Have you tried these on your locs?

I found these in a local asian shop. Really cheap too. I know they're natural cleansers and conditioners very good for your hair. They are supposed to strengthen your roots too. I boiled some water and mixed in 1 tsp amla and 1 tsp shikakai and let sit for at least 15 mins. I didn't use the Aritha powder(aka soapnut) since shikakai is a scalp cleanser too. Aritha is a natural shampoo that's good for cleansing oily hair. Amla is said to promote growth, control hairloss,cure scalp infection, controls greying hair and get's rid of grime & pimples. These can be used in place of shampoo or in addition to it. These are usually used by making it into a paste, but i used it in a very liquid form. Infact next time I'll also strain the liquid.

ONIONS: A suprising remedy for hairloss.

After doing some research on this, I've realised there's some truth in the humble ONIONS' effectiveness as a home-made hair growth potion and a remedy for hair loss. The problem is, of course the smell. No one wants to go around smelling of onions. Nevertheless, after deliberating over this, I decided I'll never know until I try. There are several suggestions online how to juice an onion, what mixtures to make. Some add garlic, honey even egg yolk, rosemary etc. One recipe is to chop up an onion and add it to your shampoo. However, I just cut an onion in quarters and rubbed it into some areas on my scalp. Honest, I could barely smell the onion or maybe it just wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be.

Massage a generous amount of onion juice into your scalp weekly. Leave on for 2-4 hrs or overnight. You can grate, mash, juice the onion or add to your shampoo. It is the sulphur that encourages hair growth. The sulphur in onion& garlic is different from the sulphur that's mined and is much more effective. Onion's sulphur content is very high. It is known that brittle hair nails hairloss can be a sign of sulphur deficiency. Its anitfungal anti bacterial anti inflamatory circulatory properties makes it a highly valued food source for healing inside and out. You can substitute garlic as it has similar uses( IMO it'll be more smelly). This is my first try and I was very hesitant. Next time, I'll extract the juice and use it more abundantly lol. If you are concerned about an onion smell, make your last rinse diluted ACV.

OREGANO OIL: Again a scalp stimulator. It's strong and VERY POTENT! (The oregano smell leaves NO room for any onion smell.) It's also anti bacterial antifungal, anti viral. It's an antibiotic and will heal many scalp conditions like psoriasis (shrinking the lessions). I actually added a drop or 2 on my scalp to make sure I didn't smell of onions before I found out it was scalp friendly!!!. I instantly felt a hot sensation and rushed to break an aloe vera plant to rub onto my scalp. Then I sat down to research oregano oil and discovered it was quite a normal reaction. I didn't want to sleep with all this stuff in my hair, so after 2 hours I shampooed it out. My locs feel very clean and there's no odour at all. If you want to try this and/or the onion remedy for hair growth, you need to give it some weeks or months. Also make sure you're taking a good hair vitamin/mineral supplement, biotin, omega 3. Wash your hair regularly with a sulfate-free shampoo or soap. Do all you can to keep your scalp CLEAN.

2 second Messy hairdo

I had to dash out today -shopping. This was my 2 sec hairdo. Very messy. But I looked kinda cool.

My locs are getting really long. You don't see the back of your own head, so it seems to have grown overnight.

Maybe time for a little trim to even things out?

Jamaican black Castor oil(Yards Finest)

Me&my friend Seiwa's son who is a budding musician. He played in Glastonbury this year with Rolf harris and has done gigs all over UK. I've known Shaz since he was a baby, so when he's famous....

After hearing so many good reports about JBCO I though it'd be an absolute crime NOT to acquire some. So I found Yards finest traditional jamaican castor oil. ( Yes-If you're getting castor oil why not get the best?) Hand processed-virgin-unrefined(for hair and scalp use). It has a strong burnt/smokey scent. I quite like it. Not unpleasant to have in your hair like I thought it'd be. It's not as thick as regualr castor oil,but to me that's an advantage. I don't have to dilute with another oil. You can use it as it is. I tried it as a pre-shampoo & post scalp treatment. I was amazed how it simply 'sank' into my scalp. Normally when I use oil I can see the shine of it on my scalp. Well this just-disappeared. This will now be part of my regime. I'll do another review soon after I've used it for some time listing all it's benefits.

