Soft Spike Curls, the economical way!

I spent a mere $2 on some Chenille Multi-colored Pipe cleaners. The solid colered ones appeared to be small in deminsion.
There were 25 to a package. I used a total of 40 for my head. The front was better at holding curls because I did the front first. The back was the first to go as far as curls and waves are concerned. I only used water and tea tree oil right after a shampoo.

Here's the results. locked hair set pipe cleaners using pipe cleaners to roller set locs

Open Mic Poetry reading tonight at Beatnix

7-9pm

See ya at Beatnix tonight!

Month 26 and my computer is broken :-(

Saturday will make 26 months with my Sisterlocks. I need to retighten my hair bad, but really I need a professional retightening because March will make a year of me doing it "on my own", including the 3-4 month spell of having no retightening at all. When my money gets correct, I'll be making an appointment with GiGi. Hopefully soon. Since I need a retightening I don't mess with my hair much. There are small and thin root beds which in my humble opinion are too weak to be manipulating. I've been combining locks to save them and have been retightening here and there. It's growing rather fast. Free style is all I can do right now. Although, I am dreaming of other options with the length. I love my sister's hair. Even though her mane is thick, I like the way it has it's own salon style cut. I think they call it "Lock envy".
For the last week or so, my computer has been broken. Of course, EVERYTHING is on my internal hard drive, which I cannot get into. Oh well. I have been using Jen's Mac G4, and patiently waiting for some help from my computer technician back in California to give me some tips on what to do and a quote to fix the thing.

This has surely slowed down my photo blogging, and writing on my desktop in general. I have been trying to post something/anything that comes to mind on my blogspot writing blog. My goal is to transfer a lot of stuff I've written on my Live Journal onto my writing blog so it will all be in one place. Blogger is more user friendly to me than Live Journal. Props still go out to Live Journal, cause that's where I cut my teeth with this blogging thing over two years ago. My other struggle is learning how to get back into my website to make changes since they upgraded my account. So much to do, so little time.

I took this picture of myself with a few locks over my eye with the macro feature on my camera. Click on the picture to enlarge it. Cool, huh?

I thought they were Sisterlocks

I met a really nice lady from Ohio at Walmart last night. I looked at her hair and thought she had some form of locks, but not sure if they were Sisterlocks or not. Being the uninhibited woman I am, I asked her if she had Sisterlocks. She said she had lock extensions. I hope I'm saying this right. It looked permanent and she said, "No, human hair is wrapped around my hair." She said the lady who put the hair in used something called afro puff human hair.

Her hair looked like she'd been locked for years but she told me that her hair is installed and taken down every two months. I was astonished. It's called afro kinky hair. Cool.

6 months ago I could have cut my locks off

Six months ago, I was in grave need of a retightening. Jen and I moved back home to Waco and the last time I had a retightening was the second week in March by Imani-Nash-Bey, our California consultant. The weird thing about it, is I was getting compliments all the while from March, to April, the May, to June right up til' July 13th when we heading up to Euless to meet GiGi and me taking the retightening class. Why do I say all of this? Because for those folks who think that Sisterlocks are permanent and you have to shave your head if you change you mind, that's not exactly true. As it was, I was between a rock and a hard place, geographically and financially and for both reasons could not get my hair retightened in four months. Now for those of you who are very faithful to retightenings every 4-6-8 weeks, just imagine if you had to go a whole 4 months without getting your locks retightened. That's what happened to me.



I'll tell you, the reality for me is I had over 3 inches of new growth in some places and IF I ever had the chance of cutting or shaving my locks off, this would have been it. But wait, shaving it would not have been the most sensible thing to do. I could have simply cut the locks off and with the new growth I had, jumped right back into braids, an afro or two strand twists. From the pictures you can see it really didn't look like I had that much new growth. So for those of you who are afraid that getting Sisterlocks will have you "locked" for life, there is a way of escape. I'm not advocating getting Sisterlocks and then chickening out and cutting them off. Naw! I'm just saying if you have to cut em' it's not that big of a deal.

Believe it or not, the haters who question you getting locked make you think and stand behind your convictions. They are healthy, like a lil' stress. They keep you on your toes and help you in your personal assurance that you didn't get locked because of fashion or fad, but because you wanted to get locked for you! The blogs and your own personal blog is a good place to send folks. It usually helps folks understand the process we go through when we lock our hair.

