Attention to Detail...

As I was rubbing my 7 month old pregnant belly the other day =) I decided to relax my massaging my scalp. I noticed a big difference in the way my hair felt. The texture was somewhat different than what it has been the past few months. Sure it is the same hair and everything, but i noticed it is...how should I say this not so "drawn up". I can no longer call them my babies anymore now that I am in the teen stages...but I notice that they are a little more relaxed? I guess I really do not know how to explain it. I have been getting a lot of compliments on my hair lately, which has served as a boost of confidence for me seeing that I am always dreaming of it getting longer. I had to sit back though and count my blessings as I did this massaging the other day. I had t recognize that okay yea its short what else is new...I love them beyond no end. I mean I cannot think of being without my locks and even tying to go back to weave. I haven't had to mask myself with remy velvet outre in over a year and I must say i never thought I would get here. (At this point anytime I play with my moms and sisters wigs it itches lol) I have also never had an issue with buildup on my scalp, my locks falling out, thinning out, swell ling up, smelling weird-nothing. Needless to say I was petrified of encountering these things a year ago. I do wonder if this will change once I begin the DIY process. I see my loctician on the 30Th this month so we will see how the convo goes on that. I may want to wait until after I have my second child to do this...Until then, here is a close up of my hair at 13 months and the detail of it... Ciao!
*As you can see however, I need to start wrapping my hair up at night before the lint gets out of hand...*_*

13 months in....

Okay these are my thoughts on being thirteen months...
I am finally getting that itch to do something drastically different to my hair... I told myself when I started that I would never ever color my locks because my hair is so funny acting, and I fear breakage. They really need some special attention...For the past weeks I have been covering them because standing in the mirror at seven months is just not in my plans...needless to say I haven't ordered my lock loops or soft spikes yet =( This has been me the past week....




This was the braidout I attempted...





I have been thinking of getting my locks extended know that I am settled in and locked...I don't want anything long..Honestly just and inch..maybe two tops. But I am feeling like I stopped wearing extensions or anything in my hair because I didnt feel it was me...I do think it will make me a little happier and give me a little more versatility...What do you think? Anyone out there have loc extensions or have tried them? If so what was your experience? Thanks...

Is that Color?

I finally took some time away from my school work to actually plug up the digital camera I have had since April. It is such a shame I haven't had enough time to be diligent enough to get these photos on my computer. After the entire summer I finally have enough energy to upload them. As I was looking through some of them today i noticed that my hair has a slight tint to it. I don't know if it is hereditary, or from maybe perming my hair for so many years, but there is defnitely color to my hair. I knew my hair wasn't black, but this is new to me. Here is a look at a pic from my hair at one year months and from my hair at 8 months...




This is pretty odd to me... But I like it... I had been a little discouraged lately because my hair is sooo tightly coiled that you barely notice that I have gained any length..However a few things I have noted is that I have a few new locs coming in from my last reti, I have never lost a loc, and I haven't had any real nightmares with my hair, and after only a year of being locked my loctician informed me that for the most part my hair is locked...I still have balls coming off the ends of my locs.....


But i guess that is part of the locking process... I tried a braidout the other day...didn't really work too well for me, so I am going to try some lock loops. This year I look foward to being able to finally have some length of course, and being able to try more styles... we will see...

I made it!!!!!

Yes! Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my installation! Seemed like forever!!!! Probably because I was looking foward to it. It has been an eventful year full of ups and downs and a lesson in patience for sure. So it's time for reflection guys! Here are some of the things I experienced my first year and I hope this helps a lot of women starting out. Here are my confessions...
1. Never expect your hair to look like the pics you see-even if its close. Your hair texture and rate of growth is totally different. ( I am still fighting with this one.)
2. Find something to keep you motivated and remember the reason you got locks in the first place. This page helped me through my first year
http://sisterlocksjourney.blogspot.com and oh yea this girl too http://kayexquisite.blogspot.com/
3. Everyones' hair different! My hair seems to be taking forever to grow in comparison to others!
4. To touch back on three know that you hair will grow with time and patience it will look like this... http://blaqkofi.blogspot.com/
I look foward to this.
5. Never make the mistake of putting heat on your hair. I tried it , it looks stupid and is totally pointless. Stock up on different rollers like perm rods, and lock loops. luckily for me, my hair went back to the way my loctician had it after washing.
6. Most of all do what works for you. I love my sisterlocks no doubt, but I am starting to have the lock envy of those with traditional locs.
7. Lastly and this is most important of all.. listen to your loctician if you have one. I suggest starting out with one at least to give you a good foundation. They are there for a reason and they do their jobs well.

Those are my year one confessions. Some things I look foward to this year are being a diyer and finally gaining some length, and being able to do more with my hair. Looking foward to the next 365...

WHAT NO MORE BRAIDING & BANDING!!!!!

Yes, my loctician has confirmed it...I no longer have to braid and band. I admit this seemed to come faster than I thought. I am approaching nine months in to my locking journey this months and progress is slow but sure! I was real excited for her to tell me this. i know I still have some time to go before my locs mature, but this is great because trying to braid this itty bitty hair was getting hard-j/k. I haven't been doing anything different with my hair lately because I been so exhausted with work and this pregnancy. But that will change soon. I am inching closer and closer to a year. I thought I would further along as far as length is concerned, but I realize my hair shrinks like crazy so I am not much worried about it. it will come in time...See you guys in Month 9! I will start to do more cool things with my babies as soon as I get some energy.

Update!

I have just passed month 8 into my locking journey. Needless to say it has been a transition. I have stopped worrying so much over the legnth of my hair and have begun to start thinking more of their overall health. I go for a reti on May 25th. And I will spark up the conversation of DIYing with my consultant again. It's not that I want to stop going to her she is magnificent...But I will need the convinience in the next few months seeing that i am due to become the mother of child #2! I am so excited. I am praying for a girl this time around. Anywho, I feel great! The months are flying by, and although I am not where I expected to be at *8months, it beats the hell out of buying weave every other week. We will see what the future holds. See you all next month!