crinkle to get BIG hair!

look the long loc down my back....just like bajans. I tell you, they got special fertilizer!

loc detail

I'm speaking at a Christian conference this weekend and thought I should do something to my locs. So I washed and braided and here you have the results....

folks, if your locs doesn't have much body to it or if you have some thin spots, work it with a braid-out. It gives the illusion of thick, dense hair, plus it's a simple but eye-catching style.

wool needle-another loc tool

this is a photo of the tool I've found. its a wool needle. It's a plastic thingy with a point and a flexible loop at the end. It costs £1.89 at the sewing shop. I tried hard to get a clear pic but hey, you get the idea.

aubrey organics sulphate-free shampoos

GREEN TEA CLARIFYING SHAMPOO: This is def a keeper. I've searched high&l low for a clarifying shampoo without sulphates, and I've found it. 100% natural ingredients. No sulphates, parabens or petrochemicals.
IT CONTAINS: organic green tea,nettle extract,organic aloe, almond protein. I couldn't be happier with the resultsThorough cleaning without stripping. How cool is that? and a lovely smell to boot. This shampoo is pricey, but I got it at 20% discount so I'm not complaining.

HONEYSUCKLE ROSE moisturising SHAMPOO: Another keeper! Oh my! If you want a moisturising shampoo that's sulphate-free, try this. again, 100% natural. no sulphates,parabens petrochemicals.

IT CONTAINS:orgainc rosa mosqueta oil, organic aloe, honeysuckle oil, rose hip,fennel hops balm mint,mistletoe, yarrow, gingko,ginseng angelica,chrysanthemum,magnolia, horsetail,coltsfoot,forsythia,sweet almond oil,macademia nut oil, vitaminF, vitamin A,C,E,organic sage and rosemary oils.

I LOVE the smell and how soft&moisturised it leaves my hair. This was also 20% off so I got them both. Full price would be about£9.00 each. I think they are well worth it though. I have the honeysuckle conditioner from when my hair was loose. It smells heavenly and is silicone-free. I might try it diluted cos the smell is heavenly,

some pics of my dark brown locs with grey!

As you can see, my grey hairline has disappeared.....for now. Not bad eh. And I discovered a new tool. Oops I forgot to take a pic. I shall do so asap.

HERTS Schools gold medallist!

Today is the day Christian(my son) won the gold in the Herts schools athetics in Hemel. He was the only home -educated competitor. Just before the race, he and I prayed together and thanked God for helping him do his best and giving him an edge. And that's exactly what happened. He was neck and neck with an older boy. Christian was slightly behind...until the final hurdle, when he pushed through to victory! He beat the boy by a fraction of a second! Glory to God.

YIKES!!! I was wrong!?!

7 or 8 posts back, I did a post on my coffee rinse. Actually it was a mixture of herbs including coffee and food colour. A week later I did a STRONG coffee rinse. All seemed to be well, my locs even felt very soft(coffee has a conditioning effect). However I noticed a tinge of strange smell in my locs!!! Red alerts went off in my brain. What!?! Thankfully, in my quest for sulphate-free shampoos, I had ordered Aubrey organics Green Tea clarifying shampoo and Honeysuckle Rose moisturising shampoo and They had arrived. I went to work with the clarifying shampoo. I let it sit in my locs for several minutes before rinsing. I washed twice with the clarifier and once with the moisturising shampoo. PHEW! Now I can breathe cos my locs smell fresh again.
The lesson? Dont use coffee on your locs. I Believe it will work on loose hair. But locs is another matter. Back when I had Bradelocz, I used Tea as a rinse without any trouble. But I think coffee might just leave some residue so please give it a miss. So it's back to a semi-permanent colour.

Smoothie disaster!!!

This is what happened when I stepped out to post a letter. Yes, it looks as though somebody committed murder. Paul decided to make a smoothie with pineapple and frozen berries. He left the top off the blender and the smoothie whizzed everywhere! Fortunately he managed to save me some, but there was quite a bit of cleaning to do. Just as well I have a sense of humour. His purple smoothie stained shirt is now in the washing machine and he went and had a shower to get the purple smoothie off his face/hair/arms. What's he like eh?

I DON'T BELIEVE IN SICKNESS!!!

