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.