I've given up shampoo.

Folks, I've decided to give up shampoo. I really don't think they work well for me. Yes they clean and all that, but my hair becomes excessively dry so quickly. Anyway I was doing some research and rediscovered that shampoo contains many undesirables. Infact I already knew this and blogged about it on my website http://locsdiary.piczo.com/afrohair!?cr=2&linkvar=000044. Most shampoos contain sodium lauryl laureth sulphate or their close cousins. They are very drying to the hair and can even damage hair follicles. Castille soaps are an alternative, but they must be well diluted and they can leave a thin residue.When I got sls I had to use non moisturising/clarifying shampoos and they can do a number on your hair. I occasionally use black soap which is fairly good. But I'll be avoiding soap and shampoo for a season. So I will use baking soda and water or soap wort(herb) if I can lay my hands on it, followed by diluted acv. Soap wort is a natural herb which lathers and cleans. I want to see how my hair behaves without shampoo or soap. I'll return to black soap bc it works so well. I know I should update with some pics of my hair, so I'll make that a priority for my next post. Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted on my non shampoo/soap routine.

Faux sisterlocks and the 'sharks'

I've written a post or 2 about not being a fan of certain practices of sls. However, this one is about the sharks out there peddling faux sls as the genuine article. After reading one too many stories of people having to undo months of hard work in order to pay more to have it done right, I thought I'd blog about it. So if you're a shark(you know who you are) stop sowing that bad seed bc it will come back to haunt you. It is a well known fact that sls is a trademarked company and you can only offer sls if you've taken the approved training and undertake to follow their procedure. However, anyone can do microlocs and call it what they want and it's perfectly legal and above board. So why can't people deal honestly with the client and say 'I do microlocs,similar to sls to give you the same look but they are not sls'. Instead, they are willing to decieve clients, take their hard earned cash and cut corners by installing something else- phony, false,fake sisterlocks (in some cases they are not even microlocs). I know some people use the sls name like it's the generic name for microlocs. I had a client once ask me to install sls along her hairline. I explained to her that I didn't do sls.What she actually meant was she wanted tiny locs. I respect anyone who is upfront and tells you the truth. I'd trust such a person with my hair if I like the work they do. So the message is, make sure you do your research, b4 you hand your money over. I'm well aware that some good sls consultants/trainees are not listed on the official website and some loctitians who do beautiful microlocs are not even sls consultants. Just make sure you know what you're getting into.

Brushing sisterlocks

I brushed my sls the other day. I used a VERY soft brush. Actually I was focusing on my scalp and hairline, rather than my locs and I was very gentle. I decided to give my scalp a little stimulation. I massage sometimes too. I used to brush my braidlocks, and it was really good. I'm not saying you should brush your sls, I don't want anyone to damage their locs. I'm just sharing what I did with mine. I know a number of folks with traditional locs brush theirs, but does anyone with microlocs ever use a brush on their scalp, hairline or locs? If you do please share.

Ghana Elections.

Taken from the Economist -

'LAST year oil was found off the coast of Ghana. There was rejoicing, of course. But the mood was tempered by the knowledge of how oil has polluted the nearby Niger Delta and corrupted Nigeria. More than anything, Ghanaians were seized by a determination to avoid the “resource curse” of Nigeria.
Now, with a general election on December 7th, it is the curse of the ballot box that Ghanaians want to avoid. After electoral disasters in Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe in the past 18 months, everyone is hoping, and many are praying, that Ghana will avoid the bloodshed, chicanery and political warring of its African peers......

Ever since Ghana became the first sub-Saharan country to win independence (from Britain) in 1957, Ghanaians have been conscious of being in the vanguard of African history. Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development says it is still the case. “There is a popular desire to maintain a record of not behaving like others on the continent in these elections. It is a point of pride.”

That Ghanaians are peace loving people is without a doubt. This attitude has saved us time and again from needless violence and bloodshed witnessed in other african nations. I pray peace continues even when the stakes are high, with the discovery of oil in the region. Human nature is the same everywhere and when enough pressure is applied, it can crack. As we come to another landmark in this nation's history, may Ghana truly stand out as a beacon of hope and light. The 1st African Nation to gain independence from colonial rule, the 1st african nation to throw wide it's doors to African Americans and descendants of Africans everywhere, Ghana is setting a good example. I hope the country continues to enjoy peace and stability. Most of my family live in Ghana, and in the future, I intend to live, at least, part of the year there.

