of my locs being one year old and my third diy retightening. I haven't had too many mishaps with my sls except for accidentally chopping two of them in half. Yes!!!! I was so mad at myself. It was during my last retightening and I had tightened some strands of one loc to another. So I grabbed the scissors and tried to feel where I needed to cut with my fingers. I pressed down on the scissors and heard that horrifying sound. Yes the sound of hair being cut :-( I called my consultant like the next day and she told me to come in. She looked all through my head and couldn't find the chopped locs. So that made me feel a little better because at least it wasn't obvious.

Anyway there's been nothing too major other than that. Just usual stuff you know like locs trying to combine themselves. So now I am consciously trying to keep them seperated whenever I can. The retightening is still taking me three days which I'm not happy about. But hopefully the process will become quicker the more I do it. I feel so liberated and proud of myself. My hair still doesn't look like locs yet, but I realize everyone's hair has it's own journey and I wouldn't change anything that's happened along the way.

On a final note, I've been pretty busy with school and I guess it paid off. I was inducted into PTK (Phi Theta Kappa) on Friday Nov 20 which is the international honor society for community colleges. I'm going to visit my daddy for Thanksgiving weekend and I'm looking forward to a few days of rest and not thinking about school lol. Well I hope you'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Till next time babies!

Tee

My first DIY Retightening :-)

Hey fam,

I know it's been a while since I've posted. In my defense I guess I'll say that I haven't been motivated lately. Anyhoo, this post is about me taking the retightening class today and what will follow. I am naturally a diy type person and I think it has a lot to do with my personality. I have always been a quiet, reserved person who would rather learn how to do something myself then ask people for help. I know that's not always a good thing, but whatever. The way this economy is these days I can't afford to spend money on anything that's not a necessity. And while I take great pride in my appearance, these days getting my hair retightened is just not a necessity. Especially when I'm not working and my husband and I are living on a single income. Well enough of that. The point is that for me learning to retighten my own hair seems to have more pros than cons...at least for right now.

At 5:00pm today I went to my consultants shop and she briefly explained a few things to me. She gave me a kit and then let me do two practice locks. She asked if I had any questions and sent me on my way. Now the whole time she's talking she kept saying that it would get easier the more I do it. So when it was over, I was sitting there like..."that's it?" She said that I could always call her with any questions, but that still didn't ease my mind. I'm like "wow I just paid $250.00 for that?" But once I got home and started doing some I did realize that it's one of those things where you learn best from doing hands on. I actually got a good section in the back done in about three hours. I will work on it on and off tomorrow and the rest of the week. Hopefully I will be done before the weekend so I won't have half my head looking a hot mess. I must say it doesn't seem as overwhelming as I thought it would be leaving her shop today. So to all the DIYers...I salute you. And hopefully I can become a self-maintenance girl. We'll see how it goes (crossing fingers). I've included some pictures that show my progress so far. I'll post again as soon as I finish. Til next time babies!

Tee

First Re-tightening

Hey fam,

Thought it might be time for an update. This will be brief though. Not much has changed with my hair except I had my first re-tightening a couple days ago. The first few pics were taken today two days after my re-tightening. The other pics were after I rolled my hair with some bendable rollers. I have gotten mostly positive feedback with my sisterlocks. A lot of people asked me if all this is my hair. I guess it's hard for people to fathom after seeing me with very short hair. I can't wait until my hair really starts growing and my locks mature. So far I'm loving every minute of this. The low maintenance is awesome!!

I wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year!!!

Tee

FINALLY DID IT!!!!

Whoooo!!!!! Well y'all I finally am officially locked. It took like 12 hours. I got there around 9:30 am and we didn't finish until like 9:30pm. Geez, technically half the day. Shout out to my consultant Paulette Brown and her wonderful daughter Ashley for helping her. Without Ashley I probably would have been still sitting there right now lol. I counted them as I was taking out the braids she put them in. I have 389...I think. Having soft nice hair has its advantages when perming and doing straight styles, but certainly not when it comes to locking. They kept making comments like "well with your hair texture" and "your hair might do this and that" which was a little scary. I know this whole thing will be a process and hopefully I won't have too many problems. Overall it was a positive experience. I'm already excited and it hasn't even been one day yet!!! I feel like a new me has been born and I'm looking forward to this life.

p.s. I also posted some pics of my last styling days before sl's.