Yeah...

...that hair day never happened! then i said, you know what, I'll just do it on Friday night. but Friday was my first day back at work from vacation. because I'm such a night owl, i was all off schedule. so when i got home Friday, i crashed! i intended to take an hour or so nap. i ended up sleeping for FIVE HOURS!! woke up at about 11:30 at night and thought, "there no way in hell I'm gonna start all that stuff for my hair now!" and i have a busy weekend ahead of me, so there'll be no time this weekend. maybe next weekend? oh well. i was really looking forward to curling my hair again.

Hat Youtube

heres the youtube vid i did about the hat.



by the way, i started the looming blog. that address is loominglilly.blogspot.com

Getting Creative!

its sooo hard to find hats that fit when you have locs!! so i decided to make my own hat! i loom knit. (i'm actually gonna start another blog all about that,so if you're interested, keep an eye out!) i figured i could just make my own "rasta" hat. its basically a visored beanie with a deep balloon shape. it was a pain in the butt to make the hat, but i won't go into that. basically, i'm pretty please with the end result. its a bit tight! but that's my own fault. i did a really tight stitch at the bottom, which, looking back, i don't know WHY i did that! its huge! but that's a good thing. basically, i want this hat to last me a couple of winter worth of hair growth. i still haven't mastered the art of putting on a rasta hat. it takes me a few minutes of cramming my hair in the hat before i'm ready to go. that can be a pain in the butt, especially when i'm just trying to get out the door! i'm sure there must be an easier and faster way to get this hat on. we'll see. i feel kinda stupid asking people how they get a hat on their head! LOL! anyways, the hat is 20% wool, 80% acrylic. i'm not really worried about it leaving fuzzies in my hair or anything like that. i just need it to loosen up a bit so i can really enjoy wearing it!! i'll probably not sell it or make anymore to sell. it was a real pain to make this hat. i can't even imagine doing it again any time soon. and if i did make another, i would probably sell it for like 25 bucks to make up the cost of the yarn and the time spent, and who would pay 25 dollars for a hat! nobody i know! okay, so here are the pics of my first rasta hat!






i don't know why this pic is so much bigger than the rest, but, oh well! i look like i have a dinosaur head in this pic, right! LOL!!

Its Time To Fix Things Up!!

yeah... i've been really lazy about my hair. i have not done it in QUITE a while. probably not since my sister's wedding in august! i'm all for a more organic look, but its starting to be a little much for me. so i'm gonna bite the bullet and spend a whole day devoted to my hair! i'm only doing this 'cause i'm on vacation right now! LOL!! so i think i'm gonna start of with a hot oil treatment. a shampoo and condition, oil and leave in conditioners, a wet latch of my WHOLE head (that's gonna be the most nerve-wracking part!), to really rein in all those loose hairs, and i think i'll finish it off with the loc loops, which i haven't used since i bought them! but i think this times i'm gonna try to put like 4 or 5 locs on each curler for a looser curl. no more lamp chops look! i might even sit under a dryer! who knows! it will give me time to work on some of my knitting projects, at least! LOL! i'll probably post some pics of the finished product afterwards. i'm actually exited to be giving my hair this TLC. it deserves it! LOL!

Its Been Awhile!

