Dawn Soap to Remove Buildup

I have been reading on a Facebook loc discussion board that some people swear by Dawn Soap to remove build up. At first I was like, why would you use dishwashing soap when there are better products out there to remove build up from locs? But then I came to realize that actually, the idea of using dawn to remove buildup in locs makes sense. After all, if Dawn is able to remove oil from wildlife animals, then surely it can remove build up from locs. I don't have build up issues, but I really am curious to try this! There are times when I feel like my hair isn't as clean as it should be, like even after all that rinsing and weekly shampooing I still get a sense that it just isn't clean enough (I don't experience this a lot, but once in awhile). The only downside I hear is that using Dawn makes your locs feel a bit crunchy afterwards, so moisturizing it afterwards is a must. Not sure if I would incorporate Dawn into my regime, but I don't see the harm in experimenting or trying it at least once. I will write a little review on it as soon as I get my hands on a bottle!

Herbal Olive-Oil Infusions

I love infusing herbs with olive oil! In the past I have infused grapeseed and almond oil with herbs, but personally I think olive oil is really the best oil to use for infusions. At this time of year, I infuse a lot of herbs with my little jars of olive oil. Here are infusions I have tried so far:

Rosemary-Infused Oil (promotes hair growth)

Lavender-Infused Oil (smells really nice, mostly it is a cosmetic perfume-y oil)

Thyme-Infused Oil (promote scalp circulation)

Thyme/Rosemary Infused Oil

And now my latest infusion...Hibiscus Flower Infused Oil (i read that hibiscus oil helps thicken the hair)

Normally I leave these jars out in the sunlight, that's where the infusion really kicks in and it also makes the oil smell so wonderful. Now that I have a few essential oils I add a couple of drops into the herb-infused oil. Smells marvelous!

*The first bottle of oil in the picture is my Lavender Oil. The second bottle is the hibiscus oil*

Question of the Day

I dunno why but today I was thinking to myself how long I would keep this set of locs. I had a friend of mine ask me months ago how long I was going to grow them out and when I would get to the point of deciding to cut them off. I didn't really give her much of an answer just because I'm not the type to really think that far ahead, especially not spur of the moment, but she really did get me thinking, how long should I keep this set of locs? When is long too long?

Truthfully, I don't see myself having this set of locs forever. I can definitely see myself starting over 9 or 10 years from now and starting another set, with thicker double strand twists instead of the skinny ones I had in the beginning. I even imagined a date to have a new set re-installed, a day before my 30th birthday or at the day of my birthday. BUT on the other hand...I can see myself wearing these locs well over 10 years. Even though I have struggled with the size of them throughout my journey, they are now the size and thickness that I desired, so in a way I feel like, why ever start over only to basically have similar looking locs as I did my first set? A naive part of me thinks, well, if I start a second set with much thicker double strand twists, then I won't deal with thinning issues or needing to combine, it will be SMOOTH sailing and just turn into perfect locs! Even though more than likely I wouldn't need to combine or worry about thin roots, I really doubt that if I were to start over it would make the journey easier. If anything I would just be more knowledgeable about the process and knowing exactly what to expect. So...really, if I do ever decide to start over, for one, I would just chop them off instead of picking them out (I know that I just don't have the patience for that!!), and most importantly, I would start over if I am at the point of my life where I'm either really tired of this set of locs or where I just want to start fresh. For certain though, I know that I am going to be locked for life, locs are my thing and I don't see myself wearing any other natural style for years at a time other than locs. For now, I'm just riding with this set. It isn't perfect, but who really has a perfect set of locs? Even the most perfect-looking ones has its imperfections.

Sorry for the long rant lol, but my question (or questions lol) of the day is, how long are you planning to grow out your locs? would you ever start a second set in the future (or have you thought about it)?