Open Mic Poetry Reading at Beatnix

Let's just say we had a variety of people come up and grace the stage at Open Mic last night at Beatnix. I mean from a poet from New York who's getting her Masters in Creative Writing, to a Baylor Ph.D. candidate, to a 9 yr-old who recited a memorized piece and 12 yr old, who wrote something on the spot to read. Of course you had Miss Jen read some of her thought provoking work from the 90's while she was in grad school at the University of Iowa and some current stuff. I read some stuff and kept it rolling along as well. The hostess always has to have something to share when there's no one who will step up to the plate.

Last night was our 1st night officially hosting Open Mic at Beatnix. We'll be there every Thursday unless otherwise notified from 7-9pm hosting the event. The owner, Penney was extremely supportive and excited that one more piece of the puzzle is coming together for her dream of bringing local culture to the Waco community. I'm thankful along with Jen to be a part of this momentous occasion. We had a blast! And ooooh my favorite, the Hot Turkey Panini sandwich on Focaccia Buns is my regular order with sugar-free peach Italian Soda!!

Continuous Shots

OK,

Here's some fun shots I took of myself while trying out some features on my new camera, the Casio EXILIM Z-750 7.2 mp. I purchased it at Sharper Image, BayBrook Mall over the Christmas holiday. I cashed in all my soon to be expired Sprint Rewards points to get this camera, cause Lord knows I couldn't afford it on a substitute teacher's salary. Jen and I will be using it for our digital photo business. I have yet to read the instructions so I just stumbled upon the feature where you can take like 25 continuous shots in like 10 seconds. I was playing around, but you will be able to see some cool shots of my hair flying in the air swishing across my face and stuff!

Photobucket's Photostamp at it's best!

Click on thumbnails for larger photos.

Thin locks-Permed edges coming back to haunt me!

Not sure if ya'll remember or not, but a year ago to the day (1-6-05) I posted a question about my locks in Lockitup. I had a few thin locks along the front hairline. I didn't have the problem anywhere else except right along the edges of the front of my hair.

I posted these pictures for folks to take a look at and provide feedback:

Maryee's Thin hair photos

For those of you who are members of Lockitup, you can check out the archive here and here with everyone's feedback. That will cut back on me having to cut and paste and "retype" stuff in my blog. A few group members, consultants and all sent me questions and inquiries about my eating habits, shampooing techniques, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The locks looked brittle and thin and for the most part "eaten" off. Well just the other day I found another one of those locks up front on my head and half of the lock was missing. Well, I thought,there's nothing I can do about hair that fell off "I don't know when". About a week ago I was up late updating my blog with photos from the beginning of my journey and then it occurred to me. My hair is damaged from the dreaded "perm" along my edges back in the day. As off is it seemed, I still couldn't reconcile having synthetic or human hair braided into my hair with my "nappy roots" showing. So for the longest, I would perm my hair all around the nape so it would be "straight" and "match" the "other people's hair". The rest of the hair remained in it's natural state. Well about a month ago my mom and I read all the way through Sandy's journey on her website (me trying to convince her to get Sisterlocks) and saw the part where Sandy showed damage from having perms and the affect it had on her having healthy mature locks in some spots. The light went off in my mind and I remembered reading her story. My hair is suffering from the damage of perming my edges.

*The above was written a week ago. The below was written today. Same story, but written differently.

Well here it is. The damage from me perming my edges because of my past insecurities with having "nappy" edges. I had a whole head full of good and nappy hair, but I'd perm the edges so my "synthetic or human" hair would match when I got my hair braided, crocheted, weaved, etc.

Now after trying my level best to figure out why my hair up front was so ratty and damaged it came to me after reflecting on a journal entry Sandy made on her website. I posted my questions to the group a good minute ago and everyone from fellow SL'rs to consultants quizzed me on my diet, my care techniques, the type and amount of water I used, etc. trying to help me figure out why my hair was damaged.

I then reposted my epiphany moment a week ago about what the problem was. It wasn't my diet, the type of water or amount I used, or any "care" I was taking. It was the residual effects of having permed roots. Oh the grief!

Well now I know and I can show all those who may have to same problem and can't figure out what the deal it, what it is. For those who are still living the "lye", you will find that when freedom comes, you will still have a price or two to pay. The photo above on the left is a picture of one of my damaged lock. Poor baby. It must have broken off, "I don't know when." The lock photo (top right) is a little bit healthier and of course longer. The two photos below with the towel covering my forehead show you the difference/damage clearer. For now, I'll just watch the damaged locks die a slow death and hopefully healthier chemical free locks will replace them.