I haven't posted anything in a while! its mostly because i've been so focused on my youtube videos. all the new revelations and good tidbits are getting posted there! but a lot has been going on in hair-land lately. i recently switched to Herbal Essences shampoo. the Hello Hydration line. i must say, i LOVE it! the shampoo is crazy thick, so i have to make sure to water it down to use it. i used to do a half water, half shampoo mix. then it mostly became 60% shampoo and 40% water, since a lot of the shampoos were thinner and i didn't feel the need to dilute them so much, but with this herbal essences shampoo, its more like 40% shampoo, 60% water! the smell is heavenly. and it makes my hair look and feel soft and shiny. it also made my hair look thicker! i'm not sure if its all in my mind or not, since they say nothing can make your hair thicker than it naturally is. and it could in part be because i have a lot of hair unlatched right now. yeah, i've been lazy. i've only been doing my hairline so i have about 1-2 inches of unlatched hair. so maybe the shampoo is really moisturizing the unlatch hair and making it puff up with hydration and that is giving me the appearance of thicker hair. who knows. my other shampoos didn't do this. so i think i've found a winner. i'm gonna stick with this shampoo for a bit. i bought the shampoo and conditioner, but i've only used the shampoo so far. i'll probably try them both when i wash later this week.
i've been really trying to streamline my hair routine. since i started making the hair oils and finding all these products, i've been going a little product crazy. but i'm really trying to cut it down to a few essentials i use on a regular basis. so what i've been doing is just a shampoo or just a conditioning no 'poo wash, not both. then some JML island oil on the scalp and some of the leave in product i used in the "Extreme Shine" post. i can't think of the name of it offhand. but anyways, i went back to Sally's and bought 10 more tubes of that stuff. i mixed two tubes of it with about 6 oz of water in a spray bottle, and after i oil my scalp, i spray that on my locs. and thats it! no more extra stuff. this routine seems to be working for me. my hair is looking healthier and shinier than ever. the non colored part is looking AMAZING!! more and more i'm questioning my decision to go back to coloring. the non colored hair just looks so much more healthy than the colored parts. do i really want to purposely damage my hair again? i'm not sure. i might actually cut off my hair where the color parts starts and just start all over with my natural color. this would also solve my long hair problem. i'm not sure. we'll see. i'm still a little scared of how that will turn out. its super hard to find anyone around here who has experience cutting and styling locs.
on to other things, i've been trying to make my own hair ties. maybe you remember from the "I Hate My Hair" post a few months back, i'm not a fan of long hair and i try to keep my hair out of my face, but hair bands, head bands, and heap wraps give me a headache, so i'm not left with much options. so, since i've been on a knitting craze (since Christmas is right around the corner and i've got NO MONEY this year!) i been knitting i-cord hair ties. i like the results so far and i've been trying to jazz them up with beads and wires and all that jazz. maybe i'll post some pics when i have it more figured out. the most difficult part of that is finding the right kind of yarn that won't frizz up and leave lint in my hair. i'll experiment with a few more different types of yarn and then i'll do a post about that later.

Pictures Cut Off

okay, so the pics in the previous post cut cut off. i'm feeling a little too lazy to go back, resize the pics, resave them, re-upload them to a wesite to get a code, and re-do the blog. so i'm just gonna do a little slide show of the pic. enjoy.

lazily yours,
lilly (LOL)

Loc Jewelry Update

i've been making more loc jewelry. but i also got inspired again, mostly by Pinky2d4, partly by some stuff i saw on about.com, and also made some matching earrings too! it was incredibly fun and mostly easy. i find the hardest part is being creative! i made a particular pair about 4 or 5 times trying to make it look "creatice and fun", and then i realized that maybe i should just settle for "pretty" right now and worry more about intricate designs when i'm more experienced! so here are the sets. i also did a youtube on it describing more of the parts and pieces i used to make the jewelry. check it out if the feeling moves you!


this is the unicorn piece. y'all know i'm nuts about unicorns! so, this, of course, is my favorite piece!



this is carnelian stone chips



and this is rose quartz. the second pic is me with the loc piece in my hair. i did a double cuff with this one, and i like how it turned out!

Shiny locs slideshow

New product and another lost loc

so i was looking in the mirror the other day, gazing at my reflection (LOL!!!) and checking out my hair, when i noticed a little lint in my loc. so i picked it out and i decided to check the rest of my head just in case. and what do i find???? one of my back locs on my hairline was CAKED with dust/dirt! it looked like these pig gray patches in my loc. so i went to work trying to pick it out, but it was just too much. so i cut the loc. i ended up cutting about 5 inches of loc off! and then i tore into the piece of loc to see just how deep the dust/dirt went, and it was all the way to the core! that really freaked me out! so then i realized that over the last year or so, i've had to cut all of the locs along my hairline in the back because of imbedded dirt. and that really made me angry. but then i relized that only the bottom parts of the locs were that nasty, so it must have happened years ago...when i was going to the salon to get my hair done!!!! for the first three years i never washed or styled or retwisted my hair myself. i had everything done at the salon! so this nastiness was THEIR fault! it made me think of all the times i was getting my hair shampooed and the girl wasn't even looking at what she was doing! she was talking to the other people in the salon while she washed my hair with one hand kinda lazily scrubbing my head. and they had the nerve to want to raise their prices! it makes me so glad i do my hair myself now!
changing subjects,
i was browsing the products in Rite-Aid the other day and guess what i found! JML anti-itch spray, which i was looking for for a while. i went into the hood to find it and they didn't have it there, but here, in this nice little small town of Roslindale where i just moved to last month, they have it here, in their tiny little black hair care section! wonders never cease! but i also found this leave-in shine treatment here's the bottle:

its 18ml. it cost under 2 dollars, i think. the texture of the liquid is a little heavier than water but definately lighter than the olive oil i use. the directions say to work through wet hair and style as usual. so i washed my hair, used about half the bottle on my hair, and did a braid out. my hair came out soooooooo shiny! it looked beautiful! its hard to get any kind of luster with locs. its just the nature of the hair. usually, if i want my hair to look shiny, i have to add a lot of oil to it and then i have to wash it the next day cause i don't want buildup. this stuff did the trick. here's some pics of how my hair looked after the treatment. the camera didn't REALLY capture how shiny and hydrated my hair looks, but you get the idea!

