665, 666, 665, 664 Oh My

Okay so here's the deal. Two reti's ago I discovered I had a new baby lock. But after my last reti it came off in my hand. Then the other day I lost this precious lock, and had another clump of hair slide off of yet another lock. I know that my locktician said that there was something wrong with her tool and that she had ordered another one. I will be talking to her about it at my next reti.

And the journey continues. Blessings Monica :-D

Update

My apologies for taking so long to update. Too much has been going on to mention. In anycase I will do my best to at least do a monthly update. Still loving my hair and its growth. The following pictures are my reti process. I only wash my hair 2 days before I get it retightened. I know many people wash more often but this works for me so I go with it. So this is it right before all washed and clean.

Here are some shot as she does the retightening. I have to say I love the fact that Zapporah can get my 665 locks done in about 2.5 hours.

When I get home I immediately spritz and moisten, twist and knot and this is the result. I may have to do this two times before I wash it again depending on if I am putting product and loosening the curl. It is getting too long in the top to stay the way I like it so I may try a new style or using pipe cleaners for a tighter look.

And the journey continues. Blessings Monica :-D

Over a Month Sister Locked - Anticipating First Reti

Well I let the month come and go without blogging. I did take pictures though. I even loaded them on the computer which is a good thing because I then took my disc to get a set of pics made for my locktician and lost the disc (after getting the pics). Oh well. So what is new and exciting with my hair? Not much really. Still loving my babies to pieces. I am really noticing my new growth now and realizing that I have to treat them a bit more gingerly as the new growth is fragile.

I was in whole foods checking out and the clerk said you have new sisterlocks don't you? Her mom wore them and is a loctician. She said she wanted them but had no guarantee her silky wavy hair would lock. It was interesting having someone envious of my hair when I was looking at hers thinking if I had your hair I might have never done this.

Also as I have taken my hair natural I have done so with my other aspects of my life. I am trying to make changes to me and my daughter Joy's diet to see if I can help her with her allergies and exzema. I'm starting small. I have gotten some unrefined coconut oil, original himalayan crystal salt, and started drinking green smoothies again. I will keep you posted on the changes I experience. I know the green smoothies have helped me eliminate water and a few lbs in the week I have been drinking them so far. Plus if I have something with too much fat or sugar I get quesy, which definitely keeps me on the right track.

I decided this time not to loosen the curls after I took the twisted knots down. I got so many compliments at work. Several people said "I don't like locks, but I like yours". I just thanked them and giggled.

Here is the conditioning mist I bought from the video locktician. I use it on my locks and Joy's afro as well. I love it. It is really light. Just what my locks needed. She also sent samples of her Ooh oil, Loc Luv and shea butter balms. The oils are nice as well, but I'm not a huge fan of the citrus smell so I just put it on at night before I tie up my locks. And the journey continues.

Blessings Monica :-D

3 Weeks Sisterlocked

Week 3 and still loving my locks. Being the impatient person that I am, I am wanting to see more swelling, but I think because of the permed ends I am not going to. I do notice a difference in the new growth section. I ordered some conditioning mist from the videolocktician and I love love love it. My hair is naturally dry and straw-like. But the feeling of the locks was a bit more than I could take. Phylis' mist is just enough. Very light and makes my locks feel a bit better. She also included samples of her Ooh, loc luv, and 2 of the shea butter balms. I will definitely order from her in the future. I will get a pic up of the products.

This week I twisted my hair. What I discovered is unlike the braid-out, just twisting and banding the ends did not make it stay so I had to twist it up into loose bantu knots. I think it looks similar to the braid-out but fuller so I like it this way the best of the 3 styles so far. Here are the results.

And the journy continues.

Blessings Monica

2 Weeks Sisterlocked

I have been locked 2 weeks now. I am still loving them, although not so much the dry itchy scalp. It is not too bad and getting better by the day. I use my lockticians hair tea and I also have a small mister with water, hair tea, and jojoba oil in it that I mist on my scalp. I am wearing it curled this week. I set it on some perm rods I found. They are about 3/4-1' in diameter. I set my locks damp and in big sections hoping it wouldn't be too tight.
Here is how it turned out.

I received lots of compliments when I went to work. It's always changing so sometimes I like it and other times they seem to be in a wierd shape. And the journey continues.

Blessings Nika

1 Week Sisterlocked

I have had my sisterloks for a week now. They are curling at the roots as they are suppose to so they have gotten shorter. I have also had dry scalp for which I put some jojba oil in water and gave my scalp a spritz. I am still loving them.

I would like to thank my followers and those who have made comments. I don't know how to respond to the comments as I am quite computer illiterate. And the Journey continues.

Blessings Monica :-D

My First Oops & The Grand Total

Okay so here's the deal. Zapporah braided my hair and put it in bantu knots. The next morning when I woke up I started taking them down, or at least trying. The ends were so tight when they dried that I couldn't get them undone. Even with my mom helping we were only able to undo maybe 12 in 2 hours. So I figured I would wear some as a bang and cover the rest with a scarf. They were really curly so I decided to spritz them, however I did too much and several lost all curl and just looked stringy. At that point I covered them all with a scarf and went to work. When I got home we took the rest out and my mom graciously counted them. The grand total is 665 sisterlocks (tm). I will be adding to that number as a few need to be split. I wet my hair again and then did large braids and this was the result.
I love my hair so far and got many compliments today. One of my co-workers hunted me down so she could show one of her family members what new locks looked like. And the journey continues.

Blessings Monica :-D

5 Days - 41 Hours - Done!!!

All I can say is that it was worth every painful hour. (tenderheaded) I cannot thank Zapporah enough for all of her patients and diligence in getting this done including working on her off days. In the end I let her braid it and put it in Bantu Knots and I will take it out in the morning and hope for the best. And the journey continues

Blessings Monica :-D

Installation Day 4 - 7.5 Hours

We were at it again. We had a late start again. One, I returned to work and two, Zapporah had court. We started at 5:30 and it was 1:15am when we called it a day. I got 3 hours of sleep. We are hopeful that today will be our last. Gotta keep hope alive right? All that's left is the back behind my right ear down to my neck. The column is about 2.5 in wide and she took the time to part it off yesterday. There are 11 rows to be completed. There is also a small section (maybe 9 locks) that need to be redone for parting and sizing, but that may have to wait. And the journey continues.

Blessings Monica :-D

Installation Day 3 - 9.5 Hours

We didn't get started until 11 yesterday because we both had appointments. At this point all of the back on the left side is finished and a little of the right side. We will finish on Monday after work. The back actually went pretty fast because Zapporah had done much of the parting ahead of time. And the journey continues.

Blessings Monica :-D

Installation Day 2 - 11 Hours

Hello all. Day two is a wrap. I have an additional 169 locks today. I have to give much thanks to my locktician Zapporah who has worked tirelessly and so meticulously to get this accomplished. In fact after getting the left front completed she thinks she may have to do some take down on the right. She will be doing the back across from left to right and decide when she reaches that side. The pics show part of the back done by my ear, but don't let them fool ya. Below those locks is a patch of hair still needing to be locked. I will go back for an all day session on Friday and booked Monday after work to hopefully do final touches. And the journey continues.

Blessings Monica :-D

Installation Day 1 - 7 hours

I arrived and we got started about 9:45. She first took a look at my test locks and said they looked great and that a couple were already starting to lock. Then she took them out. After that she parted and sectioned off my hair and combed it out. Wow I can't even begin to express the pain considering my tenderheadedness, new growth and no product. She finally started installing locks at about 11:00. We worked until 3:00 and then took about 20 min to have some lunch. She continued until 5:45. She had an appointment today so we had to stop early. Tomorrow we will work until 8 or 9. I have to say I am happy so far with how they look, especially since she is able to lock my permed ends. My locks vary in length from lil 2 inchers right at the hair line to 7.5 inches for the longest ones. So here are the day 1 pics. There is a total of 89 locks and she said she could see me having 800 by the time we are done. Enjoy.

Blessings Monica :-D

Test Locks at 5 Weeks

My test locks are in 3 different patterns. The 1st three starting from the left are in a 4 pattern. the next 3 are in a reverse 4 pattern and the last 3 (closest to the ear) are in a combination of 3 on the new growth and reverse 4 on the permed ends. What I have noticed is that the tighter the pattern the more they have drawn up to my head.

Test Locks Installed

Here are my test locks at install, 1 week, and 3 weeks.

Going Natural

Hair the night before my test locks were installed.

And the Journey Begins

I decided last fall that I just couldn't put one more perm on my head. Even though I am extremely tender-headed with a rather tight kink, I knew I had to find a way to get past the pain of new growth. Because I am a mother to my beautiful daughter Joy and I need to set an example for her. Talking with a friend of mine in November about having no idea what I was going to do with my hair, she suggested Sisterlocks(tm). She had them and explained what they were and how she loved hers. I spent the holidays reading everything I could about them and discovering youtube. When I went back to work after the holidays, I found out 3 of my co-workers had them and questioned them extensively. This has been an amazing journey so far. I forgot how much I loved my afro growing up. I also forgot how thick my hair is when not fried by chemicals. I am more than ready to embrace my natural hair and hopefully instill this love in my daughter as well.



I have picked my consultant and had test locks installed on February 9th. I will have my hair completely locked beginning on March 29th. I think this is going to be the longest month of my life. I would like to thank everyone who has blogged or put information out there. I am not computer saavy so I do not know how to post comments. I hope this blog gets done correctly and this weekend when my nephew comes, I will learn how to add pictures.



Blessings to All Nika