I'm back...

I've been missing in action big time... no more, I'm back :)

I'll be updating shortly...although I've quiet, I've been busy..

Ps: I started a whole head of locs in my absence, done a good job, even if I say so myself :) will tell you all about it...

Also bumped into Thandi at the mall..her locs are absolutely gorgeous!!! she was in car with hubby & family, and I blocked traffic reaching through her car window to touch her hair :) I know I know :) none of her pics do her locs justice...

later folks (and I really mean it)

First Re-Ti Drama's :)

I've been MIA for more than 3 weeks, B.A.D !!!!...

A lot has happened but that's a story for another blog:) let's just talk about my first retightening dramas...

First, the nappy locs tool I ordered many moons ago hasn't arrived yet, and it has been sent twice! SA post office for you...I ordered the tool in July and we're now in September, I mean really!!! The lady from nappy locs even sent another one mid August just in case the first parcel got lost or something...and I really thank her for her supper customer service..SAPO on the other hand...the funny thing is whoever took my tools will probably have no use for them anyways...

Moving on... I then searched all your blogs with a microscope for alternative options...and here I must really thank the blogging community...you guys are my greatest resource ever...So after going to almost every store in the mall I came back armed with a bodkin (is that the right spelling?) and a few yarn & wool needles (which I all broke in my attempt to widen the eye with a screw driver...Oh my!!! :)...it was sooo funny although I wasn't really amused at the time coz I had a crisis in hand (an inch or so of growth from the 2 months since I had my locs installed!!)

So, many broken needles later, I figured the bodkin was my only help...so I went to work....I got the rotation thing going but so I don't go on and on forever...here's a list of lessons learned ;

• it is quite easy to tag the neighbouring locs and once you pull more than one loc or you entangle or intertwine them...it can take about 15 minutes with mirrors in all all directions to try and undo the mess...(especially if you live on your own)
• life goes on after that devastating feeling of of having to break a few strands because you just CANNOT undo the mess you've done....thinning the base of an already thin loc...
• when you've done about 10 or more locs without messing them, it is still possible to mess the 11th loc, so stay on guard all the time...
• when all else fails...grab a friend who is naturally good with hair and teach her how to do the rotation
• it is OK to be a guinea pig and let someone who CAN see up close do your hair than trying to do it all on your own even when you're messing up quite a few locs
• the direction you END the rotation is a BIG DEAL...if you get it wrong you can have locs lying in all sorts of directions, and trying to correct that may be tricky and cause you to tighten too close to the scalp
• It is not a good thing to have growth long enough for 2-3 rotations per loc, in fact it is recipe for disaster if you are a DIYer  in training
• the locs are quite forgiving...and even if you mess up from time to time, the locs will still look beautiful the next day
• life really does go on after the first retightening session :)

At the end of it all.....

and a braidout later, life continues :)

Colour Fatigue??

I remember 'choosing' the colour of my locks was quite an ordeal. I spent a lot of time on lock blogs inspecting different colour effects... there were days I was convinced I wanted my own natural Colour 4 all the way... but there was something mesmerizing about coloured sisterlocks... I had a folder full of locks with highlights, multi-tones, dyed ends...and I emailed poor Gerry a couple of times changing my mind on the colour combination each time :)

The dark-brown and honey-something on the ends is 'mating' quite beautifully. You can't see this from the pics but there are traces of the darker colour all the way to the end. In fact I mixed 3 colours…towards the scalp is my own hair colour for a couple of inches…then a slightly lighter shade of brown with the darker shade...then a stronger mix of the light honey-something-something colour. It's all lovely really, it suits my skin tone and I totally love the effect :) As I mentioned before, the colour & the texture of the gerrylocs not only looks natural,...it feels soft and natural...and sometimes I even forget I have extensions in my hair. For this I'm truly grateful, I had natural hair since 2005 (an Afro for 2 years...then traditional locks) and in that time I really learned to love my hair and marvel at it's natural texture and softness.

Oh, by the way (off a tangent she goes!!) in the 2 and bit years I had a natural afro; I was in touch with a sisterlocks consultant in the US. I was going to club-in (slang word? Hope you get the idea) with a few friends and ‘import’ her to South Africa to come install our sisterlocks, show us how to maintain...etc. In the end, some people fell out and I had other financial constraints so as much as I loved sisterlocks, I couldn't justify spending so much on hair. I had to literally forbid myself from googling sisterlocks and after a couple months of 'mourning'...I eventually went to a solon and twisted my hair into traditional locks.