Has anyone tried dr woods pure black soap? I loved it! DH ordered it from iherb(for skin) and I tried it on my hair. It's like dr bronners liquid soaps. It left a slight residue(which disappeared after diluted acv rinse) like the dr bronners, but the scent was a winner and had me scrambling for ways to use it on my locs simply bc apart from the great smell, it's conditining&moisturising. It's great on my skin especially my face.

*ingredients*aqua,saponified coconut hemp olive oils with glycerin,black soap,vitE,sea salt,panthenol,rosemary, natural caramel.

No parabens phthalate lauryl/laureth sulfates,petroleum derivatives.

Little tricks

We had our 1 yr women of destiny anniversary celebration at church. What I'm wearing was our Cloth. All wore same type of cloth with slightly different designs. I put a blue flower on the side to emphasize the colour. I forgot my camera so just took these when I got home. Our speaker for the 3-day conference was Mrs fransisca Duncan-Williams. In Christ we have been crowned Queens, like Esther (in the bk of Esther) who rose from orphan to Queen, thus saving her entire nation. Although she was a Queen, she was humble and Godly. She listen to her uncle Mordecai and cried out to God for her brethren...

I'm waiting for my edges to grow. Meanwhile I 2st twisted the 4 at the front with some afro kinky bulk hair to give it some balance. I washed my locs and took them out today. It's just a temporary measure.

Is fake hair becoming too much for men??

I lifted this off a hilarious thread on FB so the original (male)poster shall remain anon.

"I normally keep my mouth shut on subjects like this BUT I gotta say this:
Ladies, sorry but some of the hair extensions,weave-ons,add-ons,clip-ons,paste-ons,plaster-ons,whatever-ons, are plain mind-boggling ridiculous and out of this world!!"

Although he was referring primarily to fake hair that looks..er...fake -THAT GOT ME THINKING.....
We all know what women go through for the sake of their hair. Many of us have been through the mill and had every kind of perm/relaxer/extensions/weaves/clip-ons etc etc. Did we do it for our sakes or for the men around us? Was it really b'cos our texture was unmanageable, or b'cos were ignorant of proper grooming methods. Or was it brainwashing pure and simple?
Many of us went natural bc the whole hair drama had become slavery & bondage and we started to question WHY? We escaped and even though mainstream society frowned on us, we began the difficult task of swimming upstream...often alone. We discovered that natural can be beautiful and that there are several ways to style your natural hair quickly easily and beautifully.
So men-if any men read this blog, how do you feel about the whole fake hair saga? Do you even care? As long as the woman looks good? Or are you concerned? Ladies, ask the guys in your life, husbands, sons cousins and put their comments here. I'd like your thoughts and input. Personally, I'm completely biased - in favour of natural hair. But I'm not interested in bashing non naturals or users of weaves ext etc. I know we women like to change up the style every now and again...so this isn't a bashing excercise.

SL salon formula shampoo

I meant to blog about this shampoo and completely forgot. Anway, here goes: it's the sisterlocks Salon shampoo concentrate(aloe formula). This shampoo is recommended for those who have straighter wavy ,curls,looser coils. I was very suprised to fall into this category. In my mind I'm still in the tighter kinky coil group. But it made sense bc my hair took forever to loc, unravelled constantly and indeed if I had a mind to I could probably undo all my locs with some detangling condish.

First of all the fact that it contain a less harsh cleaning agent than sls was a plus from me. I loved the results on my locs. They were clean but not stripped. It has a clean smell.

But look at some of the ingredients: Organic aloe vera juice,water,sodium olefin sulfonate,lemon peel oil,soluble collagenbutcher's broom,soap bark,sweet almond oil,evening primrose,lavender oil,liquorice,carrot seed oil,gotu kola,parsley seed oil,borage/sunflower oil,horse chestnut,pro vit b5.

Initially I thought it was rather pricey at about £11.00, but it's concentrated and you actually end up with 3x as much. (In my case 4x as much) You get a measuring bottle.

So my question is, why aren't SLs products such as this used more by sisterlockers in the UK? Is it bc it's difficult to access. In which case, problem solved, we got George Graham Sisterlocks product distributor in the UK.

The new formulated starter shampoo again contains no harsh ingredients, just good stuff. I'm quite particular about shampoos and don't necessarily think SLs products are the only thing one can use. However, I was truly impressed with both ingredients and performance of the Salon shampoo.

Back to Natural/locks in Ghana grows....

Song of songs 7:5...Your head crowns you like mount carmel. Your hair is like royal tapestry; the King is held captive by it's tresses.
1 corinthians 11:15 - if a woman has long hair it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for her covering...
Just thought I'd share these 2 happy hair scriptures. So it's up to him to ensure we have our covering.....

