INTRODUCTION I WANNA BE ME HAIR TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS HAIRSCAPADES HAIR & NOW HAIR STYLIN HOT PICKS FEATURES: hairscapades 2000 2001 2002

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MONTH THIRTEEN Here�s the latest: I just got back from a family reunion, where my twists-almost-locs were well received. Most people really loved them and were very curious as to how to start them. There was this sister there who started her locs last summer around this time. I met her as she had just gotten her mini-twists done. They were about 1.5 inches long twisted, although the hair, as I remember, was about 3-4 inches long. Well, she had them all pulled up in a french twist! THAT�S how much they had grown since last year when she first started them. They already swept her shoulders. They were real small and nice. I asked her if she was happy that she went that way, or if she had any regrets locking, and she was like it was the best decision she could have made with her hair. The two of us were the only ones there with locking hair. There were a few with braids, and some with some very well maintained relaxers, but I have a feeling if I go back there next year, there will be quite a few women with locs now. I think those that DIDN�T like them simply didn�t say anything, which is fine. This brother came up to me and was like �I LOVE it!� I can�t wait until mine gets to the point where I can maintain it myself! D MONTH FOURTEEN Hey Andrea, Went to check out your site last night. I can't believe how long we've been at this now. Yesterday, due to extreme boredom, I retwisted just about my entire head. It looks cool. I really should be getting D to wash and retwist Saturday (it will be just past 4 weeks) but forgot we were going into holiday weekend, and she probably will not be working. So, I may actually be forced to go for 5 weeks. My scalp doesnt feel too bad. I'm convinced it's because I'm not oiling it. Using very little and light oil that she gave me on the twists themselves. what i don't get is how you see some locs or twists and they are so neat and twisted close to the roots. i've tried and can't get that to happen. is yours like that? how do you do that? i have not got all the way thru essence yet but saw the sister from the soaps with natural twists and hers is all neat at the roots too. my sister LOVES that magazine called black woman and is gonna subscribe. i keep forgetting to take her photo to update the site, she has it in twists. can you believe you've gone this long without washing? she knew what she was talking bout when she said the scalp gets used to it. so not even a little itch? Hey Andrea, got the do twisted up Saturday bright and early (actually, it wasn't bright at all, but still seemed like it was in the middle of the night!) Anyway, Dixie washed me but had her daughter actually twist it because she had a ton of heads to do. The key to the locs you see that are real neat and individualized like Malcolm Jamal Warners - they use clips to hold the hair in place while it dries. Dixie only uses a few clips but her daughter first of all, twists very tightly, then uses a lot of twists to hold the locs down. It took her about an hour to twist my entire head. She said she would have done it faster if she hadn't just had her nails 'put on'! Dixie says that she usually looses her locked clients to her daughter because people like the way she does them. Dixie seems to be the master at STARTING the loc process though. I'm planning on stopping by Sallys Beauty Supply to pick up some of these clips. I figure I can use them when I re-twist mid-visit. Dixie doesnt do the tight twists though because it can weaken the roots. This is SUCH a learning experience. MONTH FIFTEEN I talked to one of my friends last night from the midwest who has this job now that keeps her jettin' around the country. She asked me how did I STAND the transition to natural hair because her relaxer is like eight weeks old and she's in desparate need of a touch up. Don't you just NOT miss those days?! I told her I started locking my hair at the end of May. She was totally surprised. She's wants locs once she starts her own business or marries rich, which ever comes first. I told her that the natural hair ain't nearly as bad to deal with as long as ALL of it is natural. When you're talking about prerm and natural, it's a mess. She also color treats her hair, so she's caught in the double chemical process. She wanted to know what I will if I decide I no longer want locs. I told her I would have to cut them out. They are not reversible. She seemed not to like this idea. I told her she only has the same option when deciding to go natural from a relaxer. You must cut off the perm to start fresh. Why is it that we want to go directly from perm state to natural state without loosing any hair? I bet we didn't go from natural to perm without hair loss!!!!!!! What is your hair doing today? Mine is at the two-week mark since the last visit to the salon. I re-twisted over the weekend. It's hard to tell, sometimes I think there's been quite a bit of growth, then other times, it seems real insignificant. What I also realized, I mean, it REALLY hit home, is the fact that I CANNOT get these locking twists out of my head without resorting to scissors. Lately, I keep seeing natural hair that is so cool....you know, nappy, wavy, curly, etc., but loose and free, and I'm like thinking that would have been fine on my head. But that's something we will not see on this head for a few years. I guess I'm feeling a bit insecure (just a