Month 15

I'm a day early for this 15 month update haha. I'm surprised at how time flies SO fast. I've never really been one to really do a month-by-month update on my locs but I felt like these last 2 months have really been quite exciting in regards to my hair. It is like my hair is transforming and progressing week by week. I have done A LOT of combining these last 2 months, coming from having 112 locs when I first started this blog to now a good 75 (probably less now because I combined some scraggly locs at the back). I truly believing that combining my locs was the best thing I could do for them. With less locs, I feel more confident about the process. I am LOVING the thickness. Things seem to be getting a tad bit easier. The combined ones are marrying beautifully and condensing so well. There are still so many rubberbands in my hair but they sure do make the combining process easier; they don't pop off during my washing and rinsing, and the ones that do fall off, they seem to fall off for a reason because the loc doesn't need it anymore. Since I've given up retwisting my hair so frequently, I have seen a difference. My hair is locking so much faster; I've come to realize that my hair doesn't need my help to lock up. All it needs is moisture and water and a bit of oil here and there. So overall I'm content with my locs and I'm happy with their progress. I can't wait to get more length and to actually style my hair. I know that's going to take time, so I'm not going to stress over that. The main thing I'm looking forward to at the moment is to see how my hair will look 3-6 months from now with the freeforming method. So far, here is what I'm noticing about the freeforming method:

1. My locs are SO soft!
2. The roots feel so wonderful! I feel so much new growth between my fingers and they are so strong and soft and fuzzy.
3. My locs seem to be locking and condensing at a faster rate. Because I'm constantly getting it drench in water, it seems to make the locs just plump up and get nice and thick and locking. Love it!
4. Most of all, my scalp looks and feels so much cleaner. When I used to wait to spritz or wash my hair, I'd notice some dandruff and dirt, but because I wanted to hold onto the retwist as long as I could, I just didn't do anything about it. Now it is nice to wet it whenever I want without worrying about something coming undone.

I will do more loc updates every other month (I don't want to bore you guys with a month by month update lol, or bore myself). Thanks to all of you that have been following my blog and inspiring me to keep on learning about locs (special shout out to B and Mrs. Honey Dip who seem to give me the most support!).

A Confession

I just have to get this off my chest...I love my locs, I really do, but if there's one thing I don't like about my locs is the back. It is longer and smaller than the rest of my locs, even when combined. That's why I haven't taken that many pictures of the back of my head. Not only is it longer which makes the length of my locs look so uneven, but it also does this curl thing that is a tad bit annoying. I thought about cutting them off but for some reason I have a feeling that if I did I'd regret it. I combined them today, so that takes care of its size issue. I dunno what it is but I just don't like the back of my hair! Argh! lol. That's my only loc-gripe, and I'm not sure why it bothers me. Am I being a drama queen or what?

My Homemade Products

I don't think I have ever really talked about the type of products I use on my hair, other than posting it on the sidebar. Anyhoo, these five products are the only things I use in my hair.

My Shampoo: In that bottle I mix half of it with Dr. Bronner's castille soap, a little bit of my oil blend mix, and dilute with water. Sometimes I add some vegetable glycerin into it, when it is available. Believe it or not that little bottle lasts for a month (even with my weekly shampooing!).

My Oil/Water Spritz: In that spray bottle I mix mostly water and my oil blend, just like the shampoo I add a little bit of glycerin once in awhile. I use this every day quite frequently just whenever I feel like my hair gets dry (which it does a lot). I go through that spritz bottle rather quickly but it doesn't take much to refill it again ;).

Oil Blend: In that applicator I fill it with extra virgin olive oil and 10+ drops of essential oil (right now it's rosemary). Sometimes I mix coconut oil and grapeseed oil into the applicator as well, when available (money is tight right now so for now it is just olive oil lol).

Herb-infused Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse: I use this after every wash. To make this, I get sprigs of rosemary and/or lavender leaves (or whatever herb I have available, I get them from a friend of mine who grows herbs), boil some apple cider vinegar, and then pour that hot vinegar over those herbs in that applicator. I let it chill in the fridge for a couple of weeks, then I use straight away! The herbs not only give my hair a boost, but is also somewhat gets rid of that over-powering vinegar smell.