Some awful cold/flu virus has tried to get me down. I utterly refuse to submit to this rubbish! This body is the temple of the holy spirit, and I'm not just going to lay down and take it. I'm furious, that it's interrupted my retightening. I found myself sleeping or laying down most of yesterday. Yes I felt like death, every muscle aching, nose bunged, coughing and spluttering everywhere - I've been through 2 rolls of tissue. It started like a sore throat,moved up my sinuses and now trying to get into my chest. I stood up today still feeling dizzy, struggling to breathe and said enough is enough! Gal3:13 Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law(which includes sickness). Psalm103:3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. I started praising and thanking God that I'm forgiven AND healed and I received it in my body. Well... I'M HEALED praise God. I just couldn't see myself being out for the next 10 days or however long it takes flu to run it's course. What's more I know I've been given the power and authority to heal and cure diseases, so why was I allowing this to continue? Sorry, no pictures. I don't want you guys to see how awful I looked LOL Guys, until you get fed up with something, you tolerate and live with it.If you don't resist it with all you've got spiritually ,mentally, emotionally and physically, it will continue...and yes I AM a fanatic. It works for me and my family, cos we can chase off these cursed things when they rear their ugly heads up by God's grace!!!

Does hair grow faster on parts of your head?

Oh my! Re tightening the back of my head is a different story. I have about 1inch of new growth( which doesn't seem like a lot), but it needs 3+ rotations. What's more some are sticking together. This area is the fastest growing, most dense, strongest of my hair. On my scalp,I have 1/4in new growth some places,1/2inch other places and 1inch right in the back area between the nape and crown. I think on the whole, my hair grows about 1/4inch per month with variations of course. I managed to separate 2 locs that I inadvisedly joined. There's another 2 or 3 to split.

Retightening, nearly 3 months since the last.

Has anyone who has sisterlocks/microlocs gone 3 months before retightening? What was your experience? My last R/T was in the 1st week in march, so it's been nearly 3 mths. To be precise, it's 11 weeks. I have started doing handfuls of locs here and there. As you may know, I don't do my whole head in one sitting. And I no longer do it in 2 or 3 evenings as I used to. I now take a rather relaxed approach, doing handfuls of locs whilst I'm reading or watching something. I don't worry about misssing some days cos I'll always have time another day to continue. If going 3 mths is not detrimental to my locs, then I might do just that. I remember QueenLi mentioning something about Retightening once every 3mths. She has microlocs and it seems to be working okay for her. Queen if you're reading this, please confirm if I'm right or wrong. I'm also glad to report that my ex-thin area is doing well. As a result I haven't used my loc piece in a while. I must say life is much better without one, but if you need it, don't feel bad. Only you know what you're having to deal with. And very often hair can and will grow back given time and the right conditions.
PS: I'm averaging 2 &1/2 rotations per loc.

attending a naming ceremony

close up of my locks. I just swept it all to one side and added a red rose.

I was attending a naming ceremony. In Ghanaian culture, the proper attire for this is white,black&white (with more white than black), blue&white etc. As long as the white in your cloth is the dominant colour, you're fine. White signifies new birth, Joy, Hope, Thanksgiving. So I wore my 'whitish' cloth, and added some red shoes/ accessories to complete the look. This cloth I am wearing is older than I am. It belonged to my GREAT uncle. My dad gave it to me when I was in Ghana, saying 'this belonged to Papa Boahene'. I was really excited, that I'd got a piece of history. I had it made into 2 outfits. (Arashia's got the identical outfit LOL). My mum told me the name of the cloth(but, I forgot it). Every African print in Ghana means something as do many colours. It's from waaay back in the day and they dont make them like this anymore. Suprisingly, it in pristine condition.

The parents of the child wore white kente. I'll post pics of them as soon as I get it. What I loved about this naming ceremony was that it was christian through and through. Instead of calling on ancestors, and pouring libation to dead spirits,we called on God. The name of a person is very important and this baby's name was prayerfully recieved from God. We pronounced blessing on him that he may be brought up in nuture and admonishing of the Lord, that his name would be written in the lambs book of life, that he would be the source of great joy to his parents and a blessing to all around him and a credit to God our father.

