product reviews-shampoos both old and new

You know I'm always on the lookout for new good quality affordable shampoos. Also I prefer sulphate-free shampoos, with sodium laurel/laureth sulphate being the ingredient I'd most like to avoid. I found got2b unglued shampoo by schwarzkopf in the £ shop. I bought a couple, but I'm really sorry I didn't load up on this one 'cos it's an excellent shampoo at £1.00 per bottle. This one's Arashia's fav. And no wonder. It's leaves her locs 'clean' without drying out,has a wonderful pineapply smell and contains hydrolysed wheat protein, biotin, ascorbic acid,panthenol,tocopheryl, retinyl palmitate.....Goodguide gave it 9.2 for healthy shampoo. So if you come across this shampoo, it's well worth getting.

Waitrose baby shampoo: I bought this only because I was after a mild sulphate-free shampoo. I knew I was going to henna my hair and thought I should use a mild shampoo. Well it's OK, but nothing much to write home about. It smells of vanilla and contains aloe vera, vanilla, lavender and mandarin oils. It cost about £2.50, so it's quite cheap.

Hair Fitness Shampoo. I love this one cos it's packed full of nutrients. The downside is, it's pricey. £9.95. I bought this shampoo at some craft or hair show (I can't rightly remember) just b4 I locked my hair and put it away cos I couldn't use it on baby locs. I looked through my stuff and found it. It's a lovely shampoo. Smells tropical- mango/pineapple with herbs and contains hydrolysed wheat protein, amino acids,cystein, vit b5,silica,vit E, vit A&D,allantoin,biotin,oatstraw, saw palmetto, alfafa, horsetail,comfrey, coltsfoot,evening primrose oil,selenium zinc calcium, essential fatty acids...phew and that's not all. It doesn't have any sulphates,MEAs,TEAs,or DEAs. I'd say it's worth paying for, wouldn't you? It does leave your hair soft, so don't use it unless your locs are settled. But you wouldn't need the conditioner(which is equally jam-packed with nutrients).

MEA,TEA and DEA are chemicals in most shampoos bubble baths,lotions, creams etc known to be toxic, and hormone disrupting. They also form nitrosamines in conjunction with other chemicals and can be cancer causing....well a little chemistry lesson. So here is something else to avoid if you can. Otherwise just pray and trust God.

As always, my african black soap is on standby.

henna results (18mths SL-ed)

texture shot

Here are the results of henna-ing my sls. You can see it's a deep coffee colour, blends in the greys - with a reddish tinge. To be honest the greys are still there, only not so noticeable. The colour will improve with further henna application. Also I've been locked for 18 mths so these photos give an idea of how my hair is doing. This is a result of a 'braid-out'. I don't do much styling, but braid-outs are my fav style cos it's so easy.

Check out the freezee texture. My locs appear very frizzy indeed, and the majority of loc ends are still open. Frizz comes with the territory.(I don't mind cos it makes my hair look fuller). This will gradually change as each loc becomes more condensed and tight. I daresay the henna has given me MORE frizz.

Henna(caca brun) you need like 4 arms to do this.

I'm in the process of henna-ing my locs. I added a goodish dollop of instant cofee to make it darker. A couple of weeks ago, I tested henna, one with cofee, and one without on some ol loc ends that snapped off. The one with cofee seemed slightly darker hence..... but we shall see. So I mixed it in a casserole dish over a steaming pan on the stove, allowed it to cool slightly and applied to my hair. I put it in one of those colour applicator thingies - which would have saved me a lot of hassle except...except the mixture was either too thick or had lumps so it did not flow. Note: It really does save you dealing with mess if you put the mixture in dem applicator bottles and apply to your hair. I can't imagine what would.ve happened if I tried to scoop up that mess to put in my hair. Anyhow, I took the top off and used it that way and it still worked except for the odd blob that went it's merry way. Good job I decided to put some newspaper over the sink, bath and floor, 'cos those odd blobs dropped in unexpected places. Infact I was so paranoid about making a mess that I'm not sure I've applied thoroughly ie every strand aint covered, but hey I thought I'd quit while I was still ahead of the game. (y'know how everything's gone well and you think, let me just go over it once more then something you dont want happens? Yeah, so I thought, I've covered all the main bits(hair) no disaster, stop now.) I'm now waiting for x amount of hours to pass then I'll wash it out. I was going to do all this outside, but the way the wind was blowing, my mirror, newspapers and towels went flying so I retired to the bathroom. Erm, the instructions say 'cover your head if you want it redder or leave uncovered if you want it browner.' I cling- filmed my head for 1/2hr to stop bits going everywhere and removed it for the rest of the time as I want it brown-ish. I have no photos, my camera went to spain with my daughter Mary. I'm on the lookout for a new camera 'cos that one's old anyway.
Stay tuned for the results. So far, minimal mess, so good. We'll see when I come to wash it out.. aah, but I have a plan. Hopefully, I'll take a photo when Mary returns tomorrow.