And last but not least, in that little jar is my Loc Gel. All it is is aloe vera gel (J/A/S/O/N brand) and a couple of drops of my oil blend. I used to add honey for extra hold but then just chucked that out (nothing was particularly wrong with the honey, I just got tired of using it for some reason lol). Now that I'm freeforming I don't plan on using this loc gel for a long time. Perhaps sometime after my 3-month freeforming challenge, or sometime after the 6-month, whichever comes first. I love it. It gives my hair a nice hold, long enough to last for 2 weeks, and doesn't leave build up, plus the added essential oil gives it a nice scent.

That's it! I'm that simple with my hair. I don't recall a time where I really became a "product junkie." I have tried a couple of products here and there like shea butter (loved it on my skin, but NOT in my hair) and some other product I can't remember, but I've always been more keen on making my own products and have done so since day 1 of being natural. Saves a lot of money, which is always a plus! :)

Keeping An Open Mind

Ok, so I've decided that for now I'm going to freeform, meaning that I am just going to rinse every day or every other day, wash often, spritz daily, seperate my roots, and once in awhile wrap loose hairs around each loc with a little bit of loc gel when necessary. I'm going to challenge myself to not palmroll my hair 'till July (which is 3 months from now, roughly). If by July I still can handle it, I will go for another 3 months. I'm just really curious to try out this method since so far it is the only method that I haven't really tried yet. I have palmrolled, of course, which I liked. I interlatched before; HATED IT and NEVER doing it again. Freeforming, or whatever you want to call it, is the only method that I haven't done all the way. I feel like if I don't see for myself if the freeforming method is right for me, then I will just never know, and there's no sense in not trying something once before making a definite decision to NOT do it. I'm excited to see how my hair will respond to it. Naturally I will keep y'all updated frequently with pictures and all! I hope to eventually try out hair styles, but my hair is just not that long enough yet to really style, plus it is kind of hard to style when I'm constantly worried about my combined locs coming undone. So, I have a bit to go before I can really start having fun with my locs like everyone else is doing lol. Oh...my locs are almost at the 15-month mark. Wow!

*The pics were taken after giving my locs a good rinse. At this point I haven't retwisted in like 6 weeks. The headband is not actually a headband; it is just a silk tie. They're pretty neat; it is like wearing a silk scarf but just having it only cover your hairline, which is pretty nice to have when I don't feel like having hair in my face or covering my entire head lol*

To Freeform or not to Freeform?

Lately I have seriously been thinking if I should one day just freeform. I'm already semi-freeforming, so it seems like it would be natural for me to just freeform all together. A part of me really wants to. First off, I feel like freeforming would be a method that just suits me in that I'm SO simple and like to do little to nothing to my hair other than giving it a good washing, rinsing, and spritzing with oil and water. I have been searching the internet finding pics of ladies who are freeforming their locs, and I'm really quite impressed by just how beautiful they look (one example of a freeformed beauty is of course Nerissa Irving *surprise surprise* lol). While there are many pictures of people who are wearing their locs freeformed, there just doesn't seem to be enough people on youtube, blogs, etc. who are freeforming their locs; heck, it is even a challenge to find people who are semi-freeforming. Not that I need youtube or any other forum to make me decide what to do with my hair, but it is nice to have some inspiration out there. Sometimes it just feels like freeformers who want to share their experiences with locs are practically non-existent. The only reason I can think of is that freeforming in general is not a popular technique because there is this negative stigma about them that they are dirty, "neglected," and so on. Not sure why, but I guess it's just the way it is, and that's something I'm willing to accept. What's stopping me from not wanting to freeform? I'm not sure why actually. I have gone months without retwisting my hair before, and funnily enough I seem to get more compliments from NOT retwisting my hair than when I actually do palmroll it and make it all neat. As much as I do like palmrolling my hair, I don't feel dedicated enough to make it a routine to do it every couple of weeks or even a couple of months. I think for me it just feels like a chore after awhile. Plus I'm worrying that palmrolling my hair will weaken my locs mostly along the hairline, which is why I think I decided to stop maintaining them in the first place and just leave my hair alone for awhile. Now that my locs are thicker now, I'm not worried about that so much, but yet I also worry that if I maintain them frequently I'm not going to have that thickness at the root. I just don't want to deal with any thinning roots/build up issues in the future...or any issues at all for that matter. Freeforming just seems like the most drama-free solution to locking the hair. I feel kind of silly for making a big deal about whether or not I should freeform...but I guess freeforming is not something to take lightly. It does take a great deal of courage to freeform because of the fact that your locs aren't going to look nice and polished, and some people may not like how they look. And most of all, it seems like it takes a lot of courage to just leave your locs alone and let it be. That's hard to do, it is easier to just say "yeah i will not touch my hair, I will not retwist, etc." than to actually just do it. Soo...I'm not sure if I should start freeforming now or just semi-freeform for now. If I can go over 6 months without needing to retwist my hair, then I will seriously consider if I should then just freeform. Naturally though, if I WANT to retwist, I will, but I will use 6 months as a way to gauge just how long I can go without caring about retwisting it and think about the possibility of just freeforming at that point. What are your thoughts about freeforming? Have you ever considered it?

