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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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Increasing length from month 2 to month 10

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Braid-out set: Months 2, 4 and 8

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Styled Braid-out set: Month 1 and Month 10

Amba cleaned up my kitchen!

We had an all day retightening session on Monday, but I must admit I arrived late and we took a leisurely lunch.

My next retightening will be in four weeks instead of five...and no DIY for me before then (except perhaps in the front, where I can see what I'm doing!)

Sisterlocks: How to make a hot mess of your kitchen

My hair has grown rather fast this summer and I've been getting retightened every five weeks or so instead of every three week as I did just after getting my sisterlocks installed this past winter.

I'm headed for Amba's in the morning and none too soon!

I don't care for a lot of new growth. In fact it bothers me so much that I decided to try my hand at retightening my 'kitchen' which still suffers slippage, especially when I've been swimming.

What a hot mess! Combined locs and overlapping (worse than the photo can show)!

Amba has her job cut out for her tomorrow. I think it may be a long morning. (She's always lurking - I'm just giving her a heads up! ;O)

It's a lot harder to work with a single sisterlock than you might think. Prep the area well with lots of hair clips (and to know what you're doing helps too!).

I've posted, in the past, that I have no intention of ever maintaining my own hair. I still don't. But right about now, I think I'll be checking into the next retightening course in my area - just in case I have to go an extra week or two without retightening next summer!