Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Pipe Cleaner curls on Short Sisterlocks!


Can short Sisterlocks be curled using pipe cleaners? You bet. I tried it and here's the results!


I took the pipe cleaner and cut it in half.  I then bent each cut piece in half and twisted it together leaving a loop at the pend.  After shampooing and towel drying hair, I took 4-5 locks and wrapped them around the pipe cleaner and bent the end.  I slept in the PCs overnight.  In the morning I removed the PCs.  The results were short spirally curls.  Because my hair holds a curl quite well, the spirals did not loosen up as much as I expected.  It was still a great style to pull back the sides as a faux hawk or pair up with a headband.


Celebrating 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 months!

I'm playing catch up!  Between my 6th and 7th month, I took 4 trips.  My hair held up wonderfully, until I got on a boat in Miami.  The sea air straightened out all of my curls  and it really did not look that great when I went out that night because I couldn't get it curly again.  It's very strange, using a curling iron on my permed hair made it straighter instead of curly.
My hair is enjoying the sea breeze, but I will pay for it later.

It was then that I decided to cut my relaxed ends.  I thought my SLs were long enough to carry on without the straight ends.  I have to admit, I wasn't totally happy with the result.  I didn't really like the way my consultant cut my ends.  I was like she was rushed and she was grabbing and clipping.  She didn't cut too far, I guess I just thought it would have been a more "gentler" process.  I guess I was a little sensitive about cutting away my past.

After I saw what I was left with, I was a little unhappy.  The top was now about an inch shorter than the sides and all the looks I had worn for the past few months were a thing of the past.  I had to create new styles. I don't have any pics immediately afterwards, I guess I just didn't want to remember a time when I was unhappy with my SLs.

My wash and wear freestyle.  Love it!
The unhappiness soon faded and I started to rock some new styles.  It was great to be able to shampoo my hair and let it air dry.  The locks appear shorter and fuller when I do this, even a little frizzy. But I love the freedom!

One other thing I experienced was stray permed ends kept popping up!  Even now, 4 months after cutting them off, I still notice a straight end here or there.  Did anyone else have that experience?

I also think that the permed ends slowed the locking process, particularly the ends.  At 10 months, I have more and more buds at the end. My ends also tend to be a little puffy.  The ends are taking a little longer than the rest to mature, but I guess it's understandable.

I was never really interested in self tightening, but I now have a good reason to learn.  The last row nearest my neck always unravels.  My consultant has to fix them every single time.  And after about three weeks or so, it is loose again.  The hair in that area is softer than the rest of my head and it also gets wet the most through showering and sweating.  I think if I learn to self-maintain, I can repair it before it completely slips and hopefully get it to the locking stage.

Dress it up.  Dress it down  Sisterlocks are always in style!
Over all, it's been great so far.  I truly enjoy having hair that is uniquely me.  No one else has this!  That is the beauty of all natural hair, you never see your same style walk by you on someone else's head.

Monday, September 13, 2010

It's me again, and I'm back!

It's been months since I last posted.  I fully intended to keep this up for at least a year, but life got in the way.  So before my 1 year anniversary on November 11, I will have it all updated with pics and experiences.  For now, here's a recent pic of my freestyle... YES! I cut off the relaxed ends!!!!