The Hair Wrapping Method

Last night I gave my hair a really nice hot olive oil treatment, and then a quick rinse, a thorough shampooing, and then a herb-infused apple cider vinegar rinse. Afterward I then did the hair wrapping method (finally!). It literally took like no more than half an hour to separate and wrap the loose hairs around each lock. I loved how it turned out. Naturally, you can't really tell that I just maintained them and this method doesn't particularly give it a "neat" appearance, but it does tame those stray hairs and prevents my locs from hugging together. I can really see myself just sticking to this method for awhile. I'm starting to realize more and more that just leaving my hair alone and not worrying about them has made my locs healthier and stronger than when I retwisted/palmrolled them every 2-3 weeks, or 6-8 weeks. Not sure if I would do this hair wrapping method every 3 weeks; I think I will do it just whenever I feel like it, perhaps when my hair gets too "wild"? Surprisingly, I don't think I need to even seperate my locs all that much. Just rinsing every other day and washing once a week seems to really do the trick for my locs. It seems like the combined ones are becoming more solid and meshed with each wash/rinse/spritz. Overall, I'm really enjoying my locs and just embracing the stages it is going through. I'm being patient with those locs that are wonky and have rubberbands on them; with most of them I forget that they are combined/have rubberbands on them in the first place. The less I care, the better lol. Some days I'm frustrated with them and seem to overanalyze my hair, but don't we all have doubts and worries about our locs? It really amazes me how locking does test your patience, especially when you are combining them. Thank god I have SO much patience! :)

Lock Evolution

I'm very surprised at just how quick my locs are evolving day by day. The combined ones are doing surprisingly well, with just one or two of them coming undone (even with the help of a rubberband). They are a work in progress, and as much as I wish they can just speed up and look like one mature lock, I'm really trying to embrace them as they are. Each loc on my head seems to have a kind of personality to them, some have curly q's that just haven't disappeared, some are nice and fat, but somehow still have a nice curl to them, and some are just so nice and smooth and slim. Most of them are getting harder and seem to be progressing into maturity slowly but surely. I'm not really seeing a lot of length though, but like I keep saying to myself I really don't care about that, and at the moment I like the length of my locs as are. I know a lot of loc wearers who have been wearing them for YEARS say to embrace each stage because one day you will look back and miss it. This stage of my locs I'm finding it a very interesting one, it's like watching them grow up and changing, and it is quite exciting. I love how some of them are wonky in a way, but I think it gives them character. Some have gaps because they aren't 100% married yet, but I'm okay with that, with time all the fuzz and frizz will cover it up anyway. I tried to take pictures of some of my locs that have character, but my camera phone isn't THAT great, so it was a total fail lol. I also feel like I'm finally settled into a routine that does work for me. I haven't really given my locs the "loose hair wrapping method" treatment yet, just because I had company over on the day I planned on doing it plus the rest of this week has been busy, but I'm looking forward to doing it. The pic was taken after I wrapped some loose hair around two of the locs on front, not sure if you can tell. I don't think the picture does it justice, but I find it interesting how wrapping the loose hair gives it that cylindrical look without needing to twist the loc, and does it without exposing any scalp, which I LOVE (for some reason I really don't like exposing my scalp that much...makes it itchy for me). Sometime on Sunday or so I will publish a post on the "hair-wrapping method" and show the results of that. Thanks again to all those who are following my blog and sending comments!

