Myspace "Hair Stories"

I have a myspace, but am not as active on it as Jen is. I did join a group called Natural Hair and found a nice forum with everyone's "hair stories" shared. Now you know we all have one. Most who have begun blogging have theirs somewhere hidden in their blog. Other's have it summed up in their profile. My Nappy Headed post was only the "beginning." I have to break out more pics and scan them to share the whole story. I found the myspace posts interesting to read. There's quite a bit to read, so check them out here if you like.

One of my favorite hair stories was that of Tuere ™'s. Scroll half way down the posts for her story. Isn't she and her locks just gorgeous? For those of you on myspace, drop by her page and show her some love. She's really down to earth and her voice is silky!

My girl Imani (California Consultant) started at group called Sisters In Locks. Check out her group and meet some new locked sisters. It's a fairly new group that could use a few new members.

Now, what's your hair story? Post it in your blog and comment here to let me know where it is in your blog (date) so it can be read by others . If you haven't shared your hair story, go on and do it today!! I've read lots and love hearing everyone tell their own unique story. It reassures me that I wasn't the only one to have hair care drama for decades. (LOL)

Introducing a new member to the Nash-Bey family!

The picture below is of me and my California consultant, Imani Nash-Bey of Pomona, Ca. We took this picture way back in September of 94 at the African Festival in Los Angeles. We had so much fun that day.

Fast forward 5 months after that, February 2005, a month before Jen and I relocated back home to Texas. This is a collage of Imani's only girl (at that time), "Kinah"! She was almost 4 yrs old in this picture and yes, she has Sisterlocks! She's had them since she was two. She loves to say, "I love my Sisterlocks!"

Now, fast forward 14 months later, and you see, another addition to the family. Baby Girl Sumaiya was born April 12, 2006 to two proud parents. Imani gave me permission to share her pictures with the Locked family on line, so please do not copy these pictures. Thanks! Imani is taking a break and all of her clients are being taken good care of by Njeri. Isn't this baby just a doll? And let's not overlook Kinah's beautiful Sisterlocks. I'm sure baby sister will follow suit with no problems when the time is right!

Also, the locked collages are coming soon...hang tight!!!

If you want to see another young cutie with locks, check out Creyole's Blog! Her 10 yr-old daughter has gotten her some locks! Let the Revolution begin!!!

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.

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.

Customer Appreciation Day April 2004

OK folks, since I have figured out this cool function on Picasa2 by Google, I will be posting collages of various grouped pictures. It's fast and fun as you see. These pictures were taken in Ponona, Ca at my California consultant's shop. We had fun, fun, fun. Here's the skinny on what we did:

There were almost 50 women and a few locked brothers who showed up so this picture collage is far from extensive. I videotaped most of it. It was potluck and the two consultants , Imani and Meka who hosted it provided the drinks and main spread and everyone else bought stuff to snack on.

We had a guy come in and take "glamor shots" for later purchase and other sistas there who set up booths to sell their stuff, like hair jewelry, head wraps, Mary Kay and whatever. We had testimony time when each woman got up and told their "Sisterlock" journey story. It was wonderful!

Me and a few other ladies, including my consultant did some spoken word. We had a lady give a short talk on self empowerment. We took group pictures and then the consultants had a "wrap" session, teaching us how to do head wraps. My sister and I bought a friend who wanted Sisterlocks but had "questions". She ended up getting sisterlocks a month later. After hearing all the testimonies she was sold. Especially seeing all the different ladies hair. It was too inspiring. We had a blast. Enjoy the pictures. Thanks Imani for your wonderful idea.

I'd recommend any consultant to organize an appreciation or "get together". It is a great customer recruiting tool and fabulous sisterhood fellowship time. It reminded me of my old Mary Kay days, trying to get women to the breakfast or function so they could hear the top director testimonies or hear NSDs Christine Peterson or Jo Ann Barnes. Very contagious.

Pictures of the beginning of my Sisterlock Journey

Update: I changed the collage to add my "before pictures"

These are pictures of my locking session with Imani. This collage thing is new to me, so I can't put the pictures in order.
Included in this collage is my hair with "Q" braids, which is the style I was wearing up until 11-25-03. I like wearing my hair in a bob and look forward to having that option as my hair grows. I cut that fake hair out and then started taking down the cornrowed braids. I had it dyed two days before the locking session and of course the pictures you see of me today have only a little of the dye left. I guess it either shrunk up or fell off. Not sure exactly. The dye did give me problems with dryness and although I love the color, I doubt I will dye it again for a good minute. The guy in the picture is Cyrus Friday, my hair color specialist. If I dyed my hair again I'd have to make a trip back to Costa Mesa, Ca. He was good! You can see I had a decent amount of hair to start with. This should give you an idea of how small the initial locks were. A lot of times folks feel a little weird and insecure when they first get the Sisterlocks, well, I'll speak for myself, I felt wierd and insecure. The locks were so small and I had a ton of scalp showing. I had to keep telling myself to "get used to it". One day, in less than a month, the parts started to go away. The two pictures on the bottom left of the front two-strand twist are what I did to hold off the day before getting locked, wich was the day after Thanksgiving. I really didn't know what to do with it. Cheezy picture. Oh well! Enjoy the pictures.