YBWLOCS is... 26

Yep today is my birthday, and my locs are 3 months away from the 2 years mark... I cannot complain. I celebrated over the weekend by going out with 3 of my favorite ladies. The hair is a day old perm rod set (I sweated a lot of the curl out with my tipsy dancing). 

My Birfday Outfit

The shoes I wore

Curly Locs Ride Again: The Rod Set

I washed my locs last night... no big deal.  Then I tried something new... I set my locs on perm rods.  Those damned things hurt! Seriously I just took them out ~10 minutes ago, and my scalp is TENDER.  I like the tighter curl that they produce, and can't wait to incorporate the resulting curls(will be doing another set next week) into my birthday look.  


I can't say that there was much too it, I used gray/pink rods on damp locs.  No gel or setting product, and NO HEAT.  I really do despise my hooded dryer, but it serves it's purpose.  I'm thinking my hair looks like curly fries.

Braid Out

A couple of weeks ago I tried my first braid out....  I'm not really sure how I feel about it at this point.  I feel like it's one of those styles that will look better once I get some more length. 

In order to "set" the braid out I sprayed my dry locs with water, before saturating them with diluted alcohol free gel.  
I then made braids using 3 locs per braid.  The braids were secured with black rubber bands.  I allowed them to stay in for ~a day.  I would have left them up longer but my scalp seemed quite irritated with the braids.  In the end they didn't look too bad but meh.... I wasn't feeling it.

The braids... Very Coolio

Side (they would NOT lay down)

Back, you can see the rubber bands

After I took them down

I'm not sure what I was so focused on... but look at that FUZZ

Under Wraps

First things first... I HATE SLEEPING WITH THINGS ON MY HEAD... yes it's so serious I had to scream it.  Covering my head is a sure fire way to sweat myself to death.  There's also the reality that I have the worst time finding things that actually stay on my head.  Well, all of that has been changed by this gem of a creation:

This wondrous thing has saved my locs the trauma of pillow induced dryness.  I have tried scarves, bonnets, satin pillow cases, and anything else you can name.  This is the first and only thing I've been able to get to stay on my head.  It still makes me a little warmer than I'd like, but it's not as bad as it might be.   So for now the stay on satin pocket bonnet is my bedtime friend.

Updo by Celesta

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my loctician?  Well I'm saying it now.  I love my loctician.  She is awesome.  I went in for my retightening today and after she finished she gave me this style:

I think it's awesome, but more than that it's loose enough that I'm not going to have to take it down now that I'm at home lol.   Check out my loctican's fb page here.

Bejeweled

Bandwagon: Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap (Peppermint)

So, I finally gave in to my urge to see what all the fuss was about this stuff, and well I'm with the band on this one.  I got mine from drugstore.com (it came via UPS today).  My scalp was feeling crazy so it was right on time.  One thing I've seen consistently is to dilute dilute dilute.  Well, I didn't have any empty bottles to dilute in so I put a few drops into my hand and allowed it to mix with the water from the shower.  I put this directly on my soaking wet locs and went to town.  It lathered up beautifully, unlike normal shampoo which NEVER gives me a lather on the first wash. 

Then I felt it... the minty tingle.  Oh man it was beautiful. My scalp was like OMG wtf is this feeling... this delicious amazing tingly feeling! I seriously think my locs/scalp were singing and dancing.  I did a prolonged rinse, and for the first time since loc'd I didn't feel the need to do second shampoo.  my locs felt light, soft, and flexible.  I removed the excess water with an old dark colored t-shirt, and then applied my usual EVOO.  So far my locs feel wonderful.

  I guess time will tell if I have the same build up issues I've heard some loc'ers talk about.