Wednesday, November 24, 2010

It's Been a VERY Long Time

It has been 1 year, 11 months, and 24 days since my 1st post, and that's also how long I've had my locs.  I still love them, actually, I love them even more. I can do things with them, they've fattened up, and they behave on their own without water now. I can style them, too.

My hair might not look all that long for almost 2 years, but the method that I started my locs in, the nappylocs method, I did it with a pretty good amount of relaxed hair. It took me 11 months to get my natural hair to a length that I could live with, and I cut the relaxed hair off in November of 2009. It was pretty short, but  I didn't mind it.


As you can see in my picture, I have been doing some interesting things to my hair. I'm a bit eccentric, so, this isn't too out of the norm for me. This was a test run for my hairstyle for character day at school. I did this is black lipstick and all over eye liner. Though no one has heard of her, I went as Lisbeth Salander. 


I actually don't have too much to say about my hair.But thinking about how my hair has evolved over time; it's simply amazing. Before locs, I had to perm it into submission and beat it with a comb every morning just to look presentable. Now, some mornings, I just leave the house without touching it...at all.


My natural journey isn't new to me anymore. I don't exactly have to think about what I'm doing next, or why may hair is doing what it's doing. My locs have hardened for the majority of them. This was the best thing I could have done for my hair. I haven't regretted a day of it yet.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

It's Been a Long Time

It's been a while. My the school has been cramming education on us for the lovely FCAT. So, I haven't had time to post anything. Well, now that it's over here I am.


So, Last time I posted, my "hair world" had crashed and burned due to the loss of mt nappylocs tool. I found that little thing and I have tightened my hair. Yay Me!


So, now it's March, A whole new month and my hair is growing! Except for the place that has nearly ALWAYS been short on me, the lower back part. Everywhere else on my head is showing significant growth, And I'm sure it's doing something, but it's not like I sleep on my back or anything. And It has this habit of wanting to curl under. Making in look shorter than it actually is. But at least it does cover what it needs to.

I have been re-locking my mom's hair, I can say that I have had the experience of creating locs. It's a daunting task. Especially when she has long hair. But were not doing the whole head right now. She takes some down, and I loc it. And that's how were going to do it. She doesn't care much about the pattern, but they are all square shaped and I try to make them match up even though.

I'll be posting more regularly I hope.

Naturally yours,

M&M

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

My Hair World Has Come To An Abrupt Halt

I've lost my nappylocs tool!!!

I am devastated. I was doing my hair on the sofa, and I dropped, it's just so small. But, unlike last time I dropped it, it wasn't simply under the couch where it had fallen through. So, it must be IN the couch. There is a slight tear in the couch, and I'm afraid that the tool has fallen in. I don't even want to think about it. Ugh. And, as the title says, my hair world has come to an abrupt stop. I'm going to go crazy. My hair wasn't finished! I'm going to turn the couch upside down of something, I can't NOT have the tool. It's not even like I lost it outside of school! It's in the living room! Yet, lost at the same time...

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day


Well, It's the official, one and only day of love in the 365 day calendar. And people are going crazy. I got a cute little teddy bear. It's pink and says 'Princess' on the heart that it's holding. I also got some chocolate and some cards in person and some from the mail. It was a fun day.


And on to more on topic matters, my hair is....the same. Just growing, and that's to be expected. But sometimes I wish that it wouldn't because growing makes the need for re-tightening more necessary than it already is. And I kinda hate tightening my hair, well, the labor of it anyways. It's a love/hate relationship, me and the tool. I love it because its tangible proof that my hair is growing, and the obvious hate because I have to work to tighten it. Grrr.


