Just a quick vid of me wearing one of my tams. I didn't do a drawstring for this one. I love it so much this one is gonna be fo ME! LOL!!
BTW, the other tams and visor are up and available on my Etsy page. Check them out!!
I love my hair! But there is so much I have to learn about it!! This is my first time with locs. I thought it would be an easy, carefree (literally "Care Free")hairstyle. Boy was I wrong. Every hair style carries its own set of needs. And I'm learning what my locs need to be the healthiest, best locs they can be.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Knitting
i got a job! yay!!! but i'm taking an 8 THOUSAND DOLLAR a year pay cut. the economy is so bad no one is offering any decent salaries! five and a half years ago, with virtually no college coursework and five years less experience, i was hired on at my old job at $14.65 an hour. over the five years i gradually made it up to $15.94. then the economy collapses and my center got closed down and now i'm laid off. everywhere i was looking for a job in the past few months ranges from 12 to 14 an hour!!!! with most of them averaging around $13!! and that all well and good, but i'm now a ten year veteran with much more education under my belt! you'd think i could at least start off at $15! but NO, no place wanted to even consider it. so i finally ended up with this particular company, which was offering the lowest salary ($12 an hour), but it was the place i really really loved the most and had the most room for growth. i'm actually so so exited to go work for this place.
so, now this means i really gotta get up on my game in regards to knitting things to sell. I'm not going to recoup my 8K a year, but if i could even get 2 or 3K, that would be awesome. so i made these three products. i haven't put them up to sell yet cause i want to get really nice pics of everything. i'm probably only gonna ask for like 5 bucks each for these first few things cause i can definitely see areas for improvement. for someone like me, who's an easy going relaxed consumer, minor errors won't bother me. but for someone like my sister, who is very picky and particular, the small errors might make her angry. its not like there are a lot of errors on each piece. it just that each piece has one small stitch error each. one tiny error. it makes me angry, but i do it every time!! arg! so i can't ask for any sort of decent price for these things. i'm basically just trying to make enough back to buy some more yarn.
the first one is a raspberry tam.
the holes aren't too big, so i suppose someone with locs could wear it. there's a little string hanging out from the back. that's the drawstring to tighten the tam so it stays on your head. but its only one string, so its not like you can tie it or something. i suppose one could tuck it under. but i don't know how to advertise and make that lone tightening string a good thing. so that's the error with that piece.
the next one is a larger tam in strawberry lemonade
this one is one of my favorites. but the holes are larger, so i'm not sure how it would work with locs. it would probably work better for someone with an afro, i'm guessing. this one has a nice drawstring woven through the headband. it looks nice, but the error on this one is on one side of the drawstring, the yarn is loose!
you can see it a little bit on the end of the drawstring on the right side. i don't know how this happened! it won't come unraveled, but it doesn't look as neat as it could have! arg!!!
the last one is a knitted visor
i love love love this one. this one has some stitch errors where the visor meets the head piece. needless to say, i almost wept in frustration. and, the visor is a little too narrow for my taste. i would prefer if it was a little bit wider. i'll probably make the next one with a wider visor. and this one is adjustable!! the back closes with a decorative button, but there are five button slots in the back, so it could fit a child's head as well. but i like it a lot. maybe i'll be bold and ask for 6 dollars for this one! LOL!!
that's about it. i start my new job next week so i may not have as much time to knit after that. right now i can make one piece a day. it might slow down to one or two pieces a week when work starts. i'll throw these these three pieces on my Etsy page and see what happens. Maybe no one will want them and i'll end up giving them away as gifts for my family. we'll see...
so, now this means i really gotta get up on my game in regards to knitting things to sell. I'm not going to recoup my 8K a year, but if i could even get 2 or 3K, that would be awesome. so i made these three products. i haven't put them up to sell yet cause i want to get really nice pics of everything. i'm probably only gonna ask for like 5 bucks each for these first few things cause i can definitely see areas for improvement. for someone like me, who's an easy going relaxed consumer, minor errors won't bother me. but for someone like my sister, who is very picky and particular, the small errors might make her angry. its not like there are a lot of errors on each piece. it just that each piece has one small stitch error each. one tiny error. it makes me angry, but i do it every time!! arg! so i can't ask for any sort of decent price for these things. i'm basically just trying to make enough back to buy some more yarn.
the first one is a raspberry tam.
