It took 1 week to finish my 2nd DIY retight.

I've just finished doing my 2nd full reight. It took a whole week, a little at a time. My arms and shoulders were very painful - shooting pains etc so I really had to take it easy. At one point I wondered if I'd be able to complete it. Arashia offered to help but I wanted to DIM to make sure I stuck to my pattern. Also I had to repair a lot of locs. That conditioner had unravelled some locs exept for roots and/or ends, even after 1 year. Yet it made my hair feel so soft and human again. I have a lot of bunching at the back, but I wasn't about to cope with unraveling and relocking them, so I'm letting them be. Did you know you're supposed to gently roll those ends to prevent bunching? I discovered too late to do mine and I think the only way to fix them is take them apart. Pics will follow shortly
Oh, and I managed to save that thin loc. I incorporated the loose hairs around it into the loc whilst retightening it. I got the yarn needle shortened, but I ended up using a long one. The blunt end isn't very good, so unless you can have the shortened end filed to a rounded point, you'd best stick to the yarn needle as is.

Using conditioner too soon...oh dear! I found a very thin loc.

'mine-sweeping' my locs, also the pics show that my locs have become thicker. My sis was amazed to see how much thicker my hair was, compared to last year when they were installed, and is now considering locking her hair.

My locs were desert dry some weeks back and in a bid to restore moisture I used diluted conditioner. I think this condish was of the detangling sort. My tresses were softer, but the price I paid was unraveling/fraying/slipping and sliding locs. I thought I was smart. Afterall, when I had my traditional locs I was using condish b4 the 1yr mark, and I had gone well past 1yr. I forgot that these are not tradtional locs, they are SLS y'know similar to microlocs? = fewer strands per loc which in turn=easier to undo when not completely locked. And my hair is fine and soft even with all my African blood. My joy at having soft tresses was short-lived when I discovered the damage. 1 loc even gave up the ghost. Fortunately, the majority survived the condish-heck they were even smiling now that their thirst was quenched. I managed to restore the affected ones. (Aah,God is in heaven and all was right with my world again.) As is my custom, I do a 'minesweep' b4 a retightening, just to check that all is well. I noticed I had more than the usual amount of new growth(or so I thought) and this dear loc hanging on for dear life! What to do? Now this particular loc is at the nape of the neck where I've had the most trouble. I mean that area suffered the most when I used to LYE(thank God I repented). So the hair is thinner there. Now I see the condish did a lot more than I gave it credit for.

I might add, my new concoction for keeping my locs happy and moisturised is Aloe vera juice,peppermint eo. lavender eo, orange water, jojoba oil and water in a spritz. I mist at least 1x day. At night I hold my locs up in 2 loose ponytails and cover with my very own satin bonnet. All this results in softness plumpness and gives a lot more body to my locs.

loc-hair ties (homemade)

pic 1

pic 2

These are some loc-hair ties I made. It's not easy to get donuts and pipes here(UK) so I've used old earrings, buttons, beads. The large white one can be worn 2 ways (as in pic 1) or another way (pic 2 ). I'm reviving this old passion, I've got a bag full of odds and ends ,beads, broken earrings etc so I shall be experimenting. At least the elastics are easy enough to come by. I like making pretty stuff like these.

WHY DID I LOC MY HAIR? and why did I choose SISTERLOCKS?

(you can see how beautiful my old locs were)

