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

Oh, I am such a delinquent sisterlocks blogger!

I have to do better over the holidays, but with the credit crunch and dreaded 'D' word (d*pression) I have been overwhelmed with planning, restructuring, downsizing, retrenching yada, yada, yada - like everyone else.

Anyway, still lovin' my sisterlocks. Below are some sisterlocks photos and a few others.

Above is a photo taken just after my retightening a few days ago. I am standing in front of a photo of Amba with her twin Ama - both of them in braid extensions before their discovery of sisterlocks.

I hate the straights right now! Straight permed ends, that is. But I love my curly braid-out. The photos above show my latest set. My hair has grown since my February installation and the locked portion is swelling now. The difference in texture between the permed ends and locked roots is much more obvious now. This is especially true when my permed-ends are straight.

I still can create the illusion of uniform thickness with a braid-out, though. Again, I use a spray bottle to wet my hair. It is taking longer to dry when soaking wet. The spray bottle allows me to control the degree of saturation. Water is all that I find necessary, but at this point, I sometimes use a little diluted Infusium, 1 part to 3 parts water. Your hair has got to be super dry before you take out the braids. My favorite appliance is a fabric bonnet-like hair dryer attachment that you can connect to a blow dryer. (It's easy to pack for trips as well.)

That's it for tonight.

Below are 'the friends': Brian, Zaire, Daniel and Sydney (the girl)...

at Dixieland Funpark in Fayetteville, Georgia.

Brian ------------Daniel (and Zaire) --------------Sydney