My very own leave-in conditioner

After months of not bothering about using leave-in conditioner, I'm back to making my own. I bought Jamaican Mango&lime Cactus leave in conditioner. I was shocked to find they're not even pretending.Not a drop of anything decent...maybe the glycerin. But that's it!! It hasn't a drop of mango, lime or cactus and it's choc full of mineral oil. What a joke!
Colourful label, but it's a complete lie. Also Mineral oil and locs DO NOT MIX! It will cause serious issues down the line. Then I remembered an old favourite, Knotty boy dreadlock conditioning spray. It contains very good natural stuff, does an excellent job and the coconut scent smells good enough to eat. How can bronis(white folks) make a good natural leave-in for dreadlocks and the bibinis(black folk) throw some junk together and call it a leave-in for dreadlocks. Really!!Anyway, I know some bibinis are making some good stuff for our natural hair out there...Which brings me to why I decided to make my own.

I had been asked by friends and family for my spritz who claim there's no spritz like my spritz lol. So I finally got round to making it.
There it is- no label, plain and simple, but crammed full of 7 hair friendly natural oils, aloe vera,and 4 hair strengthening and conditioning essential oils. Natural is always best.

M's new BRAIDLOCKS.

M in her lovely Ghanaian dress. It took us(me and mum) a couple of weeks to install her locs. There was a lot of bribery*grin* We did some whilst she was sleeping. We will be using a nappylocs or flatloc tool to retighten them. The great thing is..as soon as we were done, she rushed to look at herself in the mirror. She was so pleased with herself!!

Grandbaby locs

My grandbaby has joined the loc family. She has braidlocks!

Tried to upload pics but blogger won't let me....

Hi folks, I'm still here. I tried to upload some pics but failed. I wanted to show my loc pieces, a very clever way of adding locs to your locs and what my locs look like now.

A very interesting find and My 5yrs 9 month old locs !

Hi all. First off... do people actually STILL read blogs-I mean hair/loc blogs? Ok you do? Cool. MAGIC HAIR ROLLERS: I found these in the £1 shop. They are like soft spike curlers and work along the same principles. It has a zigzag loop in the centre where you pull your hair through to roll it. Then there's a gap at the head to pull the tail through. Neat eh? At £1 per pack (6 in a pack) you can't go wrong. I bought only 2 packs because I already have soft spikes in the very same size and colour as Magic hair rollers. So if you've always wanted to try soft spikes and didn't get them, hurry to the pound shop and get these before they run out! It's great to see the things that appear in the £1 shop of all places.

Here are some pictures of my locs at 5 yrs 9months. Many have been combined. So many that I'm very surprised that it still looks like sisterlocks. Amazing. My retights are now once every 3-4 months. I gave up retightening the top and crown of my head. It seems to be doing better just left alone. I do brush my scalp. Productwise I use very little. I wash with knotty boy liquid dread shampoo. It does not lather, but get's the job done. No sodium whatever sulfates and contains essential oils instead. I rub either sesame oil(not the cooking sesame oil) or coconut oil into my locs when it's still damp. That's it. My scalp and oil don't seem to be friends so I leave well alone.

We've lost one of our greats in the Westgate Mall attack in Kenya.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10326144/Kofi-Awoonor-Ghanaian-poet-killed-in-Westgate-Attack.html
How can a great statesman die such a senseless death? How can killing innocents further a cause?

My beautiful niece and her lovely locs

Owner of Maksi clothing line, Ghana. You can find MAKSI on facebook.

2nd daughter Mary Angel's wedding

My lovely daughter and her handsome husband. It was a lovely day. We had a blast! So much fun. Those 2 were made for each other. They were so relaxed and chilled throughout the ceremony and their first dance was awesome!!

Remember the curls/spirals from before?

A lot of loose hair at the hairline

Loc Curls!

It's been a while. Thought Id post these pics of curls. I'm trying them out to see if I can actually do them for my daughter's wedding coming up in a few weeks. I wish I had more soft spikes. I think placing 3 locs on a soft spike each should help it curl tighter. I'm a lttle wary of using a holding agent, but I might have to. We'll see. If all else fails, it'll be crin

kles crinkles crinkles!!!

Quick easy and simple styling@ 5years.

Compare 3 months, 5 months and 5 year loc progression. I've cut only once. I trimmed between 1-2ins last year. Whoever said afro hair doesn't grow lied. It grows if only you let it. The fringe (bangs) are a loc filler/piece I made myself. Very easy to put in. No sewing/no glue/no pins etc. Your own locs goes through and anchors them. I'll be making some in different colours and lengths for those who want to add a little something or change the appearance of their locs without cutting colouring or altering them too much. More on this later as I've just decided to make it for others.