After 1yr of sisterlocks,4yrs of locs in total, I thought I'd look again at the reasons why I locked-up, and how I came to be sisterlocked. This is an excerpt of what I wrote on my website in 2005 when I started my bradelocz:
"Many african women will relate to the Saturday torture of hair washing and being wedged between the thighs of the braider who cornrowed, threadwrapped or braided your hair pulling it this way and that while you gritted your teeth. These were usually so tight that you had a facelift for days! .....so my friends and I experimented with perming creams.(relaxers) The idea was to soften the hair. It was a real wash'n go style cos you wet your hair, the curls were defined, and as long as you kept your hands away from your hair you were fine..... until we jumped on the straight hair bandwagon.
Thus began an addiction and a vicious cycle that was to last 26 yrs. You are lured into perming because of the promise of long flowing easy to manage hair. Once you begin you're hooked. .... still it breaks and thins, Your whole life is consumed my this quest, searching for the cream that doesn't burn, that conditioner that protects..... When all is said and done, you're left with damage and more damage. I have always had the natural in me as I sometimes cut my hair cos I just wanted to be me. Infact at my brother's wedding I firmly refused to have by hair straightened even though I was a bridesmaid and I'm happily wearing my afro in the wedding photos. I never learnt to style my natural hair myself... I continued abusing my scalp and hair. I moved to England -Finding a natural hair stylist was often like looking for a needle in a haystack. I would go through all sorts of'hoops'and 'contortions' travelling several miles to get my hair 'done'. Sometimes I attempted to braid my own hair, but mainly I relied on relaxers or perms, and on ocassion, it was a DIY job. Where I'm from (Ghana) there is a strong prejudice against 'educated' women wearing their hair in it's natural state, although it's acceptable, even encouraged in girls. The only women who got away with natural hair were those with 'nice' hair ie very loose coils/silky curls. The only acceptable way is to wear extension braids or weaves. In the last 26 years, I have tried every type of perm and relaxer. I have had braids, weaves and wigs all in a bid to control or cover my hair.. These chemical perms/relaxers carry warnings. The stuff is not meant to come in contact with your skin. Usually it ends up smeared all over your scalp and left to do it's deadly work for about 30 mins. Back in the day, a large number of Ghanaian hairdressers seemed to think the longer you left the cream on the better. If you complained about a burning sensation, you were told to try and hold on as a little burning was a small price for beautiful hair. It is not unknown for a hairdresser to go and have her lunch after applying chemicals to your hair. I remember once, in my late teens, a hairdresser completely fried my scalp. My dad spent days dabbing antiseptic on the oozing sores. He tried to persuade me to give up perming. In later years, I began to make desperate attempts to give up the habit. In addition to this, my Dr. warned me about the dangers of those chemicals .... Light was begining to dawn. In 2003, I went a whole year without chemicals only to backslide in July 2004. This was to be my final bout with chemicals. This time, I was commited. (Over the years, I had made several failed attempts to go natural.) It began to dawn on me - success lay in changing my whole attitude to my hair. This required a change in my thinking...I had come to the point where I decided if I was the only one sporting a huge afro in the world- so be it. I preferred that to no hair. By now I had started searching the internet for some answers. I was drawn to locks, but hadn't a clue. This plus the fact that amongst Ghanaians, locs are often considered to be for weed smokers, fetish priests the insane or dirty, meant I spent several months haunting loc websites and learning all I could. I also wasn't sure if I could actually achieve the locs look that I wanted. I came across sisterlocks and was very impressed. However the expense and trips to London every 6 weeks just did not suit me. I have no doubt that if I had easy access to a sisterlock trainee/consultant I'd have gone that route. However it would require a 'hop step and jump' ... I had to rule it out and continue my search.... I discovered BRADELOCZ. This is a locking method which starts locs with small braids and is maintained with a latch-hook.... For those who were not born with afro textured hair, it's hard to explain why millions of us alter our hair and try to make it do something it was never meant to do. It's harder still to explain why we are willing to endure painful burns, severe damage and even illness to attain the european look. Many natural haired sisters insist we have been brainwashed. I hate to admit it but it's true.It's not until you are free (from the brainwashing)that you truly begin to appreciate your natural hair. I wish that I had come to my senses years ago. ... "
the expanded version of this is here:http://locsdiary.piczo.com/whyilockedmyhair?cr=2&linkvar=000044
Fast forward to Sept 2007 and it was evident to me I had made a number of mistakes DIY-ing and I made the decision to start over. this time with SLS my 1st love. The take-down story is here:http://locsdiary.piczo.com/loctake-down!!!?cr=2&linkvar=000044
My SLS were installed by Ama (sls practitioner) on 25/26/01/08, in Ghana. The drama of my sls install is here: http://locsdiary.piczo.com/sisterlockjourney
I was very sick the 1st day and had to rush to the bathroom to throw up a number of times during that 10 hr session. You can see I was determined to get them bc we carried on, and I must say Ama was very kind and took good care of me.
15mths into the SLS journey, and I can sincerely say it was well worth it. I had a few moments when I questioned the wisdon of taking down 2 year old locs in favour of starting over with sls. I missed the length, I missed the not having to do much with my locs(bc they were no longer babies) and the faster retights (I had about 160 locs). But the good outweighs the bad. I have over 2x as many locs, fuller hair, they've finally settled hehe and I even conquered DIY-ing mini locs.

Hand SANITIZER???Who would have thunk?

