What's this Surprise?

If you hang out on Nappturality in the loc forum, you may already know.  If not, well I had my hair colored professionally for the first time.  I went to my loctician yesterday.  She colored, retightened, and styled my hair.  I admittedly couldn't keep the style because my scalp just wasn't having it.  It is incredibly partial to not being pulled up or back which at this length means that I'm sort of limited in terms of what I can pull off without making my scalp sore or getting a headache.

I chose to go with a red shade, and wanted to obtain it without bleaching. This is the photo I took in as inspiration. It was taken from the web so if it belongs to you, please let me know.

I think she did a great job of getting me similar results that weren't too bright and actually worked with my complexion. 

As for the process well she mixed up the dye concoction, and let it sit for a bit.  In the meantime I was taken to the sink and my hair was rinsed with warm water until the locs were completely saturated with water.  She squeezed out most of it, leaving the locs damp but not soaking wet.  Then came the color.  She put it on and massaged it completely through my locs.  It didn't feel as if she was trying to push the dye all the way through, but I'm not positive. After my locs were completely drenched in the dye solution, she placed a conditioner cap (thin clear shower cap like device) over my locs, and placed me under the dryer. After about 30-35 minutes I came out and my hair was rinsed and shampooed until there was no longer color in the water. 
I do know this much, it was better to have someone else washing and rinsing out dye than it was to do it myself.  It was well worth it in my opinion. 

The last two photos are after a slept on roller set done for a night out. My hair is completely dry unlike the photos taken at my loctician's place.

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. 

Fuzzy 6 month locs and the dye job

The loc babies turned 6 months back on June 10th. I really can't believe it's been half a year since I sat down and decided that I was ready to make this journey. I'm glad that I did (yeah, I know this sounds so cliche). I finally broke down and decided to color my hair. I had purchased the color about 2 months ago, but decided that then was not a good time, plus I didn't want to damage my babies. I decided to color them a burgundy color, but played it safe so I didn't end up with "that burgundy". You know the too bright, looks like a cheap wig from the Asian BSS, burgundy, yeah that one. I dug L'Oreal Féria's Blowout Burgundy from beneath my bathroom counter and went to work as you can see in the pics below.

Dye Box (just dawned on me then to take pics)

Locs and my forehead covered in dye


I rinsed the color out until the water ran clear, but the shampoo they put in the box smelled a lot like dye to me so I was paranoid and annoyed by the smell. I don't love the color because it only shows reveals its true self outside and under florescent lighting...


freshly rinsed, post dye job


color sort of shows up outside

top front

the back
Next time I'll have to go brighter with the knowledge that for some reason the loc babies don't come out as bright as my loose hair did.

Other than my general annoyance at the persistent dye smell I'm ok with this color, but find myself looking at the babies sideways sometimes and wishing that they would just hurry up and get over this whole weird fuzzy thing already. I'm also frustrated by inability to style them aside from throwing in the pillow rollers and pulling them back a la' "date hair"


I've never been much of a stylist but I also feel like the super crazy fuzzball-ness of my babies is making everything but the curly look, look less than stellar.

I'm determined to keep loving my babies in spite of my occasional dislike of their looks.

Burgundy Locs?

So I've had the urge to dye my locs for MONTHS now, and up until today I resisted. I had the dye under my bathroom counter because I purchased is back in February. At the moment I'm sitting here trying my damnedest to not get red dye on my tan sofa as I wait for the last 15 minutes or so of processing time to pass... Stay tuned for results and pictures...