Naturally yours,

M&M

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

My 2nd Re-tightening

Hey people! Long time, no blog. I have been neglecting my blog as much as I have been this 2nd re-tightening. This is hard work. It looks weird if it's done in public, and you can't do it quickly. That is exactly why I can't seem to find the time to get this done! It's so much work, and it takes up so much of my time! I'm gonna get this done because I'm no fan of looking bad. I notice that I don't seem to be able to get my hair like my mom does. But I've been reading on various forums and other blogs, that it's kinda damaging to the hair and can cause breakage if you tighten it too much or too tightly. So, I let some of the new growth mellow, but not much of it. It's just so hard to keep from marrying them together. I'm gonna keep at it, but I don't wanna take like 5 days to do it again. DIYing can have its rewards, and it's annoying little cousin, his name is hard work. I'm not really a fan of his.

Naturally yours,
*M&M*

Friday, February 6, 2009

My Hair Hates Me.


It won't stop growing! I really, honestly think that it hates me. Or it really likes attention, I wash it once a week, oil it every 3 days, and water it ever morning to get it to behave. So, I've got hair that gets a fair amount of attention, and yet, it won't stop growing! It wants me to tighten it or something. It's not to that stage yet, but I don't even want to think about tightening it. It's so hard to believe that hair can grow so much so fast.
As you can see, my hair looks borderline horrible. I've got to figure out a way to make my hair look better. Water helps, a lot actually, but ugh, the new growth is to that point, looking at a picture is different than looking in a mirror. When I'm done here, I'm so gonna grab the tool and get to work immediately. I can't go on like this anymore.


When I was getting perms and was thinking nothing of natural hair, my hair seemed like it was having a growth recession, like the hair kinda shrunk some. It was terrible, and kinda odd looking when I used to let it go too long without a perm, the the day of the perm and 5 days after that were great hair days. Day 6 used to be the slow, but steady decline of my good hair days. I used to stop and look at it. It was longish looking, but then again, it appeared to look like it was shrinking as I let it grow out.


I have no clue why it did that, but in relation to my hair today, in its current state and form, the very back of my head, under the bottom wasn't put into a loc pattern because it was way too short. It has shown considerable growth, and that is starting to be a problem. The back of my head that was patterned is still short and is growing rather slowly while the rest of my head is growing like crazy. Ugh, Another point why I say my hair hates my, It knows that its supposed to hide, but it wants to be seen. Well, this turned into a rant/whatever blog. If you actually read it all without once thinking," This chick is crazy.", I commend you. Someone actually thought I was sane for once. :)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

My 1 Month Locversary


Yay Me! I have had my locs for 31 days, consecutively that is. And I have loved every day of it! It definitely is a freeing experience, I'll tell you that. Not having to spend a lot of time that I don't have fixing up my hair, trying to achieve near perfection with what is nearly perfect. I'm so glad that I don't have to continue this cycle of perms and new growth.

I can't tell you how many people told me that I needed to get a perm ASAP when I was growing out some natural hair. At the time, I wasn't exactly sure what for, but I knew that I didn't want to continue wearing my hair in that terrible, damaged way. Especially after I researched the relaxer that I used. Wow. That information scared me half to death.

I'll continue to rock my locs and enjoy them. I'll keep y'all up-to-date as I possibly can. I have received word that I could be cutting this summer if all goes as expected with the locs. Yay! I'll get rid of those dreadful ends, BTW, they still shed, the ends, the pop off like crazy, I'm not moisturizing the ends. Do y'all think that I should start, of care less because they are coming off anyway?


Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I'm Finally D.I.Y.ing

Ok, well. Today is the day. I am in need of a re-tightening, and my mom has thrown in the towel. The nappylocs tool is pretty easy to use. It's just torture for the arms. I feel like I'm going to get muscles doing this. And at the rate that my hair has been growing, this is going to be no picnic to maintain. This is fulfilling, but kinda hard because I have a small grid-pattern and these things are so easy to get together. I've divorced 3 sets of my married locs. I've been trying to make sure that there is only one loc in the tool, it is much harder than it looks and sounds. It's even a challenge to get the end of a loc into the tool if it doesn't have a distinctive knot in the end, or if i can 't see it.
Ugg, I think that I'm going to get back at it. I don't want to go to school with half of my head done.