I read about this on nubian1's blog. See her post here:http://locksrevisited.blogspot.com/search/label/DRY%20CLEANING%20LOCKS I must admit I was a little shocked at 1st that anyone would put this stuff on their scalp. However, I was going through a very challenging situation with itchy scalp/scabs so I thought, if it can clean my hands, maybe it can do something for my scalp since it says anti-bacterial. This problem only affected the nape of my neck and I've been prescribed various shampoos to deal with it Nizoral, Selsun and some salycic acid shampoo. After I used that last one(only on that part of my scalp) it itched worse than ever and became very scaby. I felt a little desperate. So yep..you guessed it. I tried ANTI-BACTERIAL HAND GEL. I dabbed a little on the problem spots and rubbed gently. There was an instant cooling effect and the itching stopped more or less immediately. I used it 2 X more, the next day and day after, when I felt the itching, and now it's completely under control. Apparently it's used a lot in hospitals and it does say that it kills 99% of common skin bacteria so it figures! I never thought of using this to keep my scalp clean or deal with irritation, but I think it may be useful for in-between shampoo-ing especially if your locs are new and you don't want to disturb them with frequent washing. So thanks Nubian1 for this info. I'll never be bothered by itching again.

DISCLAIMER: I was alerted by a sista (who's a nurse)to the fact that using this gel could be very drying, due to the high alcohol content (60%), so don't replace regular washing/shampoo-ing with this. Personally, I've experienced no problems at all and I think It's perfect as a stand-in/emergency/itch-killer.

reTighteing Ara's locs,long after 2 mths.

The 1st pic is of 2st twists installed in feb 2007 to begin the locking process. Ara's locs today in march 2009, being retightened -by me, using the nappyloc tool, using R4 pattern. Her locs are thick so the medium sized nappyloc tool is the ideal tool for dem locs. She had about 1 1/2 in growth from over 2 mths. There was some repair work to be done, plus I started about 6 new locs from loose hair. You can see a baby loc at the hairline. Her locs are 2 yrs 2 mths old. They started out as small 2 strand twists. See here: http://locsdiary.piczo.com/arashiaslocs I did 2 rows in the back and went to her local braider down the rd(GHANA) and showed them what I wanted done. It took 4 young ladies under 1hr(45/50min) to put in 305 twists. They charged about $5.00 for this service.I also taught them to retighten using the latch-hook and nappy tool. They did a pretty good job maintaining her locs the 1st year, charging her very little or nothing cos she was a student!

Jade Goody knew Jesus. She wisely secured her place in eternity

I'm not a reality TV fan,(IMO it's full of mindless drivel, fusses and fights and reinforces all that's awful about society today) and I wondered what all the fuss was about Jade Goody, UK's reality TV star who rose from humble beginnings to become a very rich woman. Something caught my eye one day and I found myself reading about her fight with cervical cancer on the news. I noticed that this young woman was a fighter. I couldn't help admiring the courage she displayed in the midst of pain, facing death. How she determined to exploit the media attention to raise as much money as possible for her 2 small sons, now being raised by their dad. As I began to follow the story, I discovered that she was indeed very close to death. I felt compelled to pray that this dear girl would make her peace with God and put her trust in Jesus. I knew many others must be praying for her too. When we heard she'd died, aged only 27yrs, on mother's day, I looked at my daughter Arashia. I said 'I know she went to heaven, I've got that gut feeling.' She said 'me too, I have the same feeling.' Later as I read the news surrounding her death, I found she had been baptised alongside her kids and made a statement to the effect that she wanted them to know Jesus so hopefully they'd keep in touch through him as she was going to be with him! Wow! I thought this woman achieved a lot in her short life, publicly repented, admited she'd made some poor choices in life - yes- she had an unfortunate background, not very educated - nevertheless, wasn't ashamed to mention Jesus' name publicly and let it be known that she believed in him. This woman certainly had guts even if it was her bad behaviour on mindless TV that propelled her to fame. She was smart enough to marry, barely a month ago, saving her kids £1million which the taxman would not have hesitated to grab. She not only raised awareness of the disease, she secured her sons' financial future, and left amounts to various charities. To think she endured being in the spotlight whilst very ill, to raise money for those kids knowing that she'd never see a penny of it. This woman has been criticised, called names, 'thick' etc Maybe she was and she can't help that, she didn't choose her parents. But who are we to sit in judgement over her? Would we really behave differently if we'd had her rough upbringing, if we'd been in her shoes? At least she chose the right thing in the end, and that can't be said of everyone who's 'laying' into her. She took care of this natural realm for her boys' sake, but cerainly did not neglect her spirit and made secure her place in eternity. At the end, she became a Wise young woman.