The deepest part about the photos and what my hair up front has experienced is the fact that the photos you see of the damaged lock has absolutely no dye. It's all "my" natural hair. This means that the hair you see now is 100% new growth from when I got my locks put in and the new growth has had to suffer under the "lye". There's something to learn about that. Even when you break from from slavery, that doesn't free you from still suffering in one way or another from your past.

Family, Friends, and Foes-Natural Hair Woes

The following is a reply to some concerns one of my friends on Lockitup
was experiences concerning friends and family and her locks.
The exchange is below:

Subject: Re: I need your opinion....(Crickett)

I'll respond in between your lines...This is long, but worth the
read.

Maryee

Crickett wrote:

----Now my locs are between 4-5 inches long and I had the
twisted up in an updo.----

You mess around and get some length, that talking starts to
simmer down and those who were complaining start looking
more closely, inquiring more, and the butter starts to melt. At
this point, she's trapped by her opinion and pride will keep
her bound from submitting to the truth of how lovely your
locks are.

----She asked me how long was I going to let my hair stay
like this and I let her know until God takes me away.----

Good one. I came from a sales background and one of the top
skills reps need to have is the ability to overcome the objection
before it is given. As locked natural hair wearers, we have to
have our information ready to discuss, positively, intelligently,
and passionately before the ignorant and uninformed start
spewing their unknown knowledge about something they know
nothing about. When we handle ourselves "civilly", with clarity
and accurate information, that is better than acting out. Doing
that only makes us look just as foolish as them. I like your quote
and I'll have to put that in my back pocket for future use.

----She said that this just was not one of the hair do's that she
liked and she has not seen anyone with this type of hairstyle that
would make her say she would want to have her hair this way. I
told her I loved my locs and this was the best thing I could have
done to my hair. I told her I didn't loc my hair for her to like
or anyone else. As long as I was happy, that is what made the
difference. I told her she liked her curl, and as long as she
liked it, it didn't make me any difference how she wore her hair.----

A lot of time folks are defensive because our freedom to be real
amplifies their struggle to be fake. It puts them in an
uncomfortable place. Defense mechanisms kick in and they work from
the premise and limited knowledge they have. God bless their
souls. I've been there before.

----When she realized she could not intimidate me or make me feel
ashamed of my hairstyle, she left well enough alone. I told her I
have pretty natural hair, whether it is locked or loose, and I just
choose to have it locked. She is the only person that I have come
across that has this attitude towards my locs because she doesn't
like them. She said she didn't understand why anyone would want
their hair like this. I told her, that is it, you don't
understand. It is not that she doesn't like natural hair, it is
strictly the locs. LOL My aunt has been natural before, but she
just didn't know what to do with it and so she went back to the
chemicals. ----

There is always a root to anyone who bars bitterness or disdain for
a way of thinking, looking, or acting. I saw the most bizarre thing
at church on Sunday. There was this elderly lady (around early 70s
I believe) who sat in the pew in front of me. In front of her was
the associate minister, his wife and their 9 year old daughter. The
daughter had her hair corn rowed back with hair added to touch about
3 inches past her shoulders. The elderly lady reached in front of
her and began running her fingers through the girl's loose braids
and sort of "straightening" out the top and tossed the ends back
over her shoulder, examined them some more and then patted them
neatly on her back and then sat back in her seat. She had on a red
outfit with a matching red hat with netting and what looked like a
short cut reddish maroon straight haired wig peeking out from under
the hat. I'd never seen the lady before and the girl never turned
and looked at her like, "Lady, can you get your hands out of my
hair!" It then occurred to me that the elderly lady seemed to be
fascinated and intrigued with the little girl's braids. I was
thinking, "Is this lady "desiring" or "admiring" this girl's hair?
Synthetic and all? Women and men can get away with that with kids
before they could with grown folks. It was such a weird scene. Did
she do that because she was curious, perhaps? Humm??

I say all this to say, for a lonnnnng time we have been conditioned
a certain way. Nappy, kinky, curly (not Jherri Curl) is ugly,
dirty, nasty and hard to deal with. Straight and permed is right,
better, easier, and beautiful. If we are all honest with ourselves,
most of us had to battle some demons running rampant in our heads
about our hair and what it says about us. We still deal with it
daily.

My 9-yr old niece is already brain washed real good. Her mother and
her mother's mother (may she rest in peace) have been telling her
all her life (since she could understand) that her hair is nappy and
that she was born with a head full of nappy hair and it can't be
combed in it's natural state, which very well may be true. That was the last thing her grandmother said to me last week before she died. "Nikki's was born
with a head full of nappy hair!" She said it right in front of the
child, I guess to allude to the fact, making it known that her "bad
hair" came from our side of the family and not hers. "Khris's hair
wasn't like that", she said speaking of her grandson by another man
other than my brother.