BIT!) about this move right now. I think it's really due to the fact that my head has basically looked the same since the end of May. The last time I was in the salon, this young sister came in there, and really like the locs but said that it was just too big of a commitment for her to go that route. I'm REALLY understanding what she meant by that. It really IS a commitment. MONTH SIXTEEN I got my locks 're-DID' Saturday (5 AM, chile!) What a pain in the butt! And I'm quite on the unattractive side when they are washed out, as I look like the wild woman of borneo! Frightenin'! This woman was talking abou how someone came in a couple of weeks ago and was sportin' a dreadlocked wig! She had her hair braided, then put the wig back on. This woman came up to me to make sure mine wasnt a wig. I'm like, why would this girl be spending this much time on my head if it were a wig? (mine aint tryin' to hang yet, so it aint even wiggy lookin'!) They are probably about 5-6 inches (the longest ones, which of COURSE has to be at the top of my head! HATE the way my hair grows but I also think I can attribute this lack of consistency in length to my own personal hatchet job with the scissors on several occasions. I seem to remember going to get it twisted for the first time and thinking i still had relaxed ends in the back so I kept cutting it off. I had NONE back there when I finally walked into the shop. Only had it in sporadic areas at the top of my head!) Had probably been cuttin' off natural hair back there for months!!!!! Anyway, the back is starting to have a bit of length to it. Like, I can actually tie them down right now and have a few hanging down my neck under the scarf, which can look kind of cute depending on the occasion. (This is actually the look, along with my overalls, turtleneck and big jacket that i was sporting when the reporter from Channel 12 news stopped me in front of Barnes & Noble Sunday to ask my opinion of this election ...Although I though I looked OK for bummin' around, it was NOT the look I wanted to be sportin' on local news, so I told boyfriend that I REALLY didn't want to be on television). My other sister got the opportunity to see my hair for the first time and I assume that since she didn't make even ONE remark on it that she wasn't diggin' it at ALL! It was rather interesting. I still managed to see a lot of dried, fried hair that had ends you could see directly through. (not my sisters! Hers is HOOKED!) This friend there was telling me that it had really grown just since the first part of August when I was last in town. You know, that area is still rather conservative. My neice, however, is apparently trying to grow out her relaxer, which I found real interestin' She' having her mom press the new growth. It's only been a couple of months for her though. The trend is catchin on. I think the sad part of all of this is that we've lost contact with how to handle our own natural hair. We simply don't know how to deal with it and for some reason have decided that chemical straightening makes it easier to deal with. Hope your Thanksgiving was great! D MONTH SEVENTEEN What is your hair doing lately? i still have mine in the tiny twists going on week 2. i went to a sound clash in ny on friday nite david roddigan and barry g from the uk and i put my hair in like 8 chinese bumps then took them out for a wavy effect (i had no clue how it was gonna turn out!). then last nite i put it in like 5 braids and took them out this morning for a crinkly look. i think i'm getting the hang of this natural hair thing now, somewhat!!! yours looks sooo good and them locs are really growing. let me know when you get the photos back, i mailed them yesterday. i'll let you know when yours shots are up. thanks, but I STILL want more length! I'm waiting to get enough nerve to do it myself, but I'm so totally afraid that I will have a mess on my hands because it's not locked yet all over. What I'd like to do is to care for it myself so that I can go to the bi-weekly washing and conditioning. I prefer my choices for shampoos and conditioners. Then, I can go for a quarterly 'hook up' with Petula. but anyway, they aint like DOWN my neck yet. I can also feel them try to fly if I turn my head real fast. They will not blow around in the wind yet unless I were to stick my head out the car window at like 50 MPH. I think there will be serious length to them though by the spring. You know, I still miss being able to comb through it. I've noticed all these real cute do's where natural hair is piled up on top of the head and allowed to be kind of free and funky looking, and I wish mine was like that. Maybe when ever I tire of locs, I will go this route. I'm hoping to have these puppies down to my shoulders by Spring time! OHMIGOD! I DID it! I actually washed my own hair! It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It takes a REAL LONG time, though. The most difficult time was spent in the back, where I couldn't see what I was doing. Then, as time went on, it was just tiring after a while. It took me about 2 1/2 hours from the time I started shampooing until the last twist was in place. I was real gentle with it when I washed so as not to disturb the twists too much. I shampooed in the shower, which seems to be the ONLY way to do this. They kind of felt like soft ropes...kind of like when you try to wash/rinse out one of those old fashioned rope mops. I just used any shampoo that was in the house (poor selection seeing as though I've only allowed washing to occur in the beauty shop for the last 6 months or so. I used a conditioner, then