It's Finally Been One Year!!!

My one year mark has finally come!! December 1st and 2nd marked my true One Year Lockversary!!! The year has flown by and I'm glad to have been able to blog my progress along the way.

Life hasn't changed much for me in the last few months. I've moved from Mississippi to South Carolina and will be on the move again at the end of January.

I'm happy to be spending Christmas with my BF this year in cold NYC. The city is so beautiful this time of year. We spent about 6-7 weeks apart then finally reconciled in mid October. We've been talking so much more openly now and while we've learned how to change our relationship to be more open and mature, I've learned many things about myself and my own insecurities. I'm realizing that there are issues from my past that have a profound effect on my today and I somehow have to learn to work through those issues as they surface so that they won't continue to be problems in the future. (And yes, the beautiful flowers and mosaic vase are from him!)

My hair has grown like a weed and I'm glad to have found a consultant in North Carolina to take care of my retightenings. Although I took the retightening class, it was never my desire to retighten my own hair on a regular basis. I had to learn how to do it myself though because with all of my travels, I'm sometimes in an area where there are no consultants available. In these pictures I've curled my hair on plain foam sponge rollers spritzing with a little water along the way. I like to call this my curly fries look! ha ha! I have to say that of all the curling methods I've tried, I find that these good old fashioned rollers maintain my curls longer than any other. I can get nearly a week of curls without having to do any touching up as long as I'm able to keep my hair dry.

Happy Holidays!!

Below are more pictures of the progression of my hair over the last year.

Before Sisterlocks

The first day after my 18 hour install

My Sisterlocks at 6 months

And today, Christmas Eve, 2008

My Sisterlocks at One Full Year

Accessorized with a Tomoka's Twist and matching earrings

A Quick Update In Month Nine

I can't believe it but I'm already in month 9 of having my Sisterlocks. This picture is from my Homecoming Photo Shoot at 7 1/2 months and I would say that my hair hasn't changed much since that time.

I did take the retightening class and have successfully retightened my hair once so far. It's easier than I expected and I have to say that I did a darn good job if I say so myself.

I'm still living down in the Mississippi bayou and did evacuate to Georgia for Hurricane Gustav but I'm glad to say that I had no damage at home and it was as if the storm never came through.

I finally ended the bf relationship and I'm completely okay with my decision. I realized that just because time has been invested in a relationship, it doesn't mean that you have to try to tough it out with something that's just not meant to be. I'm thankful that I spent the time because I learned things about myself, about what I'm really looking to find, and most especially tools that I needed to learn to have a successful relationship in the future.

I guess that's about it. My hair is progressing along very well and I'm seeing signs of some of my ends sealing and a few buds that are showing signs of locks beginning to form. I still have a long way to go and it's been hard to be patient because I'm ready for my locks to thin out some instead of being so puffy and fuzzy. I keep reminding myself that it's a journey and that although it's taking a considerable amount of time to settle in and lock due to my looser curl pattern, it won't be long before I see the changes at one year and beyond. I notice that my hair is growing to be fuller moreso than length and that's what I expected. It's encouraging to see the little budded ends that I'm seeing now and I know that the best is yet to come.

Meeting A Legend And My Sisters...

This past weekend, the sisters in the northern California area came together for a consultant training class, potluck, and individual photo shoots. While I'm far from ready to take any SL class yet, I did enjoy my own little personal sex kitten supermodel moment when I had my photo shoot.

Once you have Sisterlocks, you hear about the disease...you know the "hanzenthehairitis", "whitegirlatoma", and "slapurgia", but no one told me that I would need to go to rehab for a "phototectomy" (my definition of needing to be pulled away from the camera). Before I got my locks, I thoroughly enjoyed being behind the camera taking pictures and I still do enjoy it, but now I have this thing where I like to be in front of the camera as well! I had a lot of fun doing different poses in different settings, and our photographer, John, was spectacular! He will be at the SL Homecoming in July so start planning your poses now....

I also got to meet and speak with Dr. JoAnne Cornwell...our SL mother, motivator, and friend. It was so exciting to meet her and for her to tell me that she loved my hair!!! Super Kudos to Wendy and hey, congrats to me for working the Caruso curlers! ha ha I think what was most valuable was to hear from the real source of it all, exactly what things should or shouldn't be done with my hair. It was a great compliment to Wendy that not only did Dr. C. think my hair looked very nice, but also that every instruction that Wendy has given me is exactly as Dr. C. said in answer to questions that I and everyone else proposed.