Naturally yours,
M&M

Sunday, January 25, 2009

25 Days Old

My hair is 25 days old today! Yay Me! It's like 5 days til my 1 month mark! Once again, Yay Me! lol
So, I've had a couple of them attempt at marrying themselves. I have yet to figure out how this happens. I thought that the hair i the loc comes directly from the scalp and that every loc has its own little patch of hair t its self. This is still baffling. I don't think that I will ever get it.

Well, I'll be trying to figure this little hair mystery out while I continue my book, Parrot In The Oven.

It's almost time for another re-tightening. I have so got to figure out how to do this my self so that my mom won't have to .

Naturally yours,
M&M

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

My Extremely Fast Growing Hair

OK, it's official. My hair IS growing. A lot. I know that it does that, but it's still a shock. I can see my hair getting longer. I haven't pulled the camera out in a few days, but it is. What made me see this shocking noticeability was when one of my white male friends noticed that something was different. Keep in mind that this guy know next to nothing about black hair and probably never will. It dawned on him that these weren't coming out because they looked tighter, but at the same time, looked longer than they did when I first got them.

I guess it's hard for them to understand that you can have a permanent hairstyle. And then brought on the statement,"I wish my hair would do that". I was shocked and asked why. He simply replied," If I could do that, I'd want mine to look kinda like yours, but bigger. And plus, they're cool".

I guess if the white people are starting to notice, it definitely is changing. Pretty quickly if you ask me.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration Day


OK, today is deserving of an non-hair related blog! Our new President, Barack Obama, was inaugurated today at 12 PM. America is truly the land of the free. We know that a man born of African decent to a white mother can be anything if he puts forth enough effort. Now we are nearly on equal footing with "the white man". Before, their kid used to ask,"Mommy, I wanna be president when I grow up." Now, us folk can tell out kids,"Baby, you can be anything you wanna be!" And actually MEAN IT!!

I am grateful and deeply touched to be able to see this. I can one day tell my kids that I watched this historic day on CNN in my 3rd period geometry class! Too bad I couldn't be there in Washington D.C. It was probably magical.

Yes we can. Yes we will. Yes we did.

This was totally awesome and it moved me to tears on election day, just as it did today. It is still hard to grasp the magnitude of the moment. I understand it, but there is so much depth to it that you can look at it with one set of eyes. It take an entire country to look at it.

Even though I did nothing to help his being elected, I think that "we" as a country should step up and back him. We know that there are just as many people hoping for him to fail just as there are for him to succeed. And this country is in such shambles that it's going to take more that 4 years to fix it. So don't be too disappointed if you don't get your money, or if all of the troops don't come back from Iraq, or if you don't get your free universal health insurance. Just think about it, all either Bush got for this was low approval ratings. So, he can't drive the country down much more. And if things happen to get a little worse, don't you realize that we are headed there anyway.

Yeah, I know that I'm only 15, but that doesn't mean I can't be reasonable and a little opinionated about something that I can't help. So, don't discount me just yet, Just keep your eyes peeled and your high hoped reeled in a bit.

20 Days Old

Yep, my hair is 20 days old today! Yay me! I can definitely tell that my hair has grown, and I like that. Not the growth necessarily, but the fact that is actually visible and measurable. I never understood how people could have long hair like this. Now I do, I'm not ripping it out with a comb in the morning trying to achieve near perfection. I'm also agitating it a lot less. If it's something that you constantly bother, I guess it won't grow for you. And those relaxers were really harsh, I'm so surprised that they are as safe as they are. I mean, after reading that article and explaining all that it does to the hair and scalp, I don't see how this doesn't kill women. It's so harsh. But anyways, before I get started on a full scale rant. I don't have a picture of me with my locs on here. I mean how they look on me. I'll get on that. I'll take it today and add it so it will be my hair at 20 days. It's so hard to believe that my hair is longer than it was before it was loc'd. Too bad I'm cutting my ends off. Well, I'm not crying about it. I wouldn't mind starting now, but I can't. Grrrr.

Naturally Yours,
M&M

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Tight and Tighter

Ok, I have no clue about whats going on with my hair. Did someone sneak some miracle-gro in my essential oil? Ok, yesterday was the 3rd day after my re-tightening, today is only the 4th.