6th ReTi

I had my ReTi yesterday 9th dec 2008. I pinched the term ReTi from QueenLi ( I believe she coined the word and hope she doesn't mind me using it.) I am no longer braiding and banding. I told my consultant I was planning to take over ReTi and come to her every so often. She was very encouraging. She said my hair had settled in and thickened up nicely. She's aware I maintain my daughter's locs by interlocking - that I get the occasional loc client who wants ReTi via a tool. She's a generous lady and doesn't act like she's the only one with the secret. She's going to be way for a while so she said why don't I DIY the next one and she can check it over when she's back as I already know my rotations and how-to. Alternatively she suggested getting it done whilst in Ghana. What a breath of fresh air, after all the alarming consultant stories I heard where you daren't ask about DIY except to take the class and if you do.. DIY without the class....you've left the fold. When I asked her about no longer having sls if I used a nappylocs tool or something else, she said you have the partings, the pattern, your hair won't grow into something else. Well it's nice to know she has confidence in me to do it right. Yep. I'm planning another trip to Ghana to see the fam - end of Jan/feb. I booked this with my heavenly father months ago and asked him to throw in some spending money and pressies for everyone. He is so good to me so I know everything will be there just at the right time when I need it. Thank you Lord.

The show after the show

We ie some of us homeschooling mums decided to take our kids iceskating at somerset House at the Strand London. It was truly spectacular. This huge ice-rink is in the centre of a grand mansion- Somerset House. With the christmas lights and all, it was a lovely experience. My friends then invited us to this restaurant called SARASTRO or The show after the show. It's in Covent Garden, central London, located in this ancient Victorian gradeII listed building, behind the theatre royal. You walk in and you think you walked into a theatre. It has a Mediterranean 'feel' to it. The food is turkish/Mediterranean influenced. The food was lovely. I had lamb that just danced on your tongue. You can see I truly enjoyed the experience - that is - until I went to use the 'loo', where I did a double take. The wall were covered with these very lewd pictures/paintings. Quite frankly, it nothing short of porn renamed ART. The food turned to dust in my stomach - well, nearly. I had to pretend I had not seen what I had just seen in order to enjoy this very special restaurant. Needless to say we had to tell our kids to wait till we got to convent garden itself to 'spend a penny', which was the next on the agenda. Convent Garden is a myriad of shops and stalls selling unusual products,with buskers, mini- open air shows etc generally quite upmarket. I don't have any pictures to show you sorry, I was camera-less. I'll try and get some off my friends.

Why do all these african women have receding hairlines?

We were watching a Nigerian film. Then hubby asked the question: 'why do all these Nigerian women (ie african women) have receding hairlines? They are going bald and you can see it under those wigs and weaves...' This from a white man. My daughter and I exchanged looks and I sighed. I didn't want to go into the same old same old topic, hence the sigh. So I just said 'yeah, they just did too much to their hair and the hair got tired... and gave up.' But, I realised, african women have the worst, most wretched, thinnest, tiredest hairlines of all the races. This prompted me to do a bit of research on current African hairstyles. I thought I'd start with Ghana- seeing it's my homeland. Friends, I was in for a nasty jarr. I could find hardly any natural hairstyles - unless you want to count extension braids/twist done over permed hair! The rare 'natural' style I came across was fake hair/weave done over some fried/relaxed hair. Tell me, african sista, what's the rationale in this? You've got your own beautiful afro hair. Yet you blast it with chemicals only to buy fake afro, to put over your own? The self loathing often spoken of by AA women may be far worse in the AW(african woman), than I thought. All those beautiful styles from generations past are slowly fading into oblivion. The practice of braiding, handed down from generation to generation, is barely hanging on. Many children are permed or have a low cut. Back in the day, mothers did their daughter's hair, girl siblings did each others' or if you had no aunt or relative capable, you got the lady down the road to come and braid it for you. Youngsters learned to do each others hair in boarding school. Now virtually all girls wear close cropped hair until they complete secondary education and then they make a beeline for the chemical fire cream and a weave. No wonder a friend made this observation: that african girls no longer know how to do hair. They have to go to 'braiding' school to learn. Even then they can't braid african textured hair, unless it's straightened first. We seem to have totally lost our way. I will endeavour to post some of the hairstyling pics I found -later. For now if you're an african woman, and you're natural,you're a rare sight.

