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 :)