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.

Two Month Check-in and 2nd Reti

I'm celebrating two months Sisterlocked this week! I also got my second retightening today. I only had slippage in the last row in the back. It was expected, due to the jackets, turtleneck collars, and scarves rubbing the little locks out. Plus it's the shortest and finest hair on my head. That area will likely be the last to lock.

I'm still wearing a braid out, but I want to start experimenting with curling my locks with rollers and rods. I did a quick experiment this morning that came out pretty cute. I was in a rush after shampooing my hair so I did a braid out in the front and secured the ends with rollers. In the back, where there's hardily any relaxer, I used larger rollers. It came out fairly decent. I think I can work with it. The first two pics are before my retightening, and the last two are afterwards.

 

I didn't notice a lot of changes in my SLs this past month. A few buds here and a few buds there, I guess they are doing their thing, . I am excited that I'm starting to see a little growth. My locks won't be short forever, so I'm enjoying this phase of my journey.