You no longer have sisterlocks!

This is what a few sister's have been told b'cos they used a tool other than the sls tool to retighten their locs. Personally I dont really care what my locs are called. Apparently if you dont take the official retightening class, and learn to DIY, you suddenly get BOOTLEG sls.But surely anyone who's paid the money and sat for hours for the install has sls. How does another tool change the style? I mean if you do a 3pt 4pt R4 or whatever the pattern is you'll still be going in the same directions, even using an unofficial tool??? I wonder what my locs are then. Most of them are still sls, but I've used nappylocs tool and yarn needle and latch -hook to tighten a few around the edges. So I have SLS-nappylocs-latchook-fingertwisting locs. Like they say a loc is a loc is a loc. So what makes SISTERLOCKS? The size? the pattern? Or the tools? What about the products? What are your thoughts? Any Sls purist out there? Tell me what you think and why there seems to be such a fuss over this. At this rate, many people will simply piggyback off sls and so called 'step sls' will be appearing everywhere,b'cos many people use other tools, even those who've taken the class. It's all about ease and convenience. Besides, it's a good idea to learn to retighten, official class or not. If you don't live in the USA, or suddenly find you have no access to a consultant/trainee, you don't really care what your locs are called, as long as you know how to maintain them. And I know for a fact that it's not easy to take the class here(UK).My consultant has a fairly relaxed attitude about this, and I get the impression the UK consultants generally are,but I may be wrong. I've heard of situations where consultants refuse to monitor your hair any longer simply b'cos you broke the rule and DIYed without permission. There are blogs and youtubes teaching you how to tighten sisterlocks and locks in general, (even how to start locs with a tool) using step by step instructions. So if you get caught out, don't cut your locs, just look for an alternative and join the ever growing band of DIYers. At this point in time, I'm a semi-DIYer. I say semi, b'cos I have never retightened my whole head. But I repair or tighten any that need help. I like the thought of DIY, but don't fancy the many hours and aching arms that accompany it. However, I may try going to an official every other reTi, maybe that will suit me just fine.

Lookeee what I made

I decided to make my self a shea butter mix cos I sent my shea-cream mix to Anne after her SOS for shea butter. She is my guinea pig for lotion and potion experiments. So I went into my 'archives' to see what I had. I found some left over mango butter,murumuru butter,cupuacu butter,sapote oil, almond oil shea-cocoa,shea-coconut. I got about a tbs of each and added white and yellow shea butter. I melted the solid butters and added 3 big dollops of Roiboos shea butter cream(courtesy of y'know who you are) and whisked the mixture together.The result is this absolutely delightful luxurious cream. It's my best cream mix! I know it looks grainy, (just a thin film on it)but I promise you it's Smooth and silky.

As Imentioned b4, I'm taking part in an Art Journal project. I keep forgetting to take pics, but this what I made for the sentimental journal. The left one is christmassy to remind me of my childhood. This how I imagined England at christmas.

Micro-sculpture? Headwrapping.