Experimenting Pics on my Camera Phone

I haven't taken pics on my cell phone in a LONG time. My digital camera ran out of batteries so I thought of taking a couple of pics on my cell. The pics don't look too bad. Not bad for a camera phone at least. Again, I combined after searching through all my locs, I can't believe I combined a good 9 locs this evening. Looking in the mirror, I was like, wow, I really like how much thicker they are and how the roots seem instantly healthier, because seriously, some of my locs I didn't realize just how thin/weak they were, I was kind of panicking. Just when I thought that all of my locs at the base were fine, I found a lot of them that just weren't there yet. Now I feel better that they will thicken and strengthen up, especially now that I'm semi freeforming them. The funny/interesting thing I'm finding after combining these locs is that you can't really tell that I combined, other than a couple of obvious ones, and a friend of mine feels the same, except when he touches them, he can tell they are thicker. Overall I'm glad that I've been combining more for the sake of a thicker/healthier root than a thicker loc itself. Now I'm going to try and prevent myself from just getting out of my head all together. Better said than done though lol. I admit, I still have hand in loc disease!

I Cherish My Thicker Locs!

If there's one thing I'm noticing about my locs lately after having combined so many of them, is that my hair feels lighter even when I wash it. I'm not sure if the thickness has anything to do with that, but I sure do feel the difference from when I had thinner locs to my thick locs now. Since having these thicker locs, I also feel just more relaxed about the locking process, and I'm really realizing once and for all that the "semi-freeforming" route is better for me. I'm noticing that my hair IS locking; retwisting it every 2-3 weeks doesn't really "help" it in any way other than making the roots neater and tidier. I feel like my hair has been locking faster lately from the constant rinses/washes than when I made myself wait for 2 weeks just to wash or wet it. I'm OKAY with not having neat and tidy roots or scalp showing; the semi-freeforming way is to me a reflection of my lifestyle: I'm pretty simple and low maintenance. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the look of manicured locks on others, and more power to those who can keep up with a 2-3 week schedule, but it just isn't my thang, and I don't feel like my hair really works that way. A part of me feels silly for having expected myself to keep up with the every 2-3 week schedule because that just isn't me. It is not so much that I'm too lazy to keep up with it, but my aesthetic with locs isn't really about having them neat and tidy at all times. I felt like retwisting every 2-3 weeks was the only way to make your hair lock and was something that had to be done to have "pretty" locs, but now I realize that my hair at least is at its best when its constantly wet and moisturized, and I'm seeing that semi-freeformed/freeformed locs are just as beautiful as manicured locs too. I wouldn't consider my locs "wild" because I wear a silk scarf often which tones down the "afro-locs" look a lot (unless I shake and go lol), so maybe that's why I'm okay with not having my hair retwisted so often anymore. I'm glad that I'm getting back to the way I used to manage my hair. I missed the freedom of rinsing and washing my hair whenever I want without worrying about something coming undone. I'm thinking that the only time I will retwist/palmroll my hair is when the new growth becomes a bit too unbearable or too wild or too much like an afro for me to bear. I can't wait to see how long I can go without palmrolling; I can see myself going well over 3 months, maybe even longer. I see this as a test to see just how long and how manageable my hair can be without a retwist for however so months. Until then though, I'm letting my locs be with the occasional wrapping the loose hair around the base of the loc. I'm hoping that it makes my hair look more beautiful and thicker with time. We'll see! :)

Texture Shots

Here is a texture shot of my hair. I still need practice at taking texture shots, I took others earlier but I didn't like how they looked lol (but now I kind of regret that I did because one of them did look really neat, come to think of it, oh well, maybe with luck I can take the same photo again). The back of my head is really thick, at first I was debating if I should unravel some of the combined ones because they grew surprisingly thicker than expected. When I did though I realized why I combined them in the first place (the root was just really thin), so I left them in. A lot of my locs have so many different sizes, some are slim and some are just fat, and I like that. It wasn't what I was expecting but I'm liking it. My locs are starting to surprise me more and more each day lol.