Ruben, the Miracle boy

The world's been rivetted by the Libyan plane crash horror and the little boy who was the sole survivor. I've prayed for the little fella every day since that day. I could barely comprehend how an adult can survive something as terrifying as a plane crash,let alone a kid. The overwhelming joy I felt that he was alive was tempered by the sad fact that he was now alone in this world. I followed the story moment by moment, wondering how God managed to save him and what it is he is meant to do in this life. His survival is nothing short of a miracle, and I pray that God places him in the right hands to nuture and bring him up to his full potential. No one except the hardest of hearts can fail to be moved by this story. Each day I rushed to the internet to find out how little Ruben was doing, my tears mixed with laughter cos 'he's out of danger'. I don't know this boy, yet I feel as if he's mine.
Ruben I thank God for your survival, even though it must be bewildering to be without your parents and brother. God will keep you. The whole world knows you now. You have (unknown to you) become part of our lives. And we, who had never heard of you before this, now pray for you and wish you a speedy recovery.

Twist-Locs at 3yr+/splitting still in progress

You can see how far Ara's locs have come. she has a dozen or so short baby locs (the result of loc splitting)hidden in that bush. One day in the distant future, she might want to wear a huge afro, but for now, it's locs all the way!!!

FOOD COLOUR rinse and CONDITIONING with herbs

My friend who has long traditional locs, colours with food colour. I wanted to try it, with a slight twist, whilst conditioning my locs at the same time.
I assembled the ingredients.......

I decided to dye or rather, do a colour RINSE with coffee and food colour. I wanted to condition my hair too, and thought why not do it all-in-one? So, Put a large scoop of dried Nettles, and dried chamomile flowers and let it simmer in some boiling water. I added several large tbs of powdered coffee(the instant type). I let it cool down and strained it. I added the food colour at this stage. Red, green, yellow - about 5:2:1.

Method:

I washed my hair with my herby black soap and rinsed well,ie dunked my head in a bucket of water several times. (This is what I do instead of a strong shower cos I haven't got one.) I rinsed with diluted ACV. Then I dunked my head in my coffee/food colour solution. I poured it through my locs with a scoop repeatedly. Finally I rinsed it with some water and wrapped it in a towel.

I got a nice tint to my locs even though my greys are still grinning at me. Next time, I'll make a stronger solution with the coffee, (maybe use ground coffee in a filter), add dried SAGE, green tea and food colour, put it in those colouring applicator bottles and apply it that way. The addition of green tea will further moisturise and Sage will darken the greys better.

Conditioning!

Although I put the nettles and chamomile in with the other ingredients, I think it would be better to condition first, let it semi-dry and then colour. That way I'll get more vibrant colour. But my locs have never felt more conditioned than they do now. I can hardly believe the way they feel. Soft and pliable.

Note the reddish/brown tint in my hair. For those looking for a natural way to colour, this could be an option. And coffee moisturises as well,so it's all good stuff. It can be repeated weekly to maintain colour.

when is sisterlocks not sisterlocks?

This argument comes round regularly, maybe every year. I think the prevailing thought on LIU was - the tool does not matter, it's the pattern and partings that count. Which is a pretty sensible view to take. Some even use their FINGERS. Someone strongly disagreed insisting that any deviation from what the founder intended, no matter how slight is FRAUD! Wow! I just hope they will always have access to all SL products at ALL times, never experience a medical problem that forces her to use a different tool or hair-loss which could result in a small deviation from the norm, Or finds herself in a location where you can't access SL stuff, SL class, you don't have the official tool or strapped for cash. Some consultants have had to use tools other than sls tool due to medical problems, others have found they're just more comfortable with the NL tool. Not to mention the SL wearers across the ocean. More than one of us have had to find other products to substitute SL ones, as well as DIY with other tools even while checking with in SL consultants every now and again. Never say never, cos next thing you know you're in the soup.
Oh well, to each her own, as they say.....

Water is your best friend

As you know I've begun to p a y more attention to my locs and am doing everything I can to increase moisture. I thought back to when I had Traditional locs and how soft and pliable they were as opposed to dry and stiff. One major difference between now and then is, I rinsed my locs A LOT. I mean I did prolonged rinsing from NP, I co-washed, and spritzed 2 or 3 times a day. Frequent rinsing is not practical for long locs or during the cold weather. And I know the water here (UK)is HAAARRRD! But, defenitely upping the length of time rinsing and spritzing a lot does make a difference. Apart from acv rinses, I would sometimes use bottled/filtered water as my final rinse.

