Honey Water Setting "Lotion" Results

So today was wash day in the YBW house.  I washed my locs with T-Gel shampoo, then followed up with a deep conditioning treatment made up of my Organix coconut milk conditioner, Africa's Best Ultimate Herbal Oil, and Honey.  I let this sit for about an hour then rinsed out.  I had very little honey left in the bottle so I added some warm water and sloshed it around.  I used the resulting honey water and some olive oil to prep my locs for a roller set.  I let my hair air dry for several (4-5 hours) then spent an hour under my hooded dryer.  I really hate sitting beneath the dryer, but if I want my hair dry before bed it's my only option.

Below are my resulting curls... I just hope they survive the night.

Stylin' on dem 'oes

Little time + rollers+1st date= this look

side view of the basketweave/front swoop combo

Front

side

back view

OMG I Made a Style

Go me !  Seriously though.  In my year of locking, my biggest thing has been my inability to style them outside of curls.  Tonight out of boredom I decided to try again.  I ended up flipping my head upside down and basket-weaving the back . I had a ton of locs loose in the top, so I ended up basket-weaving the top as well.  I had some locs that remained loose so I fanned them out.  I'm thinking that if I were to actually use this, I could set the loose locs on curlers.  So without further ado I present "the style":

Top 1

Back 1

Top 2

Back 2

The coolest thing of all is that I took out the four hairpins I was using to secure it and it's still holding up.

1 Year Locaversary

                            Exactly one year ago today. I gave birth to my beautiful set of loc babies. 

Last time as a loose Natural

Locs right after install

I was so nervous, and it took me almost 7 hours to install all of the two strand twists.  Now, I admit that I took lots of breaks, and spent a lot of the time chatting on Y! Messenger, with a friend from Nappturality.  She kept reassuring me that I should do it.  I used some sulfur 8 loc gel to start them.  After that I just sat back and watched. 
*My first wash was surprisingly easy.  I bundled them into for sections, braided the sections, and then I went for broke, scrubbing my scalp for all I was worth.

*Then there was the first time retightening... I washed with a stocking cap, and then ended up posting on NP crying that I thought I'd ruined them. This was went I found my loctician, and man has she been a godsend.

* I've dyed them twice.

* I've learned that I stick at trying to style my own hair.

*I've learned that + tender scalp = whole new kind of pain

During the first 2 months I wasn't sure that I was going to make it, but when I did that first wash with no unraveling, I knew that it was the beginning of something wonderful.  So today I'm celebrating one year of loving my locs in spite of their desire to do as they please, and also one year of having the patience to let them.

As a gift I'm going to wash them before work lol.  I'll do something better after Christmas.

Pipe Cleaner Curls

Last night, before my weekly wash, I decided to try some pipe cleaner curls.  The first thing I did was prepare the pipe cleaners.  I pretty much followed the steps that Chescalocs prescribes in her video, though I only used one pipe cleaner to form the curling device.If you're doing this make sure to use a pipe cleaner that is the same/similar in color to your hair (this makes it easy on you if the pipe cleaner sheds)

Bend a pipe cleaner in half to form a U shape

Form a loop at the bottom of the U shape, then twist together until you reach the bottom

et viola

While my locs were still damp from my wash, I set my entire head on these curlers, doing 1-2 locs per curler. In order to secure the locs on the pipe cleaners I started at the tips of my locs, placing them right above the loop, and then rolled down to the roots. Then I folded the leftover pipe cleaner down to hold it in place.

I air dried right up until about an hour before bed, then I spent ~40 minutes beneath the hooded dryer. I then put on my satin bonnet and went to bed.  I strongly recommend doing this when you don't have to lie down.  *Ouchies*  I ended up waking up around 6 am, because the discomfort was just to much for my tender scalp to handle, and taking the pipe cleaners out.  To do this I unfolded the excess pipe cleaner then unrolled it a bit.  From there, I squeezed the little loop flat and slid the pipe cleaner out.  

I ended up with a few very wonky looking locs.  To remedy this issue I simply spritzed them with water and reset them. I also think I made a mistake in separating the curls. I believe that this is a method I might revisit when my locs grow out some more, but for now I don't really care for the look.  I'll stick to pillow rollers.  I'm going to try to styling them and see if that helps me like them more...

