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: