Sorry peeps.
I know its been a while since i blogged but i have been busy, busy, busy with Uni, motherhood etc....etc, plus i have just had it confirmed that i have rheumatism in my fingers on my right hand and it is really painful so with all the drawing, cutting etc with fashion and then using my fingers to type ......... NONO!!
So what is the update with my hair. Firstly my computer was reformatted and so i lost everything, all the pics i had taken of the red head .... SORRY!! Bear with me and i will put up some at some point.
Ok, let me give u a summary of the last 6mths and what i have learnt and what i could have done differently

Avid readers of my blog would know that the word SLIPPAGE was as common with me as using oxygen to breathe. Basically it was bloody awful. Now all seems to be under control. DIY was the answer.

No one to depend on,

i can do the in between upkeep and

saving on that money, money, money

=
yeeeeeeeeeah!!!

So once that was under control i decided to dye my hair RED. What i had to do is:

dye the roots first as they had no colour in them and would take longer to absorb the dye

then take it to the ends

braid and band

rinse

There is no point me lingering on that point cos i know you lot just want the pics LOL

The actual thickening of the locs is causing the most problems. Some of them look like they are loc'd while some of them look like i have just had them installed, some of them i have braided and some of them are half and half, some of the are budding in the middle and some of them are only budding where i have started my D.I.Y journey...... madness........ but i am loving them more now that i am in control

Those of you who are scared of d.i.ying or unsure let me tell ya'll something

TRY IT

I feel that i now know the whole of my head intimately, something i would never have felt if i had continued with Sabs. I know which parts of my head are the problem spots, where it locs quick, where i might have to use a different pattern etc..... Another thing is that my locs are alot thicker when i D.I.Y, where Sabs used to do it it was tight and thin and with me its tight and fat, don't know if that info helps anyone but "there u go!!"
The only bummer is that there are a few that i have accidently loc'd together but at the same time there are some that i could see that Sabs had loc'd tooo thinly and needed to be paired up. Another thing,

Do you know that they are all different sizes and i mean ALL.

I know that they are still in there baby stages but because i have been D.I.Ying i can just tell, and i think that it also has something to do with the fact that the texture of my hair is different in different areas. At the same time i don't mind because i am still lovin the experiance and I GOT LOCS

A New Year and a New Me

Hope you all had a great festive season, ate too much, got drunk and kept the locs looking fierce!!!

So i decided to start my year with a bottle of dark and lovely hair colour........ Now i'm a red head. It's not a new colour for me but one i haven't visited for a long time. Actually Shan never knew what my natural hair colour was until i started the Sl's and we've known each other for nearly 9 years. Throughout the years a regular question i had from him was "What is your hair colour babe" and no matter how many times i would tell him he found it hard to believe. I guess it's one of those cases where seeing is believing.
I've been
blonde, copper, pink, red, blue, burgandy, purple etc.. but i have to say my favourite colour was baby pink. I suppose as a designer or someone who is creative you have to have a bit of eccentricity in your DNA ( and i have more than a bit, in fact i'm just plain crazy!!).

So i plaited and banded put on the dye left for whatever time it said on the bottle and voila RED HEADISH. I say 'ish' because a did mix the dye with a left over colour that i previously used and because i hate waste and didn't want to revert fully back to that colour i done a mix and so far its been described as a redish, auburn and golden just to name a few. Well whateva colour it is i am so glad that i did it because that regrowth of natural colour has been gettin on my last nerve for the longest time. I tell you when Sabs initially told me that i couldn't colour my hair for at least 6 months i nearly changed my mind about the whole thing ( didn't tell u that before did i!!!) . And i nearly waited the full time as i am just shy of that half a year mark. That just goes to show how much colour means to my life. Trivial to some. Everything to me!
And just to summarise for all of those you have asked about the development of my locs now that i am a D.I.Yer. They are coming along alot better thanks.... yeaaaaah!! I have to retighten the front what sees like every other week. I also do repair work on all of them in between retightening sessions as i have noticed there has been alot of unravelling where Sabs had done her "work" Basically they have all budded at the ends but i noticed that not alot was happening beyond that. Then i noticed that the pattern was not there and these buds were hanging with no where to go so i put the pattern back which took forever and ever and ever but hey if you want something you dedicate and get on with it don't you??

My New Love For Soft Rollers

Well i finally bought some rollers (soft). They were 1.79 for a pack of 9 xl so i bought 3 packs and i think they are one of the best things i've done. I love the curl they give plus the fact that they last at 3 days. They also highlight the individual strands of locs as opposed to letting it hang freestyle (well in my case anyway). So the first time round i asked my mum to do it for me as i have never worn rollers in my life. Once that effect had worn off i gave it a try but instead of leaving them in over night i only had a couple of hours grace period and i didn't put the rollers as close to the scalp and it gave a really really nice looser hangin curl.. ( i just wish i had taken a couple of pics)

Here are the pics of my mums helping hand.....love ya mum

If i do not post anything for the rest of the year then i do wish all of you a

FANTASTIC START TO 2009

How to DIY

Okay peeps this is my simple instructions (hopefully) on how to DIY. So im gonna tell you the pattern needed only if your are pattern 3 or 4 (because that's all i know!) and how to make a quick and easy tool.

THE TOOL

All you need are a safety pin, masking tape, scissors (the sectioning clips and snips are for when your ready to get going through those luscious locs)

Firstly unwind the safety pin leaving one side bent

Then close in the loose end and tape around with the masking tape

Lastly cut of the excess and there you are your own TOOL!!!! ( now wasn't that easy)

THE PATTERN

Right i need you to look at a clock in your minds eye. Done that....Good!!! Now focus on the 12, 3 6 and 9 because these are the directions that you will be heading in

PATTERN 3

The structure for pattern 3 is 9, 6, 9, 12 So this is what you do.