started twisting with some Aveda gel. didn't need much because my hair was so wet. I used the clips to keep them separate and out of the way. I tied my head up and went to sleep....couldn't BEAR the thought of sitting under the dryer at this point ( I was about sick of some hair, if you know what I mean!)). The next morning, I removed the clips, and sprayed it with an oil sheen. They still felt a bit dry, so I rubbed some light oil (Aveda pomade) in my hands then rubbed it all over my head. The locs turned out real nice, actually. I can do this! At this point, I will start maintaining them myself, with probably a quarterly 'hook up' at the shop. I only went three weeks this time without washing, but they were already starting to creep into each other. So, I'm thinking I will still go somewhere between three and four weeks between shampoos. Anything beyond that and they get too unwieldy. It actually felt real good to get my hands back into my own head for shampooing. I've missed being able to wash my hair when I was ready. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to be pampered too, but a sistah could stand to keep $60 in her pocket especially now that we're smack in the middle of the holiday season! (shoot! As cold as it is, I need a serious winter coat!!!) good for you!!! what made you decide to try it yourself? and 2 1/2 hours is pretty good. oh yeah, i put your photo up on friday. i'm sooooo mad at myself. went to trumbull mall sat morning and saw this sister with some wonderful locs i was walking behind her and almost wanted to reach out and touch them!!! they were EXACTLY as i would like mine to look should i decide to cultivate some, although i know it depends on how they are started, maintained and your hair texture to begin with and i guess you really don't know how they will end up looking cause locs like to do their own thing. hers were just bounding around barely touching her shoulders and kinda loosely twisted and they looked real light and airly and bouncey and nice and lovely and............ damn i wish i took a picture! did i say i regret not asking her about them? and oh yeah she had this shell on one of the locs at the front. but i really regret not asking her about them. i hate when i don't ask! i decided to try because I've been dying to see how it handles when wet, whether the locs will remain or will be totally washed out, and to save money. This Saturday would be 4 weeks, and I would be due in the shop, but I have a party to go to Saturday night and didn't want to spend the morning in the beauty shop. I suggest that you do a consult with Tanya. As her about the various ways of starting locs and what the results 'tend' to look like. Of course, they are going to be somewhat different based on your hair but I don't think they will be drastically different ok lets talk hair. on thursday i did go to tanya the locktician for a consultation. i was VERY exited and bought along my photos of different locs. she said that because of the length of my hair, she would start me off with 2 strand twists. and would not want to see me back for another 8 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no washing, no touching, no retwisting NOTHING til i come back!!!!!!! she says i will be in and out withing 1 1/2 hours. she charges the same price for everyone everytime you go, 65 bucks. she's had locs for the past 5 or 6 years and hers are like down her back and colored brown. she also said people expect their hair to always look neat while locing and don't want to go thru the process, but be prepared to spend some days wearing a head wrap. how do you think a had wrap will be received here at...........i don't think so either!!! i'm still very exited, but still not sure if i'll leave them in, cause i know my hair locs after a month. i always took the tail combs twists out cause i don't like the way they looked on me. but....2 strand twists......i am the queen of the 2 strand twist how could i not like them and if i like them, why would i take them out, and if i don't take them out I WILL BE LOCED!!!!!!!!!!!! i've started stressing already!!!!!!!!!!! i'm gonna do it though, i'm VERY curious. can't wait. i'm rambling on now so i'll sign off and just wait for your response. OK, so how thick will each of these two stranded twists be? Did she say that the difference in thickness is based on how they are started? Could she look at locs and tell whether they were started with two stranded twists or comb twists? Is she doing the 2-stranded twists on you because that's the result you want, or because of the length of your hair? This sounds really cool. Warning! Locs and velcro don't mix!!!!!! I have this down jacket on last night and had the hood attached (via zipper) 'cause it was so dang cold. Anyway, maybe it was the three beers I had at Bobby V's last night with friends, but I stopped by this male friends house on the way from home. I didn't have the hood actually on my head, but because the coat is so puffy, the hood kind of acts like a huge collar about the neck. Well, got ready to pull the coat off, and the velcro hood closure at the chin decided to hook onto a couple of my locs towards the back. Needless to say, it required assistance to un-hook me! (that mess HURT, too!) I'm not sure as to the amount of damage...he was real gentle....but just be WARNED!!!!!!!! I promptly unzipped the hood and will only have it attached to the coat when ABSOLUTELY necessary. Actually HAIR and velcro are probably not a good combination at any rate. 2001

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