the holes aren't too big, so i suppose someone with locs could wear it. there's a little string hanging out from the back. that's the drawstring to tighten the tam so it stays on your head. but its only one string, so its not like you can tie it or something. i suppose one could tuck it under. but i don't know how to advertise and make that lone tightening string a good thing. so that's the error with that piece.
the next one is a larger tam in strawberry lemonade
this one is one of my favorites. but the holes are larger, so i'm not sure how it would work with locs. it would probably work better for someone with an afro, i'm guessing. this one has a nice drawstring woven through the headband. it looks nice, but the error on this one is on one side of the drawstring, the yarn is loose!
you can see it a little bit on the end of the drawstring on the right side. i don't know how this happened! it won't come unraveled, but it doesn't look as neat as it could have! arg!!!
the last one is a knitted visor
i love love love this one. this one has some stitch errors where the visor meets the head piece. needless to say, i almost wept in frustration. and, the visor is a little too narrow for my taste. i would prefer if it was a little bit wider. i'll probably make the next one with a wider visor. and this one is adjustable!! the back closes with a decorative button, but there are five button slots in the back, so it could fit a child's head as well. but i like it a lot. maybe i'll be bold and ask for 6 dollars for this one! LOL!!
that's about it. i start my new job next week so i may not have as much time to knit after that. right now i can make one piece a day. it might slow down to one or two pieces a week when work starts. i'll throw these these three pieces on my Etsy page and see what happens. Maybe no one will want them and i'll end up giving them away as gifts for my family. we'll see...
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Simple is Better
I've been working on really cutting down on my hair routine and products. I know I'm a product junkie. And its not just from the few years i wore a relaxer, cause i was using all kinds of products in my natural hair, too. i just like the different effects different products have on my hair. but i'm really starting to realize the less i do to my hair, the better its coming out. so, what i'm doing now is shampooing every two weeks or so with a color depositing shampoo i got from Sally's. literally, the shampoo and conditioner are bright red and it actually deposits color on your hair as you wash. i've only used it once, but i saw results. usually i see color fade-age after each and every wash, but the color looked just as vibrant after i shampooed with this stuff. here's a pic of the shampoo:
of course i bought the matching conditioner. i know i probably need to lay off on the conditioner, but i really like how soft my hair is after i use one, no matter which one. and i'm only washing may hair once or twice a month anyways, so i'm guessing (hoping?) its not that bad.
after i shampoo and condition, i oil my scalp with something. right now i'm using up the last of my original formula JML island oil. after that i'm going to use my doo grow oil. now, the first ingredient in that is mineral oil, which i know is suppose to be the devil for hair, but i've used this stuff for years and years and years. from my natural years, to my relaxed years, to my jherri curl years, back to my relaxed years, and now on my locs. i love the way it smells, i love how nice my hair feels after i use it. i just like it! so i'm going to continue to use it.
then i mist my locs with an conditioning mixture that i've finally settled on and have been using for the past few months. it used to be i would switch up the "formula" every time i made a mixture. but i think i've finally settled on the mix that i like best. so, its a bottle of the extreme shine leave in treatment, some JML cactus leave in conditioner, and a few drops of Africa's Best hair and body oil. here's a pic of that:
this stuff is the SHIT!!!! i did a youtube vid on it. i read out all the ingredients in this oil. its great great great stuff. and i only use a few drops in my mixture! i paid about 3 dollars for this bottle and i've had it about a year and there's still more than 3 quarters left. a great investment!! and after that i mix the spray bottle with water and give it a shake to mix the oils and its good to go. here's my little secret. as the spray bottle get emptier, i just add more water, but not more of the other leave-in's or oil. the mixture is a a yellowish color, so as long s it still has a yellow hue, i know it still has some of the other stuff in it. when it gets really light, which is usually when its almost empty anyways, i just make up a new full strength batch. i do this mostly cause i don't want to put a lot of stuff on my hair when i'm not washing it as often. usually by the time i make a full strength batch, it time to shampoo my hair as well. as time goes on, i don't want to keep putting more stuff on my hair if it hasn't been recently washed, so i water down the mixture. so then it kinda becomes more plain water and less "other" that i'm putting on my hair as time goes on and i get less "build-up" (i put that in quotes cause i don't really have build-up in my hair, but it kinda feels yucky to spay an oily mixture on hair that might not be as clean as it can be)and then by the next time i shampoo, the mixture is uber watered down and i make another full strength bottle. i don't use the mixture every day, more like twice a week. i just try to make sure my hair stays really hydrated cause i tend to have really dry hair anyways and the coloring doesn't help at all. and when it gets really dry it gets crunchy and hard and my hair starts to shed and break off. so, that my simplified regimen. wash, oil the scalp, and spray the locs twice a week. and even though i recently did some hard core coloring, my hair feels as healthy and strong as it ever has. i'm happy with this light weight routine. and i'm glad i've got things figure out as far as what works best for my hair.