And the Happy News - my sis-in-law, a former devotee to the creamy LYE has been converted. Not just to natural hair, but LOCKS!! To really make my day, she went to a local hairdresser who I taught to loc hair using a combination of tiny twists/latch-hook/nappylocs tool methods 4 yrs ago. She maintained my daughter's locs for free for a couple of years. She in turn has taught 4 other girls how to lock and reTi using a tool. She's the same lady who did our reTis when we were in Ghana in march. I've sent some other ladies to her to get their twists or locs. She can start and/or maintain any type of tool assisted micro locs! I've begged my sis-in-law to send pics asap. Apparently she's had so many compliments already. her sis and my sis are both contemplating jumping on the loc bandwagon. Now get this- the hairdresser charged her 15Ghana cedis which is like $13.00! I couldn't believe it. I mean the hairdresser and assistant worked in her hair from 9.a.m-1.30p.m which is 41/2 hrs. I'm instructing her to leave a LARGE tip next time she goes.

Wow, it feels so good to know my little contribution in teaching an individual is growing into a whole community Little by little. When you impart knowledge to someone, you empower them and they in turn empower others. Ladies, this is a huge world with a lot of potential natural heads waiting in the wings. I'm so excited by the turn of events y'all!

after reTi, washed&styled

Let the photos speak for themselves.

reTi and loc styling

My reTi was finished this week. We took a break last week as George had a full install to do. One thing, you can't hurry George. He's a perfectionist and he's got to do it right. There's was a little portion left to do so his wife Charlene finished it and then...washed my hair and gave me a temporary style

so when I take it out I should have another crinkly style.

This was a 2 min style I did before to get locs off my face...it was so hot.

Shows how long my locs are getting eh? I got 7 new locs starting. My hair is growing back bc of Jesus inside me lol lol. It's true. this manageress at the post office(I was enquiring about opening an A/C) wanted to know why I looked young. I told it was about Jesus. She sat me down and I spent the next 35 min telling her how much Jesus loved her and how she could receive him too. She said 'I believe'.

Henna Cream

I'd been threatening to dye my hair with henna again. My husband found Surya Brasil henna cream on iherb and got me a box. Back in 2008 I had a run-in with henne hair colour which left my hair brittle. I cant say for sure if henne caused me the problem bc I had used a protein condish before...anyway, I was a bit wary. As you probably know pure henna is the best/ safest. If you are using a premixed henna you must scrutinize the ingredients list carefully. After researching the ingredients I came to the conclusion that although it contains other stuff, the dye would be safe enough in my hair. I checked the reviews and most gave it 4 1/2 stars. The only downside is that it does not last. However it's safe to reapply. So I gave it a go last night. Seeing I only had 1 box,I only did only my roots and hairline.

I was pleasantly suprised to find my greys covered. How long it will last is yet to be seen. It was super easy to apply. I left it on for 2hrs even though it says 40 min. Being a gentle henna based colour, it can be reapplied frequently without fear of damage. As I said before, pure henna pure body quality henna is safest to use. I have both henna and indigo powder but I've put off using them because it's so messy to use,long preparation time and so so hard to wash out ..and I'm not sure how great coverage will be. I may yet use it, but for now this is easy.

These are some of the claims: Hypoallergenic,dermatologically tested, vegan,colours while conditioning and revitilizing your hair,based in principles of ayurveda,formulated with a botanical comlex of 15 herbs&fruits. Won't harm your hair or health.

It contains Henna,arnica,guarana,acai,jua,aloe vera,brazil nut , essential oils, preservatives etc

I must add that it seemed loc-friendly ie easy to apply, easy to wash out, no bits and gung getting into the locs.

Well, so far so good.

Yes it's a man doing ma sisterlocks!!

Well, in a previous post I hinted that I was wanting someone to help sort out my locs(especially the front hairline). So I found George, the ONLY male consultant in the UK and distributor of all things SLs. He is located in Hemel hempstead which is 15 min away from me(how cool is that?). He installed his wife's locs and is meticulous about his work. (It must be great that your consultant is also your husband haha). I prob scared him with my DIY efforts, and overgrown locs but he took it like a man LOL.

So ladies, if you are in this part of the world, there's a consultant at your doorstep. He is listed on the SL website: George Graham

Tel:0788 6488 035

email:george.v.graham@gmail.com

George and his wife are very pleasant and really made me feel at home. His wife even fed and watered me with some lovely tropical smoothie concoction- freshly made. So there you have it.