It's 9.45. I've just finished washing the henna out. I wasn't sure whether I'm supposed to shampoo or just rinse. I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed and then shampoo-ed with waitrose baby shampoo and again with hair fitness shampoo then did some prolonged rinsing. Then I rinsed with diluted ACV. Oh my back! My hair looks dark brown coffee all over. Some grays are still trying to peak through especially where I wasn't careful to slater it on properly.
Conclusion: Henna works. It conditions your hair, adds body to it. The colour isn't bad. You can repeat it deepening the colour with each application. However, washing it out is a job and a half! The smell is strong and lingers for hours. Fortunately I didn't mind the smell, but my daughter said it made her feel sick.

See the Action!

This photo shows the christian hurdling his way to silver at the English schools athletics. The boy in green was the gold medalist. However Christian intends to go for gold in the Nationals in 2 weeks time so he's training hard. Apparently the boy had a better start on the blocks so Christian is training on the blocks.

fewer strong locs vs many skinny locs

I've just completed another retightening. It took just about 5 hrs over the course of 4 days.
Day 1: 2hrs
Day 2: 1hr and a bit
Day3: 1 1/2hrs
Day 4: 1/2 hr.
I'm doing OK with this retightening thing. I've got a rhythm going. I've also combined most of my smalls to medium and dramatically shortened my sessions. I've also saved many locs from premature death. So far, I lost 1 loc and I'm not about to lose any more. Like Nubianlockedprincess said "Small locs are great, but you have to know when to draw the line with large loc numbers! They too come with a price!"
I guess I lost my desire to have gazillion locs especially bc I DIY. Also I just can't stand to see a skiny loc hanging by a thread. I saw the size of dewdrops locs and I thought, those look pretty sturdy and healthy whilst still maintaining the sisterlocks look so why not strengthen some of my own weaker looking locs. So I did. I'm very pleased with the results. I still have around 360-ish so it's still a high number, but I'm comfortable with that.

cape coast(Ghana) angry with obama

Taken from the 'Ghanaian Journal'

"Some Chiefs and people of the Oguaa (Cape Coast) Traditional area are angry with United States President, Barrack Hussein Obama and his security detail.
A number of Chiefs and other Cape Coasters who spoke to TODAY on President Obama’s visit to Cape Coast and his subsequent visit to the city’s ancient Castle, expressed serious misgivings about the refusal of the security detail of the Obama entourage to allow them carry through with the elaborate programme drawn up by the Cape Coast Traditional Council to welcome the US President to Cape Coast last Saturday.
What irked them most was the refusal of the US security personnel to allow for the conferment of an honorary queen-mother title on Mrs. Michelle Obama, who many Cape Coasters believe, has an ancestral link with the former capital city of Gold Coast.Although she conceded that the programme was unique, Central Regional Minister, Ama Benyiwah Doe, was equally not happy about the hard-line posture of the Obama security, which invariably curtailed most of the programmes line-up for the Cape Coast visit.
“I think it’s a very good and successful programme, although I am not really happy about the way the US security is handling affairs here”, Mrs. Benmyiwa-Doe told a section of the press. Her concerns were shared by other top government and party officials like Kojo Mensah-Bonsu, Lawyer Barton Oduro and Nana Sam Brew Butler, an indigene of Cape Coast.
TODAY’s investigations established that the US security did not allow for the coronation of Mrs. Obama, which would have included conferring on her an honorary Cape Coast citizenship, because that would have affected the tight and strict travelling arrangement of the American President.
The Obama security detail did not also allow for an elaborate address of the durbar of Chiefs and people of the Oguaa Traditional area held at the fore court of the Cape Coast Castle, citing the similar excuse that if the Obama address were extended, it would have affected the return journey of the US President.
Some of the Chiefs and people who the paper spoke to said they were really humiliated and indeed disgusted about the sudden turn of events. They were equally not happy about the almost three minutes address by the US President after his tour of the Cape Coast Castle.
“As far as we are concerned that address by President Obama was his personal observation about the Castle, its symbolic role in the Slave Trade and the its central importance in ensuring that it remains a global monument that will remind us of some of the inhuman treatment meted out to some group of humans”, a sub Chief told this paper.
The anticipation among many of the people who gathered at the Cape Coast Castle was that President Obama would have given a proper address at the Cape Coast Castle durbar just as he did at the International Conference Centre in Accra, prior to his departure to Cape Coast.
“That was the more reason why most of us defied the scorching sun to travel miles away from central Cape Coast to attend such a unique event, only to be disappointed this way”, Mildred Hutton told TODAY.
Mildred thought it was indeed an insult on Ghanaian tradition for a Chief to be carried in a palanquin, paraded in the streets, be seated for hours without proper recognition and respect. The Christians among them said they even went on their knees, praying to God, days before Obama’s Cape Coast visit, “so that the weather will be perfect for such an august visit”, Brother Andrew, a Catholic Brother of the Holy Cross, disclosed. "

