23 days later....

It has been 23 days since my installation.

Lock Count
Needless to say that I am happy about getting sisterlocked but somehow I thought I'd have more than a mere 380 locks. I've always been told I have a thick head of hair and that my hair is dense... and even the loctician said I had a big circumference etc... so I thought I'd have about 500 locks or near to that. I don't know what the word is to describe what I think about the count because I guess I have a misture of happiness (that I'm locked), disappointed in the lock count, happy it's not more because eventually I'll be self-maintaining. So that's it in a nutshell.

It still looks great and I have gotten tons of compliments but I'm thinking about the future and how it will look when it gets mature. Didn't want them to be too big but right now I'm just trying to get over that obsession and I have been encouraged so I'm taking it heartily.

Itchiness
Surprisingly, I thought I'd be experiencing some great itchiness as I've seen others describe however, in that first week there was very little itching and I think it was more duet to the tightness of the locks themselves more than my scalp. I washed after about a week and it went well. I had no problems with the elastic bands that came with the starter kit. I diluted the shampoo and sprayed however it took about the fourth wash for it to start lathering. I diluted it less the second time around and got lathering by the third wash. Because my hair is long I did not have any problems getting to my scalp. I totally forgot to seperate the locks... I just waited for it to air dry abit and then pulled out all the braids. After about three hours I remembered and did the seperation thing.

After that first week I have hardly had any itching at all. Nothing unusual or unbearable at all. I am wondering if I should still brace for it later on or what but we'll see.

Preparation for Bed
Well, my consultant did advise that I braid/plait my hair and tie it before going to bed. I did do that for a few days but I have always known that when I tie up my hair it makes it dirty faster. I've alwasy perspired alot in my head more than anywhere else. Once I start doing any activity in the mornings before undoing the hair and tie then I'll start sweating and my hair itself will get damp and then you know that it will get dirty shortly after.

However, if I braid and not band or not braid at all I'm better off. My hair takes a longer time to get dirty. But I'm not sure if that is good for the locking process. For now I'll keep braiding and just go to sleep.

FINALLY, FINALLY, I AM SISTERLOCKED!

Go Kelleen, go Kelleen, it's your birthday, go Kelleen, it's your birthday...

Well, well, I am finally sisterlocked!

Colleen, my consultant, started at 7:30am on Thursday, August 7 and we went up to 5:30pm. It was a long day but I'm glad I got to leave before night came down cause it would make it look longer than it really was.

We continued the same time the following day and were finished by 3:00pm so it took a whopping total of 17 1/2 hrs for it to be done. That's about 5hrs more than a normal braiding session for me.

Two things contributed to this long time. Firstly, my hair was about 7 - 8 inches long and not 6 inches as I thought... we measured it. Secondly, according to Colleen I have a big circumference. I had to laugh because I know that was a mild way to say my head was big so I said it for her and we both had a good laugh at that.

I also learnt about the type of hair I had. I have a loose curl hair and my hair is relative flat because my strands are almost smooth. A lot of us black people are quite a mixture so we don't have all the features of a black person as we think we should. But I always thought my hair would lock pretty quickly because in my opinion I had real "kia" hair. However, my mom and my sister always tell me that I'm wrong and yesterday my consultant definitely made me see that they were right and I was wrong. Hence the bottom line is that my hair might not lock very quickly as I thought.

I always thought my hair was tough to comb and it is. However, the day before my locking session I washed my hair and did not use conditioner (as I was instructed) and I was still able to comb through my hair. I did it in small parts. The next day my consultant made me really feel my hair and to my realisation it was actually soft. So it's all about knowing your hair and what it truly is and also how to manage it. It was a neighbour of mine who has had natural hair all her life who taught me only recently that I should try to use a big teeth comb and go through my hair in small parts and comb them out. It turned out it wasn't half as bad, even without conditioner. If I had known I'd have washed it earlier in the day but I kept delaying because of my anticipation of pain.

Now let me say I do have some amount of space at the top of my head. I know I have dense hair so I wasn't expecting it but I got a little of the "chicken head" look on top. The rest of it looks lush however.

As I said in ealier posts, my mom and my sister are not quite happy about my decision yet they both continue to do stuff to their hair and I don't bother them about it. So when I came home that first night, to pick up my son who they kept for me, they examined and said well it looks pretty fine and whatever. But when they saw the finished product yesterday, my sister can't stop admiring my hair. My mom loves it too but she doesn't want to say so 'cause maybe it would look like she's endorsing my hairstyle or something so she's keeping it under wraps but I'm sure when my hair starts settling she'll be on board.

My other neighbour and friend loves my hair so much. She kept touching it and saying how she loved it. She has traditional locks for about 4 years now for which she's getting tired. She sounds like she's ready to cut it all off and try sisterlocks.

When I went to youth meeting at church and a couple of the girls realised that I did it they started screaming and was asking me a lot of questions. Ofcourse I couldn't deal with it all then and there so I know in the weeks to come or for the rest of my life at that matter, I'm going to have to start educating people about sisterlocks since I'll become one of the poster girls for sisterlocks.

So can you imagine, after having it for one day only, I had at least four (4) people loving off my sisterlocks. Now my ends are still bushy or straggly cause I haven't washed it yet so they haven't had a chance to curl up properly so just imagine when I get it washed and style it how people are going to respond. It's amazing... "trus' mi".

My husband is happy for me, knowing that I finally did it cause he knew I wanted it long time. He thoroughly examined it this morning and was saying that it still looks like fine twists to him and not necessarily a lock (however, he still thinks it looks neat and nice). But as he is a man and most men don't know the difference for a lot of things concerning women such as clothes and makeup and hair, I never bothered to argue but just restated the fact that it is different from twists.

It occurred to me today that my son will only remember me with locs cause he's just 2 years old. He'll only have to see pictures to know what my hair was like prior to this. That may make him more conscious about black women's beauty as opposed to all the other pressures the world places on what black beauty ought to be.

Just want to say that I thank Colleen for accepting me as a client cause my hair was really long and she was not unreasonable with her price. In fact, I know her prices was good because I know others who paid more for shorter hair and smaller heads. I would say in Jamaica she is one of the better consultants. She's listed on sisterlocks.com as a certified consultatnt. She was patient and actually waited on me for a long time to actually do this. I trust her and plan to take all the advice she has given me about caring for my hair. I want my locs to grow nicely and with very little problems due to my lack of care.

Well, I believe I've expressed all my feelings about my sisterlock birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!