In retrospect, maybe I should have kept natural hair till I could have sisterlocks...but on the same breath, growing my own locks was truly a journey of self-love. The traditional SDA churches here in South Africa are not really big fans of traditional locks (locks in general!!), and in the professional consulting world, locks were also not considered 'neat and professional'...and socially, my friends were not exactly jumping up-n-down with my decision to lock. In all that, I stuck it out and nothing could dampen my spirit about my locks…'NOT the Rasta comments in church…nor the snide remarks in the office...not the frowns I got from certain family members...NOTHING!!!

Winding back to today's topic, I guess this is partly why I sometimes feel fatigued by this lovely color I have in my hair. As beautiful as it looks, in my soul it really feels unnatural at times. This probably sounds rich coming from someone who has lock extensions, and I don't even understand it myself. Having embraced natural hair for a good five years, I was expecting more of an internal struggle with the extensions rather than the colour. Thankfully I don't feel like this all the time. Most days, I'm really happy with my hair, extension, size, colour & all!! I also keep telling myself that when my hair grows and I start trimming off the extensions, the coloured bits will be the first to go. Who knows? Maybe then I'll be a fully-fledged colour junkie :) in which case, please don't hold today's blog against me :) :)

I also hope my 'craving' for sisterlocks has been finally cured...I've read some blogs of people who had wonderful microlocks/sisterlocks but who undid their locks because they were not satisfied with the grid/size etc. Ok...the lock-count seems to be a big thing as well! Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging anyone, it is just very time consuming to grow locks and I hope I'll be happy with this journey this time round...

Overall...colour fatigue and all, I love my hair.

Bendable Curlers

I have been on a shopping spree for rollers. I tried perm rollers first, I'm sure the quality I bought was not meant for locks as the elastic bands popped on the very first use. I'd love some durable big perm rollers as they are quite user friendly for me so THAT hunt will continue!Then I found those bendable curlers and I decided to try them out. I forgot to use the styling mousse but the result was OK even without it. I was quite happy with the spirals although I didn't quite like the pipe-like effect so I separated mine almost immediately. I am now on day 5 and I still have loose beautiful curls. I like, I like :)

I also bumped into those electric 10-minute rollers, which I think are the same thing Blaqkofi blogged about with quite good results, so I added them to my collection of curlers.  I tried them briefly but they burned my fingers and I couldn't quite get the hang of fastening them in so the result was not too good. This was all before I used the bendable curlers (my new best friends) but I haven't given up, I'll try again till I get the hang of it.

PS: Given my dandruff issues I simply had to wash my hair before I curled it. I tried rinsing with apple cider vinegar and conditioning my hair with mayo & egg ( tips from Dewdrop:) bless her soul).  The egg & mayo mix worked wonders and my hair is unbelievably soft (the egg stinks though, for a couple of hours at least ) and sadly the vinegar rinse didn't quite solve my lint issues, I still have some whiteness at the base of most of my locks (thankfully not as bad as before).

Gerry Mayo who installed my locks (lovely person she is!!!) e-mailed with some tips to try dry bath on the scalp with sea breeze astringent or any skin cleaning astringent this is good for everyday cleaning of the scalp (Apparently one can add 100% pure Tea Tree oil just a little to help with the flakes). I'm going to try all this once my lovely curls loosen up or my nappy locks tool arrives. I suspect I REALLY can't get away with any more washes before I get the tool.

So long people :)

Special thanks to Dewdrop & Gerry Mayo

Birthday...settled for free style

Dandruff..lint..etc :(

Lately I've been struggling with dandruff and lint, thanks to winter clothes and my blanket! I've washed my hair twice already and I'm afraid to wash more frequently in case there's slippage in some areas. I ordered the nappy locks tool and I just fear it is going to take forever to get to South Africa. It was more than a week ago and by the looks of things my order hasn't even left the USA yet.

My dandruff issues show more when I attempt an upstyle, but as you can see, that doesn't really stop me. That said, I can't wait to have settled clean locks! I guess my scalp is still trying to adjust to my new heavy-oil free lifestyle. I must admit my new products sometimes feel like I haven't put anything to my hair. 

Ps: It is my birthday today and I would have loved to do a tight curly do but that is just going to tempt me to wash my hair :)

Anyways, happy birthday to me:)

Later folks! 