Not suprising since such treatment is tantamount to lack of respect, and ignoring the honourary queen-mother title is very insulting in their eyes. No doubt, better communication and greater understanding of the culture would ensure that neither side gets offended.

We meet at last, nubian and I at agape hearts' celebration

me,eni,nubian1

loc huddle

olori oko (kpanlogo)dance

fashion show

These pics are from the agape heart celebrations at Spring meadow barn last sat 4th july. Quite a few natural heads turned up.

We (ie daughter's and myself )were taking part in these celebrations organised by a friend to raise money for a bore-hole(well) in a village in Nigeria. I invited Nubian and she came!! So we've met at last. I can tell you right now, that even with my shoes on I'm only up to her shoulders. YES-SHE'S THAT TALL. She had to stoop for the 'loc huddle' amongst us shorties hehehe. (I hope your knees are ok sweetie). Arashia said 'your friend ought to be a model, she's got the height.' Not to mention, her kids are lovely. Her daughter is gorgeous. We thoroughly enjoyed our day. Nubians' locs look just as good in real life as in pics. Her henna colour looks so good.

Among other performances, we - arashia mary and I did an african dance to some amazing Nigerian music. I'd like to put it on my blog, but I don't know how. Arashia sang 'amazing grace' with the band. Joshua delighted us with a rendition of 'fur-elise',. Mary's dance/drama group 'crown jewels' performance was just 'gripping'. There was plenty of african food, (I had 4 portions of moi moi/beans)an auction and video to show us the village back in Nigeria and the beautiful inhabitants. (These poor people depend on a rather stagnant brownish river/stream as the only source of water.)We all finished the day by dancing to some Nigerian gospel. All this in the back drop of beautiful scenery, a valley of pine trees in acres of woodland. This is 'spring meadow barn' owned my dear friends who kindly open up their premises for use by christian groups.

homeschool persecution by homeschoolers!!

As some of you know, I home- educate my children and am part of a large homeschooling community. Recently there's been a review by the govt more or less smearing homeschooling based on totally unfounded accusations and recommending unprecedented powers for officials, including barging into homes to interview kids on their own without a parent present! Understandably H-Edders are up in arms about it- doing the usual stuff, writing to MPs pettioning, lobbying, organising protests etc. In conversation with some parents I revealed the fact that I was praying and was asked to put a prayer on the forum we share, so others could join in. I did. WOAH!That's when ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE! Although I wasn't in violation of forum rules, I was shamefully attacked by some. The moderator was mercilessly harrased b'cos of it and asked me if she could delete the prayer. I agreed, since my intention was not to create strife or cause offence, but rather get any/all who wanted to join in praying the opportunity to do so. Whilst this fuss and ruckuss was carrying on, I've had email after email of people declaring their support and agreement. I was overwhelmed. Even non-christians supported me.
It's been a pretty rough ride, b'cos even someone I considered a friend did some back stabbing. As Mary said'mummy it mst have been some powerful prayer cos the devil sure doesn't like it'. However today at church I was really refreshed and encouraged by God. I went up for prayer and a lady came to pray for me. It turns out that she home-ed'ed her own children, knew all about the review causing concern and understood my situation completely. She gave me a word from God...it was refreshing. Thank you Lord for noticing me and being with me in trouble.

