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.