Pictures finally

These are the photos of my hair in the sisterlocks just after she finished the installation and rod set on 22 and 23 Dec. They are tiny little braid looking things that over time will form small locks. I got all the relaxed ends cut off a couple of months earlier and had been wearing a wig over my 4 inches of natural hair. After about 16 hours of sitting for two days I'm not looking too cute but my hair is. My hair actually looked like a rod set for the first day but after I slept on it it went flat on the side that I sleep on. I rolled it myself for a couple of days. The bare spaces are sorta of like when you first get your hair braided but after I washed it a week later they filled in. The ends of my hair have these little curly cues on the end that look really cute. I'm really looking forward to tracking my progress and growth. I just need to find a way to effectively control the dandruff.

The Start of Something Wonderful

My life changed forever on December 22, 2007. That is the day I started my sisterlock journey. Strange, but I had never heard of or seen sisterlocks prior to me moving to the DMV and once I saw them I instantly fell in love. After years of fussing with my hair I have found a permanent solution that will not leave me asking why on earth did I do this. After spending the last 20 years in the military I have seen hair styles come and go and I have tried just about every hairstyle known to the black woman to include wigs. While serving in the Army I knew that locking was not an option so a majority of my hairstyles consisted of some form of braids. Once I retired from the military and moved to the DMV I knew that I could no longer continue to wear braids that would leave me with a headache for 3 days afterwards. My decision to lock was not a political one or one based on health issues, it was more or less a personal choice of freedom. Freedom from having to wake up a little bit earlier to make sure my hair would be presentable for the day, freedom from sitting for hours getting my hair braided, freedom from the headaches afterwards, freedom from having to take them down 2 months later, and freedom from having to start the process all over again.

My locking process took approximately 16 hours over a two day period which included breaks for lunch, bathroom, etc. I quickly counted because after hearing so many people read off their numbers I had to know. I counted a little over 300. I started out with about 4 inches of natural hair. I had about 4 inches of relaxed hair cut off prior to my start. It's kinda like getting a new puppy when you want to watch them grown up. I want to enjoy all of the stages from totally natural hair. I have very thin hair and although 300 may not sound like a lot compared to those in the 4 and 500 range but I think they look great and besides sitting for some additional time, I don't think my head could fit any more tiny locks.

Until next time best wishes for a wonderful new year.