Loc Jewelry

so i saw this youtube video by pinky2d4. she was showing how to make loc jewelry and it looked pretty simple, so i thought, why don't i try it myself. so i went out and bought the 20 gauge wire, the pliers kit, and some pretty red glass beads and antique beads. i rewatched the video tonight and i did it along with pinky, and i got a beautiful piece!!!! so then i decided to get bold and i tried to do a piece with the red glass bead. and it came out so well, i did another! so, now, in total, i have three brand new, homemade loc jewelry pieces! and they look sooooooo nice!

so, this is the first one i made. this is the one pinky shows you how to do in the video, but in the begining of the video, she also shows you a couple of them that are on her locs, so...




that gave me the inspiration to make this one.


and then i made a youtube video and i made this one on that video.


so i'm really happy with these three pieces. maybe i'll go back and get the silver wire and make some with that, cause y'all know silver is my color!
i'm soooo excited! just when i thought nothing about my locs could excite me anymore! now my next big project will probably be to cut them! there's probably a youtube video out there about how to cut locs as well. i just have to find it!

Henna? Again?

thats right. i tried the henna again. almost every website i've read has said the henna lasts for anywhere from three months to a year, but i noticed some fading about a month and a half out. now part of that could be because i used a clarifying shampoo twice. i know that the shampoo made my color fade when i used commercial color. maybe it made the henna fade as well. who knows. but anyways, my sister is getting married in five more days and i wanted a fresh coloring for the wedding. i am the maid of honor, after all! but i've decided that i miss the vibrant red of L'Oreal too much and i'm gonna let the henns fade after this and go back to commercial colors.
so, like i said, i colored again, but this time i did things a little differently. first off, i used lemon juice instead of hot water. a four oz container of henna took about 8 to 10 oz of lemon juice!. now, i read that you can use orange juice ( or vinegar or any acidic juice) or a half lemon/half water mixture cause the lemon juice can be drying to your hair and scalp, but i decided to go full out and use all lemon juice anyways for the most vibrant color possible! Also, this time i didn't use any egg or olive oil either. the Henna For Hair site said not to add anything or it will interfere with the dye uptake process. so i mixed the henna with the lemon juice yesterday to the consistency of cake batter. then you're suppose to put some plastic wrap over it and let the henna sit overnight so the dye can be released from the henna. i did a little more research about exactly how long "overnight" was. it seems like 6-8 hours is ideal. after about twelve to fifteen hours, the henna starts to "demise" and the color won't take as well. too bad i didn't read that BEFORE i mixed the henna! i mixed mine about 7 pm last night and i got up at eight this morning to put the color in, so it sat for about 13 hours. not optimal time, but still within reasonable range.
before you apply the hanna, you're suppose to add more lemon juice to make it the consistency of mashed potatos. now, i like my mashed potatos very thick and chunky, but i wasn't going to use that on my hair, so i made it a little thicker than cake batter. smooth enought to apply without worrying that it was gonna run or drip off. so, unfortunately for me, this time i had no assistance from my sis. but i was prepared this time! i cut up a large gargabe bag and layed it over the bathroom floor. i had four sets of latex gloves handy. i had an old shirt on and a towel over the sink. it took me a little under an hour to apply the henna.
so, now i'm sitting here with the plastic bag buns on my head waiting for the next hour to go by so i can wash this out of my head. i remember what a tedious process that was last time, so this time i'm gonna fill the sink up with warm water and swish my head around in that first for a few minutes. i totally forgot to take before pics but maybe i'll take some after pics and i'll post them later. if i remeber. which is unlikely! LOL!
anyways,wish me luck!

here are the websites i used for reference:

http://www.hennaforhair.com/ (download the free ebook! SO informative!)

http://www.everydayhenna.com/faq_henna_hair.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/292554/recipes_for_coloring_hair_with_henna.html?cat=69

Getting ready for the Wedding

my sister is getting married in less than a month. so i'm trying not to latch my hair. cause when i latch a good chunk of new growth at one time, it comes out looking smoother and neater as opposed to when i latch just a half an or so of new growth. but its hard!!! i feel like an inch or more of unloced hair at my scalp and i want to just play with it and poke my finger through it. my hair feels so soft at my scalp. i don't remember my natural hair being that soft. but then again, how long has it been since i've seen and felt my natural hair? there was that short period when i was transitioning from the perm to the natural, but that was only like a month or so, then i got the yarn to start my locs.