I Haven't blogged in a while, due to this thing called-LIFE. I have been doing all sorts. I took my children to see a micro-sculpture exhibition. These micro sculptures are make by a black man called Willard Wigan and they are not visible to the naked eye. They are smaller than the head of a pin or a full stop and I'm not exaggerating. Infact, they fit in the middle of the eye of a fine needle! You need to look through a powerful microscope to see them and yet the detail is incredible. It seems impossible that they could be made by human hands. Mary took one look and said 'this proves there's a God,and that's probably how he sees us ; yet he sees every detail'. This collection was bought for £11million! I have a friend whose son makes incredibly detailed miniature sculptures from plastercine so I sent them the details, and they went to see the exhibition. They took some of the boy's work with them and are scheduled to meet this micro-sculptor sometime in 2009. Isn't that exciting! My Natural hair business is incredibly slow. There are not many natural haired sistas here and the few seem to travel to London to do their hair. We did do someones twists over the weekend. And I'm almost done retightening Arashia's hair after months.Each loc needed 3 or more rotations, not to mention all manner of repair work. It's taking about 4 days of doing a bit here and a bit there. She is now working in a clothes shop and only does hair part-time. She wants to apply to become the visual merchandiser, bc that's the job she's having to do, as they are short staffed.
HEAD WRAPPING: Cheleski - this is for you. My friend Eni who gave me the 'gele' head wrap,said once I folded it in the recommended manner, I could tie it anyway I wanted.
So this is what I did.
1. Take the fabric(in this case a very stiff fabric), bringing the 2 opposite corners together, fold to make a triangle.
2.Fold the long edge over,roughly 2-3in up.
3.Put the wrapper over your head with the triangle pointing upwards (from your nape towards your crown/forehead)
I can only do this by bending forward when the fabric is big and stiff like the gold one in the previous photos.
4.Tie, then tie a 2nd time making sure the pointy bit is underneath the tie.(make sure it's tight and secure)
This is where it get's exciting. If you have any sticking up bits, you can push and pull in different directions to get a shape you like.
Note: you can do this in the opposite direction ie tie towards the nape of your neck so the knot ends at the back of your head. Infact I carefully removed that headwrap and put it on backwards and I really thought it looked better.
I hope this makes sense. If it doesn't, sorry, the description may not be that great. I'll do a step by step with photos as soon as I get a minute.

It was on 25th october 2008, when I had - another God encounter

So, I got a call from my friend Steve. Some of you may recall I blogged about how I was healed from a circulatory problem through this man. Actually I wrote it on my website in 2006. Anyway, he and wife are good friends and God uses Steve in this way often to bring restoration to the body of christ. So this morning,(25/10/08) he was telling me that he sensed there was a problem on my head. I said no, cos he was asking if it was some headache , migraine or similar. I kept saying no. He was quite insistent. Then he said it's the top of your head - across the top of your head. Then it suddenly hit me. The hairloss and sensitive scalp issues I've been believing God for to be resolved! That was what was going on on the top of my head. Well he prayed with me, and broke the whole awful thing off me. And I'm healed - totally. I was overjoyed. I've been standing in faith for quite some time. The week b4, I told God that I know he's heard and answered and I believe he's doing something about it. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it's not his will for me to lose my hair - But that it would be nice if someone confirmed it. Nevertheless, I believe his word, .....Psalm103 - bless the lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits...who forgives all your iniquities and HEALS all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and destruction.... And in Isaiah,'he sent his word and HEALED me' It seems to me that God is restoring everything about me, one step at a time.And then he sent Steve to confirm that indeed he's heard and I've got what I was asking for. Thank you Lord, you are so gracious and kind.
I saved this post when I wrote it, and forgot all about it. Looking through my 'edit posts' I found it and decided to post it to give God all the glory. My hair's doing well and I'm really grateful to Him who is able to make all good things abound to me.

A's wedding.

We attended a friends wedding on sat. We had to fight through 'nightmare' traffic to get there(London). We took over an hour to go about a mile.I don't know how I kept my cool, it was surely by God's grace. Fortunately we still managed to look good on arrival, not dishevelled and disgruntled.I thought we were very late, only to find the neither bride, groom nor bridal party had arrived. We were actually part of the bridal party. Obviously, they were all battling the same traffic. This is the situation here in the UK. We have to put up with narrow roads, bottlenecks,etc. On top of that there are roadworks every corner. Diversions without warning seem to be the norm. This particular road we had to negotiate, is notorious for traffic, and I noticed a large shopping mall has suddenly sprang up smack bang in the middle of it with no provision for extra roads, so lets just say you had 1000 more cars trying to fit onto this dual carriageway with buses in bus lanes and rd works....it was quite interesting.

I must say I so enjoyed the praise and worship at the ceremony. Very refreshing after that drive! I styled Arashia's locs. I pulled the hair up into about 7 flat twists at the back, curled the top. It was lovely. Note the outfit Arashia is wearing? She made it herself. She is a fashion designer, and likes to make evening/formal wear - with a bit of flair. Click on the images to see it better.

Check out my Nigerian outfit and 'gele'(headgear). Even my friend Funmi said I carried it well.This is the 1st time I wore the gele, and I tied it myself.I'm already used to tying headgear the Ghanaian way, but I wanted to try the Nigerian method, as it gives extra sparkle and I think they are just beautiful.

The gold scarf covering was made by my good friend Helen.

wghs dinner dance

A few pics of us going to an old school re-union. It was a dinner-dance held at the Royal National Hotel in Russell square - London. A truly memorable event fundraising for the school. I set my sls on perm rods and soft spikes. My old school, known us Wesley Girls' High school is about 150yrs old, located in the town of cape coast(famous for it's forts and castles and role in the slave trade). It was begun by Methodist missionaries (British)in the 1800s and is probably the best school in Ghana. They've consistently achieved the best exam results since I can remember, and produced some very well rounded individuals including moi! Seriously, old girls have achieved many influential positions, high court judges, doctors, heads of institutions, business women,fashion designers or SAHM home educating like me. I have many fond memories of the place, as it was a boarding school and it became home from home for 5yrs during my teenage yrs. In 2006, we had the privilege of meeting ms Garnet again, the headmistress for over 30yrs. She was the guest of honour at our 'do' and believe it or not, she knew all of us who attended the event and even remembered our names. I guess we were sent to her office enough times for breaking some rule or other. She was always just and fair and allowed you to explain yourself.

Notice the length of Arashia's locs. Hmmm, loc envy is not a good thing. Re tightening is well over due.

1st recipe -waakye and stew

Justlocs,Thandi,Meimeika, this is for you,recipe no 1, Enjoy.....


For the waakye(rice and black-eyed beans)

Take a small bag of black eye peas (beans)-about 300 gm, and add enough water to cover three inches above them. Add a large pinch of baking soda. In Ghana there are special leaves/sticks added to give a distinctive colour and flavour, but here in the west, we don't always have access to it, so baking soda does the trick. Boil until the beans are soft to the touch (not mushy, but soft). The water becomes a burgundy colour. Add about a teaspoon of salt then add enough rice about 400gm so it's 1 1/4 in under the water. Mix. Reduce heat to medium/low and cover for about 30 min, or until rice is finished cooking. You can cheat and use canned black-eye peas, as I have done before, but results are not the same. My personal trick is to add 2tbs of dark soy sauce and 1bs sesame oil for flavour and intensify the colour whilst rice/bean mixture is cooking but it's entirely optional.

For the Stew: You will need:1 tbs tomato paste(optional), 1 large onion sliced. 2 cans 435gm tomatoes, blended or chopped, 1 large stock (boulion)beef/chicken /vegetable cube, 1/2 finger ginger peeled and diced, 2 cloves garlic peeled and sliced, 1/4 tsp. Red chilli pepper, black pepper,salt/season all to taste., 1/4 cup vegetable oil. 1/2tsp Curry powder (optional). 1lb cubed meat (You can use chicken or fish).

If you are using meat....

(you can see the stew simmering away)

In a pan add the meat, garlic, ginger, 1/2 teaspoon of salt or season all, and enough water to cover all the meat. Stir all ingredients together and allow to boil until meat is tender to the bite. When meat is to your liking, fry it in heated vegetable oil , until crisp on the outside, but soft inside. This step is optional as not everyone likes their meat fried. DO NOT POUR THE WATER FROM THE BOILED MEAT AWAY. This will be used as a seasoning for your stew later.

For egg eating vegetarians.......

Boil some eggs and set aside.

In a different pan, add 2 generous tbs oil, and allow it to heat up on medium heat. Add onions and allow to fry for about 10 minutes. This will remove the water from the onions. Add the tomatoes and allow it to fry as well. Stir often, as you don't want the bottom to burn. Add the tomato paste. Mix into the onion/tomato mixture add some garlic, a little fresh chopped ginger and add about 1/2 cup of water(use water from the boiled meat if using meat.) add about 1/2 of the stock cube, 1/4 teaspoon of curry, and a little bit of the chilli pepper. Mix until it's dissolved. taste and add more pepper/seasoning if needed. Allow this to simmer until thickened, and there is a film of oil on top. Turn off the heat, peel and add boiled eggs.

Meat eaters........

Add the meat and most of the meat stock (from boiling)to the stew and stir so that meat is buried in stew. MAKE SURE YOU STIR FREQUENTLY. Allow to simmer until thickened and there's a film of oil . Keep stirring and add more water from the boiled meat if needed. Add seasoning to taste. It will be done, when it's thick with a browny-red colour.
This is usually accompanied on the side by SHITO sauce, which is a hot pepper sauce made from chillies and smoked dried shrimps and fish. You may be able to purchase it in a Ghanaian shop, but I do without it sometimes and it's just as tasty.

Don't put stuff on your locs!!!

So I thought I was being smart and decided to put a lil' gel ...u know the type white folks put in their hair to harden and mould it?..yeah that type, on the ends of 5 locs to hold them together. Instead of holding together, they all totally unravelled. But u can see from the previous post that my consultant fixed them. I was quite embarrased to tell her how those locs came apart, seeing that I know better. Anyway, I thought I'd tell you sisterlocking/microlocking folks this:
Just don't put stuff on your locs!!! You could cause them to unravel. (A little mist of a few drops of eo and the tiniest amount of oil is probably fine.) This will also apply to anyone who has micro-locs, but not necessarily traditional locs. In my experience, it's much easier to unintentionally, undo tiny baby/teenage locs than bigger ones. So be warned.

art journals/5th retightening

A group of us have started another round of art journals. In the 1st we picked a colour or season for a theme. This time we picked an emotion/feeling. Mine's FAITH. Actually, mine's neither emotion nor feeling, faith is a spiritual choice. Still....Each woman gets a book/sketch bk. You decorate the cover and do a few pgs of your journal. It can be drawing /painting/stitching/glueing/embroidery,whatever you want to do. You then pass it on to the next woman who will do some art- in your theme- in your bk. You do the same with the bk that another woman will send to you and so on. This is 1 of 2 I did in Seiwa's journal.(click on it to see it close-up).They're wax paintings. I'll put up a better pics tomorrow.

AND.....

I got my hair did! It only took 2 1/2hrs so it was well worth it. My loctitian's now working from home again so no more nightmare parking. She gave me a voucher to park.Also she says I can use sls moisturising spray, nappylocs dew spray or similar. I might just make me own. Check out my locs.

Loc jewelry

My 1st attempt at making earrings. I decided to learn to make jewelry. Actually, I want to make loc jewelry - with matching earrings. I watched a couple of youtube vids and decided to get some tools and dive in. So I've made 3 loc-rings, Arashia's wearing one. These 2 , I made to fit Anne's locs. My friend's setting up a workshop with a pro so I can learn properly. Hopefully I'll be able to make some for sisterlock wearers to be tried on my locs when they are more settled. I was inspired by these ladies on 'luvinlocs' knappysoul and 'pinky2D4'(youtube)making beautiful loc-jewelry

groundnut soup(Ghana style)

I cooked some groundnut(peanut) soup with chicken today. The trouble with this soup is you have to siphon a lot of oil off. The soup brings out all the oil in the peanuts and when You add the chicken..... well, you can always use skinless chicken. It's best eaten with Fufu. But you can have it with gari, rice, yam, kenkey, (a kinda sour corn mash),banku( super-thick corn porridge), sweet potatoes, even bread if you want. My friend Eni who is Nigerian and I have decided to exchange foods every wed (when we meet at the sports centre). She's bringing me moimoi which is a bean dish from Nigeria and I'm taking her some of my 'Nkate-nkwai'(twi), Nketie Wonu'(Ga) aka groundnut soup. That way we can sample dishes from each other's country.
Going through my hair I've discovered a few locs on the edges that completely unraveled-after 8mths!! I thought I was supposed to have 'African' hair as I'm all african. Actually I have a great- great grandfather on my mother side who was dutch (he was the governor hmmm.....)and some suspected arab ancestry on my father side, so I have them to blame for this state of affairs. Fortunately I have 99.9% african blood,so most of my hair is locked in spite of its loose coily texture in places. I managed to track my loctitian today and she has graciously inserted me in her hectic schedule for friday. Phew!Sorry about that big forehead and looking bug eyed in the above pics, I was trying to show the growth at my hairline. My hairline is gradually improving, for this I give God all the glory.

credit crunch?

