How I Shampoo My Sisterlocks at 14 Months

I love it! I love it! I love it! ----- Texture!

I washed my hair tonight.

Notice where I bind each section of my hair.

The secret to reducing bunching at your ends, if you still have permed ends, is to bind your hair just above and just below the transition between your permed ends and your loc'd roots.

1 Month

14 Months

It seems that my ends are taking care of themselves. You can see how much of the weak ends have fallen by the wayside in this comparison shot. When I decide to go ahead with the big chop, it may not be as big a chop as I thought it would be!

16 sections to be braided for a braid-out after washing

I bound my hair into more sections that I usually do. Six sections would be typical for me at this point, but tonight I decided to bind my hair into the sections that I would braid for a braid-out.

The sisterlocks kit comes with several of these elastic hair ties which you can find in any drug store. They are ideal for binding because they are small, don't damage your hair, have a lot of 'give' but can still be snapped in case I have a hard time removing them from my ends.

Follow this link to see some of the products I'm using now

My locs have thickened up and are taking a little longer to dry, especially when braided and rolled on flex rods. I've found that I can braid them when they are a little dryer that I have in the past, with the same results as long as they are very dry when I remove the rods.

Love my hair dryer. I use one of those bonnets that attaches to the end of a pistol shaped blow dryer. It travels well - compact and light weight.

The Finished Product

After I braid, roll, and dry, I will lose a little of my texture. The combination of the braiding and heat smooths the cuticle.

To keep more texture, you can free style or, for move waves and if you have the length, you can make Nubian knots and let them air dry without heat.

Tight curls just after the set and braid-out

The curls are really tight, but they will fall over the course of the next several days. I can help it along by spraying some water on my roots to make it fall faster. This set will last 2 to 3 weeks or more. All I do at night to maintain this style is to make a loose ponytail high on my head and put on my dreadsock.

When it falls it will look a lot like this...

Looser curls after 2 weeks

Sisterlocks Style Gallery II

Oh how wonderful it feels to have a newly retightened head of sisterlocks!

After my 6am appointment today, Julia started playing with styles. She declared that my hair was long enough to be braided into a fish bone braid.

I was doubtful, but she was right! Here are a few photos of my first fish bone braid.

Julia took hair from the sides of my head, starting in the front, and covered a central strip of hair running down the middle of my scalp to create this braid.

I asked Julia whether I could use a deep conditioner, but she says not yet. Apparently, I still have a little slippage in my kitchen. I'm not quite loc'd in the very back of my head, from my nape to my ears. But she guestimates that in 6 months or so deep conditioning will be a go!

(See Sisterlocks Style Gallery I here)

More Coily & Kinky Hair in the Work Place

As Ross Perot used to say, I'm in "deep voodoo."

My recent post on loc'd nurses and docs' was wildy popular, but a few people felt slighted.

"What about us medical secretaries?"
"What about us in medical records?"
"What about us respiratory therapist?"
"What about us men?" ...Yada, yada, yada.

Well, I'm sure to have missed a department or two

...or three.

But here goes my first attempt at redeeming myself.

More female nurses, but a few other departments represented...and some male energy too!

Loc'd Nurses (Med-Surg)



Sisterlocks on an elevator ride - (Me, representing the doc's!)

Hair Extensions (Nurse Manager - LTAC)

Traditional Locs (Nursing ICU)

TWA 'Boy cut' (Med-Surg Nursing)

TWA (Med-Surg Nursing)

Palm-rolled locks (Medical Secetary - Unit Clerk)

Rat-tailed comb coils (Nurse Manager)

Loc's and Braid Extensions (Respiratory Therapy & Nursing ICU)

Power 'Fro! (Medical Clerk-ICU)

Babylocs, twisted 1 week (Health Information Management a.k.a. Medical Records)

Cornrows (Respiratory Therapy)

Thin traditional tooled locs >6 yrs (Med-Surg Nursing)

Mature traditional locs >7 years (Materials Management)

Sisterlocks Snow Day Photos in Atlanta, Georgia

It snowed all day long here in Atlanta! An unusual occurrence and quite a treat for my children who don't see snow very often.

The daffodils were already in bloom here and we were awaiting the forsythia!

Typically, it will snow once a year, dusting the lawn and melting by noon. Of course, this generates about 48 hours of special weather reports on all of the local channels. And everyone goes to the grocery store to stock up on bottled water, canned goods and batteries.

Every couple of years we'll have an ice storm that lasts a few days during which all of the tree branches are coated with ice and the roads become slick and treacherous. The power will go out in the city where above ground utilities are common, and there might be a school snow day closing.

But today, we spent the afternoon under the big tent at the UniverSoul Circus. ['Pride, joy and hip-hop, under the big top!']

When we went in, we figured that it would stop snowing by the time we came out, and the typical melting would have begun. But much to our surprise it snowed for the rest of the afternoon.

It is so beautiful outside. One can almost forget what life was like going to classes and commuting in weather like this month after month after month so many years ago.

It is wonderful to be able to enjoy the quietness of the neighborhood that follows a good snow - which is easier to do when it is a rare treat ;o)

A First Attempt at Making Hair Ties for Sisterlocks

On a whim, I purchased some 1.5mm clear beading cord and notions on sale at Michael's.

These are photos of the hair ties that I came up with.

If you want to purchase the real deal, professionally done hair ties for locs and sisterlocks, you must check out Tomoka's Twists. I like Tomoka's Twists because they are made with coated wire. You can control the tension on your hair better than with hair ties made with elastic cord.

The beading cord that I used is smooth and doesn't catch hair to damage it, but Tomoka's wire hair ties can be positioned any way you like.

Brunsli's Hair Ties are gorgeous too, although, there were no hair ties for sale in Brunsli's Ebay store when I last checked.

Mwedzi has a good "how to" video on Youtube, if you would like to make your own hair ties. Check it out.