Blogspot Beginning

Today is the day I actually started blogging on blogspot. All previous posts were added on to document my journey. This blog is specifically to share my Sisterlock journey as well as share in past "hair care" drama from the past. There will be lots of pictures and stories behind them all. I hope all who read and view enjoy.

Maryee

Have you visited Maryee's Place Lately?

Updo Pictures and post

August 7th post:

I finally have some pictures to share of my locks after I retightened em', bantu'd em' and updo'd em'. Hope you like them. This was fun! I always envisioned my hair in an updo or french roll when I get married (ok, I am not even in a relationship). But nonetheless, I knew how cute it would look with the hair ringling down the sides of my face and my hair wrapped up in the back. Well, with the help of my mom, we gave it a shot. For those of you who don't know, I got my hair dyed two days before I got my hair Sisterlocked. So all the darker hair is new growth since 11-28-03. Let me know what you think!

Blaqkofi says...

Beautiful locks, Maryee. It looks like you did an excellent job with
your first retightening. The bantu knots and updo are beautiful. Your
pics gives me more of an idea what my hair will look like at 20
months. I also colored my hair right before I got my locks.
Thanks for sharing.

BlaqKofi
SL'd 8wks

Leighann says...

Mary, Your locks look beautiful! The bantu knots are such a great set. It looks wonderful. And that up do... NICE! very elegant. Now we just gotta get you down the aisle so we can show it off even more! :-)

Leighann sld 4 years 1m 8d
www.mysisterlocks.blogspot.com

Maryee says...

Leighann,

Thanks for the kind compliments! I love heading over to your
blogspot and website just for inspiration and a smile! My sister
was like, "You want your hair long like Leighann's huh?" I was
like, "yep!". When I had braids if it wasn't in a bob it was in a
ponytail. I like the the longer length and can't wait to have it
all be mine and not store bought.

Now, about this husband, please send him to my website
http://www.maryee.com first, so he can be clear of what I'm all about! :-)
If he's up for the challenge, he'll know what to do. :-)
I already know that when the BIG day comes, my future husband will be
mesmerized by his glowing bride! The best is yet to come!

Blessings,

Maryee
Sisterlocked 20 months

TWA transition-Can you hold out?

Posted in lockitup:


I am trying to be patient, but I hate the way this TWA looks and I have begun to feel so incredibly self-conscious. I know this may all sound silly and to some of you rather trivial, but it is a big deal to me and I could really use some inspiration.

M.

M,

I remember when I was going through my transition, I kept patting my
twa down, kind of compacting it because I was not going to cut it
any more. It was indeed a weird feeling but I was not turning
back. Like someone else said, wearing braids temporarily will help
manager the transition.

Here's some suggested links for you to check out. Hang in there
lady!!!

http://www.treasuredlocks.com/natural-hair-transition.html
Motown Girl's Transitioning Tips
http://www.napturalglory.com/thejourney4.html


Maryee
Sisterlocked 20 months
Have you visited Maryee's Place lately?
http://www.maryee.com

Feel like someone's watching you?

posted in lockitup:

I guess since I'm now responsible for retightening my own hair, I
have moved to another level of closeness, ownership and
accountability with my locks. These different stages are something
else.

I remember last summer, I was in Houston at the Dollar General
store. I was standing in line waiting to check out and there was
this young lady standing not far from me soon to check out as well.
I recognized her hair to be completely weaved with straight human
hair. She was a cute girl, but hey, we never know what's going on
in the inside of folks when only looking at the surface. I guess
she saw me and then for some reason she forced herself, it seemed
not to make eye contact with me. I could tell by her body language
that she was uncomfortable and made it her business to look away.
It was the weirdest thing to observe. Maybe, perhaps, she had
a "moment" of conviction or "guilt". She saw that only when masked
with something that wasn't truly her, could she possibly win the
affections and compliments from others.

I know I've been there, knowing good and well I would be receiving
what I humbly consider, "false" compliments. I'd even joke when
folks would compliment me about my braided or weaved hair by
saying "IBM," meaning "I Bought Mine". So we love and honor and
have compassion for everyone because we all are at different stages
of growth in this journey called "life". Old habits are hard to
break, but they are breakable!

