Brief Product Review

When I'd left home this semester to come back to school, I left my locking gel at my parents' house. In it's place I'd been using the Jamaican Mango & Lime Locking Gel (Resistant Formula). The smell was OK and it has a consistency that's a little thinner than pudding, but it seemed to get the job done well enough. I hadn't really retwisted my own hair with anything else to compare it to (I left home only the day after starting my locs). I chose this locking gel for two reasons: 1. It's difficult to find the gel that was used to start my locs to begin with and 2. I've had previous experience using their No More Itch Gro Spray (I LOVE THAT STUFF). So for these 2 months (as of this coming Thursday), that's what I've been using to retwist my hair.



I finally got my parents to mail me my locking gel (along with some other things I needed from home) and I tonight I retwisted my hair with it. I must say I can tell a major difference. The gel I use is called African Formula SuperGrow Hair Gel. Though it actually isn't made for locking hair, it has all the things locced hair needs and leaves out the things it doesn't. It has a much thicker consistency than the Mango & Lime Gel, but if you're retwisting your hair when wet (which is normally reccomended if you want neat looking locs), it really isn't a problem at all. I noticed that my hair dries much quicker (since, as I said, I retwist on wet hair) and it seems as though it stays tighter and thereby looks fresher than the other times I did it. O...and did I mention I LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell? I'm not sure how to describe it...I wish I could have a way to let you smell it for yourself.


So here is my hair after the retwisting I just did...

...I can't wait til they fully loc!

1.5 Month Lociversary

So I did write an entry for my 1 month mark, but my internet connection dropped just as I hit the button to post and I lost everything I wrote :-(. From then i haven't really been motivated enough to write it over (until now, of course).

This Thursday night marks 1.5 months into my journey. This morning while i was driving to class i happened to have my hands in my hair while thinking to myself "i really need to re-twist these again." That's when I noticed one of my locs starting to bud [budding - knots starting to form on a loc]!! I'm so happy and excited. i think I want to adorn that loc with a charm/hair jewelry just for sentiment. I'll wait until it's more mature before I finally do it though...it will likely be the first one to fully loc anyway.


I wish you could tell in the picture which one is budding, but oh well. If/When I get a charm, you'll be able to tell. Maybe I can make something myself! That'd be even better! Hm...I need to get some designs together :-D

2 weeks/Just to Clarify

As of Thursday, my locs are now 2 weeks old.

I was experiencing some very itchy scalp during these two weeks. At first I figured it was just my hair going into shock since I would normally wash my hair weekly, so I diluted some castile soap (organic and leaves no build up, a huge plus for people with locs) and rinsed it through my hair. As I was rinsing, I saw a lot of gunk rinse out with the water. The itchies were gone for a little while, but then before my scalp completely dried, it itched like crazy again! But for fear of scratching my head raw (because it just itched that bad), and creating flakes in my hair that would look like really bad dandruff (since I wouldnt be able to comb it out) , I forced myself not to scratch. A a week later i did the same thing again, figuring that maybe there was more gunk than I thought and I needed to rinse more, but I got the same result. The difference that time, however, was that I broke down and finally just scratched.

I was so grossed out by the crud I felt on my scalp and then felt under my nails. That was when I realized my problem...build up. Before locing my hair, I hadn't clarified for over a month because I had a lot going on and just forgot. And the castile soap,though it does clean, doesn't clarify. So today I moistened my hair with a spray bottle of water, got some clarifying shampoo, and went between and around each loc spreading the shampoo on my scalp. When I rinsed out the shampoo, I saw all the gunk rinse out with it and I rinsed until the water started to run clear. Then I rinsed one more time with diluted castile soap, let it sit for a minute, then again with water. My head felt lighter and my scalp felt like it could breath. The ultimite test was that I could scratch my head without getting major gunk under my nails.

My lesson for the day: shampoo can still be your friend

Sometimes Commitment is Hard

I've had a few days with my starter locs and I now understand, firsthand, why some people have a hard time committing to their locs. Over the past two days I've thought about taking them out either because I realized that my scalp doesn't seem to be ready for locs or I started thinking that my locs seem bigger than i really want them to be. So I figured that I had two options; 1. take them out and prepare my scalp, or 2. take them out and get them redone at the salon by my school. I do have a problem with the salon by my school though; I don't think I can trust a loctician with a perm (hm...maybe that's why they only charge $40).

I ended up solving one of my two problems yesterday though. I took the locs that i felt were too big and I spit them in half. I'm a bit happier with them now.

As for my other problem, I think i will invest in apple cider vinegar and begin doing weekly scalp rinses. Especially since I'm advised not to wash my hair for approximately two months.
[Note:Most people can wash after about 1 month, but apparently since my hair is so soft and fine it will take longer to loc and so I'd have to wait longer before my first wash.]

Below are pics I took of my starters last night.

Starter Locs

I started my locs today!
I had a friend start them for me this evening since I leave tomorrow morning to go back to school in NC. I really don't have much to say about it now, but I wanted to share the beginning of my new journey with you.


The first pic is the last picture I took of my hair out. Right before I left to get my starters.
I took the second pic right after I got back home...clips still in my hair and all. This is how I'm sitting right now as I write this post.


And so the journey begins...

Henna

So I did the henna treatment nearly a week ago. I intended to show you a before, during, and after pictures, but with the poor lighting I have, you couldn't tell the difference in color in my pictures (v_v). I will share with you, however, what I mixed into my henna and the video I took of my mom applying the henna to my hair for me (she volunteered).

WARNING: Henna WILL stain your hands; WEAR GLOVES!! WARNING: Henna WILL stain your hands; WEAR GLOVES!!

What I used:

• Plastic bowl
• Henna Powder
• Plastic spoon
• Bottled lemon juice
• Saran Wrap
• Conditioner

What I did:

1. Empty henna into the plastic bowl. (It is recomended that you use a plastic or ceramic bowl to mix your henna in because the henna may react with a metal bowl and a wooden bowl would stain because it is a porous material).
2. Add lemon juice to the henna until I had the consistency of mashed potatoes.
3. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and leavit to sit for several hours at room temperature so that the dye can release. (I left mine for approximately 10 hours)
4. When you are ready to apply, add more lemon juice to make it the consistency of pudding, then add conditioner so that the lemon juice won't dry out the hair too much.
5. I can't stress this enough...USE GLOVES WHEN APPLYING!
6. Separate hair into easier to manage sections and apply henna to each section. Make sure all hair is covered and saturated.
7. When all of your hair is covered, clean up you hair line with a wet paper towel and cover hair with a shower cap/plastic bag/saran wrap (whichever you feel like) and leave on for 3 to 5 hours.
8. There is nothing special about rinsing out the henna. Rinse as you would a conditioner and be sure to use gloves. Rinse until you see the water run clear.
9. Congratulations! You're done!

Forever 21

This post is really just to inform you that today is my birthday and I am now 21 years old. Yay!

So on the topic of hair, as of today I have 5 days until I finally loc my hair. I have braids in now, so after work on Thursday I' am going to take them out. I am then going to wash and deep condition my hair and I will do my very first henna treatment. If it doesn't get too messy, I will take pics and/or record video of the process. However, if it is a little too messy, I'll just do a before and after (and possible some days after since the henna continues to oxidize for a little while after it's rinsed out).

I'm bringing in my 21st year with new hair. I can't wait!