anyways, i've joined the gym...AGAIN!!! this time with some friends. so i have a partener now, lets see if this works any better for me. so now i'm getting all sweaty at least twice a week (i'm aiming for three days a week, but we gotta start out small. baby steps, y'all!) so i'm not oiling my hair cause i think its nasty to add oil over a dirty sweaty scalp, even though its the next day or even two days later. so i have a dry, itchy scalp. and so i have to wash my hair more often. i was doing once a week, but i think i'm gonna have to up it to twice a week, i tried to just do a water rinse, so i'm not drying my scalp out as much with the shampoo. i couldn't do it! i had to throw some shampoo in there. i didn't feel clean! so we'll see how this more washing goes. i love the feel of fresh clean hair and walking around with my hair damp as i let it air dry. but i shower at night, so i end up going to bed with wet hair and then i have to sleep with a towel over my pillow to keep it from getting too wet. its a little bit of a pain. maybe i'll figure out something later.

i made another yuotube video. but it came out all pixilated. i'm probably gonna delete it and do it over whenever i get a new camera. i actually made two videos, but the second one was SOOOO bad, i had to delete it on the spot! the second video was of me doing the hairstyle that i'm gonna use at my sisters wedding. no hairbands, no pins!

on another note, i have been experiencing some scalp soreness/tenderness. i'm not sure whats the cause of that. i almost feel like if i latched, the tenderness would go away. i don't know. we'll see what happens with that.

I'm going through that funky period again!

i hate my hair!!!! yeah, i'm going through "that" period again. it seems every few months or so since my hair has gotten past shoulder lenth, i go through this funky few days where i really don't like my hair. i've never in my life has my hair this long before. i really don't think i'm a long hair type of girl. but i'm really curious to see how long my hair will get. but now the weather is getting to be hot again and i'm starting to experience that "wool blanket" feeling with my hair on my neck, and that makes me start to think again about cuttting it. i'm wearing it in ponytails almost every day, and that alright. but, my problem is i always make them loose-ish cause i get headaches really easily. and so sometimes the pontyails come out looking CRAZY! well, at least to me. i'm sure other people aren't as critical of my hair as i am. but you know how it is, if you don't feel inside that you're looking cute on a particular day, you feel kinda yucky and self consious about your appearance the whole day. and i'm going to the gym again with one of my friends, so i'm washing much more often, so my hair in more frizzy and doesn't look as neat. and you all know that the hairline is the most important part to keep neat for a groomed appearance. so i've been trying to wear some headbands, cause that helps disguise the messy hairline, but that gives me headaches too. the only time i'm happy, even when my hair looks messy, is when its in a braid out, but it takes time and effort to braid my entire head up and then i have to wear the braids around for a day until my hair dries. that was cool when i was washing every couple of weeks. sitting for an hour to braid and band all my locs wasn't a big deal. but now that i'm washing 2 and 3 times a week (cause of the gym thing), i don't have two to three hours a week to devote to braiding and banding! thats crazy! but i'm gonna have to figure out something, or else i'm never gonna be happy. geesh. i can be such a finicky, whiny person sometimes!! i thnk i'm just really missing the red hair right now. i'm not really 100% loving this more muted color. there. i said it. i'm not completely happy with this color. i tried to talk myself into it, cause i saw how damaged my hair was getting with the color, but i MISS it! i'm not happy! okay. its almost 3 in the morning. i'm going to go to bed and stop this ranting and raving!

Yet another Youtube video

yeah, i did another one. i was playing around with the movie maker and i wanted to see if i could do a movie with music in the backround. this one is of some of the hairstyles i've had over the years

My sister and I did a video together!

so my sis REALLY wanted to do a video together, so we did one. this one just talks about why we went natural and what it means to us.

Another Youtube video

i did another youtube video. this one is about the products i use in my hair. my sister says i look angry in the video. and thats becasue i WAS!!!!! i did that video over and over again. like FOURTEEN TIMES!!!! i kept stuttering and slurring my words so i would start over again. originally, it was like 8 minutes, but by the fourteenth time doing it, i was down to 4 minutes! anyways, enjoy. i want to do another one with one of the hairstyles i do, but my hair is curly now from the braidout i just did, and this particular style looks better with straight hair. maybe after i wash my hair this weekend. we'll see...