The last 3 pics were all taken in the 1st year of sisterlocks,when it shrank and poofed out some.



I've discovered I can do simple styles with my length. The style in the top pictures is one of my favourites. I wore it like this whilst I was in Ghana. The heat was nearly unbearable.

Client progress

Remember Client E from about 8 months back? Her locs have thickened up considerably and made good progress. Still a lot of shrinkage and fattening of locs but they are well settled. Soon they'll begin the lengthening process.


These are before and after retightening pics.

At M&J traditional engagement. What my locs look like now.

Little by way of maintenance

Natural disney baby shampoo from the £shop. If you like moisture, get it. It's only £1.00.

I have to admit I don't fuss much with my hair anymore. It's even lucky if it gets washed every 2 weeks...more like 1x3-4weeks. I use whatever I get especially if it doesnt contain SLS. I condition on occasion..just the ends. ACV rinse. Henna dye 1x3months or when it's looking tired. I might rub in coconut almond sesame or olive oil if and when I remember but usually after I've washed it. My bare spots are gradually filling in. And I'm thankful to God for everything.I found an all Natural Disney baby shampoo in the £shop. It's moisturising and SLS free so I got it. I meant to stock up on it but hey life got in the way. Well I'm off to Ghana in 2 days ...for 3 weeks. See ya when I get back.

Arashia's locs at 6 years.
My locs at 5 years.

South Africa's dreadlock theives!!

Pic of A Khumalo a loctician in his outside salon.

Apparently, Dreadlock theives are terrorising lock wearers in SA. People sell dreadlock hair which may have been forcibly cut from someone's hair with a knife or broken bottle! Read the story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21498878

5 Years locked

It's been 5 years since I got sisterlocked, 8 years since I first got locs, and 9 years since I went natural. My hair has been through a lot of changes. My routine is simple. Wash with a sulphate-free shampoo, Do a final rinse with diluted ACV every other week. Once in a while add baking soda to clarify. Ocassional diluted conditioner. Spritz with a lavender mist when I remember. I colour with Surya Henna cream 1x3 months (just the new growth). To be honest this winter my hair has mostly been under some sort of hair cover. I cut 1-2ins off a few months ago. Pictures to follow soon.

Victory over hyperemisis!! Grandbaby's here.

Not many people look this good when they've just given birth. Ara and hubby looking very pleased. I should think so too bc this was no easy pregnancy. 2 weeks into the pregnancy Ara came down from scotland to be with me bc I had lost my mum(her grandma). Suddenly she went went from normal to experiencing severe sickness. I had no idea what hyperemesis was..but I soon found out. Then began the many visits to hospital. Infact on the day I flew to Ghana, she was flat on her back living in our lounge with bucket lemony water blankets etc around her. I had to go and bury my mum, so I had no choice but to leave her. She went to stay with my friend Eni, until I returned. Her husband drove down to take her back to scotland. His job means that he's away a lot and this was the difficulty and delay in taking her back up there. But we comitted everything to God. This has been one challenging incredible journey. I've lost count of how many times she had to go to hospital and have drips injections and the like. What I do know is the faithfullness of God. I prayed like never before. Visited them in scotland and spent countless hours on the phone, encouraging, praying and listening. (Thank you Lebara for all the free calls and texts!!) Finally, last night she told me she was getting some cramps. She timed them 8 minutes apart..then 5 minutes. I told her to call the hospital. At midnight they told her to stay home till the next day. Now this is where I said,'this is it. It's began. Get ready to go in. Don't wait too long My labours are quick and yours will be too'. So she went in at 3.a.m and Myckah arrived at 6.am.
I do apologise-There's something wrong with uploading the picture so I shall try to add them later.

Guava and plantain pudding(courtesy of Patricia Sloley)

This is beyond delicious. Try it with cream, ice-cream or on it's own.

Serves 4
2 over-ripe plantains
½ tsp mixed spice
115g/4oz sultanas
½ tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tin guava halves, drained, de-seeded and quartered
2 tbsp olive oil
150g/5oz plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180oC/fan 160oC/350oF/gas 4.
1. Peel, slice the plantain lengthways and remove the seeds. Place in a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the mixed spice and nutmeg, sultanas, vanilla extract, guava and olive oil and gently mix. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and gently mix again.
2. Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake in a pre-heated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Serve warm with ice-cream or mascarpone.

You can substitute or have it with freshly sliced mango, tinned pear halves and blueberries