Can this be true?

Read the article for yourself. Jordan Chandler recants the molestation charges agaisnt MJ! My eyes filled with tears when I read this. Can human beings be so wicked? Why did he wait until his death to recant?

http://www.ampedasia.com/forums/jordan-chandler-michael-jackson-did-not-molest-m/e-t-15028.html

I pray it all comes out. May the truth be known by all. I do not want to be in JC's father's shoes if indeed they did such a detestable thing, for the bible says if you sow the wind you'll reap a whirlwind - and vegeance is mine says the Lord. It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living GOD.Nevertheless, he can still repent - publicly. Same way he raked the poor guys name through the mud.
Just what Did happen? Only God knows and he knows how to vindicate.

some photos from back- in -the -day

6 yrs, all natural

14-15yrs still natural. Afro hair, curled with thread, take it out to get a chunky 'fro

14yrs-chunky'fro.

Back to my roots with locs - Me, dad and mum at mum's 8oth
birthday party. Note my dad's cloth, typically worn by akans(ashanti). White or light coloured cloth means celebration.

Older Sis, mum and me with my braidlocs.

Athletics - (under15s ) County champion 2009!

WELL DONE Christian!! Christian is my 2nd son and 4th child. He's 14yrs old and thoroughly enjoys his athletics. He trains 2-3x a week and takes part in every championship we allow him to go to. He won the GOLD medal in the under 15s hurdles in the county schools athletics(the only home tutored youngster), much to the officials' suprise as he's never competed with the schools. He's no stranger to winning though - he has quite a collection of medals and trophys, most of them gold. He was really excited when he smashed the club record the ff week in both hurdles and long jump, also taking the lead in high jump. Now ranked no.1 in the county and no.4 in the country, his success was reported in the local newspapers. Now he's been selected to represent the county in the English schools athletics championships in sheffield. It's a 2-3 day event and will be televised(sky sports). He's a real credit to us. A very gentle boy, Very quiet, very focused, and unassuming, he's remained humble through all this, making sure to give the glory to God. I'm glad to say he takes his academic work equally serious and his average score is 98-100% in his pace work.

2nd award

This is my 2nd award in a short space of time, so I will not nominate anyone...yet. However, I would like to thank Maxizone for honouring me with it. I hope to step up the game and do some serious blogging. But, here are a fews thing I like......

I love to curl up with a good book. I used to be an avid reader (in my teens) and would finish a big bk in 1day. My dad introduced me to reading when I was about 6 and he loved to take my brother and I to the library. He also organised reading competitions between us, and the winner often got a new bk. Now my fav is real -life stories of stalwart men and women of God.

I enjoy eating a meal cooked by someone else. That's bc I cook almost everyday.

I like watching my son Christian doing athletics.

I like making wax paintings(when I'm totally undisturbed)

It's a real joy to chat with friends.

I enjoy a good/sound sleep

Hearing a good uplifting faith building challenging exciting sermon is so worth it.

Loc statistics.

Install date : 24-25th 2008

Install time: 25+ hrs

Starting length: 1-6ins

Texture: coily and fine

Colour: Dark brown and silver

Lock size: medium/large

Lock count: 370 ish f(or now), combined several.
(2-3 locs grew where there was none.)
Pattern: R3PT - I'm not sure if this exists in SL literature. I may have departed from the fold.

Tool: Yarn needle

DIYing since Jan 2009 ( I went faithfully to a consultant for my retights for 1yr, 1mth)

ReTi: every 6 wks over 4 to 7 days.(I'll try and pick up speed).

another reTI, I'm becoming a veteran.

