7 Months and Puffy

So on December 19 I was officially sisterlocked for 7 months. I had some pictures on my phone after I did a soft spike set post-retightening but they inadvertently got erased. For now all I have is one not-so-good pic from days later after all the curls fell.



My locs in the back are puffy. They have swollen some, which I am told is a natural part of the locking process, but the ones in the front haven't changed much. Here is one of my locs and you can see it is a little fatter than when I first started:












I am getting some balls at the end of my locs but most of them end up falling off so I don't know that it's actually locking yet. Here are some close up pics of some locs that I think are beginning to seal:












I'm still being patient with my hair and just letting it do its thing. Just for fun, here is a comparison pic of the back of my hair at day one and at about 6 1/2 months:

Paranoid about Parts

OK, I think I am starting to obsess over having the perfect parts. I think I will mention it to my consultant at my next retightening. I am beginning to notice that my parts aren't as straight as they used to be. It's not that big a deal but now it's starting to bother me because I generally flat twist the front of my hair so parts are important. Towards the middle it's starting to look a little scraggily. The pics below are after my last retightening and BEFORE a shampoo. What do you think?

Back View

May 22

Dececmeber 22

Top View

May 22

Dececmeber 22

Styling Suggestions Anyone?

It's been about 6 1/2 months since my installation and I still love my sisterlocks. I have to admit I haven't been doing much styling lately. With short hair it is a challenge and I usually am content with my usual freestyle look.

I tried a braidout today and I was happy with it. It was actually by accident because I was scratching my hair and some of my flat twists in the front started to unravel and I noticed my hair had a little wave to it. So I braided up the rest of it but I didn't have much time to let it set so the waves weren't that tight. When my hair is longer I am sure I will like this look more and also when I am able to use products (setting lotion, etc.) so the curls will stay longer.

Here are my pics:

6 Months Sisterlocked!

It's finally been six months! Here are some pictures I took after my retightening. I am happy with my progress so far...

Back View	Top View
Right Side	Left Side

Day 1 - Month 5 Comparison Shots

I thought this would be a good point to do some comparison pics to see how my hair has changed over the past 5 months.


Here is a comparison of the back view of my hair from day 1 and 5 months (today). I think it has grown some and is a little fuller than it was on the first day.



This comparison is of the left side. I had some spots on the sides of my hair that had broken off really bad from some braids that were too tight. Now it's finally starting to look normal again.



The right side is one of the most dramatic comparisons. As you can see, my hair had broken off so bad on the right side I actually had some spots that were almost bald :-( I'm happy to say after 5 months, you can hardly tell I ever had this problem. I can still tell it's shorter on the sides but at least I have some hair! :-)

5 Months Sisterlocked!

Today I am officially 5 months sisterlocked! Here are my 5 month pics after my retightening:

Four Month Pictures

Here are my pictures I took last month around the 4 month mark. I think I had just washed my hair and hadn't done much of anything with it...so here it is...

Approaching 5 months

Ok, so its been a while since I've posted. This weekend I will be officially 5 months sisterlocked!

I will have more pictures then after a retightning. I'm still braiding and banding (sorta) and don't really have problems with slippage anymore. I am getting balls at the end of some of my locks but they mainly just come off. I notice a little growth but only after retightenings, but not too many changes in my hair besides that.

I took 4 month pictures, even though I didn't post them yet, but I will post them soon.

3 Months Sisterlocked

Here are my 3 month pics. I have a better digital camera now so these are a little more detailed. You can really see the texture of my hair. These are pre-retightening pics. I will have more soon!

2 Months Sisterlocked!

2 months sisterlocked and I already feel like a veteran :-) So far 2 people that didn't know I was getting sisterlocks have actually identified my hair as sisterlocks, and a few others as locks. So far I am still happy with my hair. It is going through its changes. I notice I have more loose hair then I did when I first got my hair locked. I'm still braiding and banding and almost out of starter shampoo.

Here are some 2 month pics:

Back View



Braid Out




Left Side, Front Flat Twisted


Right Side

Dream Kitchen

After looking through some of the SL lifestyle journals I noticed the dream kitchen pictures, which prompted me to check out my hairline in the back (never looked before):



I love the feeling of no longer worrying about my "kitchen" being unsightly. Yet another benefit of SLs :-)

Here is a pic after my last retightening. The front seems to be growing out some :-)

Week 6

Here are some week 6 pics...overall I still love my SLs and like wearing the curls and corn rows.






I had some slippage after I went on vacation and my hair got wet (not all of it, just the front and back from snorkeling). Some completely unravelled. I knew the spots that were really short wouldn't survive the salt water.

To prevent further unravelling, I tried shampooing my hair with only the starter shampoo. I usually use the Knotty Boy shampoo to get my scalp clean and then use the starter shampoo on my SLs. I figured I'd give it a shot since I hadn't actually tried using just the starter shampoo. I was pessimistic after reading everyone's blogs about dry scalp. Low and behold, the trend held true for me too. My scalp didn't itch much but was very dry. I used ACV with it too and that still didn't help. From now on I will go back to my regular routine.

One Month Locked Up!

So it's been one month since I got my sisterlocks. I didn't blog on my one month lociversary because I was out of town but here are the pics I took on the 19th:


(Left - Day 1, Right - Month 1)This was after I washed my hair and did nothing to it. You can see the texture has changed some since my installation.


(Left - Day 1, Right - Month 1)

Right now I'm pretty much just wearing a freestyle although the front of my hair was twisted in this pic. I can feel a difference, and I think the starter shampoo is really helping my hair along. I have some balls forming at the ends already. I have a pic of that but it's hard to see, I may post it if I can clean it up some.

I am getting retightened in another week and then I'll be on my four week schedule. I still have some slippage in the back and the front in the really short spots, and going to the beach didn't help. I didn't submerge my head in the water but the back did get wet. I may just two strand twist those areas for now until my retightening...I'll just have to remember to take them out :-) All in all I'm still enjoying the journey and watching the change my hair is going through.

First Retightening

I had my first retightening this past weekend and I am glad to report my consultant said my locks are progressing nicely so far and they look really good. I was glad to hear this because after two shampoos I had some slippage, but nothing out of the ordinary. I don't have any pre-retightening pics after I shampooed my hair for the 2nd time, but here are some post-retightening pics: