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

Thin locks Question (Thanks Everybody for your replies)

Posted in Lockitup:

Hey Luvi, Sandy, Jeri, Maranndme, Jennifer & Debbie,

Thanks for all your feedback. I really appreciate all that you
shared. I'll definitely have to check out the Wheatgrass. I've had
some before at good ole' Jamba Juice, but I'll head by Trader Joe's
to see what they have.

I do not eat beef or pork, so it may be protein that I am low on. I
drink plenty of liquids (mostly water) and don't drink soda and eat
junk. I mostly wear my hair "free-style" (with little fuss) and
when my consultant retightened my hair before Christmas she didn't
say the thinning was all that bad.

I was just wondering if anyone else had seen this kind of thinning.
It's only 2 strands, so it's not a whole head full of problems,
Thank God!!! Well, I'll keep ya posted. I'll send the pictures to
my consultant and see if she has any other feedback.


Q & A from a consultant:

Re: Thin locks Question (Alandria)

My answers are below Alandria's questions.

My name is Alandria Clarke and I am a Sisterlock Consultant in
Miami, Florida. After reviewing your locks, I thought that I should
respond to you. First, Questions and reasons for you to consider:

Q. Are you wearing a band across the front of your head?
Reason: Bands worn constantly may cause breakage at the scalp and in
the middle of the locks.

A. Nope, rarely if ever.


Q. Are you wearing your hair pulled back in ponytails?
Reason: Sometimes, unknowingly, the hair maybe strained and is
weakened which leads to breakage.

A. Nope, Not long enough yet.


Q. Are you wearing a cap during Showers and baths?
Reason: Constantly wetting your hair (like daily showers) will dry
your locks which lead to breakage.

A. Yes- That may be the culprit. I have/use the SL reconditioner,
but I have always had a "dry" head of hair. My consultant knows
about that.

Q. Are you maintaining your retightening schedule (i.e. not
missing or prolonging appointments)?
Reason: When you think that you are trying to save a few bucks by
trying to extend your appointments the new growth (baby) hair in the
front of your hair is not as thick as at the crown and therefore can
be strained which again will lead to breakage.

A. Yes, every 7-8 weeks.

These are just a few of the questions that should be asked. Discuss
your daily habits with your consultant and I am sure that together
you can rectify the problem.

I haven't heard back from my consultant yet, so hopefully I'll share
her feedback with the group. Thankfully it's only 2 strands, so I'm
not tripping. Before I had sisterlocks, I cut my hair down to a
fade, so losing hair or cutting off one stand ain't no big deal.

Also, don't stress... that doesn't help.


These are just a few of the questions that you should ask yourself
and discuss with your consultant.

Thanks Alandria!

12 1/2 months

This picture was taken at Imani's shop after a good retightening. I was now experiencing a lot of dryness from the dye. Some of my locks up front were getting weak, but I think that may have been actually from me perming the edges so often when I'd get my hair braided so my front roots wouldn't be so nappy and they'd match that "other people's hair". I am still suffering with my locks around the front to this day because of that. I think it was more from perm damage than dye, since I don't have that problem in any other part of my hair. Go figure.

Imani did put some really nice smelling Sisterlock conditioner all over my hair because I was whining about the dryness. I love her! You can still see the conditioner in my hair.
"Lockitup post"

Hey everybody! I wanted to wait until Jen made her year as well to post
pictures. Everything is going just fine for both of us. Jen's hair is really
thick and much longer than the pictures reveal. My hair has really grown, too.
I kind of like the two toned look. Imani, my consultant said my hair has
"dropped". Jen is jealous cause her locks have not yet. This group has been a
great help and support. For those of you waiting to get your Sisterlocks, I
wish you well! It is a wonderful thing!!!

I Need a Retightening

Believe it or not this picture was taken 10 days before my retightening session. I shampoo'd it and was checking out the length and new growth since I had my Sisterlocks one whole year!