• Place your loc through the tool
• Your gonna take your tool to the position of 3 o'clock and push it through to 9 o'clock
• Next take the tool to 12 o'clock and push it down to 6 o'clock
• Then we go back to 3 o'clock and push it through to 9
• Lastly we go from 6 o'clock up to 12
• Repeat until tightened

IMPORTANT INFO

When pushing the tool through make sure you pull it down towards your locs so that way you can ensure that the pattern you put in starts where the last one ended!!! Otherwise you end up with a hole.!!

PATTERN 4

• Follow the first to steps of pattern 3
• Then you go from 9 0'clock to 3 o'clock
• And then lastly from 6 to 12

TIPS

• Use the sectioning clips to seperate out what your going to be doing
• Ensure that the loc you are attempting to do is clear from any neighbouring hair
• Use the snips to free any caught locs or strands of hair (Trust me it will happen)

GET D.I.Ying

The Latest On My Loc Saga

Soooooo whats new well i have finally started on the retightening...well i started a few days ago and was sooo alarmed at the state of my hair. I'm telling u now ladies that is the very last time i allow myself to rely on someone else to care for my hair.......If you need something doing well its best to do it yourself huh!!! What's the big alarm...Check this out.............

Yes Ladies not one loc but 2 have fallen out of my head or should i say have broken off. Loc 1 was hanging on by a single hair and as for loc 2 i ran my hand through my head and there it was.

I feel the reason is there has been too big of a gap between the tightening sessions so take note!!!! I'm not really as pissed as i thought i would have been. There are still 445 to go so no big deal.......really!!

Any ho i am still retightening but am petrified of the hair line. Everytime i have my hair did within a couple of days the front is gone so there i am sitting done with tool in hand when my phone starts ringing. I'm thinking to myself i should ignore as i got so much to get through....(why are these locs so damn small???) i checkout the caller id and see its a loong distance call so i answer and its my ex from JA. Actually im friends with alot of my exes i know it sounds kinda stupid but we got on once upon a time, anyway think of the karma, he he. Anyway to cut a long story short i am telling him what i am doing and about the hairline, here is part of our convo that really got me thinking..

"Ah so u loc it up now"

"yep, its called Sisterlocks"

"Sistawho?"

"Sisterlocks"

"A wha dat?"

"Errr locs"

"Nah man a money makin ting dat"

"who said anything about money"

"it free?"

"No"

"how much"

"enough"

"Englan tun u fool ee gyal, u nah no locs is free"

so i went on to tell him about the price of installation and retightening and the problem with the hairline the response was something along the lines of

"u a ra@# edyat, u tun bumbac$#t fool a musee mad puss piss u a drink. Plait up de fu#$ing front and na budda wid dem fuc%ery, Do it your damn self, Jah nah gi u two han"

I soon began to realise why he is my ex but also why i was with him in the first place. He was not always the most supportive partner but he always told the truth!!

So that is what i am doing plaiting the front and once it needs retightening i will use the SL or should i say the Ezme method as i have not taken any classes!!!

hopefully because it is plaited it will stay alot longer than before. Fingers crossed !!!

For Better Or Worse

Ladies thank you all for your advice over the last two posts but l have done some serious thinking and have come to a conclusion. Knowing me this light bulb moment will only last a few days but its how im feelin right now so i'm gonna go with that

So, here is Ezmes masterplan... i'm gonna see Sabs on the 13th but before that i'm going to invest in one of the loc keys that Cammalocks are selling.

Can you see where this is going?????????????

Unlike most of you, for me each retightening has turned into some type of installation and i don't know if you have noticed from the pics of me but i have big eyes...huge in fact and those eyes have been watching the pattern that has been going on in my head.

What can i say ... it aint rocket science is it??

And if i can be on hand to catch the locs before they completely slip out then its a bonus for me. Soooooooooooo after the next retightening im gonna have a try of a bit of DIY hopefully and i do say hopefully sticking to the pattern that has already been started. (If not then there is alot of advice out there on youtube full of sistah doin it for themselves).

Does that mean i no longer have SL's????........

....... with my answer being.............

Do i really care, as long as my locs are healthy, growing and something that i am proud to have invested in!!!

If i can get the hang of this self retightening then its all good and i more than likely will pop back to see Sabs and have a touch up but if i can't get the hang of it then its off to a new consultant. Because come Jan i will be at my six months mark and i really cannot see the results that not only i think i should have but what all this money, travel and effort should have produced!!

She is Lovely

I just spoke to Marie from Cammalocks and unfortunately she has a long list for everything from consulting to retightening to installation......very busy + in demand = must be DAMN GOOD!!

Anyho what a lovely person to speak to. She simply sends such beautiful and calming sensations down the phone it is unbelievable. Why didn't i just hold on and have her do my hair...and the funny thing is that i was on her waiting list and the day she called me i was already half way through my installation.

All i know is i don't care how long i have to wait (she said something about March) i am gonna try and make this lady become my permanent loctition...for real!!!

Now guys the big question is do i go back to Sabs for the meantime or do i continue to look for someone new. Bearing in mind that i the season of good will is upon us...will there be and availability out there for me. My next session is booked for the 13th.

Maybe i'm gonna have to talk it out with Sabs...bwoy i better carry plenty of cammomile tea with me for that!!