Honestly...I tried so hard....

....to get consistent curls (like I see on your blogs). It took me 2 hrs to curl these and I had to re-wet my locs 2x. I used a combination of perm rods and soft spikes. I kept them in for 2 days. I had to go to church(- ok - prayer meeting at the church) with this humongous hat with all those rods underneath. My friend just about split her sides laughing at the sight of me. I endured all the hell you go through trying to sleep on hard rocks& lumps, even a shopping trip that had folks staring at my huge head. I banished every thought of 'why me?' 'this is too much' and fixated on the prize of wonderful curls to come..and I still haven't cracked it. Some locs curled,some simply fell and some- well- just laughed at me. Still, I thought I'd show my meagre offering. So here you are. Brought to you with love.

4 YEARS on Lockdown!

Can you see some teeny tiny bling in my locs?

I must have combined about 40 locs.

4 years and it feels like I've had these locs forever. Are they still sisterlocks? What d'you reckon? I think I broke every'rule', used what tools I like, products I like, combined locs ,ignoring partings, experimented with extensions on a couple etc. I just had to do what works for me.

Re-growing hair! wierd products helping

Improvement on the crown of my head. The space used to be several miles wide. I've noticed lots of stubby little hairs and the bare areas reducing in size. I wish I could point to some magic thing I've been doing. The one thing I've been consistent in is praying and speaking the WORD to my scalp and hair lol. I massage when I remember.(Lie with your feet up against a wall and massage my temple behind my ears and forehead in an upward motion to encourage blood flow-10 mins)
I rub the concoction below on my scalp 1-2x a week. I wash 1x10days-2wks using JASON tea tree treatment, scalp normalizing sulphate free-shampoo for 1st wash(concentrating on my scalp) and Head organics for the 2nd wash(concentrating on the locs). I follow this with an ACV rinse paying particular attn to my scalp. I then dilute a dollop of Moisture Maniac conditioner in a bowl and bath my locs in it. After that it's rinse rinse rinse.

This odd looking mix was given me by my pastor's wife. I don't know the exact ingredients,(she wasn't willing to divulge the secret) but I found out at least 6 people including herself and daughter had regrown their hair using this mixture.(BTW this woman had some form of scarring alopoecia as a result of Lupus, and lost all her hair. The daughter-only 10 yrs, had severe relaxer damage). She formulated this and after using it for some months her hair finally grew back. Thankfully her daughter's hair is back too andshe's natural. I had to educate her about relaxers....anyway, she was sceptical about me using it bc I had locs and advised me to cut them off so I could get to my scalp. You all know the answer was NO, I can reach my scalp alright!Initially I was going to give her some money to make it, but she decided to give it to me for free.

This is what it looked like after I gave it a good stir. I'm certain it's petroleum based so it was a bit of a dilema. Finally I came up with the soltion. I take a tsp and mix it with my own concoction which is oil based, thinning it out quite a bit. I Make sure to put it on my scalp ONLY.

I mix her mix with my mix, and this is what it looks like. You can see the herbs in it. Seiwa if you are reading this, I'll be sending you some. She says she wants feed-back after 3 months. I've been using this for just about 3 weeks so it's early days.

Flaky Scalp shampoo

Hi, Hope everyone got a good start to the New Year. 2012 is going to be very very exciting! So many things in the pipeline. I thank God that while the world is in dire straits he's showing his children how to increase and not only that reach out to those crying out to him...anyhow, this post isn't about that. I wanted to post this shampoo recipe:

1/2 cup clear shampoo
1/2 cup water
3 egg yolks
1 tsp lemon extract
(refridgerate any left over)
Do a final rinse with 2tbs acv in 8oz water

Credit to SpicesQueen Elaniece. Check out her FB pg. Let me know how you get on.

Locs,Locs, and more beautiful locs

The lovely J with her amazing locs. Go ahead and feast your eyes on a combination thick hair+Lush locs.

Anne's new set. Started by single twist and maintained by twisting/palmrolling. It look so full- I love it!

Seiwa's braidlocks. She's got a zillion of them. What's interesting about these locs is....they are palmrolled!! Yes, I said palmrolled. No tool is touching her head. I've always heard you shouldn't palmroll micro locs...

Well, she get's them done somewhere in brixton, in record time I might add. I confess that this discovery influenced me to kinda twist my own locs at the crown intead of using the tool.

Loc progress

These are pics of A's and my locs. Hers will be 5yrs in Feb. Mine will be 4 in Jan. SHE DOES NOT HAVE SISTERLOCKS. SHE HAS tWIST-LOCS . See how they grow.

Below : M on her way to her friend's wedding.

The earrings...