My hair is coming along nicely. I've finished retightening. It took 4 days. (About 8 hrs). I guess I'm getting a little faster. I must say this time it was relatively pain-free. I've combined around 11 locs. I prefer a decent root bed, than locs hanging by a few strands. So now I think I have 370 locs, but I don't know. I've given up counting bc it no longer matters. Strange how we change huh? I'll wait a week or 2 so then give this henna a go. (I may have to be ready to do another reTi if slippage occurs).Hubby and I might be going to Switzerland next week. I still dont have a camera, but I will post pics when I get it asap. I 'm getting more creative with some simple styles like half- updos etc. I have quite a few accesories to help e.g tomokas twists, homemade hair ties, victoria's handmade, various head bands, some with cowrie shells. The longer my locs get the easier to style. Till next time.....

Caca brun and bio-identical progesterone cream

It's been a while. I'm thinking of dyeing my hair - finally. I've got a box of 3 or 4 different dyes(rinse, semi permanent, demi- permanent, permanent), but I can't bring myself to use any. I'd rather avoid all and any chemicals so.... I'm going for Henna. Lush henna to be precise. I was encouraged by nubian1's results so I've ordered caca brun. I don't do much with my hair. Freestyle mostly, occasionally crinkles. Also it's time for another reTi already. I should be very happy my hairs sprouting so, but I wish I could spend that £50 and get Angela to do it. But I won't complain. I can do it. My arms are much better. The pain's lessened a lot. I don't know what that was all about. Dr didn't know what it could be and mentioned fibromyalgia which I promptly rejected. I had been experiencing strange symptoms, hot/cold flushes, pains+aches, insomnia etc so dr wanted me to go on HRT. I refused and decided to do some research as is my habit when confronted with something I don't understand. I came across Natural progesterone and found out that the majority of women ( and men too!)are lacking in this vital hormone ( especially for women,during perimenopause/menopause, production can be down to zero, and lack of it gives rise to all manner of symptoms such as PMT, bloating,PCOS, hot/cold flushes,fatigue,hair loss, depression. This is because we're exposed to so many eostrogenic foods and chemicals. Infact xeno-estrogens are everywhere and it's causing people to become eostrogen dominant. Read more about it on this website:http://www.progesteronetherapy.com/progesterone-therapy.html Supplementing with natural progesterone cream over weeks and months helps to restore the right balance. I ordered some bio identical progesterone cream and with my Dr's blessing, started rubbing it on my skin 2x day.Not all over, you rotate the area each time e.g chest arms legs etc. Initially the hot/cold flushes intensified, and I felt drowsy, like a zombie, but I'd been warned this might happen. I persevered and now all my symptoms have been reduced. I'm not there yet, but I'm steadily improving. My sleep is much better since I started taking melatonin, another hormone that regulates sleep. I expect renewed hair growth too, that part of the condition that natural progesterone can correct. I do not have a camera right now (I loaned mine to my bro cos he broke his here en route to Ghana) but I'll get it back soon and will update with some hair photos and also what this progesterone cream looks like.

Look, I got an award..

I got nominated for creative blogger -(thanks Thandi). The rules are: List 7 things you love and tag 7 people who then pass it on to 7 more people.

I nominate:

Amba

Kalia dewdrop

lilydot

Nubian1

Europhia

Nihuru

Sophia

Ok. I love God and I love Jesus. I love his word and his prupose as revealed in in the BIBLE.

I love my family and friends including some online friends I've never even met.Everytime I see my family I feel so blessed.

I love to pray. It's exciting to know that prayer is the means to touch God and bring down a bit of heaven. Nothing blesses me more than to see God answer and intervene in a person's life and /or bring a lasting solution to their problem - in response to our prayer.

I love spring/summer. I love the flowers, green grass, birds, trees, squirels,rabbits...everyone is so upbeat and cheerful.

Water- my favourite drink. Ice-cold on a hot summers day.

I love my sisterlocks. They're so easy to manage and they're ALL natural and ALL mine.

My queen-sized bed. It's just a bed. But every night I thank God for a warm, comfortable, safe place to lay my head. Many people have been abandoned, rejected,deprived, living in a very dangerous place or fleeing for their lives.

My bro visited with us..on his 50th b'day

My brother&cousin

cousin&me

My brother visited from the USA for a few days on his way to Ghana. He arrived on his 50th birthday, so we went out on the town. We went to our good friends Ghanaian pub in Milton Keynes. We had banku+tilapia and pepper sauce knocked down some beer/shandy. We took some cake and our friend supplied some champagne.

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'