Summer Update

So it's summer here and I have been busier than ever at work. Several things went wrong with my car and I've been trying to sort that out while keeping up with the greater demand at work.  My hair has taken a back seat to everything else and I have barely styled it. The main problem I have is slippage from sweat. 

I have redone the same loc three times since I got the retightening two weeks ago. I have been spending a lot of time outside and this Caribbean sun ain't easy. I have basically stopped all the bantu knots and braid outs. My roots are growing in quickly and I'm praying for the call to schedule my next retightening. 

In the meantime, I'm gonna stretch my curled ends to make sure my length is still there. 

Til next time -  Lata! 

6 Week Update

This past week has been so hectic I have hardly had any time to myself. Last Wednesday marked six weeks since I started my microlocs and my first retightening. Before my appointment, my consultant messaged me to remind me of the day and time. Good thing too since I thought it was the Thursday. I could just picture the look on her face as I strolled in one day late for my appointment. SMH. 

After I got the reminder I had to decide if I would wash my hair before. I usually wash my hair on weekends when I have the most time to allow the strands to air dry. I do not do it during the week as there is only about one and a half to two hours of sunlight left after I get home. Currently I wash my hair every two weeks to allow the locs to bud. Too much washing can cause the hair to unravel in the early stages. Luckily for me, it's the summer so I got home earlier than usual and was able to cleanse my scalp before the appointment. 

I felt anxious about the appointment because I had somehow managed to lose a few locs. When my consultant washed my hair everything was fine but when I did it myself? The delicate locs at the front and back walked right out of my head. I could not believe it. For two weeks I wore styles to hide the unraveled locs hoping the days would go by quicker.

Finally the day or retightening came and I was ecstatic. Not only was I going to get back my crisp grid pattern but I was going to regain my lost locs - or so I thought. My grid looked nowhere near as clean as when the locs were installed and my lost locs are on probation. The loctician is hoping that the hair thickens up enough in those areas before reinstalling the locs in those areas. A lost cause if there ever was one. I have had locs before and those areas always did their own thing. On the brighter side, I did have a lot of new growth and I can feel some budding and thickening going on. 

Below are two photos taken five days apart. The first was taken the day after the retightening and the other was taken today. Can you spot the difference? Let me know down below.

That's all for now. Until next time - Lata!

Surviving Summer With Long Locs

I don't know about you, but I live in the Caribbean and it is HOT. This year will be the first where I haven't had to struggle to keep my locs out of my face and off of my neck so I'm going to share one of my favourite styles today. 

This style is a two-fer and the first part involves using coils. I found this just over a year ago thanks to a YouTuber known as Junglebarbie and what I like about the style is that it does wonders for locs of all lengths. Watch the video and let me know if you tried it. 

Part 1

Part 2

So simple and elegant and best of all? Easy to modify. Well that's all for now.

Til next time - Lata!

Styling Challenges

Since my installation I have been less than enthusiastic about styling my hair. For the past two to three years I have had locs midway down my back and learned a lot of styles to get that hair away from my neck. With these microlocks my go to style is a side parted cork screw (bantu knot) out. It has only been the last week or so where I tried a braid out and a mini roll on one side.

Right now I am feeling meh about the whole styling thing. Don't get me wrong. It isn't that I don't know how to style short locs, it is simply that I don't want to put too much effort into it. I have not been able to truly enjoy having hair barely long enough to reach my shoulders without doing some major manipulation beforehand. I love not having to do much to get ready for work. I love not spending hours experimenting with styles I regret almost immediately. Right now I am just enjoying my new found freedom. 

In the mean time I have attempted to start my sister's locs and have been styling them frequently for her. Since her hair naturally sticks up I am left trying to force it into a style that makes her look decent. She has more traditional locs but I am tempted to restart the entire process with larger locs like she had originally wanted but we'll see. I am tired dealing with hair when I don't have to so I'm taking this time to relax before they styling bug hits. 

The problem with microlocks is that there are no real styling tutorials specific to one type. The term micro covers so much that finding someone with a similar size of locs is difficult if not impossible. Maybe I will continue my attempts to make YouTube videos to give others like myself an opportunity to follow someone with similar sized locks. Or maybe not.

Til next time - Lata