Ok, I broke down and retwisted my locs after a long break. We had our appt to get our portraits done on sunday, Mar 9, so I decided instead of washing and rolling I would wash, retwist and roll. The hair came out quite nice, as did the portraits. We did a formal sitting and then a casual sitting. My favorites are the casuals. We are going to take the little ones to get theirs done next week, and then the whole family shabang after that. Here's one of the casuals. I guess because it is from a portrait studio it won't allow you to click on it and enlarge it. Any hoo, this is me and my boo. April 20 we will be legal for 12 yrs, ya'll! Smooches! Have a Happy Friday!

Ho hum

Just in a ho hum kinda mood right now. Update on locs: still no curlz, still no retwist. Been kinda lazy in that area. Still just doing my wash and go. My locs were really crunchy feeling so I did a good clarifying wash, acv soak and condition. Honestly, they felt like straw! But after all of that good ole attention, I got them feeling extra pull em soft.. :o) So lets see, I havent twisted since around Jan 9 or so, and it is now Mar 5, so I am headed into that 8 wk realm. Its all good. I may twist for Easter, then again I may not. Me and hub dubs are headed to the studio to take some portraits for our upcoming anniversary. 12 yrs of marital bliss. Sooo for the weekend,I am going to curl really nice for the portrait. Been together much longer than that though. 12 yrs is a loooong time to make it in a marriage this day and age. I am very proud of us. Prior to us becoming legal we dated for many yrs. So we have almost 20 yrs together! Can you believe it! Thats my boo and wouldnt exchange him for anyone else in this ole world.. As Crazy as I am about LL and Vin Diesel, they could knock my door down and say ,"come to me", and I would be like, thank you , but I better stick with what I know. I have mucho amor para mi marido! Who would know me better? He helps to balance me.. You know. Smooches to my boo!

For the free flowin....

Just thought I would show I am still a no curls kinda girl... :o) I can do it!

Me in Rare form.....

Here I am in the straightness. I am forever curling my hair,but decided to freeflow it for a while. This winter weather is reaking so much havoc on my locs! Wearing hats with curls tend to smash my curls and then I gotta go in the bathroom refluff and restyle.... Too much work... Anyhoo, I washed like regular, conditioned, oiled, shake, shake, shake and allowed them to airdry. Started to roll and just said nah. Decided to just pin a few down so they wouldnt stick straight out and went to bed. Got up and let the shower do a little misting, shake, shake, shake, and went on my way.... I was happy with the end result. Now if I could only get my hair to grow all together and not in layers I would be estatic.... the ones in the back really aren't that scraggly, but the other layer is in my collar. Didnt flip em out before I took the picture. :o) Oh, and just so you will know, I have not twisted my hair since like January 9 or somewhere along in there. I like it like that too. Love the mainucured scalp look at times and other times I want fullness. Something that I have noticed is that even though I combined my locs they are still small. Its like they were never combined???? Now I have read somewhere along the way that the locs swell, condense and then swell again?? Any veterans that are reading this can correct me. I have maybe one or two that are still fat. I REALLY love those.. *sighing* Overall, I am still loving my locs, ya'll. :o) Oh and just so you know, I have been TAGGED! I am still tweaking that post. Trying to figure out how I can link the taggers in my post and not necessarily put them on the side w/ my other links. I would love for people to be able to just click their name in the post and go straight to their blog. Anyhooooooo, I'll get that post up very very soon..... Have a GREAT Tuesday!
Grace and Peace,
~Fe~

I made it!

Well, yesterday was my 1 yr locday! I made it peeps. I don't know I thought it would be magical or something, but it wasnt.:) I guess that is what happens when you read too many loc blogs and stalk too many loc albums. Perhaps it is just the fact that I toughed it out for 1 whole yr. Its like if I can do that, I can do anything.:o) At any rate, I am happy that my locs are officially 1 and I can now look forward to what lies ahead. Its like the months leading to a yr are in the blind, but now I feel like the months after this yr mark are going to be eyes wide open, ya know. My routine hasn't changed much from the beginning. I think the only thing that I do differently now is that I only twist between every 4 to 8 weeks, and I do use an ACV rinse, and CONDITIONER faithfully. In the beginning, I would wash every 2 weeks and retwist when I washed. I stayed away from conditioner because "hairboards said" to stay away in the beginning. I really realized that my hair is my hair and I know what my hair likes. My hair loves conditioner, and guess what still does even in the loced state. Ok, so let me give a recap of the last yr in locs:

`I started my locs Jan 28 2007
~I combined my locs in September 2007
~In December 2007 I separated 2 of my combined locs( they were HUGE)
~I have maintained my locs my palmrolling. I tried latching, but it just wasnt for me
~I began styling my locs as of day 1. Rolled em w/ perm rollers and have been doing it every since
~ Prior to locing my hair, I dyed my hair a red color, but have not done so since. I have never really been a "color" person, but I wanted to do something new w/ the birth of my locs. :o)
~At month 4, my locs ceased unraveling during my wash
~I was 99.9 % totally loced by 7 months
~In Jan 2008 I combined 4 more thin locs and allowed them to remain as 2 heads
~I busted up a loc in the back that was really really long,(longer than all other locs) but not totally loced and wrapped the remaining hairs around 3 adjacent locs
~My locs love conditioner
~My scalp loves to be oiled (always has and I think will continue)
~I use a creme base product to retwist my locs sometimes
~I use Nature's Blessing to retwist a lot(unless I am out)
~I wash when I want and as rough as I want. My scalp loves a good beat down :o)
~I retwist once every month or 2 (4-8wks)
~My hubby loooooooves ooh la la la to massage my scalp. (When I was a permie, he NEVA did that! I wonder if its because I gave him that you betta NOT mess up my hair look) lol
~My sons think it is so righteous that their mom is loced. They send their friends to me to wash and retwist their hair.. :o)
~I don't cover my hair at night. I just sleep on a pillow that has an old slip over it as a pillowcase. :O) ha ha ha Hey it works for ME!
~I stopped reading a whole lot of hair boards about waht to do and what not to do. In all honesty it made the process a little more than it needed to be..... nuff said
~I stoppped buying every single thing I read about locs and what was good for em. What works for you may not work for me. I am happy with the products that I have found to work for me and thats it. Just another way to get me spend UNNECESSARY money!
~ My staple products are as follows:
*White Rain regular shampoo (its clear JUST like suave clarifying)
* Suave coconut shampoo
*Suave coconut conditioner
*Apple cider vinegar (even though the white does just as good)
*Isoplus molding creme
*Natures Blessing hair pomade (when I have it)
~I used to use these products, but just decided it was too much of a hassle trying to keep up w/ the "hair joneses"
* rosemary e/o
* castor oil
*aloe vera juice
* any and all Jamaican Mango product.
~Now in all honesty, I will go back to the castor oil and the aloe vera juice when the weather warms up. I used that in a water bottle in the summer and my hair loved it, so I guess they could be put into seasonal rotation. :o) The rosemary is ok. I spent too much $ to just throw it away, so I guess I'll go back to it eventually????? One thing about it, my hair will grow at its own pace. I have never had a problem w/ growth, so I dont even know WHY I was trippin about it growing w/ locs...... Any hoo, thats that. I love my locs and think they fit me/personality more so than ANYthing I have EVER dont to my hair. Do I feel more spiritual? No,Do I feel more empowered, sorta. Its a commitment, and its not something that you will gain overnight...I am proud of my accomplishments thus far cause I know it took some perservering just to get to this point. So with that, I shall loc on....Hope that you have a GREAT Tuesday!
Grace and Peace,
~Fe~

Guess What Ya'll.....

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Trying to find my coloring..

Ok,you know how they have the coloring charts; cool, warm, summer, blah blah balh. You get my drift, right? Well anyway, lately I have been struggling with what my colors are. For EVER and day I have always worn black. My staple color. I always thought it looked nice on me. Well, now after doing some reading I'm figuring out why I look like I had a ruff night and really didnt. The WRONG colors honey. Aint that a blip. So, now I am leaving my area of familiarity and venturing out. I wore olive green the other day, and got CRAZY compliments. So olive green is a good color for me. When I wore my hot pink one day got so so compliments, so thats a maybe color. Wore my black, "you feeling ok today"? LOL Too funny. That is my rant for today. Its Friday, so happy Friday, ya'll!