Henna, the day after

so, its the next day, and let me tell you! i am so excited! the color definately got better. it looks much more reddish and less brown! but let me start from the begining:

so i bought three 4oz containers of henna from the natural food/hair store. two were persian red. one was sherry red. there were only 2 persian reds left, so i bought the sherry too cause i didn't think 2 would be enough. so the directions said mix each container with one cup boiling water. for dry hair, add one egg and 2-4 tablespoons olive oil. so i mixed one package of the persian red with half of the sherry (roughly 6 oz of henna), 2 large eggs, about 3 oz of olive oil, and roughly 1 and 1/4 cup boiling water. the henna stunk at first. it smelled like decaying leaves. but it makes sense, henna is a dried crushed plant product. so i seperated my hair into 8 sections, four on each side, rubber banded them off where the color started, and got ready to color the first half of my hair.

it was an EXTREMELY messy process. the henna was about the consistancy of cake batter. i was putting it on with my hands and smooshing it in. if i took too much, little globs would roll off and into the sink or on the floor. a couple of times i dropped my locs and they smacked me in the face and left smears of henna on my face! i was freaking out cause i thought it would leave stains on my face, so i was hollering for my sister to come help me and wipe my face off. i couldn't do it myself! i had on gloves that were covered in henna! so, it took a long time to finish the first half of my head. probably about 20 minutes or so. i got henna on the floor, on the wall, and all over my shirt! so my sister made me a garbage bag cape! i felt ridiculous, but it was the only solution! so i mixed up the rest of the henna for the other half of my head. this side went faster. i aslo made sure to really smear on a thick layer of henna even after i put my hair in the "princess Leia" buns. then i used some plastic shopping bags to wrap my hair and sat on the phone with my fiancee for a while, watched some tv, chatted with my sister. but the buns were on opposite sides of my head and the henna made the buns REALLY heavy, so i was getting pain along where my hair was parted. it was really uncomfortable so i ended up wrapping a headbacnd around the buns to hold them closer together. i looked like a flippin' fool! thank god there are no pictures to document that part!

so after about 2 hours i rinsed the henna out in the kitchen sink. this was the most grueling part! i rinsed for over half an hour!! now, this may not seem like hard work, but i have carpal tunnel in my hands. i had to squeeze water through my locs over and over to make sure i got all the henna out. my hands went numb and felt really weak after the first ten minutes. i have a good amout of hair, and its pretty heavy when wet. it took so much work to get all the henna out. i was ready to just give up and go to bed with the henna still in my hair. at one point i was slumped over the sink almost ready to cry! i was so tired and my hands hurt so much and i still had so much henna in my hair! that was the low point of the night! but i just took a minute rest leaning over the sink and i got back to work! first i rinsed with hot water, then with cold, as per the directions on the henna package. then i shampooed and rinsed some more!

so, after all that was done, i ran to a mirror to see my shining red glory! and what do i see! BROWN!!!! i was so upset! but it was late and i had to go to bed, so i put my hair in a bun and wrapped it with my silk scarf on and went to sleep with soaking wet hair! yeah, i got a pretty big wet spot on my pillow, but i was so pissed, i didn't care!

the next morning i noticed the color was a little more orange-ish. by the time i got home from work, it looked more orangy-brown. i remember reading from the free henna e-book that the color takes a few days to settle, so i can only hope as the days wear on that the color will start to look more reddish. i am satisfied with the way it loks now. i will try it again in a month or so. heres the youtube video i made




2 quick notes:

(1)the e-book said not to mix the henna with boiling water, that it would make the color fade and its better to mix the henna with lemon juice and let the henna sit over night for a brighter, more vibrant color. so next time, i'm gonna do that. heres the link to that free e-book:
http://www.hennaforhair.com/freebooks/

(2)when i did mix the henna with boiling water for the first batch, i added the water first and then the eggs. for the second batch, i added the eggs first and then the water, and when the hot water hit the egg, it started to cook the egg!!! so if you ARE gonna use boiling water, add the egg AFTER you mix in the water!

Tried the henna

ok, this is gonna be short cause i don't want to say too much yet. i tried the henna. it was SUPER messy and smelly and it looked like baby poop. once the henna was on my hair, it was extremem;y heavy and uncomfortable. i kept it on for 2 and a half hours and i just washed it out... and i'm not happy with the results. it looks brown! i got the brightest red one at the health store. but i think i read somewhere that it brightend up in a few days, so we'll see how it looks wednesday or thursday. i also did a video. its not finished yet cause it doesn't have the final results. i'll probably post it on youtube a little later. i'll link it. alright. we'll see how this turns out...

Gotta do something about this color!

okay, i can't take it anymore. i've got to make some decisions about what i'm going to do about this color. i really want to try the henna, but it seems like such a complicated process and i have to leave the color on for HOURS!!! i'm talking anywhere from 4 to 6 hours!!! thats a long time. i don't know. maybe i'll visit the natural hair store later this week and take a peek at the henna again. i'm so torn!!!! i don't even want to color it at all! i wish this red would just fade into a nice coppery color and i wouln't have to deal with this at all! oh well.