My mom went through and looked at my patch. FYI, I have a patch of hair that grows like wild fire. I can't believe it. It's so not normal. Or is it?? So now, I have some newly tightened spots, and some not-so-newly tightened spots. It's so not the drama! lol

Peace Out,
M&M

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Stop Living The Lye

***I DID NOT write this. This is an article that I happened to stumble upon and I really liked it. It kind of scared mr too. I'm so glad that I'm not putting that "chemical crack" in my head any more.


This is a phrase that I read in a book when I was researching what I could do with my hair other than use chemicals to straighten it. So many women today suffer from all types of hair loss. Alopecia, aging, heredity, and stress are some of the most common causes. The cause that is found in almost epidemic proportions in black women, however, is chemical damage from relaxers -- or chemical hair straighteners. The ProcessMost of us have no idea what these relaxers really do to our hair... how they actually go about the process of straightening. There are two types of relaxers. They are SODIUM HYDROXIDE (lye-based) and GUANIDINE HYDROXIDE (no-lye). Although the no-lye products are thought to be less damaging, both types are harmful to the hair because in order to straighten it, they must first strip it of its natural moisture and then break down the structure of the hair.Let me briefly explain. The hair has two bonds, a physical bond and a chemical bond, referred to as the S and H bonds. These bonds create the S-shaped kink or curl in African-American hair. Chemically processing the hair changes the molecular structure by breaking down these bonds... thereby damaging the hair. Once the bonds are broken, the hair loses its natural shape and elasticity, and can then be manually formed into straight hair. The changed S-shape bond can never be returned to its original healthy form. It has undergone a permanent change caused by chemical damage.Hair DamageSodium hydroxide and guanidine hydroxide both have a very high pH factor, meaning they are highly alkaline products. When applied to the hair, they immediately strip it of all moisture, because any retention of moisture would reduce the effectiveness of the straightener. This is why a deep-conditioning treatment is always applied to the hair after the chemical process. These treatments are designed to drive moisture back into the hair shaft and to coat the hair strand to make it look shiny and appear healthy, or in other words -- to camouflage the damage. But no hair that has undergone a chemical relaxer is healthy. It�s been purposely and permanently damaged by the chemicals... and hair can�t be damaged and healthy at the same time.Relaxed hair is always dry. This is why we�re constantly putting something on it.. oiling our hair and scalp two or three times a week. There are several reasons for this: 1) Start with the moisture-stripping process of the chemical relaxer that I spoke about in the above paragraph; 2) Add the steady regimen of hot-comb touch-ups, curling irons & flat irons (all work with heat which is drying to the hair) and hair sprays and styling/holding gels, (these contain alcohol which is drying to the hair). The natural oils our scalps produce can�t serve our hair�s needs. The scalp can�t manufacturer enough natural moisture to replenish the moisture we�re stripping from our hair on a daily basis; and 3) The products we usually use in an attempt to fight dryness (usually petroleum-based products, or "grease") don�t really add moisture to the hair at all. They simply coat the hair with petroleum to provide shine. At the same time, they clog the pores of the scalp so that the scalp can�t secrete its own natural moisture.I always thought black hair either doesn�t grow as fast as Caucasian hair � or doesn�t grow at all. WRONG! All hair grows at the same rate � on average � inch per month. But the reason that most black women have shorter hair is because of breakage. Why does the hair break? Because of the harsh treatment we give it. We strip it of its moisture in every way we possibly can! So after a period of time (short for some, a little longer for others) the need for a cut to camouflage the damage done to your hair will become evident. When your stylist suggests a �designer cut� (like the fade), that's your cue that your hair has had enough.Skin AbsorptionIn addition to the damage done to the hair by these chemicals, we should remember that the process involves more than simply straightening or texturizing the hair above the scalp. Chemicals are absorbed through the skin into the tissue, cells, and blood stream. We rub creams and lotions on our skin -- knowing that the skin will absorb them and be moisturized by them. The medical industry administers drugs through skin absorption -- like the patches for smoking, sea-sickness, and birth control. The skin absorbs everything; and as strong as these chemicals are � causing sores and abrasions on the scalp � why wouldn�t some of it be absorbed through the skull and possibly into the brain? CausticityThe instructions on the relaxer boxes always say to wear gloves -- because the chemicals are caustic, however it is applied directly to the hair and scalp and left there for a period of time. Women experience burns and scabs from the toxic chemicals, and yet they continue to go back every few weeks for their regular dose of this creamy crack. The FDA banned the manufacture of household liquid drain cleaners that have a higher than 10 percent solution of Sodium Hydroxide because it corrodes drain pipes. Because it is so strong, it may cause dermatitis of the scalp. If left on the hair more than 10 minutes, it will dissolve the hair, causing it to tear easily and become fragile and limp. Would anyone put this cream on their face, or on their arm, and leave it there for 10 or 15 minutes? Then why put it on your head? InhalationAnd then there are the fumes. A study done by the Cancer Surveillance program at the University California School of Medicine found the number of cases of blood cancer to be excessive for females in the occupations �cosmetologist, hairdressers, and manicurist.� Dyes, shampoos, conditioners, relaxers, permanent wave solutions, nail antiseptics, fungi, and bacteria are the suspect causes of this. Although the study does not specifically look for race in the findings, it is known that blacks in these beauty occupations typically have higher rates of blood cancer. Also, frequent inhalation of this chemical can lead to lung damage.Love YourselfIn order to stop these damaging practices, we must first learn to love ourselves as we are. Why should we continue the practice of chemically damaging our hair so that we can wear it in styles created for other hair textures when African-American hair can be styled beautifully just as it is? It's not hard to work with, and there are lots of varieties of styles to choose from.. From locks to twists to coils to afros... from dressy up-dos to the no-care-hair of free-styling. Our hair is not unmanageable, as many people think. My aunt once told me that our hair is easy to manage as long as we stop trying to force it to do things it wasn't designed to do. Hair doesn't have to be straight to be beautiful. It simply has to be well-groomed.