Which shampoo?

I've been doing the no-shampoo, no soap routine. I find it a little disconcerting to have no suds when washing my hair, but it works. However, I overdid things a little at my last wash. I used too much baking soda. My hair feels so dry and wiry. Anyone got some advice? Dare I use some diluted conditioner? Many of my locs aren't locked yet. Meanwhile,I discovered ORGANIX Teatree Mint shampoo whilst shopping in BOOTS. It contains no sulphates, so I was sold. It's smells, lovely with just the right amount of 'tingle' factor. But I'm torn between this and NIOXIN shampoo. Nioxin is specifically for thin/thinning hair. It contains ingredients supposed to create the right enviroment that allows your hair to grow. I used it early on, but gave it up in order to allow my locs to settle. I like everything except for the sodium lauryl sulphate. But I want to give it another go. Do the benefits outweigh the potential risks? I may give it a few weeks and re-evaluate. Or can I use both? What do you think? As you can see, I love trying new things, but I always return to the old 'faithfuls'.

Tribute to Elizabeth

My good friend Elizabeth died on my birthday 23rd feb 2009. We go back 20yrs, way back to KT/AL days when we never missed a church service or meeting. She was well known for arriving at AL(Abundant Life) meetings with enough ground rice and soup to feed the entire group. She used to invite me and Arashia(when she was a tiny tot)for a meal or should I say meals cos she always had at least 5 dishes lined up! Efua as she was also known,was from Cameroon, but her late mother was a fante from Ghana. We lost contact here(UK) but met up in Ghana when we moved back 10yrs ago. Efua had returned to Cameroon, but decided to make Ghana her homeland and made the trip by land from Cameroon to Ghana crossing Nigeria, Benin and Togo to get to Ghana. That's the kind of person she was. Very adventurous. Although my husband and I moved back to the UK, we kept in touch my phone/ email and I always spent time with her when I went to Ghana to visit. Sometimes, she'd come and stay overnight(laden with all manner of fruit) and we'd spend most of the night laughing and talking and generally having a good time.On my recent trip to Ghana, I felt this urgency to go see her soon after I arrived. She tried to put me off and this made me slightly suspicious. The next day, the urge to see her was stronger than ever-I called and announced to her that I was going to find her wherever she was, and demanded directions to her house. She laughed out loud, told me I was crazy and went on to give me directions. Any Africans know how dodgy these can be and I got lost 2x and after following dirt roads avoiding large potholes,finally found her in a neat little 1 bed maisonette type house. She lived alone(no husband no kids) with a young maid to help her. She looked ill and had just come out of hospital having spent several weeks there. There was something wrong with her lungs and this affected her breathing her heart and other internal organs and was on strong medication. Which explained why she hadn't wanted me to come the day b4. She was the type that wants to cook you 5 or more meals to welcome you to her house. She was overjoyed to see me and overcome with emotion. We spent the next 3-4 hours praising God, praying and reading the bible, as well as catching up with some news. We hugged just b4 I left and I promised to come back to visit. I meant to suprise her with a few gifts. The next day she called me and just burst into tears saying ' Ofo, God brought you,you don't know what your visit meant to me. You came all the way to see me,you've strengthened me more than you know'. I was busy the ff week and began to call her mobile the week after that. I got no response for3-4 days. Eventually, someone (her uncle)answered and told me that 'Elizabeth passed away on mon 23rd feb' I sat and stared into space for a very long time. Finally, I took my Bible and opened to a random page. It was Mat 25:36 and this line jumped out at me'...I was sick and you visited me' I just bowed my head worshipped and thanked God for prompting me to go and see her. He knew what was going to happen, that this was the last time I was going to see her on this side of eternity,and was guiding my steps all the time. I've shed some tears, but I am happy for her too, because I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that she's busy enjoying the glories of heaven. Friends, heaven is very real and Jesus paid the ultimate price so you and I can have a place there. All you have to do is acknowledge that you can't save yourself or free yourself from your sin,(Jesus did that for you) and accept his FREE gift of salvation. This life is very short, even if you live to be 100, it's over sooner or later. Make certain of your place in eternity. I know I'll be seeing Efua again, someday. 'In the meantime, Elizabeth,Efua-enjoy rest from your labours here on earth. It was a privilege to know you. I'll never forget how you stepped in and helped in my hour of need, how you took Arashia under your wing when she was in Ghana, how you always looked for ways to bless me. You were always telling me how beautiful I was. You yearned to know about your mother and her side of your family. Now you're reconciled with your mother. Da yie, I'll never forget you'

More Photos and the sisterlocks huddle

Ama had just finished retightening my locs, sun 1st march. (I've decided, I need to lose some weight and get toned and be just like her. Both she and twin sis Amba,look so good.)

we thought about having a sls Ghana meetup. But in the end, we settled for a 'huddle' - just a handful of us, including the youngest and 1st child sls wearer in Ghana. I think Kuks has become a bit of a celebrity.