in other news, i FINALLY re-latched my hair after like three months! it was getting a little unkempt looking for my tastes. i like a more filled in scalp now, but it was starting to look like a little afro with locs. when i did the brid out, i just finger rolled the roots before i briaded, so it didn't look as puffy and "crazy" as it really was. but after this most recent shampoo, there was just so much loose hair! so, i took the time out and spent over 2 hours latching my head. and i loved the way it looked! my hair hasn't looked this neat in about half a year. like i said, i'm really starting to like a more filled in look now as opposed to the scalpy uniform look i used to favor. but for some reason, on THIS particular latch session, i really likes how nice and neat my hair turned out.
alright. this post is getting long, so i'm gonna end it here! LOL!
of course i bought the matching conditioner. i know i probably need to lay off on the conditioner, but i really like how soft my hair is after i use one, no matter which one. and i'm only washing may hair once or twice a month anyways, so i'm guessing (hoping?) its not that bad.
after i shampoo and condition, i oil my scalp with something. right now i'm using up the last of my original formula JML island oil. after that i'm going to use my doo grow oil. now, the first ingredient in that is mineral oil, which i know is suppose to be the devil for hair, but i've used this stuff for years and years and years. from my natural years, to my relaxed years, to my jherri curl years, back to my relaxed years, and now on my locs. i love the way it smells, i love how nice my hair feels after i use it. i just like it! so i'm going to continue to use it.
then i mist my locs with an conditioning mixture that i've finally settled on and have been using for the past few months. it used to be i would switch up the "formula" every time i made a mixture. but i think i've finally settled on the mix that i like best. so, its a bottle of the extreme shine leave in treatment, some JML cactus leave in conditioner, and a few drops of Africa's Best hair and body oil. here's a pic of that:
this stuff is the SHIT!!!! i did a youtube vid on it. i read out all the ingredients in this oil. its great great great stuff. and i only use a few drops in my mixture! i paid about 3 dollars for this bottle and i've had it about a year and there's still more than 3 quarters left. a great investment!! and after that i mix the spray bottle with water and give it a shake to mix the oils and its good to go. here's my little secret. as the spray bottle get emptier, i just add more water, but not more of the other leave-in's or oil. the mixture is a a yellowish color, so as long s it still has a yellow hue, i know it still has some of the other stuff in it. when it gets really light, which is usually when its almost empty anyways, i just make up a new full strength batch. i do this mostly cause i don't want to put a lot of stuff on my hair when i'm not washing it as often. usually by the time i make a full strength batch, it time to shampoo my hair as well. as time goes on, i don't want to keep putting more stuff on my hair if it hasn't been recently washed, so i water down the mixture. so then it kinda becomes more plain water and less "other" that i'm putting on my hair as time goes on and i get less "build-up" (i put that in quotes cause i don't really have build-up in my hair, but it kinda feels yucky to spay an oily mixture on hair that might not be as clean as it can be)and then by the next time i shampoo, the mixture is uber watered down and i make another full strength bottle. i don't use the mixture every day, more like twice a week. i just try to make sure my hair stays really hydrated cause i tend to have really dry hair anyways and the coloring doesn't help at all. and when it gets really dry it gets crunchy and hard and my hair starts to shed and break off. so, that my simplified regimen. wash, oil the scalp, and spray the locs twice a week. and even though i recently did some hard core coloring, my hair feels as healthy and strong as it ever has. i'm happy with this light weight routine. and i'm glad i've got things figure out as far as what works best for my hair.
in other news, i FINALLY re-latched my hair after like three months! it was getting a little unkempt looking for my tastes. i like a more filled in scalp now, but it was starting to look like a little afro with locs. when i did the brid out, i just finger rolled the roots before i briaded, so it didn't look as puffy and "crazy" as it really was. but after this most recent shampoo, there was just so much loose hair! so, i took the time out and spent over 2 hours latching my head. and i loved the way it looked! my hair hasn't looked this neat in about half a year. like i said, i'm really starting to like a more filled in look now as opposed to the scalpy uniform look i used to favor. but for some reason, on THIS particular latch session, i really likes how nice and neat my hair turned out.
alright. this post is getting long, so i'm gonna end it here! LOL!
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