3 Days After The Re-Tightening



It has been 3 day since my re-tightening. My scalp was super sore. It isn't now. But it was, and it drove me crazy. It was like getting tight braids put it. And then sleeping on them. Not a very pleasant experience. But it was all good. It took 2 days for the soreness to go away. But after that, my hair still looks good. It doesn't look as good as it did, I mean they look tight man. Very clean and clear. I make them look better using this stuff. Or at least my mom does. I like it. Her stuff works wonders. I'm sure y'all know that it you've been to a decent beauty supply store. It can be a bit pricey too. Oh yeah, you can't see the brand. It's Taliah Waajid. I like her products a lot. And no, this isn't a product review blog! lol
I just happened to have taken a picture of the gel that she put on my hair.

Friday, January 16, 2009

My First Re-Tightening


I so hope that I'm not doing any kind of copyright infringment by calling it a re-tightening, but that's basically what it is. My mom sat down with her nappylocs tool(micro) and went to work on my head. I have pictures, but I lost my memory card adaptor, I seem to do that often. I'll go back when I find it and put them in. You can really see a difference.

It had only been 14 days since the initial installation. So, my mom was surprised at how much my hair had grown in such a short amount of time. I don't have a before picture. But they were quite frizzy. lol.

I hope that the frizzes were due to the permed ends that are still on my head. I really don't want my locs to be fuzzy. I mean the natural part of my locs. But it's my hair and I'll take what I get. I can tell that I'm going to really love this. Especially when I wake up late and don't have to worry about combing my hair and making sure that it doesn't fly away. I feel so free. Just a water spritz and a headband, I'm out the door!
Locs rock!

Naturally Yours,
M&M

Sunday, January 11, 2009

11 Days Old

My hair is actually growing! Wow, I can't believe it. I haven't gotten the camera out, well it's not that visible, but it's so growing! When I feel the hair at my scalp, oh yeah, it's getting a lot more loose, and it was finished pretty tightly.