Washing my hair in the shower

ok. ever since i was little, i always got my hair washed in the sink. i don't know why. i kinda got the idea (from my grandma) that only white people washed their hair in the shower. then i went to camp when i was about 9 and discovered i had swimmers ear and i got a phobia about getting water in my ears! so, all my life, washing my hair had been this big ordeal that has to be planned in advance and it took an hour or more of my time (try three hours or more when i palm rolled my hair myself) and it was pretty much just a pain in the butt. then i got my hair locked. but i didn't know what i was doing, so washing my hair was still this BIG event cause now i had to book a visit to the salon to get it washed. then i learned about latching and i started latching my hair instead. washing was easier, but it was still time consuming cause i had to wash all the dishes first if there were any in the sink, then sanitize the sink, then hook up the little hose (you know the one i'm talking about! that little white one you get from the hair store!) then set up my shampoo mixture (half shampoo, half water in a squirt bottle. maybe'll i'll write another blog all about my shampoo routine later), my conditioner mixture (half conditioner, half water), sometimes get the hot oil treatment ready. it still took a chunk of time, and then i used to sit under the dryer 'cause i had it in my head that i just couldn't let my hair air dry. why? i have no idea!!! but on sunday before i went to work at my second job, i really wanted to wash my hair. and i had to shower, but i didn't have time for both (yes, i take long showers)! so i decided to try out the "white" method and wash my hair in the shower.
it was sooooooo relaxing!!! i love having my hair gently pulled. what does this have to do with washing my hair in the shower? well, when my locs are wet, they weigh three or four times as much. with them soaking wet and hanging down my back ( as opposed to hanging over my head in the sink, which just caused neck pain) it felt like somene was gently pulling on my hair. i sat under the sprayer for five minutes just letting the water run over my hair and feeling the sensation. it felt so good. so i did one shampoo. no conditioner (i'm finding that if i condition too much. my hair starts to unravel!) and a looooooong rinse (for the relaxation factor!) and then out of the shower. i wrapped a towel around my head and continued with my getting ready routine and then i put some JML oil through my hair and let it iar dry for the rest of the day.
i felt so free.

I couldn't do it!

so, i've been tryin to latch the back of my hair and palm roll the front two rows. its looks wonderful and it works, but not for me. i had a couple of problems with it:

1) i wasn't washing my hair as often. since i've been latching, i' ve been washing about once every week and a half or even more. but since the first time where i palm rolled the front (about three weeks ago!), i haven't washed my hair since. i "freshened up" the front rows once. but it takes an extra twenty minutes or so to twist the front. and then i have to either sit under the dryer or sleep with the clips. so i just didn't wash my hair. and i felt kinda yucky!

2) i have buildup! so, most of the length of the locs are palm rolled. then i have about an inch 2 inches of latch hair, then there was about 2 inches of palm rolled hair again near my scalp for the front locs. so, not only was there a slight size and texture difference where the was latching in the middle of the loc (which didn't bother me at all) but gel was getting caught in the "knot" where the latched part started! and i use clear JML gel. so you can imagine how terrible it would have looked if i used a creamy gel. i washed my hair and rinsed for OVER HALF AN HOUR with really hot water!!!! i'm not kidding! and i still couldn't get all of the old gel out! you know what a freak i can be about buildup! i destroyed two of my locs already trying to get the buildup out!

so i decided to just go back to latching my whole head. and i discovered a way to make the front look neater. latch it wet. i usually latch dry before i shampoo, but i've found that if i latch wet, i get a neater look. the hair is slicker and it lays flatter ,so the latching looks less frizzy and more tight. it makes sense. when i palm rolled dry, i got a completely different look than when i palm rolled wet. so i might just latch the front few rows after i shampoo so it looks as neat and tight as it can.





i love the freedom of latched hair. why do it half way?

Noticing a difference

so i've been using my oil blends for a few weeks now. i am definately noticing a new softness to my hair. not to say it wasn't soft before. but i definately notice that is feels softer than i've ever felt it before. i wonder if its the veggie glycerine or the oils? or maybe a combo of both.

New oil, and I got burned!

so, i found a new oil at Stop & Shop. i was just looking for some olive oil, but guess what else i found?! i found sweet almond oil, flaxseed oil, and grapseed oil. in larger quantities and cheaper than at the health store. i always hear about getting cooking grade oils becasue than means they're truely chemical free. well, thses oils were for cooking! i'm happy about that find. but i also found this little doobie:



the top of the bottle says: Omega Plus. Extra Virgin Oils. its a blend of avocado oil, olive oil, and flaxseed oil. heres a quote from the back of the bottle:



"Olivado has created a natural balance of Essentail Fatty Acids. Omega 3, Omega 6, and Omega 9. Take Omerga 3,6,and 9 as nature intended with the powerful antioxidants: polyphenols, beta sitosterol, lutein, and vitamin E, found naturally in the Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Olive, Avocado and Flaxseed Oil

Take two teaspoons a day, or use with salads, vegetables,and smoothies..."



so i did a new oil blend with less water and more of this oil, grapeseed oil, a little more olive oil, veggie gylerin, and aloe vera. this blend is a little heavier than my other one. when i spray it on, it sits on my hair and i have to make sure to massage it into my locs. then i added the orange eo...