In looking at all of the beautiful locks around the room, no two heads looked alike, but there were a few common bonds...everyone embraced each other as family and friends. I didn't see anyone giving the infamous scan up and down on anybody with the tell-tale, "who did it and what for" face. Second, everyone exuded self-confidence and took pride in how they carried themselves. There was an air of class and elegance from one end of the room to the other, and third, sistah's know how to cook!!

I'm excited to be a part of this warm and growing community and can't wait to see everyone again in San Diego for Homecoming. See you there!!

Special thanks to...

Dr. C.

Wendy

Chloe
(for doing my makeup)

Sandy and Carolyn
(for helping to choose my jewelry)

and of course John
(for taking such spectacular pictures!!)

Here I am with Wendy and Alicia (aka Chocolata)

A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves

and very much not ourselves

- a special kind of double.

~Toni Morrison

All Retightened & Ready To Lime!!!

I finally got in with my consultant yesterday for my 1st full official retightening!! THANK GOD!! I was experiencing some pretty severe slippage to the point that some locks had come out completely. I looked kinda funky because my hairline had the most slippage so I was wearing a headband pretty often to cover it up until my retightening....the rest of my hair, however, was very random in its areas of trouble. Ahhh...but that's all in the past and we're going to wish nothing but great things in the weeks and months to come.

The big day has finally arrived...tomorrow I leave for my mission trip to Trinidad. I was feeling overwhelmed by all of the things that I needed to get done in order to get packed and ready when I was finally reminded by God that this trip isn't about me having to get worked up to be something that someone else expects me to be. This trip is about me being myself to help someone else. I don't have to worry about being judged by what clothes I wear or how I wear my hair (although I know everyone is going to love it). This is a chance for me to be thankful for what I have and for the opportunity to allow God to use me to bless others. Allowing that thought to sink in has taken away more stress than I can tell you!

When the missions team and I made the trip to Trinidad in July, we asked the facility staff what things the kids were in need of and they told us that they needed recreational items, such as games, toys, etc. They had already been given a DVD player so DVD's were also a good choice. Being that I didn't have any Christmas shopping that I had to do this year, I went a litte crazy with the after-Christmas sales in the Toy and Media departments at Target! I had a blast!! A VERY VERY special thanks to Lynda for donating some awesome toys to add to the collection!!

I've included a few pictures below of the items I bought on my crazy spending spree. I don't wanna grow up; I'm a Toys 'R Us kid! Did you know that they still sell Easy Bake Ovens???

In Trinidad, their saying for hangin' out is "to lime" so....it's time for some hard work, then time to lime!

My Nappy Is Not So Nappy....

I've been noticing quite a bit of slippage each time I wash my hair. My first official retightening is scheduled for January 16th but I called my consultant because I was concerned. She fit me in to come in and take a look and see if she could figure out what the issue might be.

I absolutely LOVE my consultant Wendy. She's been doing Sisterlocks for 8 years and really knows her stuff! Not only that, even though she works from home, she runs a tight ship. She is very professional and I truly appreciate that. When I arrived on Thursday for her to look things over, I was immediately panicked as I'd just washed my hair again so that I'd have a clean head for her to look at.

I told her, "Wendy, I promise you that I've been doing everything that you told me to do to the letter! My Friday ritual is to braid-n-band so that I can wash my hair at some point over the weekend. I don't take the b&b out until my hair is dry. I haven't put any products on my hair other than distilled water, and I haven't gone crazy with hair accessories. I've used my Carusos but those are harmless as they are only using steam, and I haven't used any shampoo other than the Sisterlocks Starter Shampoo!"

As she took a look through my hair, Wendy said....."Take a breath!! Breathe!!" It turns out that the issue is simply the texture of my hair. Apparently, the texture of my hair is softer than we originally thought so she retightened what she could in the time that we had, and I'll still go back on the 16th so that she can finish.

I guess I would call this my first bump along the way, and it's good to know that sometimes even though you are maintaining your locks perfectly, there will be issues that come up that are out of your control. Wendy said that she installed my locks with the tightest lock pattern available but sometimes the texture of the hair dictates what changes you have to make in your daily regimen. So now, I will wash my hair every 2 weeks instead of every week, but other than that, I'm doing okay. Darn, I'll so miss those other 2 Fridays of braiding and banding!! Yeahhhh right!!!