My niece has had enough fake hair braided, crocheted, and the like
to fill a barn. I guess I would have begged for it myself if I didn't want to had to
deal with or possibly be ridiculed perhaps at school for having "nappy hair".
Just here recently I finally saw her hair without extra hair, but she was "going to get her hair braided later that night." And you gonna tell me that wont breed a seed of self hatred for her natural hair, which she has NEVER seen because her mom started perming her hair some time after she turned two years old? My niece's mom the other day was saying, "Well everyone has their own opinion about how they wanna wear their hair", all the while digging, scratching, and
fuming because she wanted her "down her back" straight weave she got
put in a week before taken "out of her hair." It's tough, but we have to stay in the game and "represent".

Well, I'm done with my essay for the evening. Just thought I'd do
some responding to your post Crickett as I myself continue to work
out this natural hair dilemma was have upon us.

Here's a picture of my sweet niece with her bunny she got for
Christmas. She longs for long hair, and is quite aware of her "nappy" hair.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c164/Franie811/Family/PC300001.jpg

We found out Saturday evening her granny passed away Thursday Dec.
29th. She was a heavy smoker and her heart just stopped.
Thankfully Nikki and her granny did spend earlier that day shopping,
so her last experience with her granny was pleasant. Please pray
for the family during this time of grief.

Dec 29th, 2005

Crickett,

It's funny because as I am putting all the pieces together in my
blog, I just might get to the root of the matter concerning what I
did cause I liked it or wanted it, or what I did with my hair for
all the other various reasons. I remember wanting weave so I could
finally have some hair to throw around like my friends in
cheerleading in high school. Deep huh? Or perhaps the earliest
brainwashing came from good ole' Tuesday Taylor? All you Barbie
fans from back in the day know who she is.

I will tell you that I have had hair problems personally since I was
about 5 years old according to what I remember suffering under
myself. Follow my blog and you'll read some of the crazy things I
experienced. Once I find all the pictures and upload em' with
stories to accompany them, it will all make sense. Thanks for
sharing!

Maryee


Hey Maryee,

Thanks, but you know before I loced, I was the crochet, weave
and braid queen. I've received those comments from some
individuals about the weave. You know, "why you putting that stuff
in your hair." And my response "cause I like it." (lol) So I
was fortunate that my hairstyles regardless to what they, didn't
come from peer pressure, family traditions, etc. Plus I have
always been a hair person, so I was always doing something to my
head. But locing was the best thing I have ever done.

Crickett

All My Business in the Streets

OK, I went ahead and took the temperment test, although I already knew what it would say. This test was only like 4 questions, so it wasn't the 1 hour one I took that showed my blends. For the record, this is 1/2 correct. I'll find my complete analysis and add to this post later. So anywho, here goes!

You Have a Sanguine Temperament

You are an optimistic person who is easily content.You enjoy casual, light tasks - never wanting to delve too deep into anything.A bit fickle, it's easy for you to change plans or paths when presented with something better. You enjoy all of the great things life has to offer - food, friends, and fun.A great talker, you can keep the conversation going for hours.You are optimistic and sure of your success. If you fail, you don't worry about it too much. At your worst, you are vain. You are obsessed with your own attractiveness.A horrible flirt, you tend to jump into love affairs and relationship drama easily.You're very jealous - which just magnifies the craziness around you.

What Temperment Are You?

OK, Another Super Collage -This Time With Mom

Jen and I went by our Mother's house after church because we didn't see her there this morning and didn't hear from her last night. Like us, she spent New Year's Eve in bed. I did a two-strand twist and band shampoo last night that didn't turn out hardly the way I wanted it, and Jen did also.

We took some shots with Mama so now the real comparison of who we look like can be made. Do we look more like Mom or Dad? What do you think?

Mom was having a windy bad hair day but never shys away from the camera, especially if she's taking pictures with her girls. We really would like for her to get some Sisterlocks, but we first have to chip away for a while at that old way of thinking she has concerning natural hair. Remember she and my father hate our hair. Oh well, we love them just the same. Mom has really really soft hair. At one time Jen and I convinced her to get a TWA and she did. It was cute, cute, cute! We keep threatening her that if she doesn't concede and get Sisterlocks, we are gonna do the Big Chop (BC) on her again. She'd rather just press and curl and wear wigs if need be.

Well, here's the most current pics, hot off the press via Picasa2 Collage. Happy New Years! 06' is in the mix! More close-ups are in my Fotki album. Cheers!