It's time for my babies to be tightenend again and all I managed to do is tighten 1 1/2 locs out of 380. It's ridiculous. I can't seem to find the time, or get settled - there's always something....*sigh* I am at this very moment searching for Angela's card so I can call and make a booking. Somehow when I take 4-5hrs out of my day to go and get my hair done, everyone understands. We even have take-aways. But I'm attempting to DIY, dinner must be cooked per normal, everything must continue as is.. no interruption. But I won't grumble. I'm just going to have to ask hubby for the 50 quid to go and do the deed. Thankfully, God has blessed us in the middle of the credit crunch so I can actually afford it. But I'd rather save it and send it back home to my mother. I send money home regularly as do all my siblings to take care of my aging parents(all you africans will probably relate) but my mum's had some challenges and I want to up the total to get the extras she needs. We've had to hire extra help to help care for her and I want her to have whatever her lil' heart desires. My dad too, bless him. God's faithful and he will provide.

I've been tagged!

I've never been tagged b4 so I hope I'm doing it the right way.

1. Link to the person that tagged you
http://divalareine.blogspot.com/

2.Post the rules on your blog

3. Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

So here goes:
1. I love the sound of rain when I'm going to sleep ,or background sounds of voices or music.

2. I enjoy Ghanaian food(red red,beans in palm nut sauce and ripe plantain is my fav/or apim-green plantain and Nkontomire..YUMMY) and like to wear my traditional attire (cloth or kente with headgear) to church or important functions.

3. I learned to swim in my mid-40s.

4. I'm an artist and love to do wax paintings. Back in the eighties, Anne and I travelled from Ghana to Sierra Leone to have an Art exhibition. At that time it was rare for anyone our age to go outside the country for an exhibition. It was very successful and we were featured in neswpapers and TV.

5. My daughter is also my best friend. We both like Ghanaian praise and worship in 'twi' or 'Ga' and often sing and dance along with the music.

6. I usually ask God for my parking space b4 I go out (except for that 4th retightening trip!) and I usually get it.
Last, but not least....I know,Iknow it said 6 not 7 things, nevertheless
I hate arrogance and the use of foul language!

Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
http://luvlockd.blogspot.com/
http://www.thandislocsnlife.blogspot.com/

http://rchgrl1.blogspot.com/

http://happilynappilynish.blogspot.com/

http://mylocsjourney.blogspot.com/

http://www.yooforea.blogspot.com/

Guys, if you've recently been tagged you can ignore this. I picked you bc you're all at a similar stage of locking as me and I read your blogs hehehe.

Anyone whose reading this, if you haven't been tagged consider yourself 'it'.

Rebellious teens?

No, I prefer to call them locs with character. This is how my locs look and I've decided I like it. It dawned on me that the fuzzy,frizzy stage is to be enjoyed. My locs are simply deciding what they're going to be when they grow up. I like wild and I like the volume. They will not always be like this. One day I will wake up to find them fully developed, all 'behaving', but for now..... I'll Enjoy big hair.

PhotoArtistry

I didn't quite know what to do with my hair so I wrapped it at the front. It made my locs look big and bushy. So that's how I wore it to Anne's 'do'. A wrap is a good standby when your locs won't behave.

My friend Anne(she has traditional locs) is the owner of photoartistry. This was the opening of their new premises. It was wonderful, especially since I had the priveledge of seeing the place when it was a huge, empty shell. Anne and her team worked very hard to transform this place and it includes offices, workshops, conference hall and gallery. If U want to know more about PhotoArtistry, just google it. They do some fabulous work on canvas acrylic and more. Anne is not only a business woman, she is an artist and a painter and has had quite a few exhibitions. She is one of the people who has encouraged me to revive my art skills and also make my dream of making hair/skin potions into reality. The 3 in above pic is Anne, Seiwa and me. We 3 have been friends for years, both in Ghana and UK. Seiwa,(in the middle) a former sisterlock wearer,is an artist too and very creative. She's the one who got me onto the Art journals(on my website http://www.locsdiary.piczo.com/) and now she's hooked me on another. Regarding her hair, I wait with bated breath to see what she's gonna do. I'ts def going to be locked again, but I don't know what method she's going to go with.

moor mill

Paul's (hubby) brother and wife and baby were visiting from the US so the whole fam went to lunch at Moor Mill which is an old country pub/restaurant/motel. It was a mill, back in the day, and U can still see the wheels turning. We had typical UK weather, snippets of sunshine and bursts of wind and rain.