Week 3 Sisterlocked

Hi there!! For those of you looking to find as much information as you can about sisterlocks, I'm here to provide you with a weekly journal of my sisterlock journey. As with many other women, I have decided to go natural due to needing and wanting to get away from the harsh chemicals and the damage I've done to my hair. So to provide you all with a tid bit of hair history here goes...I didn't begin relaxing my hair until I graduated high school about 2 decades ago. Prior to that I was going to a salon to get my hair hot combed. Even then, I have to say that my hair was much healthier when I was hot cobming it compared to the harsh chemicals of relaxing. Some notable differences was that my hair was full and bouncy when I was hot combing my hair compared to the more limp bone straight look of a relaxer. What I didn't like about hot combing is that as soon as it rained or became very humid outside...my hair reverted back to kinky central. The pros of having a relaxer was that it most certainly didn't revert back to kinky central..but any curls would fall as soon as I got caught in the rain, worked out and perspired and when it was humid outside. I hated the love/hate relationship with my hair. I didn't want to give up working out and leading an active life because of my hair and I didn't want to keep damaging my hair by overheating and over processing it either. So I decided to do braids. I wore braids for about 2 years and after a while...I just felt like too much money was going to a style that looked great for weeks at a time but I hated the after math of it...the long evenings or braid removal and washing it again. It just became too much. Not to mention I still continued to experience alot of breakage. But this time, I had so much new growth I decided to go for it and became determined to do all I can to research the best natural hair care regime for myself. Enough was enough. Thru my research is when I discovered the world of locs and all of what it means to manage and maintain a beautiful of mane of locs. After months of research and asking lots and lots of questions of locticians, loc wearers both men and women I got the nerve to finally go for it!! After coming across a Sisterlock web page, I was sold and knew that was the natural style of beauty I wanted. I researched all I could, and then I interviewed several Sisterlock consultants and trainees in the neighboring communities and then selected my consultant.

Some things to keep in mind, do your research beforehand. Know what you're getting into. Know the cost, know the maintenance and all that is required. Be prepared to have to wear test locks in your hair so  have a hair care/maintenance plan for how you will intend to wear your hair with the test locks.

Here is some of the information I was provided during my consultation ~ I have high density,  tightly coiled/curled hair. At my consultation I still had about 3 inches of permed ends and 3 to 4 inches of new growth. It was during my consultation after my test locks were installed I decided to trim off the permed ends. For me it was one of the better decisions I ever made about my hair. Below are a few photos I'd like to share with you.

Here are a couple of photos of the braid styles I was rocking prior to my decision. I wore these styles for 2 years. I was simply tired of applying harsh chemicals to my hair and scalp.

Here is when I made the decision to give my hair a break from the braids. I couldn't think of anything else to do with my hair except do a 2 strand twist and curl it. These photos are showing how the style turned out. I have to say...I was rather pleased with the results. I was fearful of how I would look. I was so inexperienced at managing my hair in it's natural state.

My test locs were placed...I was both excited and nervous about it.

The day after my installation. Installation date was 4/17 - 4/18. I have more than 600 girls installed. Whew...I had not idea my hair was sooo thick. And to think I thought it thinned out from wearing braids for quite a while.

Week #2 ~ As you can see the curl loosened up a little but not much here. I think the day after this photo I wet my hair a little and rolled it.

Week #3 ~ Here the curl has loosened up alot, not much of my scalp is showing anymore if at all really. I haven't curled my hair with rollers for more than a week and a half now. I can't believe it. The only issue I am having so far is itchy and flaky scalp. So what I have been doing to combat that is apply Sea Breeze on my scalp. It helps alleviate the itchy scalp and it feels refreshing on my scalp. It also helped with the flakes some too. Next week, I have my 1st retight appt. I'm anxious to know how my hair is behaving and how often I'll need to schedule my retight appts.