Sisterlocks Photo Essay: Months 1 to 10

What a challenge it is to capture the evolution of sisterlocks with my camera.

I can feel changes in the size and texture of my locs with my fingers, but through my photos the only obvious change is in the length.

As Cia promised, many of my locs that have truly locked are almost twice their original thickness. Most of those are on the crown of my head.

The many micro-locs around the periphery of my head and behind my ears are still rather small in diameter and I can still feel their crocheted pattern with my fingers, but they are well entangled and I no longer experience any slippage.

Sisterlocks Installation

Remember this photo? This was my two to three inches of new growth with permed ends on the day of my lockiversary ;o)

Here is my scalp at the end of day one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sisterlocks Retightening at 4 months

But check out the increase in length in the photos below. These photos were taken towards the end of my fourth month with sisterlocks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sisterlocks grow over several months: scalp photos

Compare day 3 sisterlocks...

...with week eight of sisterlocks. And compare week eight of sisterlocks...

...with month 8 of sisterlocks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A fuller hairline

Check out the return of my previously 'burnt-out' hairline. At 9 month, lots of new coils have finally recovered from the shock of the 'lye' and are creeping out again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Increasing length from month 2 to month 10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Braid-out set: Months 2, 4 and 8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Styled Braid-out set: Month 1 and Month 10

Fourth Retightening of Sisterlocks

I found my camera and guess where it was?

Behind my computer monitor!

So I'm back to posting sisterlocks photos. Sorry, I couldn't post the last shampoo, but here are some photos from before, during and after my fourth retightening.

Lot's of new growth the day before my fourth sisterlocks retightening

Me during my fourth sisterlocks retightening session

My hair is growing much faster now that summer is approaching. I went swimming once as well. I also have a big ol' head with lots and lots of sisterlocks. So my retightening took about 6 hours - and Cia works fast.

Me, stylin' and profilin' after my fourth Sisterlocks retightening

Fourth Month Sisterlocks Braid-out

After four months and three retightenings, I'm seeing less perm and more locs! Here is a photo of my latest braid-out set. Compare to the close up to my original braid-out photos (0 month label).

This is a shot of my hair just after removing my bendable rods. I am making the braids smaller now since my hair has grown out a bit, in order to get more wave, fullness and lift in the locked portion. Also, I can use bendable rods because I am setting only the permed ends on the rods. The actual locs will set better on hard perm rods. On the other hand, many people swear by soft curlers like Soft Spikes or Loc Loops - they are much more comfortable to sleep on!

Here's a recent texture shot.

A Nostalgic HUCM Reunion

I debated with myself whether I would post just which reunion this was for us. I can't describe the feeling of seeing people you haven't seen in 20 years, but with whom you shared so many emotional and character building experiences as healers in training.

Tears threatened to spill over more than once when I laid eyes on many of my classmates after so many years. And we fell right back into conversation as if we had seen each other yesterday.

The weekend was fun, but bittersweet. It really made me acutely aware of my own mortality and the fact that the older I get, the faster the years seem to pass me by.

We graduated, we blinked, we were 20 years older.

Live in the now y'all, live in the now.