All moved in

Happy New Year!!

Ok, so it took me all the way to the 17th to say it. I'm all moved in to my new apartment. I wish I could hire someone to come unpack and decorate for free :) It's been 3 weeks or so since being laid off and I've had a few of my clients over to my home. I think this will work out while trying to finish school. As for school, I'm going day and night now to try to graduate early and go for my license.
 My hair still looks great, but my scalp took a sort of beating due to me being outside in the cold moving and such. It's just so dry. What I did notice was that my scalp was not white. Yea!!! Dry, but not white. I think my scalp is finally coming around to not being slathered with petroleum or mineral oil. I did a oil treatment sort of. I shampooed my hair like normal then I used Anti-Itch Scalp Oil by Organic Root Stimulator concentrating on my scalp. Left it there for a few minutes while I finished my shower then rinsed followed by a vinegar rinse. It was very soothing, however I don't think I'll use it every time as it soften my hair. Thankfully none of my locs came undone. My hair has grown alot and it's amazing. My locs are still a little fuzzy, but I charge that to my hair type and I'm ok with it. I haven't been doing alot to my hair lately, just free stylin'. It's been 13 months and I'm still totally in love with my locs!
Well I'm off to catch up on everyone. Bye for now.

The puff, I love this style!

Opps! caught a glimpse of the dryer in my kitchen salon.

Awwl..look at my little baby. Yep, that's one of the ones I chopped off about a year ago. Hasn't it grown nicely?

The locs on the bottom are starting to seal and become round on the ends. The top and crown of my head, not so much.

"Wow, you are going to have alot of locs!" Told to me by an amazed spectator.

Good Bye, Hello

1 day left before I say good bye to some friends and coworkers. As of December 23rd we will come to feel the effects of our wounded economy and face a lay-off. I've worked for my employer for the last two years. It won't be easy, but I'm optimistic. I welcome the change actually. It comes in a timely manner with other things that have changed in my life...

I've found myself newly single-again. No worries. There comes at time in an adult life that when things are not working, move on.  No regrets. No drama. I'm reminded of a Tyler Perry play when Madea saids "When you're in your teens and twenties you make stupid mistakes cause you are trying to find yourself. But come 30, a light comes on and you get some sense... If a light don't come on, Check ya bulb. Check ya bulb. (Lol).

I'm moving soon. Not to my house yet, but definitely a better place than where I live now. I definitely feel that this move is a good decision for me full of opportunity and closer to my circle of family and friends.

And I'll be working on putting myself out more to start building a clientele for my hair care business. I'll start with natural hair and braiding as this doesn't require a license in the state of North Carolina. To tell you the truth, I like working with natural hair better any way. I felt so good talking a grandmother out of relaxing her 7 and 8 year old granddaughters' hair. I asked what she would hope to accomplish in relaxing their hair. She said to make it easier for me or any other stylist to work on their hair. Wrong answer for me. In this scenerio I was the expert and I acted as such. I told her there was absolutely nothing wrong with their hair and I would be glad to service them both. I told her that relaxing their hair would cause more harm than good if not properly tended to and at 7 and 8 it wouldn't be good. She thanked me for my honesty and I preceded to braid her grandbaby's beautifully big coily  hair. (Warm feelings)

So I say Hello, to what  lies ahead for me. To seek out new and wonderful opportunities, to boldly go where I've never gone before (kinda). I've had to start over before, but now I'm ready to embrace what  I know that  I am ~a strong woman~
Here I am again at a new start, embarking upon a new me...
What a ride this will be

I need suggestions

First let me say that I can't believe I'm going to show this to you guys. But I can't help but feel that if I don't ask then I will never come up with a solution. And probably someone else is having the same dilemma, so here goes ladies...

Hair that is in my hand and down below it is what is complete. Also some hair on the sides is complete. In one day! I'm excited.

But.......

Ok, so it's been about 4 weeks since I last reti my hair. I started Monday, but didn't reti any yesterday. Let me just mark it as 1 day of reti complete. So I have the entire top of my head to do and here's my problem. Because I can't spend alot of time on my hair in one sitting, I have to come up with a way to style my hair and mark where I left of. On Monday I spent approx. 6 hours on my hair throughout the day because it's my day off. For the rest of the days I can only spend about 2 or 3 hours. Because I'm new to doing this myself, takes me about 3 to 4 days to complete. So how can I style my hair over a 3 day period that is decent? Or what can I do to keep my place in the World of Thick Strands?


This is how I wore today and it is horrible, but what else can I do? Any suggestions my sistas?
What's in the bun is what is needing a reti. This is still alot of hair. It would probably take me 4 hours. I go a little faster in the front because I can see.

awaiting what great ideas you have for me...

Sos....Sos....Sos...

My first loc year!!!

It seemed like a year was centuries away last December but here I am. Locs and all. My locs have been through a lot in the last year.

First there was the holey locs...in my first month as well as cutting some of my relaxed ends on a whim...
The dilemma of two hair textures..in the 5th month
The demise of my relaxed ends month 7
Contemplating taking my locs down because of the parts not being straight and what I decided to do in months 8 and 9

and my locks today...

Curls from my curly mohawk done 2 or 3 days prior

The rubberbands for the 2 lower pony tails popped, so I was left with this half up half down do. Still cute I think.

I would like to put up some comparison shots. Can anyone tell me which photo program that I can use to do such things as collages?

 Happy Happy Napday to me!

Re: Cshan's Curly Mohawk

I don't think my sections were up high enough, but cute enough style to start the work week.

Instead of putting it all up, I kept a fringe.

My crown

A tidbit-Retigtening

Sooo...I decided to retighten my hair 4 to 5 weeks instead of 6 to 8. It doesn't sound like much of a time difference, but trust and believe that it is. I finished my retight in 2 days. I combined about 5 in various areas of my head due to feeling like they were hanging on by 4 or 5 strands. I cheated a little. I was retightening my hair in class at school. Heheheheee. What? I was still doing hair. Well I let one of my classmates experience the mighty 4 point rotation with the nappy loc tool. I showed her how to complete a rotation and then allowed her to do a few. I even got her to correct some of my locs with holes in them. She did a very good job and for free.

Hmmmm........

Maybe I'll try to convince the instructor to allow me to teach a class on natural locks, interlocking or latching method.
I feel creative thinking flowing

11 months

It will be 11 months on thursday so I decided to post today. I'm always late posting on my monthly updates, why not post early? So here goes....

I'm experiencing kamikaze hair balls. I've read of the little hair balls that form at the end of your locs and that it's just a part of the locking process, but mine are all over the place. They are not staying attached. I find them on my desk, on my shirt, and in my bed. I wonder why my hair is shedding so.

This weekend past, was the first time I shampooed my hair without B&B.  It was great and my curly q's are back. Maybe because in the past I was braiding or twisting all the way to the end, not allowing my texture to curl in the moisture. Hmmm.. I don't know, but that's my theory.

a few pics for ya.....

fake it to you make it puff

flakes minimized (for now)

I have to give that herbal cleanse a try Ms. Fullroller

See my little hair ball down on the right?

One of the few that hasn't jumped off my head.

You make have to click on the picture to see it.

A hair pin holding down the rebels of the front. I really like my puff. I can't keep my hands out of it.

The funnies: I have to laugh at myself. I don't take myself seriously sometimes because I'm soo funny. So here I am thinking I'm posting my update early and happen to look at my side bar and my installation date and realized I'm 2 days behind. I'm such a hoot! :D