MeShi's and Magdalene's Locs

Just thought I would share a photos of MeShi & Magdalene.

MeShi Avery with beautiful, mature sisterlocks with Auburn highlights

MeShi is a licensed counselor and she coordinates the lectures of Dr. Ray Hagins when he speaks here in Atlanta, usually every third Saturday. She had mature and beautiful sisterlocks with a few streaks of color.

I met Magdalene at Barnes and Nobles Bookstore in Buckhead last night. She was gracious enough to allow me to take two photographs. But it is a small world - we discovered that we know several people in common both personally and professionally. I think she said Sophia does her hair!

Magdalene with a coiled coif of traditional locs

Her traditional locs were curled on hard plastic perm rods - she said that it takes about 3 hours to wash, retighten, set, dry and style her hair.

Nappy, Kinky, Coily, Highly Textured Hair

Well, you've decided.

You prefer the term 'kinky' to describe our hair with a little over one-third of you voting for 'kinky'. Highly textured came in a close second at 28%. Coily hair was your least favorite.

I was surprised that 'Nappy' came in at only 12% since it seems so popular these days. Websites like Nappturality and slogans like "Happy to be Nappy" can be found all over the web.

Confidentially, I have never particularly cared for all the 'nappy' rage. Anyone in marketing who has had to brand a product knows that it is much harder to 'spin' a word with a negative connotation positive than it is to 'brand' a new term!

I prefer tightly coiled, highly textured hair. The phrase is too long to ever become popular, but there you have it - my favorite.

Dr. Welsing, an old professor of ours and author of The Isis Papers, is fond of the term 'helix hair,' reminiscent of DNA. I find the term 'helix hair' very layered in meaning since Afrika gave birth to human kind and human civilization!

Hotep

(Read a more recent post about 'texturizers' here)

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!

African Faces in Kemet (Egypt)

Mike with two brothers from the city of Aswan

Shampooing Sisterlocks

Phyllis the Videolocktician has uploaded another wonderful video.

I must suggest, however, that you discuss any products mentions with your consultant. I've been sisterlocked for 7 months and still use the starter shampoo. Remember that if you are a newbie, you must bind your hair before washing.

I am partial to diluting shampoo in an industrial spray bottle for ease of application, but Phyllis just slathers it on!

Sisterlocked and other Natural Sistahs on the Study Tour of Ancient Kemet

We're back! Safe and sound on Terra firma after an 11 hour flight from Cairo to New York City. Before every Egypt Air flight, a prayer for safe travel in Arabic is played. I didn't understand what was said, but was happy to know everyone was on one accord and affirming for our safe arrival!

What a life altering experience! Our examination of the tombs and temples of Egypt with an emphasis on the Afrikan origin of the concepts and stories that we find in the 3 major western religions was fascinating. I am likely to blog more than once about what we did, where we went, what we saw and what we learned!

But today, I want to introduce you to some of my new friends who shared in this great adventure with us - wonderful, beautiful sisters and a few handsome brothers too!

Naomi (weave extension - Cairo Airport)

Robert (palm-rolled traditional locs - alabaster factory in Luxor)

Mikey (short fade - Tomb of the Nobles in Aswan)

Ben (uncultivated traditional locs - cruising under the Aswan Bridge - sorry for the blur!)

Sharon S. (sisterlocked 2 years - the Giza Plateau)
Sharon H. (palm-rolled traditional locs - the Great Pyramid at Giza)
Diane (Kinky twist extensions - the 'New Ark' of Pharoah Khufu)
Michelle (two strand twists - on the Giza Plateau)

Me, in Cairo, at the Conrad Hotel overlooking the Nile River!

Finally, at Dashur, with Dr. Ray Hagins who is sporting his signature "skinny" under his cap.

Go to http://www.wblr.com/ and create an account to view more photos of this years tour. Plans for the 2009 trip are already underway!

More to come!

Kemet, here we come!

Only 4 days left before we go on a study tour of ancient Kemet! I got my 7th retightening yesterday. Amba was in a groove. She had a rhythm going!

On Amba's front porch

These two times that she has done my hair, I have helped her discover some new functionality of the hydraulic chair that she bought from Cia before Cia (Kinky Awakening) move back to her beloved Panama!

Last month, we figured out how to recline the chair. Yesterday, we figured out how to raise the headrest.

Retightened and Ready for our pilgrimage

Mike and I are going on the New Mind Study Tour of Egypt for about two weeks with Dr. Ray Hagins. In fact, I am blogging from New York now. We leave tonight from JFK!

"Study Tour" makes it sound more like school and less like fun, but I have a sneaking suspicion that we are going to have a fascinating and fun time. My friend, Naomi (see "Young Physician of the Year" post), and another friend, Albert, will be going as well.

I saw Wendy (see the "A New Sisterlocks Newbie" post) before I left Georgia and she asked me, "When are you going to update that blog!" Well, I've been rather lax this summer with regard to posting and since I'll be away most of August, I can't imagine blogging more than 2 or 3 times this month...but I hope to get revved up in the Fall.

Retightening just completed

Amba tells me that I have some good entangling going on and suprisingly little bunching where my new growth meets my permed ends. She says that I can likely stop binding my hair to wash it by next month. I might be able to use the sisterlocks moisture treatment by Winter without fear of excessive slippage.

Wish us safe passage! A travel photo post will likely follow :o)

J Anthony Brown Murders the Hits

Thought I would give us some comic relief from this 'mental' recession.

I guess y'all noticed that gas is kinda high :o)

July '08 Sisterlocks Photos

I'm surprised by the traffic this blog has received in spite of the paucity of posts over the past several weeks!

Here are some photos from last week - I was playing around with my camera.

My 'Maryee' Pose

Maryee has a photo of herself on her website where she is holding up her tresses, gazing demurely into the camera - one of my favorite photos on her website!

I'll try to post again before the end of the month.

Maryee's Sisterlocks Testimony

Speaking of Maryee...

I found some wonderful sisterlocks video testimonies on Maryee's website that were recorded at a Dallas Sisterlocks gathering. She posted them about two years ago when she had been sisterlocked about 3 years.

I guess it's OK to 're-gift' this one to my readers since it is posted on Google video and had an 'embed' code!

The re-run is worth it!




Go here to check out the original post and all the other wonderful sisterlocks testimonies!

5th Sisterlocks Retightening: Amba put her foot in it!

Well, today is the third day after my first retightening with Amba. Y'all know Amba from her blog, I'm sure!

Like Cia, Amba operates her business in a very professional way. She is on time, has a dedicated area in her home for clients and keeps distractions and phone calls to a minimum out of respect for her clients' time!

Great job! Just the right amount of tension and parts well preserved!

No curly ends above - just washed it the very same morning...

...but by day 3 I'm back to my favorite texture with a wavy locked base and curly ends! (braid-out set)

My braid-out is taking a slightly longer time to dry. I'm compensating by braiding and rolling my hair while damp (not soaked) and by sitting under the dryer for an hour or so. It might dry quicker and with less heat if I used hard perm rollers instead of 1/4 inch flexibles, but the flexible rollers are so easy to use and easier to sleep in.

I'll be seeing Amba again at the next Atlanta Sisterlocks meetup and then on August 4rth for my next retightening!