And anyone with basic knowledge of relaxed, black hair knows that it breaks off constantly and it's borderline impossible to see any of the new growth from the ends.

Well, I don't have that much to say, but I just wanted to let y'all know that it's going well!

Peace Out,
*M&M*

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Good Morning Starshine, The Earth says,"Hello".

OK, I know that this title has absolutely nothing to do with my hair, and hopefully not my life. I just liked the title.

Anyways, on to my hair. It seems to be doing just fine. I like it. I hope that it starts to grow soon. Maybe it is. just microscopically. lol Well, It has been proven time and time again that they are not locs, but "braids".

If i tell someone, they dispute me every time. they so out of it! But anyways, I'm glad that no one thinks they are locs. Not that I would be ashamed if they were more noticeable. I just like how they blend in a little more than I expected.

Oh well, what can I say? They might not look like this when they grow out. I hope they get a little bigger.

Later Y'all,
*M&M*

Sunday, January 4, 2009

4 Days Old

OK, my locs are 4 days old. They look EXACTLY the same as they did as when they were finished. But, I have gotten the hang of how to get up in the morning and NOT spend about a half and hour on my hair alone. It only takes damp hands and a tiny bit of patience. I just pick up the defiant locs and dampen them and put them with the rest. they do just fine.

I have to go to school tomorrow, I can't wait to see the reaction to me new hair.

The walk to the bus is going to be dreadful because I always fear for the worst during those four minutes. With anything, homework, people, stupid things that were said the day before, worrying about everything and nothing at the same time. And standing there....

Some of the people at my stop are VERY opinionated, and make sure that I know how "she" feels about some things. She's just a hater though. It doesn't bother me because she always has a head full of synthetic weave. Nothing wrong with this in particular, but to attack my choices on my OWN head is what gets me.

But anyways, before I got off on a rant, I was talking about how I'm just 100% sure of how some people are going to react. I can't say either way with anyone else. Like, I can't wait to see how some of my friends are going to react when I walk up looking all ethnic. Oh, and on Monday evening. I have a "special" place to be. These people will be particularly "weirded out" by this.

There is one person in particular for whose reaction should be anticipated.... one of my teachers.

But, it's only hair...

I'll try to blog about the crazy things that happen to me tomorrow. If I'm not swamped with homework. After all, the semester ends in about a week or two.

Peace Out,
M&M

Thursday, January 1, 2009

My New Doo


Ok, I just got my mini-locs finished last night. Techinically, that would be December 31, 2008 at around 10:30PM, but I'll just say that it was January 1, 2009. I like my new hair. At first, I thought that I was going to hate it, but when it was done, I immediately fell in love with it. They are tiny, and I just know that I'm going to hate the re-tightening, it's going to take forever. But, my mom is going to teach me to do it myself.




Ok, I'm sure that ya'll wanna know the stuff about my hair.




It took like, 3 days to finish. My mom did them at home, so it was like, on and off over 3 days. I'm not sure about thehours, but if I had to guess, I'd say about 16 hours. And that's just a guess. But anyways, I havent gotten around to counting, but I will soon. They are so thin and fragile seeming, I just don't want to disturb them by counting them. I just got them to lay down and behave. So, I'll let them be. lol.




My mom is beat. Who knew that you could lock relaxed hair? Definently not me. But that is exactly what she did. I don't think that I can say exactly how, but it took some time. My hair is kind of whisp because I only had like 1 to 2 inches of new growth, but my relaxed hair was about 5 inches long at it's longest point. My locs are maybe 4 to 6 inches with some that are 2 to 3 thrown in. I had some short spots.
Ok, well, as you can see in the picture of my head above, they look kind of like micro-braids without the extra hair added in. And unlike most of the "new lock" stories that I've heard, I haven't had a single wierd stare. Not one. I feel like I'm cheating. My hair looks like it would if I'd had locks for about a year, at day one. It feels a little wrong...
Until Next Time,
*M&M*