AND I BURNT MYSELF!!!!!!!!!! i got a little, teeny weeny smear on my knuckle. i didn't think anything of it. i've heard that you have to be careful with essential oils because they can burn your skin, but i didn't think that tiny little amount would hurt me. five minutes after i got that smear on my knuckle, it was hurting! and the skin was red and a little swollen. i've learned my lesson. next time, i'll wear gloves!!!

Hair Oil Results

so, i've been using my homemade hair oil mix for the past few days. i've been trying to use it everyday, but i think i've missed a day or two. the smell is awesome!! my hair holds the smell of the almonds quite well. my sister doesn't like the smell. she says it smells like insence. i guess she means the smell is too "heavy" if you know what i mean. it does have a slightly different smell when i spray it on fresh as opposed to at the end of the day. i admit, i maaaaaayyyy have been a bit heavy handed with the fragrance oil. i might try to add more olive oil to the mix to dilute the almond frangrance oil smell a little more. but so far, so good. i think i'm gonna make up another batch but use the orange eo this time. i'm excited to see how that one comes out! i've decided to only use one at a time. so if i'm using the almond smelling spritz, i won't use the orange one too, i'll wait till i wash my hair before i use a different scent. although almond orange could smell good... we'll see. i also have a peppermint eo to use. but i don't want to use that one yet. i'm not sure if i'm ready to go around smelling like a candy cane!

Homemade Spritz

Well, i'm trying to go all natural! really all natural. i've been careful about the shampoos, conditioners, and oils i use in my hair. i've been reading up a lot lately about homemade oil conditioning spritzes and i decided to try an make my own. so my sister and i went to the natural health store today and i racked up a bill of over $50! i got some vegetable glycerine, sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil. i got a cherry almond shampoo and conditioner. i got a pepperment and an orange essential oil and an almond musk fragrance oil. as you can probably tell, almond is one of my favorite scents! then i went on over to my friendly neighborhood walgreens and got 2 8oz spray bottles. i already had pure aloe vera gel and olive oil at home. i did a post on lovinlocs to ask about ratios to use in my spritz, but i was too eager to use my new purchases. so i went ahead and just guess-tamated using some info i got from browsing around online. i didn't used exact measurements, but it was comething along these lines:

4oz water
2 oz blend of veggie glycerine and aloe vera gel
2oz blend of olive oil, jojoba oil, and sweet almond oil (more olive oil)
approx 15 drops of almond musk fragrance oil


from left to right: olive oil, veggie glycerine, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, aloe vera, and in the front, almond musk fragrance oil.


i sorta squeezed the ingrediants into the spray bottle as i went. i shook it up real good and commenced to spraying my head! i grabbed a chunk of locks and sprayed along the shaft and squeezed as i went to really get the oil into the locs. it smelled heavenly! then i went back and did the tips. then i did my scalp. the mixture is really light, so my hair didn't feel heavy or oily at all! i found out that i have to keep on shaking the bottle as i go 'cause the oil and water keep on seperating, as can be expected. so i just got through with that about ten minutes ago. i'm gonna hit the bed and see how my hair feels tomorrow. i'm not sure if i should spray in the morning before i go about my business or at night before i go to bed. i might spray my hair a little more tomorrow before i go out. alright. off to bed i go!

Thanks Knappy Soul!

So i took the advise of fellow blogger and lovin locs member, Knappy Soul. i washed my hair and i latched the rest of my hair but i palm rolled the first two rows around my hairline. this solves my quasi problem completely!!!! i was satisfied/content to settle for a messier hairline in return for the convenience of latching. but now i see that i don't have to settle at all! on another note, my hair is INCREDIBLY faded now. to me, it looks pinky orange and i am not happy with it. but when i tried to take pics, they came out looking more red. my sister said she doesn't see pink and its all in my head. this is quite possible! you know we are our own worst critics. my sister and i are looking into henna. i might use that to color over the pink with a more brownish red color. we'll see. it looks like the henna is a bitch to mix up and put on. i really dont want to go through any more hair color nightmares again just yet! here are a few pics of my (in my opinion) pink hair and the top palm rolled

Doin' it BIG!!!!

i'm on the loc loops website!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! when you order the loops, the owners asks you to send in photos if you're happy with the results. well, i emailed her two or three days ago and sent her some pics. she emailed me right back and said she was very excited about the pics. so i went to the website today and went to the section to view photos, and BLAM!!! there I am!!! I feel so proud!!!! i'm gonna be famous!! just kidding! now i gotta go spread the word...


check it out for yourself:

www.locloops.com

Already missing it!