The sooner we get back to truth, the faster we get on to freedom.

Dreaded Word-Nap Politics in the Church

"spottedcatwomen"wrote:
I went to church today with my Sisterlocks wild and free. I was so
proud of myself for making it to church. During the service the
preacher mentioned the importance of ones appearance. He said," Why
would you look for a job with dreadlocks, sagging pants...etc" The
back of my neck became hot...LOL.

Is anyone else considering keeping their SLs above their shoulders?


Hey Eve,

I want mine to grow at this point just to see how long they can get.
I've always had short hair for whatever reason. When I had my hair
braided, I loved putting it up in a ponytail and getting it out of my
face. I look forward to doing the same thing with my OWN hair and not
any I bought from the Asian Beauty Supply shop.

As far as looking for a job in "dredlocks", the pastor probably still
needs some educating. You can have a perm and still show up looking
inappropriate for anyone to hire. The last job I was on, I worked for
an international management consulting firm. My locks had no negative
impact on me doing business with presidents and owners of companies.
All they saw was a very confident and professional looking sister
sitting down doing business with them. I could tell in how they
treated me with much respect and professionalism.

There are benefits in having Sisterlocks. Our attitude reflects our
beauty, our confidence exudes our self-assuredness, our pep in our
step with our head held high, truly reveals our pride. So, I'm
thankful that I have my Sisterlocks and hope that we all present that
peace, love and joy that we get from the true freedom from bondage.
If we don't look and act free, why would anyone want what we have?
Me, I'm a be free!!! Thanks for sharing!

Maryee
SL'd almost 20 months

http://www.maryee.com

Mother's Day 2005 pics

Here's a picture of me and my mom on Mother's Day 2005. I still hadn't had a retightening since mid-March, so it was puffy. I made me some bangs so it was a style I normally didn't submit to. My hair length for 18 months wasn't too bad. I don't mind my forehead showing with my hairstyles, but this was a different look. I love that red outfit.

Hey Are Those Sisterlocks?

Posted in Lockitup: 29995

Since my sister and I have relocated to the big city of WACO, we
anticipated having trouble with folks even understanding our hair.
Most of the folks just look and don't ask questions. But you can
see the curiosity in their eyes. We drove by a place called "Nappy
Roots" and just knew they specialized in natural hair. Well we go
in and there's this young guy cutting this 12 yr old boy's hair with
some chairs lined up (for folks waiting) and that was about it. He
was excited to see us, but admitted flatly that he couldn't help
us. He'd never even heard of Sisterlocks, so we allowed him to
examine our hair (touch it and all). He bout' came unglued when we
told him how much it cost as far as certification was concerned and
then what it cost us to get our hair locked and retightened. He
couldn't even imagine the potential expense. He thought it was
temporary until we told him it was permanent unless we cut it off.
He then understood a lil' better after that.

He then kindly called another lady up, who came to town from Seattle
Washington who we then went to go see. Her place was called A Head
of Time. She's not certified but does deal in natural hair. My
sister Jen wants to get a good shampoo because we don't have good
water pressure where we live. So we'll have to make a trip to
Dallas to see Elaine, when I get that scheduled. We have gotten
compliments, but folks really don't know what to say or think. I
say, Gurl, these are wonderful!! You should get cha some!

Thin Crown

Post from lockitup:

Maryee,

Thanks your photos helps me feel more patient toward this process. I was so
discouraged when I got up and looked in the mirror and saw a thinning lock. It
was depressing especially after slowly getting over the picked hen look. My hair
is about the length you had in picture 17 and almost as spacey.

Thanks again

Bella

"Maryee" wrote:
Congrats! You will be pleased. I had/have thinning hair on top from
14 years of braids on and off and perms and the whole nine. Although
I still have the "thin" spot on top, my entire Sisterlock look over
compensates for the thinness. It's a doggone shame cause I can get up
and leave out the house and never even look in the mirror to "check"
to make sure my hair is in place. The stage it is in (17 months)
allows me to pretty much shake my hair or run my fingers through it
and be out the door. Such liberation!