Rockin' My Locks in Week Four

Here I am freshly washed at week four. I've been faithfully braiding and banding and washing my hair once a week with the Sisterlock Starter Shampoo. I haven't taken any elaborate steps in styling so far. I usually go either freestyle, maybe with a headband that only goes around the top of my head, and of course there are my favorite Caruso curlers. I don't want to manipulate my baby locks too much and I find that the steam from the Caruso curlers is enough to moisturize and soften my hair.

You can see that I've already got alot of new growth and that I'm in desperate need of a retightening.

I'm intrigued by the texture of my locks as I'm anxious to see what they'll look like over time. Ooh! Is that one of those cool little buds at the end of that lock that starts the entangling phase??

Most of my locks are doing well but I do have a good amount of slippage that I'm worried about. On the left you can see where the ends of some of my locks are coiling up nicely, while on the right you can see some of the major slippage that's occurred at my hairline. There are some other random areas too that have slipped but my hairline seems to be hit the hardest.

I was downtown shopping last night with my locks running freestyle. There aren't many black people in this area but I encountered quite a few as I walked around. Each time I passed someone, it seemed as if their eyes lingered on me a bit longer than the typical anonymous "hellos" that you offer on the street. I thought to myself, "Self, why are they staring at me? Am I wearing something that looks bad?"

Then it hit me....they were staring at my hair! All of the people I passed by were women which makes me really curious of what they were thinking. They were all wearing relaxed do's and I wonder if they were thinking, "...where she thank she goin' wit dat nappy hair??" or if they were wondering, "....her hair looks different...I wonder what kind of locks she got??" Perhaps they weren't really staring at me at all, but I had fun playing my little guessing game.

I love my locks and wouldn't trade them for the world. I do look forward though to them getting a little longer so that they'll have a little weight to hang better when I wear them freestyle. They look a little weird right now without a headband or a few curls, but overall, I think that I look mahhhvelous!

Beauty - in projection and perceiving - is 99.9% attitude. ~Grey Livingston

The Memories of Christmas Past...

My holiday pictures of the kidz and I have finally arrived!!

I must say that I love the season of Christmas. I love those sleigh bells ring-a-ling, ring ting ting-a-ling too. I love the music, the decorations, the hustle and bustle, and of course the anticipation of the holiday.

I remember a Christmas Eve a long, long time ago when I had to get up to tinkle in the middle of the night. I'd already been warned that I better get off to bed and off to sleep or Santa wouldn't stop by or leave any gifts for me. I tiptoed downstairs to the bathroom with absolute fear that I'd be seen.

While in the bathroom though, something magical happened. I heard footsteps and a jingle right outside the bathroom door!!! I was sure...I was positive that Santa Claus was in my house at that moment. When I didn't hear any more sounds, I bolted up the stairs and jumped into bed, burying my whole body including my head under the covers. I prayed to God that Santa didn't see me.

The next morning I was ecstatic to see that Santa had left me all of the Barbie dolls and other presents that I had asked him for. Aaahhh yes, the days of Christmas past. It was a happy time, and it wasn't until years later that I realized that the footsteps and jingling that I heard were those of my mother and stepfather, with keys jingling in hand, coming in from bringing Christmas gifts from their hiding place in the trunk of the car!! What can I say, I was a gullible child, but that is to this day, my most memorable Christmas moment.

My baby locks are about 2 weeks old now. I did my first wash with the Sisterlocks Starter Shampoo last weekend and noticed very little slippage. I think that I may really need to get a life though, because for now, my Friday night ritual is to braid and band so that I can wash on Saturday (or Sunday if I'm really lazy). I'm thinking about trying out my Carusos after washing this weekend. I feel like my locks are as fragile as a newborn child sometimes, so I'm afraid to do very much with them other than just spritzing with water and giving a little fluff to get rid of the morning "bed head".

Anyway, with Christmas just days away I'd love to hear what are your favorite Christmas memories?

Just wanted to add a new picture for all to see. I took this one on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 when my baby locks were about 3 days old. I haven't tried any particularly styling yet as I'm really just loving my freestyle look. I spritz with some water to get rid of my bed head in the morning, shake and fluff a little, and voila! That's all she wrote!! I must say though that I don't think that my pictures really do justice to my hair as you can't see the beautiful texture of the locks. Guess I'll just have to let it grow and let it flow...