I made a promise to myself to not color my hair anymore for the next year. my hair is just getting too damaged. i used to have a friend wash, color, and twist my hair. she was a certified colorologist (if there is such a tittle! all i know if her specialty was in coloring). but she had never dealt with locs before. so she used to do a quick rinse and as a result, a lot of color was left in my hair. and it used to run every time i shampooed and rub off on EVERYTHING!!!!! i have so many white t-shirts with a pink collar from where the color rubbed off. and, as you can image, having that color stuck in my locs didn't do them any good either. and this went on for a few years. then, i decided to take the reins and do my own hair. so now i was responsible for my own washing, coloring, and twisting! the first few washings were a little tough. i had never tried to twist and clip my hair myself. after doing the first three or four locs, i gave up and just braided three locs together as i twisted and did a braid out. i got through 2 washings this way. then, thanks to the WONDERFUL advice and encouragement i got from a wonderful group on Yahoo, called LovinLocs (BIG SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY "FAMILY' ON LOVINLOCS!!!!!!),i learned about latching. so i bought the nappylocs latching tool and about 2 months ago i began latching my hair. this woked out GREAT!!!!!! but there was one downside. now, i'm washing my hair about once a week. before, i was washing about once every six weeks or so. becasue i'm washing so much more often, the color doesn't last as long. so i tried to color my hair myself. for the first time in my life. it was pretty bad! as you all know, my color of choice is red. not just any red, the brightest red i can find. needless to say, by the time i was done, there was red everywhere! all over the bathroom sink ( i colored in the bathroom so i could see what i was doing). a few BIG splotches on the floor. a smear or two on the wall by the light switch. then, when i went to wash the color out, i got read all over the counter in the kitchen!!! i wash my hair in the kitchen sink with a washing hose. i have a serious phobia of getting water in my ears!!! but i got through it. the color was wonderful. i was happy. but then i washed mt hair a week later, and a bunch of color ran! i was a little puzzled 'cause i thought i had done a good job at rinsing. and now the color wasn't as vibrant. oh well. then i washed my hair again a week after that. more color ran. the color is even less vibrant. i'm now four washings in since i colored my hair and its just a dull as it was before i colored it!!!! i'm not going through that coloring fiasco again!!! so, since i'm washing my hair more often now, i'm not going to color. its a waste of time. and i'm damaging my hair. but, god, do i miss it!!!! a lot of people say the color is great and its so bright, but I know how it can really look when its at its best. but i will say this. if the red fades to pink, which it has done in the past, i'm gonna color it over with a deep auburn. we'll see what happens. sometimes it fades to a pink, sometimes it turn and orangish brown, sometimes a reddish brown. i'm actually kinda excited to see what my hair will look like brown. for as long as i've been able to color, i've done red. this will be a new look. lets hope this goes well...


and for those of you who are interested, here's the link to the group:



alt="Click here to join lovinlocs">
Click to join lovinlocs

MUUUUUUCH better!

so i re-wet my head and tried the loc loops again. i put some ORS gel in a spray bottle and watered it down. my hair was pretty damp still. and then i sprayed every two locs with the watered down gel as i rolled them, so my hair ended up being pretty wet. then i sat under a medium warm hooded dryer for an hour!!! i wasn't taking any chances that my hair wouldn't dry this time!!!! i put on a silk scarf and went to bed. the next day, i had nothing planned, so i kept the curlers in all day as well. so here are the pics.

Loc Loops, try one

so this is my first try with the loc loops. i made a few mistakes. well, actually, just one big mistake. i didn't let my hair fully dry. i sat under a cool dryer for abour 1/2 hour. i wan't too sure about the dryer part. didn't know if the curlers would melt in my hair. can you imagine?!?! melted foam curlers in my locs!!! so 1/3 hour under a cool dryer and air drying for the rest of the day and overnight. the next day i started taking the curlers out and i realized that my hair was no where near dry. but i had things to do, and i'm not about to go out in public with big curlers in my hair! the curls in the back were really limp with a few tighter ones in the front. the first few pics are of that. i didn't really like the look, so i decided to try to pull some of the front curls out more for a more uniformed look. the last 2 pics are of that. please excuse the pissed-off face. i was aggrivated about my hair and running SO late!!!

p.s. i don't know why the pics are sideways and i don't know how to fix it!