Month 14

Check out that new growth.

Importance of Check-ins

Post from Ve in lockitup:


Well I'm at it again. Pondering world peace and my beautiful
sisterlocks. It was Maryee's email a while back that solved an
issue I had with a few spindly looking locs. Turned out that over
styling via (braid-outs, twist-outs) was the culprit. I've been
free styingfor the past few months and all is well.

Now I've been back in the mirror examining my beautiful locs and
noticed "gaps" or "loops" in my locs. No real pattern per se, some
are close to the new growth and others are in the middle and some
are 3/4 down the length of the loc. I remembered a sister posting a
long time ago about this problem so I knew this was not a issue I
should shrug off.

I've taken the retightening class so I've been doing my own hair
since June last year. I see my consultant about every 8 weeks.
I had my consultant check out my hair on Friday during my
retightening session. It turns out that again (I) am making fatal
errors during the retightening rotation. I am following my loc
pattern (basic 4) but I have been inadvertently inserting the loc
tool in the same hole. My consultant showed me how avoid this
problem going forward. She's also repairing the problem locs and
showed me how to do it was well. I'm going to let her do the repair
because you really need to see the loop in order to fix it and it's
hard to do looking in a mirror. If I had not caught this error I
would undoubtedly have broken locs down the line. This is not a set-
back just another wrong turn on the journey. I am still enjoying
the love affair with my hair.

Just pointing out the importance of examining your locs and periodic
check-in's with your consultant.

Ve
SL 17 months

Hey Ve,

I have laid low on even touching my hair since I had those "thinning
strands" and all seems to be well. I'm in my "whitegirlitis" stage,
shaking my head and feeling my hair swish on the back of my neck and
ears. It's such a funny feeling. Having all this body and no perm
to give it it's fullness and beauty. It's really growing and I
ain't complainin'. I hope to take the retightening class this month
some time, so I'll keep the group posted on that as well. Checking
in with our consultant is very important. Keep us posted on
your "looping" findings. Take care!

Maryee

Can Children have Sisterlocks? Yes they can!

The following are pictures of my California consultant's daughter and niece who both have Sisterlocks. The youngest (her daughter) received her Sisterlocks on her 2nd birthday, shortly after Imani locked me. She just loves her Sisterlocks! Imani specializes in locking children. These pictures were taken a month before Jen and I headed back home to Texas.







If they were ever candidates for low self-esteem, not anymore!!!! These girls, rock their locks!

Posted in lockitup by Imani about her choice to lock her daughter's hair:

I decided to lock my daughters hair the day after her second
birthday. I got all the same negative comments about what if she gets
older and she doesn't want them and she will have to cut them off. I
tell them that if she wants to do that when she gets older fine but
while im doing her hair for the next 8-10 years she will have
sisterlocks. Not to mention once you have sisterlocks for a while and
your hair starts growing you realize that "its just hair" It will grow
back. Most kids who grow up with long hair usually want to do
something different with it when they grow up anyway. So if it is
long as a child they want it short later or vice versa. Either way my
daughter will grow up without some of the same hair horror stories i
had to endure. No sitting at the edge of the pool all summer because
she can't get her hair wet. No putting a towel on her head acting like
it's her long hair ( cause she'll have her own). No scalp burns, ear
burns. Long waits in the beauty salon. ECT, ECT, ECT.... I am very
happy with my decision despite what anyone else might think because 9
times out of 10 they don't even have locks or natural hair to begin
with so they are talking about something they dont understand anyway.
My niece also has sisterlocks. She was 8 when I first put them in.
Their is a picture of them in the files section under sisterlock
kids. One of the pictures is also two of my other child clients 8
years old and 10 years old.

Single's Valentine Day Banquet

We took these pictures at our church's single's banquet 2-12-05. Isn't Jen's hair just dazzling?

Sisterlocks 14 months