Today Kreative Blogger Award, Tomorrow an Acadamy Award ..... maybe!!!!

My girl Euphoria has nominated me for a kreativ blogger award. I'm honoured and flattered but i really don't know why as i have been toooo busy with life and have been neglecting my blogging duties.
Anyho i have to nominate 7 peeps and list 7 things that i love so here goes.

1. Has to be my boy Nay Nays. He simply is my everything. xXxXx

2. My fiance. He gets on my last nerve all the bloody time, He makes me laugh when i'm really p****ed off and attempts to calm me down when the temper is suffocating me. Love ya babe xXx

3. Friends and family. I simply adore them. Growing as an only child you quickly learn to appreciate all of those who look out for you!! xXx

4. Fashion. I'm not a follower of fashion and never have been but it is my trade, i have a talent for it. The more outrageous the better.

5. Spirituality. I have a gift and am intent of developing it. Nuff said!

6. Music. If i hadn't had Nay Nays this one would be at the top spot. It soothes my soul, awakens my spirit and cools my temper.

and finally

7. Life. I just reached 30 and have had time to reflect on my past and ponder on my future. I am learning to love this life that i have chosen to live and know that everyday i am faced with challenges that i can conquer, love that i can hold and secret blessings in abundance.

Thank You Jah xXx

DRUM ROLL PLEASE

THE 7 NOMINATIONS ARE

Just Alayio

Euphoria

Nihuru

Chosen Vessel

Angel Locs

Chelle

and finally.....yes you've guessed it...it's

....Naturally Sophia

Products that i am trying

I am sure that u all know by now that i am a resident of the UK, and unfortunately for us over here the quanity of hair products that help with any types of locs or any type of hair for that matter is extremely limited. I have looked at countless blog pages and read great reviews on products that we simply don't have to hand in good ol' blighty!! Do i want to wait 14 - 28 days for certain products to be delivered to me via the internet from the great US of A. Nope. So what i have decided is to try to use as many products available at any one time. Right now that is Jamaica Mango and Lime. The products i have bought so far are : Tingle Shampoo, Protein Conditioner, Lock and Set Styling Lotion and Island Oil. This is not a review as i have not tried out any of the producs yet but i have been told by a few that the shampoo is great. It has a great aroma, it does tingle the scalp so gives the impression that it is doing more than it should, the scalp and hair feels clean afterwards.

I have also decided to purchase 2 packs of perm rollers (each packet containing 12 rods at 2.99) and try a little corkscrew effect. At least this way i will be able to try out all the products at one time !! I won't leave it so long for the pics this time (promise!!.... or am i just comforting a fool!!)

Pics from my 30th Birthday Party

I wished i had taken some pics of the back of this hair style. I had used my xl sponge rollers and curled by whole head. I then flat twisted only two rows at the sides and joined them together at back of my head making sure the curls above it hung losely covering the knot. I then done a large flat twist at the back moving form the left to the right ( you can just make out the clip holding it up). The whole style from taking out the rollers to the finished product took no less than 10 mins. Oh yeah asnd finally you all can see the colour.

This is my bf of 19 years. She has the most beautiful thick hair, but decided to use straighteners on this occasion

I love this pic, with me and my natural girls and guy!!

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