Three Months Gone

I know I just posted my 10 week update but that went by a while ago. While work had me all over the place and stressing out, the day marking my 3 month anniversary (for lack of a better word) passed by without me noticing.

Originally, the plan was to create and upload a video to YouTube outlining the changes and how the journey has been so far. But that idea went up in smoke. I could not care less about recording and editing a video around that time simply because of work. Oh Heavens, help me! I have not been in the sun this much since I was eleven and thought it was fun to get away from being inside all the time.

Now, I have had my third retightening done and I am excited to report that the slippage has been drastically reduced thanks to one simple trick I've been using. Instead of washing my hair every two weeks like I was doing before, I am now washing it once a month. If my scalp is dirty before then, I use a mixture of vinegar, water and witch hazel to gently cleanse the scalp. On a side note, please remember that the recipe for this concoction was given to my by my consultant so it isn't something I made up by myself.

Anyways, by reducing the amount of manipulation to my wet hair, I managed to have only 3 locs slip during the first week. On the other hand, I did have to retighten the one loc four times before my last appointment. By the time I made it to the consultant'c chair, all that remained of that one loc was a knot near the tip. Up to now, I am still completely baffled by my hair's ability to unravel from the root and leave one of two knots in tact. Smh.

Oh well, maybe it won't be so bad next month. 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!

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

Update

Yesterday my consultant contacted me to arrange my four week retightening after my two week check. Oh joy! I get to walk around for another two weeks while letting my roots grow even longer. I was hoping I would get an appointment this week but once again Bad Luck Chuck comes charging in. At least all of my appointments will be every four weeks from here on out. 

My hair has the ability to frizz regardless of the weather and right now those fly away strands are tangling with each other, making it difficult to run my fingers through to comb out my cork screws (bantu knots). I am not sure how I will keep this up for another two weeks. In the meantime, I have reduced the amount of manipulation I do to my hair on a weekly basis and hope the styles stay at  least a week.

I dislike using a lot of products and have been weaning myself off of them for years, Before starting microlocks I only used oils and water after my washing routine. I clarified, moisturized then conditioned meaning at any given time I had no less than eight products but most of them were shampoos or conditioners I experimented with to see what worked with my hair. The oils I used consisted of coconut oil, mineral oil, rosemary oil, peppermint oil, lavender oil and castor oil. Now I get to treat my hair as though I got sisterlocks, thanks to my consultant.

My consultant has been amazing so far. According to her, I am a walking talking advertisement for her work so she will make sure that the quality of work is always high and as long as I follow her directions, she will be proud to say so. Speaking to her I learned that she has had customers who have ignored her instructions and returned to her weeks or months later hoping for a miracle after messing up. Apart from that I love the fact that she calls all her clients to set up and remind them of upcoming appointments and clearly stated the price to new customers.

I am excited to see where this goes and enjoy having a consultant just excited as I am along for the ride. 

Til next time - Lata!