Side Do

I was  brave enough this past Sabbath to attempt a side do...it turned out rather well. I couldn't plait all the hair in.. I have more hair than I'm used to with the microlocks...so I swept the hair to the sides and only used the front and back row to hold the plait to the side. I'm not sure if I didn't put unnecessary pressure to the front and backline though, so until I'm well-versed in these matters I'll stick to free-style.

Don't know if you can see from the back, but I have hair that needs retightening already... and I haven't even ordered the tool...mmmm

OK; I just stopped typing and did a 4 pt rotation to the one at the back with my fingers and it worked!!!! OK, it's not too tight, but hey...I did it:) :)

Spaces filling up..

My locs are really starting to look natural. The partings are filling up nicely.

However my skin is truly acting up. I guess that's why it has taken me so long to put up pics in this blog.  I've made this photo as black and white as possible to hide my skin rash and redness.

I've noticed that my hair doesn't look as full as the other bloggers, however I don't very thick hair in any case so I suppose this is fine. I'm waiting patiently for the ends to lock.

With my previous traditional locks the process of full locking took roughly six months (or was it more?) so I'm not expecting the gerrylocks to lock up miraculously in 1 month :)

ps: I love my locks :)

Still loving my hair

I got a lot of compliments at church over the past weekend. Most people really love my hair..BUT

I washed my hair for the first time and IT WAS HEAVY while wet...I really didn't expect that... on the plus side..there were no signs of slippage anywhere.. my hair stayed intact, and for that I'm really thankful.

It is now 3 weeks and I know I'm gonna have to retighten pretty soon...that should be interesting given that I still only know the theory and I'm soooo afraid to mess up my hair...

But hey; worrying about is no use...
I suppose I'll know what to do when the time comes :)

Gerrylocked At Last...

I'm still new in this blogging thing...so I don't update as frequently as I should..

My visit to Philadelphia was wonderful, Gerry Mayo truly is a beautiful soul; I arrived there on Sunday the 27th; after a 22 hr flight from SA via Israel... and we went straight to business...full day Monday and another full day Tuesday with 3 people working on my hair...

I was so tired by the end of it all... but it was well worth it. I look absolutely wonderful... I must post some pics but I'm so bad with downloading pics from my camera...all in due time:)

I have about 3 tones in my hair with very light ends..
lock count approximately 310..

and yes I have a stunning head of mature looking locks...

Ps: a few people in NY complemented me on my 'sisterlocks'...I didn't have the time to 'correct' all of them so I simply smiled in acknowledgement..

Later:)

PS: I really really love my locs!!

Undone...

I finally managed to undo my traditional locks yesterday; an exercise I don't recommend to anyone who doesn't have loads of patience...and a huge patience reservoir for when that patience runs out (oh trust me, it will run out...)

Anyway; I now have 3-4 inches of natural knotted hair; which I haven't combed. I have this huge scarf on my head and no one at work has quite figured out what's going on. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my hair for the next week. I can't comb it until I undo the huge lumps & knots... and the idea is to preserve as much hair as possible so I can't have just cut the knots off...eish!!!

I'll have gerrylocks in (CAN'T WAIT) exactly 10 days!!!Philadelphia here and come...

PS: A huge thanks to Gerry Mayo who has been very patient in explaining the gerrylocs process and assisting with the bookings and advice on how to undo locs and everything in between... can't wait to see you in person!

So long!
PS: I must get into the habit of taking pictures..well...soon (ish); one thing at a time; I'm still getting used to bloggin'!!!

Later..
Miss G

Gerrylocs:)...soon & very soon!

I'm on a countdown... sooo excited; in about 3 weeks I'll be spotting new gerrylocs :)
well...first I still have to undo my traditional locks, I've tried about 5 so far and it's to test of patience!

Partly sad to part with my current locs though, it's been a memorable 3 year journey of an investment to self and to personal acceptance, no more LYE!!!

I've been through all the locking stages, and it was such a joy to watch my locs mature..and yes I have no qualms about having extensions on my hair while I regrow my new microlocs...without beeswax! yeeiii :)

It's going to be a bit of a challenge though, maintaining my own locs in a country where no one (I know) does tool-assisted locs...but a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do! I'll cross that bridge soon enough..for today I have wax & build-up to fight with as I try to keep at least 4 inches of natural hair from my shoulder-length locs....

And oh yes, it's been a trying week; so I'm looking forward to the Sabbath rest..
Shalom

In the beginning...

Miss Gee is here... finally....my own blog space!

Lets see how this turns out..still not sure what to blog about though...hence the title of this blog..

ALL THINGS SINDI-LICIOUS :)