Not to say I have abandoned DIY. But I will check in every few months to be pampered. To be honest, I shd have done this sooner bc it's been very hectic putting my sons through GCSEs and I barely had time to do my hair. I would DIY but was constantly distracted with one thing or another. Things have eased up now so I can safely carry on...once George is finished in my head hehee...like I always say never say never.

This was our 1st session(which included some repair work). IT WAS RAINING CATS AND DOGS OUTSIDE!!

100 followers

I have 100 followers of my blog and I want to thank each and everyone of you who have followed me on my musings, God testimonies, foodie posts, hair struggles and triumphs. Without you I might have stopped blogging, but each time I hear someone tell me that my blogged helped them, I'm encouraged to carry on. So this post is to say THANK YOU. You might not be a follower, but you still check me out. I appreciate you all.
God Bless xxx
Ofo

Hairs hairs and more grey hairs

Take a look at the state of my hair. Don't get me wrong, they are doing fine and the roots are stronger than ever. However, the greys won't let up. They refuse to stay in a lock. I should be thankful bc some are sprouting in between locs and the top of my head is looking ok with all the growth. I'm now thinking of enlisting the help of a loctitian/consultant to sort things out, at least in the front section on my head. I'll take care of the back. The grey is mostly in the front. But before I go to someone, I want to try henna again. I saw this lady with hennaed sls at the recent SLs/loc hair event and it was absolutely be-yu-ti-ful.

My other idea is this: I would really like to go semi-freeform ie go 12 weeks between reTis. Once I get all the runaway hairs safely into their locs, wait 3 months or near enough before the next reTi. Is that even workable? Will the hairs just slip out again??

Body butters liquid black soap and stuff...

Some of my hand-made butters, skin creams and liquid black soap. These are going to a craft stall at my friends fund-raising event for her daughter. She(daughter was selected after a very competitive process to attend Li po chun college in HongKong, which is a United world college headed by Nelson Mandela and Queen Noor of Jordan. She's fund-raising to supplement her part scholarship.

Sesame soup

This is my 1st attempt at making Sesame soup. A dish from northern Ghana. It's similar to the Groundnut soup( I have the recipe on my blog). Traditionally the sesame seeds would be roasted and pounded into a paste, the soup is accompanied by millet balls - This dish is called Tuo Zaafe or T-Zed. I found this recipe on betumiblog.blogspot.com, she suggested substituting Tahini. The tahini I used says lightly roasted creamed sesame seeds and I used chicken. I ate my soup with 'Omo Tuo' rice balls. If you're interested in African cuisine especially Ghanaian, head over to her blog for some very interesting Food. I'm Ghanaian and yet I'm learning a lot from her.

sisterlock event continued...

Njoi and I. Just before the relationship Life coach began his thang...interesting. She's even prettier in real life with a lovely gentle spirit.

showcasing sisterlocks(kittylocs got called up to show off her colour). All the ladies standing at the front had various styed sisterlocks.

Denny, kittylocs and I melting in the heat. It was 31 degrees outside.....

Den and her lovely locs and me...

lady at the sisterlock stand with short styled sisterlocks.

Nice lady who let me take a pic of the back of her locks

The sisterlock/loc/natural hair event London

Kittylocs! I saw her when I walked in. The back of her gorgeous locs.

Me and Kittylocs after I firmly attached myself to her heehehe! It was super hot that day. A mini heatwave sweeping the uk.

I forgot this lady's name, but as you can see her locs were beautiful.

Kittylocs looking effortlessly gorgeous...

Back of my locs before I headed out to the Lock event.

This is my 1st time going to this type of event and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't want to go by myself but in the end I thought if you want something just go for it so I did. It started a little slow with some milling around and chatting to other ladies about...locks. There were several stalls with shea buttery/homemade organic products9such as shampoo lotions and stuff) all GOOD. There was a sisterlock stand with ALL the sls products on sale. Also loc jewelry . One lady had amazing silver jewelry in ethnic designs. And a lock tool by locks royale I've never seen before. It looked a bit like the clip tool to me but it was all pure silver. I just feasted my eyes on all the different heads of locs, in an array of colours. I wish I had taken more pics.

The great thing is I got to see Kitty locs Den and Nai in the flesh. They're very very very good-looking and their locs Oh my! Den's are like a cascading waterfall.