Don't forget to Drink plenty of Water too!

Americans! How about you send these Brits back home?

"British Family tell US hotel they do not want to deal with black staff or anyone with a foriegn accent." This request was put on a computer and a black waiter(on his way to serve them) was stopped. The waiter is suing the Ritz Carlton in Naples in Florida.
So why didn't the Ritz ask the family to leave? Cos it is they who are foriegn WITH the foreign accent. Americans have American accents (not british). And all sorts of colours make up America, so they should have stayed in their pitiful Home in whatever unfortunate part of the UK they're from. B'cos they are quite likely to run into a black, mixed race,asian, eastern european face when they step out their front door.
I hope you Americans realise these Brits wouldn't even try this fool trick here(UK).
God help them.

2yrs 3months sisterlocks

Look how much it's grown.

Some locs in the back have doubled in size.

Not sure what (if anything) to do about them.

My new moisture routine is working.

Just rediscovered another moisture source,

water!!!! Hehehe. Drink it, spritz it, rinse, but it's

Another blog post for another day.

Herby African black soap(from Ghana)....

....with aloe vera juice. This is very simple to make. I made a herb infusion. Simply put 2tbs each of the following dried herbs:

parsley

horsetail

nettle

rosemary

sage

thyme

( you can substitute other dried herbs, or use essential oils if preferred)

...and pour 1pt boiling water over it and let it sit for for 2 hours. I put 1 cup of the resulting liquid in a bottle and 1 cup of aloe vera juice in a bottle, took a small chunk of african black soap broke that in pieces and dissolved it in the mix - And you have your herby aloe vera african black soap shampoo. ( I got the aloe vera idea from Chele, author of The Knotty truth cos this is the truth!)
I will use some of the herby liquid to make a hair rinse using aloe vera juice and acv. I might make a spritz of it adding not only aloe vera juice, but essential oils.

DABUR VATIKA OIL:

I make an oily mist with EOs to go on my scalp 1x weekly, but I use vatika oil sometimes. Vatika oil contains: coconut oil,neem oil,brahmi,Amla,bahera,harar,henna,spiked ginger lily,rosemary, lemon oils.

The Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar

I've seen the question asked repeatedly. What's ACV? How do you use it? Is it safe to use ALL the time?

I have used ACV since I transitioned to natural hair in 2004. It worked wonders on the permed ends and kept my natural hair in top condition. You can use it as a rinse every time you wash your hair if it's say 1xweekly. The benefits of ACV are too numerous to mention here, but I will focus on what it does for the Hair and skin.

Rinsing with ACV will help balance the ph of your hair and remove build-up. Make a rinse by mixing 1/3 cup with 1 quart(1litre) water or 1tsp in 1 cup. The best vinegar to use is organic(especially if you're taking it internally).

To make a herbal rinse you can infuse a herb such as thyme,nettle, marigold, sage in boiling water for 2hrs and use that to dilute the acv. An easier way is to add a few drops of essential oils to increase the conditioning properties. The acids and enzymes in organic ACV kills the bacteria that causes dandruff scalp problems itchyness and hairloss. A good treatment for dandruff is to apply neat vinegar to your scalp, leave on for 1/2 hr and wash out. You can infuse vinegar with herbs that fight dandruff e'g stingin nettle,southernwood, and burdock root. You can also add some drops of tea tree oil to make it even more effective.

For Hairloss, apply 2 tbs full strength acv with a pinch of cayenne pepper to your scalp. Rub it in and leave for 1/2hr before you wash it . Before bed, mix 1tsp acv and 1 capsule royal jelly and pat onto the bald areas.

I personally use diluted vinegar to rinse my face and it really makes my skin so soft.

ACV is useful for controlling body odour, used neat underarm,elimnating the bacteria that cause it. It can knock out the bacteria that causes athletes foot, get rid of age spots, warts, restore bruised skin, soothe stings....you really need to research this if you want to know more. I hope this has helped clear up a few things about using Apple Cider Vinegar.