Dyed and Curled Locs

These pictures were taken last Wednesday, post dye job.  I decided to do a roller set while my locs were damp from washing out the dye.  I also put some of my loc jewels in ( you can see them in the pics).  I'm thrilled that yesterday my locs turned 10 months old (10 months on 10/10/10 cool right).  I really can't believe that I'm only 2 months away from making a year.  Even more than that I can't believe that my hair is pretty much loc'd at this point.  I have a few loose curly ends, and still have plenty of frizz, but I haven't worried about any of them unraveling since way back in month 3.  I'm looking forward to moving into the future and seeing how my locs develop. 

Because Zebulion wanted to know...

The Dry Loc Treatment I showed in this post turned out meh at best.  I already know the culprit... The SHEA BUTTER.  Yes I knew going in that my hair is typically not a fan, but I was desperate and figured that maybe the locs had changed that.  After I rinsed the treatment out, reality set in for me, my locs felt kind of hard.  I had to wash with Suave Daily Clarifying shampoo, but afterward my locs felt fine.  Nice, soft, and not hard or crunchy... I think this could have gone better had I left that shea butter in the cabinet.  If your hair likes shea butter though, I think this would work for you just fine. If you're unsure about your hair and shea butter, try a spot test (just apply to one loc and see how it feels the next day)  For me, shea butter's purpose is massaging sore joints, treating scars, and preventing ash.

Adorning my Locs

Lately, I've been loving my locs, but at the same time finding them a bit blah.  In an effort to reduce the blahs I have considered attaching cowrie shells directly to the locs, but realized that they would have to be removed when I have my locs retightened.  Instead I came up with the idea of making some loc jewelry.  I dabble in jewelry making so I had some supplies on hand (multi use wire tool and beads, and a coarse emery board), but I had to go out and grab a spool of 20 gauge gold toned wire. 

I also improvised some wire forms by using a few of my crochet hooks.  The result appear below.

Group Shot

Cowry Coil

Swirl Coil

Simple Gold Coil

Fancy purple beaded coil

Cowry coil again

I also purchased some more dye. This time I'm using Clairol Textures & Tones in Cherrywood.  Stay tuned for a post on the dye job.

Retightening & Grooming

Yes I finally went and had my roots retightened, and yes it had been a bit more than six months since the last time, and no I'm not even ashamed of that fact lol.  Wednesday, I got up early and caught the bus over to Jefferson St. to see my loctician, Celesta (Stay tuned for a post about her shop).  She shampooed my hair and then interlocked my roots for me.  All the while telling me how much new growth I had, if I were her I'd have charged me more, but she's just good that way.  Some of the locs had ~2 inches of new growth (pretty much all the black roots in the pictures).  I also love the fact that she managed to get all the random loose hair, that I keep getting (darned escapees), worked back into the locs.  Having clean parts makes it so much easier for me to try things like braiding and basket weaving. 

After the reti

Before the reti

Rewind to the other night, I was playing in my locs and noticed that I had lots of stringy loose hair at the end of several of them.

 Tonight, I whipped out my shears and trimmed off most of these. I did leave a few that I thought would manage to integrate into the locs, but most of them were just crazy looking.  I know that "grooming" locs is a somewhat controversial subject, and I'm okay with it to this degree.  I do not foresee myself trimming off the random fuzzies along my locs as some do when they groom though. 

For now I'm content with my locs as is, but I'm considering having them colored again maybe something more coppery. I really can't believe that in nine days my locs will be ten months old. 

Warning: Style Attempt...

So out of boredom I attempted to do a basket weave-y, fish bone braid-y... thing to my locs. Here are the results:

Top Front... too loose

 

Back

 

Angle

So it was an attempt, and I guess with a little length and some practice it'll look better.  I do like the way my color randomly pops in the last picture though. 

It's Been so Long

Headed out to the Reggae Club

My locs turned 9 months old 6 days ago.  I wish I could say that I've got a ton of pictures to post, but I don't.  I've basically just been washing, applying olive oil.  Occasionally, I do the only style I know
 how to do, roller set.

look at those sealed ends

side

back of 9 month old locs

Dry Loc Treat

In my last post, I quickly mentioned that I was having trouble with my scalp flaking. Well, I also noticed that my loc babies were feeling dry and crunchy. I thought about the situation for a few days and decided to give my babies a super treat outside of my normal once a month deep condish. Normally I use Organix Coconut (protein) condish mixed with EVOO.
Tonight I whipped out my mixing bowl put in the two usual suspects then added in some melted shea butter and honey.



Here's a pic of the resulting mixture


I washed with my T-Gel shampoo, and now I'm sitting here with my mixture in. I covered my locs with a conditioning cap and since I don't have a hooded dryer, I just wrapped my head in a towel (keeps in heat and prevents runs and drips. I'll post again tomorrow after I've had a chance to evaluate the results..