I Lost a Loc

Two days ago I lost a loc. I also took down one because of an error during the retightening process. I may seem calm now but at the time I freaked out. 

I lost a freaking loc! Well - technically two.

Lemme fill you in on what led to that moment of horror. 

Tuesday marked my retightening day but I had to wash my hair first. Nothing unusual there. What was different this time though was that prior to that morning I saw some white stuff in the last row of locs. I could not tell if it was just lint, build up (from not rinsing as thoroughly as I thought I was), mold/mildew or a combination of the three. That led me straight to YouTube researching how to remove the mold since I already knew methods for the other two. By Monday I had a plan for Tuesday morning. 

• Spray hair with Apple Cider Vinegar and leave it for 20 minutes
• Use tea tree oil shampoo
• Follow up with Listerine
• Condition with tea tree conditioner

What actually happened might have been the reason the fragile loc gave up the ghost. Everything went as planned until the shampoo. It refused to lather so I resorted to Dr. Bronners then went back in with the tea tree oil shampoo. In short, I lathered a total of three times. Way more than I do on a normal wash since starting these locs. After that, the rest went to plan.

Fast forward a few hours and after a very long day, I am near the end of my reti. I proceed to do the four point rotation on the loc I'm about to bid adieu to. Everything goes well and I happen to notice the bottom three inches looked a lot thicker than the roots but I ignore it. My interlocking tool (A repurposed plastic needle) slipped off of the loc and naturally, I replaced it and continued working. That's when it happened. The thicker part decided to break away from the root completely. 

For a few moments, all I could do was stare at it. How did it happen? Was it stress? Overmanipulation? Or maybe I had disturbed it too much with the unusual and harsh wash routine? Considering how Houdini escaped once more, along with another loc in the last few rows at the back and Houdini's neighbour barely holding on, I had to accept the over the top measure made the poor thing let go. 

The other loc though - that loc traumatised me. I honestly thought the worst had happened when three inches of a four-inch loc came off but I was wrong. Somewhere around five rows later I managed to create a loop and pull through it forming a knot near the base of the loc. None of my usual techniques worked to correct the error. Half an hour and one sore head later I gave in and asked my boyfriend for help. He could not tell the difference between "what I do with my head and what I claimed to be wrong". 

It was after ten, I was tired and frustrated and getting nowhere so after an hour of struggling, I made the decision to take the loc down to release the knot and start it over. The knot still would not budge when I reached that part. Frustrated, I went to the bathroom mirror, immediately found the problem and removed it in a few seconds. Why didn't I think to do that first? Might have been able to save myself an hour of pain and frustration. *sigh*

Lessons learnt. 

I'll stick to my usual routine until I am fully loc'd. I will take my time when I am near the end of a reti to avoid making mistakes like I have been doing since November and I will go back to washing once a month. 

Til next time - lata!

Month 7

Since the start of 2017, I have noticed that my hair no longer sticks out as much as it did. My locs are looking fuller and feel much longer. They're finally dropping. I have been so excited about this that I'm actually looking forward to my next retightening. 

I know I didn't share much in my last post but that's because I thought I'd have a slew of follow up posts coming but I was wrong. What I left out in that last post is that I'm doing my own retightenings. I've done two so far and I'm about to do the third within a week. I miss getting someone else do it. Oh well. I guess I'll continue to struggle until the situation can be changed. I also made my own relocing tools. 

Remember Houdini. I've finally managed to make it stay interlocked for over a month. I've only had one loc slip and it was Houdini's neighbour. I wonder if they were sharing tips and tricks. Very suspicious that is. Hopefully there won't be a repeat performance this month. I'll know for certain after I wash my hair. 

Can you believe it's been eight months since I started these locs? Can you also belive that one year ago I had a different set of locs and two years ago I had larger locs halfway down my back? Life is really full of twists and turns. 

Once again, that's it for now. 
-Lata

Unexpected Hiatus Over

I'm finally back! Work has been so hectic I've barely had time to myself let alone time to write. So here's the nitty-gritty in as few words possible. 

My hair is getting thicker. It's more so in the roots. 

Slippage has been reduced by a lot. I have 2 locs which are impervious to the concept of locs. One of them I've even dubbed Houdini. No matter what I try (including making knots in the loc to reduce slippage it always manages to escape completely. So frustrating when all of the other locs have stopped doing it and have started to thicken. 

My scalp is oily? I mentioned a while back that I haven't t been using anything in my hair after washing it. Even so, my 'dry' scalp is rarely actually dry. There's a enough oil to coat the scalp and add lustre to the strands. To go from an itchy, flaking scalp to what I have now is nothing short of a miracle. 

I haven't seen any budding. . . at all. I thought for certain that by the end of month 3 I'd be budding all over the place. Not so. I barely get a little bud that hangs on to a strand or two of hair then breaks off within a few weeks. Not as disappointed as I thought I'd be but I must admit I've lost some of my initial excitement. 

I have had to abandon the sisterlocks course in November due to a death in the family. It's been a long journey back to where I am now and I've still got a ways to go. But as they say, life goes on.