Sunday, February 22, 2009

I washed and re-twisted my locs!

Yes family....I am crazy excited about this new venture.

Having locs is freedom but I always felt dependent on my loctician. And I didn't get this way until I started planning trips. I would look at my calendar and be like,

"Dang, if I leave on the 14th I need to make an
appointment on the 12
th,"

It got frustrating. I want my hair to look beautiful while I make my travels but my schedule didn't always work out with my loctician's schedule. What's a girl to do?

Um....do her own damn hair! I've been doing it for almost 4 years since I've been natural so why stop now?

And I did...

Big ups to my newly appointed loc'tor (that's a mentor of locs) BSquared86. I spent a good hour looking through her Fotki photo albums. Her hair texture seems to be similar to mine and I love how she updates each month and shows comparison photos. She inspired me!

So....I washed my hair with Dr. Bonner's Magic soap. I added a little tea tree oil to it and concentrated on my scalp....you know I've got that dandruff issue.

I gently rinsed and then used my Oyin Honey Hempy Conditioner. I let that sit for a minute and then checked out the hair to see if the locs were doin' okay....they were!





Here I am frettin' that I would wash my babies out and all they did was puff up. I gently rinsed...

Look how clean my hair looks!



....the inner afro-hippie in me secretly wants me to rock my locs just like that. Free, nappy and beautifully messy. But alas the classy chic lady won this round.


I made a mixture of shea butter, olive oil and aloe vera gel.



I sat down for a good 2 hours and palm rolled each twist. THIS video shows how that works. Although I should add that this lady has "dreadlock extensions" . WTF are dreadlock extensions? I have an attitude about that the way I have an attitude about weaves but that's another post for another day.


I clipped down the locs and added some of that black paper stuff on the edges. This is what my loctician uses to keep the hair slick in the front.



Then I sat under the dryer for a good 20 minutes.

Yes, I use heat. Very little and on a low temp.

The results....



Not bad for my first attempt! I was elated. I thought that I would miss some of the locs in the back but I managed to re-twist each and every one. I will post pictures of how they look in a few days. I'm thinking I can do this myself from now on!

I will cancel my appointment with my loctician and visit her at the end of March.

DIY maintenance. I'm lovin' it!

Peace and loc've

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I love it!!!! I'm amazed at your growth!!! Having locs really is complete freedom... you did a great job!

Amina said...

yay!! I loove both pictures:after wash and post twisting!
glad to see you're also doing shea butter...i love it in moderation on my hair too.
I am doing a deep treatment as i type this :)
can you do a video when you get a chance about how you retwist?

Bsquared86 said...

Yay! It worked out well! Your hair looks great! Your hair color is adding to my itch to color my hair.

Thank you for the shout out, I am so honored!*blushing* I can credit the hundreds of fotki albums out there for giving me that extra boost of confidence to loc. They truly keep me motivated.

I think that knowing how to DIY is so cost efficient in this economy. And you also get a chance to get to know your hair and personally feel the changes.

See ya on twitted!

Wes said...

Wow you did a really good job- That's right save yo' money honey! Practice makes perfect soon you'll be able to charge a fee!

Anonymous said...

YAY!!! You did such a wonderful job!

Hijabi Apprentice said...

Wow! You did a great job!