Natural Hair Dyes

Sometimes I wonder if natural hair dyes work. I have heard of henna, but I can't see myself going all out of my way in putting it in my hair (I hear it is messy and tedious). What I am interested in though is using natural hair rinses that can help color your hair temporarily. Here are some recipes I have found on the net so far:

-4 lemons
-1 cup of water

Use the mixture as a rinse, then let your hair air dry in the sun. Afterwards deep condition so it won't dry your hair.

-hibiscus leaves
-chamomille tea

I don't remember the measurements to this, but I could imagine that with a couple of tries it can make your hair a reddish/purplish color.

This one is interesting:

1/2 cup beet juice
1/2 cup carrot juice

Mix ingredients together, pour over clean, damp hair. Wrap head in plastic and apply hot towel, medium dryer heat, or sit in the sun for one hour. Shampoo.


I'm not sure how serious I am at trying these recipes out, especially since there doesn't seem to be evidence that it actually works. Has anybody tried these recipes/would like to? If you have, send me a photo! :)

Fuzzies!

I dunno if it's just me being more observant or if it's because of this sorta new regime I got going but I'm starting to sense that my hair really likes this more care-free method. I've been rinsing my hair a lot lately, and I can tell that not only has it made some of my locs lock faster (especially to the combined ones) but has also started to create fuzzies to many of my locs. I know a lot of people don't like the fuzzies, but I really like them because they just feel, well, fuzzy lol, and soft too. I guess my locs are going through another stage in its maturation process, and I'm liking it. I'm really looking forward to how this new method will go. I wonder if I can go up 'till the end of summer (late August) to not retwist my roots and just stick to wrapping the loose hairs around them every three weeks (in between i will just be seperating and rinsing my hair a lot). The longest I've ever went without retwisting was 2 months. If I do palmroll I'll do it either for a job interview or for when I really have that desire to do it. The main point of sort of changing up my regime is not so much because I'm against palmrolling or manipulating my roots, but because I want to achieve thick and strong locs. If/when I do palmroll, I will do it on a very moderate basis. My motto in life in general is doing everything in moderation, so I'm going to apply that to my hair as well :)

Experimenting...

I think I am re-thinking how I maintain my locks. Truthfully, I'm just not big on retwisting my hair so much down to the root that my scalp is showing. I'm starting to get kind of tired of it. I think I'm going to experiment with the "hair wrapping technique" where you just grab the loose hairs and wrap them around the loc without actually twisting the loc itself. It gives the loc the cylyndrical look without over manipulating the root, which is usually the case when you palmroll or latchhook. I was inspired by this method from the lady behind holisticlocs.com, who kept an old journal to chronicle her loc journey in such detail (check it out if you haven't already: http://members.multimania.co.uk/dreadconnection/index.html). I really like her attitude towards locking, and her philosophy and method behind maintaining them (simplicity/low-manipulating/no twisting). I'm not sure if I'm ready to go down the freeforming route as she is nowadays, but the "hair wrapping technique" is a much easier, quicker, and healthier way to maintain locs without manipulating the root. I will try out this technique from now 'till the end of summer. With the weather getting hotter, I can't hold out and wait to rinse my hair or wash it, during the warmer months I practically rinse my hair every day and wash every 3 days or so. That's just the way I've always been even before I locked my hair, I just LOVE getting my hair wet. I think I'm starting to realize that my hair is at its healthiest and most beautiful when it isn't manipulated. That's not to say that I'm not going to keep my hair neat and pretty, but I feel like nowadays I want to just RELAX and not worry so much about my locs at this point. Nothing about my regime is going to change. I'm going to do the "loose hair wrapping" technique every 3 weeks, wash my hair once every 1-2 weeks, rinse every other day (if not every day), and use the same products. My goal is just to have a thick and healthy set of locs. Maybe once in awhile for a special occasion I will palmroll, but for now I just want to experiment with the hair wrapping technique. I figure that at this point in my locking journey, it is okay to experiment; experimenting and re-thinking the way you maintain your locs is part of the journey, and it's also fun! The worst that can happen is that it doesn't work for me and I just get back to the palmrolling again. That's all. I'll keep y'all updated!

My Pony Is Getting Longer?

If there's one thing I love about the warmer months is that in general my hair grows faster. I put my hair in a pony tail for when I was going to workout outside in the sun, like I said in another post I'm glad that these combined locks are holding into a style. Not sure if the pony is getting any longer but I'm sorta seeing a difference...just a little :)

*The first pic was from February 2010 and the second is from April 2010*

Never Say Never...

As I was going through my locs today, I noticed how varied in thickness my locs are. Some are nice and slim, while some are thick and juicy. I really like that. It gives my locs some character and variety, at least I think so. That wasn't what I was initially trying to go for when I started my locs in the first place, but it is really nice to see how much my hair has transformed and how my perspective on locking has changed. It seemed like yesterday I had like, maybe like over 150+ locks (i'm just estimating, because I did start off with A LOT of small and tiny locs in the beginning, they practically looked like braid-locs). Back then I really didn't care about the size of my locs really, I just went with the flow with them, but then the more I looked at pictures of locks, the more I wanted thicker locks, and now I have about 92 locks. Yes, I know that I said "i will probably stop combining at this point" but I guess you can never say never! I have 92 locks now, and I am really liking the results. I don't so much care about the 2-strand twist pattern, or that I have to use yet again more rubber bands in my hair, I just like to see that the loc is thicker, and I am liking what I am seeing overall. I can tell that a lot of them are married together already, which is a relief. I like the fact that not all my locs are the same size and shape. Heck, even the lengths are very different. The lower neck and front is longer, where as the back and middle is all over the place length-wise. I find that only slightly irritating, but I've come to realize that it is unrealistic to expect your hair to grow the same length from front to back. Is anybody else experiencing different lengths on their locs, and does it annoy you to have one section of your locs growing faster/longer than others? As long as I am not alone then I'm okay with that lol.

*The pics above were taken when I was bored, hehe, but naturally I took them also to show the progress of my hair as it is thickening and combining*

Ah I Love Spring...

Today was a lovely day to start off the month of April! I spent hours outside just enjoying the sun and the overall good weather. I combined a couple more of my locs today...I'm now down to 100. I think I'm going to leave it at that, mostly because I don't think I have anymore locs to adjoin to that hasn't been combined already, plus I feel more comfortable knowing that I don't have any more of those scraggly locs and instead have thicker juicier ones. I put my hair up in a pony (sorry no picture, but maybe I will shoot one later) just to see if the combined ones will work in a style, and they did! Now I feel more and more comfortable by this whole journey of combining all my locs. I want my hair thicker, but not so thick that I can't style it. Mind you I'm not really a hair style person, I can't see myself styling my hair ALL the time when it gets to that point, but it is nice to have that option. And today when I was going through my hair I realized that all of my combined ones that I married way back in November is solid, some of them turned out beautiful! To all those who are combining or thinking of combining, hang in there! I admit, it can be a pain in the ass to combine because in a way it is uncomfortable to adjust to a thicker loc, to adjust with a more double-strand twist look to that loc, and dealing with the fact that you had to combine in the first place for whatever reason. Bottom line though, I combine because I'm concerned about the health of my loc and my hair. In the long run, it is so worth it, and at the end of the day really, locs are beautiful and will turn out beautiful when they mature, regardless of the size. Speaking of the health of my hair, I'm still doing the "selective-retwisting" every 3 weeks where I don't retwist every single loc on my head because I feel that some just don't need it because the root has already loced and I want the base to grow out a little before I retwist again. I just don't want an overtwisted root, especially if there isn't much to actually retwist. Naturally I'm always going to retwist the front, and some at the middle, but in the back, I'm letting them be until they grow out some more. I'm quite impressed that my locs are finally making moves, they are locking much quicker in leaps and bounds now. Finally! And I can tell that the warm water and the constant misting/rinses I do has definitely helped.