I was rushing out. 2 minutes to spare... I grabbed a pair of earrings, put them on and ran out the door. I dropped Daws at the tutors went shopping, came back to have a long discussion with the tutor. I went to various places driving here there and everywhere... Finally it was time to go home. Getting ready to go to bed, Mer wanted to tell me what God was teaching her. *Sigh* I was tired but I knew I had to listen. Suddenly she's staring hard at me. 'Mum' she says'why are you wearing different earrings?' 'Am I?' I said faintly, remembering all the funny looks I had had through the day. I thought I'd detected a slightly odd look even on the tutor's face. Oh well...it was time to go to bed.

Blame it on Nai! Heehee..

My friends, thanks to Nai, fellow SL blogger, Queen PJ, willing guinea pig, Tester of various hair products I found HEAD Organics shampoo. Can you tell I'm happy? Yes I truly love it. I found the last bottle at TKMaxx at £9.99. It's a huge bottle and certainly cheaper than the SL shampoos. Hydrating/fortifying,it's also sulfate-free,paraben-free,glycol-free, gluten-free. The main cleansing ingredient is Sodium Olefin sulfonate. Some controversy surrounds SOs(yes I had to go there!) bc it's supposed to be a variant of sls/sles. However according to the Good Guide website SOs is not on their list of toxic chemicals that cause suspected or recognized health effects. It has not been detected in human tissue or urine (which suggests that it does not pass through membranes)Sodium cocoamphoacetate is green(non-toxic) mild, safe& is has the ability to both cleanse and condition.

Right. I wrote this some days ago& just posting it.

Oh I forgot. Look I found TIGI Bed Head moisture maniac. Silicone-Free.

Loc Hair-band

You know all those braid hair-bands? Well I used locs cut off from my loc pieces to create this hair-band. Quite interesting bc folks try to figure what i have going on in my head. All you do is get an old hair band and wrap the locs round. I guess you could recreate something similar with your own locs own your head if you have plenty of locs.

So, what's new?

Well, I stopped retightening the top of my head for now. I tried some manner of twisting method on a few locs. Not palmrolling, more of a gentle twist to incoporate hairs at the root into a loc and just let it be. I know this is not the norm for Sls but I've got to come up with my own combo of what works for my hair. I made a lochead band(I'm wearing it in the b&w pic on the right) by wrapping locs round an old head band(I'll put a clearer pic up asap)

If you look closely you'll see I put some (brown)yarn in my hair. I'm experimenting to with yarn. Yarn is extremely light and easy to work with. It serves as a protective covering for a weak loc while covering a sparse looking spot.

I'm allowing my locs at the hairline/top/crown to grow out with little to no manipulation. I thought about doing this before, but didn't bc thin locs really need to be reTi regularly. However,my dr suggested it would be a good idea to lay off retightening at least for a while. To just let the hair be. And I decided to give it a go. After all dr C experimented until she came up with her method right? No harm in trying something different to see how that works for me-yes? You can see what it looks like at the moment(right b&w pic). I use a soft bristle brush to just brush all the loose hair and it knda works. I'm due for another henna colour. The last one worked a treat. Finally, I have combined locs that look stringy. I have a several 2 headers. I might or might not cut them off eventually. And that my friends, is the latest news.

Product find!

Naked Rescue sweet almond&sunflower intensive care shampoo-the line contains no sulphates,parabens or petrochemicals from Boots.

V05 Herbal escapes strengthening conditioner(anti-oxidant rich pomegranate&grapeseed extract). From the pound shop. No silicones to coat your locs. Lovely fragrance. Will be good for co-washing

Alberto Balsam(limited edition) Mandarin with papaya-pro vitamin B5. Silicone-free. Delicious fragrance. From Boots or the pound shop. The shampoo is equally lovely and I was so tempted, but it contains SLS and I always try to avoid that ingredient. I haven't used any of them yet. I came across them and they were so cheap I got them. It's just to let my UK readers know what's available. I will use them next wash.

I caved in!! I'm doing it Myself.

I'm long overdue for a reTi. Each week I'd say 'next week I'll contact George'. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I've had to give having a consultant retighten my locs a miss, so I started reti-ing myself-I don't want my locs to fall out!! Most of my evenings are taking up with something, (which is the main time I'm able to go get it done). Not only that, cash for retite took a dive - pushed out by more pressing things. I might give myself another treat before christmas, meanwhile it's back to DIY. (You can see my empty cups of tea and coffee to sustain me).

So here are the pictures of my contortions trying to do the back.

Let's just say I'm taking my time. I do a little when I'm relaxing. My husband suggests I shd just retighten my locs all the time in teeny sections. Well, I'm not so sure about that. I mean those arms will need a rest sometime, dont you think? Also I'm thinking of a change with my locs(don't worry I'm not cutting). Just combing more of them. I want an easier life. I love micros but hey, it's not by force, or by hook or by crook to have them. All I want is locs small enough to not stress my scalp and give me fullness, but easy to maintain myself. We'll see. It's just hair right? NOT!!

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.