Me, Abi and Ama.

Ama's locs were described to me by Seiwa as long liquid licquorice before I saw them. She was right, except they are now a gingery colour. Quite frankly she turned heads wherever she went.

In case you're wondering, she 2st twisted and bantu knotted them. She took down the bantu knots, but left the twists in, in these pics. It's a lovely look. After a few days, she'll take the twists out for a crinkly look. I can only imagine how gorgeous they'll be.

This is the front view of the house my brother and wife built.

The pool in the back courtyard of the above house.

.....and the back of the house. OH, TODAY MARKS THE 52ND YEAR OF GHANA'S INDEPENDENCE. THE GHANA FLAG IS RED,GOLD,GREEN, WITH A BLACK STAR IN THE MIDDLE.

I'm back from Ghana, with some photos

Kukua's the 1st child in Ghana with sls...only aged 2, is she the youngest ever to wear sisterlocks?

Ama (her mum) installed her locs over a 1 month period. Kukua loves her locs and mum's more than happy she doesn't have to use the comb anymore.

This is Till's place in Gomoa Fetteh in Ghana(about 30 miles out of Accra)

Ama Abi and I at the funeral of a famous doctor in Ghana. I know we are smiling, but that's cos funerals are also a bit of a social event where you meet a lot of familiar faces. There were 400 or more people at this particular funeral.

products, but 1st...SNOWED IN!!!

These are the products I've tried/used/or am currently using. Paul mitchell awapuhi moisture mist. I use this(usually diluted) every now and again when I need some extra moisture. Coco-knotty dreadlock conditioning spray, from knotty boy,is my absolute favourite. It smells heavenly, and is a moisturiser with hemp seed oil, silk amino acids and vitamins. I use it diluted 50/50 and it still works it's magic. Herbal Mist spray is a mixture of 20 herbs and oils, from Healing Herbs. I tried a little of this in a homemade spritz, but due to the high oil content have decided to wait until my locs are more mature. However it contains the stuff I would love in a spritz. So if your locs are desert dry,you can try one of these. If your locs are babies, then very diluted awapuhi moisture mist is the one to use bc of it's high water content. Dr Bronners MAGIC Lavender Coconut organic skin lotion is a new find. I've experimented with making my own lotions, but was looking for something light, I have my own shea butter mixes. I was amazed to find a hand +body lotion made of organic/essential oils -I mean, this contains:coconut oil, jojoba oil,avocado oil,canabis seed oil,vit E, lavender oil... what more could a girl ask for? I had to get it. Infact, if I had traditional locs maintained by twisting I'd probably try using this. But that's just me, I like all things natural especially if they're organic.It's got a lovely light feel and a fresh lavenderish scent.

HEAVY SNOW IN FEBRUARY

What is the world coming to?

I had decided to blog about a few products, but I must show some pics of our big SNOW, which started last night and continued all day. It's apparently the worst in 18yrs. Schools are closed, buses and tubes have been grounded, everyone's being advised to stay put. So both DDs are stuck at their friends' houses for day 2. I was about to venture out to get 2nd DD but she called back and said 'mum, the snow is coming down so heavy, don't drive'

Happy Locday!

(day 1)

(4mths)Today, my locs are 1yr old. The year has flown by so quickly. I remember seeing people sign off their posts with 'sls 1yr' 'sls 3 yrs'or 'sls 6yrs' when I was 'sls 0 yrs',and wondering when I'd be able to say 'sls 1yr'. Now I can. The ride has been pretty smooth. From here on, it can only get better. No more unraveling, we're sleeping through the night, no more crying for attention every 2 mins, we're eating solids, walking a little, generally being more reasonable. Aaah the joys of loc-parenting. Well, there were a few hairy moments when I felt sorry I had taken down my bls for sls, but I got over those humps pretty quickly. I am grateful to Dr Joanne for creating this particular loc-ing system bc it has helped me to get the look I really wanted with minimum hassles. Folks it was worth the money. 1yr on and I can say sincerely - I have no regrets. Here are some comparison pics, day 1, 4mths, 1 yr.