Week 30: Stop Pulling My Balls!

Lol! That's what I wanted to say to my grandmother last weekend. She was extremely bothered by the little balls (that probably had lint in them) hanging off the end of my budding locs. I was pretty sure I'd read to leave them alone because they are part of the process. I did a quick Nappturality search for "balls" and quickly received confirmation. They had me cracking up! I was also reminded that at some point it might be necessary to take a Sharpie to my hair so I don't pick apart my new locs trying to remove lint.

Photos of My Balls

I am overdue for my wash since I was out of town last weekend. I am truly looking forward to it Saturday monring. Despite a little frustration every now and then, I'm really pleased with my hair's progress. Some are condensing, while others are just beginning to bud. The braids in the back are still in tact and the other sections of hair that I finger latched are still held together at the ends, which is good enough for me. That section will probably take another 12 months but it won't matter because just a few rows higher, the hair is loc'in and rock'in :) It will cover the baby locs in no time. My primary concern was keeping the hair together and it seems like I finally achieved that goal.

Photos of Locs with Sealed Ends

This loc's end isn't sealed but it's pretty solid:

6 Months

I made a video! I've been wanting to, but not quite sure how I felt about "me on camera." I'm not great on camera but I really wanted to talk about my hair and show some things, so this worked well.



I just responded to someone who commented on my video (yay!) and she said that the top is going to take the longest to loc. I really didn't realize that at first. I guess I forgot how loose that section was. I knew it was a different texture, but it didn't click for me. At any rate, it now reminds me of the sides of my hair at about 3 months, so it's definitely slower.

5 Months

It's been 5 months today! I am extremely pleased with my hair's progress. I had no idea my hair would progress this fast. I'm pretty confident that by the end of the year, I'll have semi-mature locs. This weekend is my weekend to wash my hair. I think I'll try to get it done early on Saturday since I have something to do that afternoon and my dad wants to go to church on Sunday. I think I'm going to mix aloe vera gel in with my oil/water mixture. I think the aloe vera gel probably helped my hair's progression and if was working I don't want to slow down the progress, especially at this stage. Hopefully, it won't flake as much mixed with water and oil.

I watched this YouTube video yesterday and I liked the way she wrapped the loose hair while she retwisted. I'm going to try doing this on Saturday and see how it goes. Hopefully, it won't slow me down much. I think I'm at the 40 minute mark for my retwist time. I also think that I'm going to ditch the clipping step on Saturday. It probably isn't necessary and I'm trying to keep my routine as simple as possible.

I'm so proud of myself! I kind of can't believe that I've hung in here this long. I've become accustomed to the frizzy look and know it's just part of the process.

Week 20

I feel like I just reached the 4 month mark and now 5 months is around the corner. It's funny how my perspective has changed during my journey so far. My patience and acceptance of my hair is definitely growing. I have a much higher tolerance for the frizz and disheveled look. I actually kind of like it.

Here are pictures that someone took for me at work. I wanted to take advantage of the natural light since I usually take my pictures in the bathroom with the flash on. Hopefully, this is a more realistic view of what my hair really looks like.

Although I'm practicing patience, I'm really curious to see what the final size will be and if I'll always have lots of loose hair.

Since it's grown, I think I'll rewtist the front going back. I like the way this looks now.

I was telling my friend who took these pictures that I really want to capture this stage. I'm afraid that if I blink my eyes, it will pass and as much as I'm looking forward to the next stage, I don't want to miss any of them.

Here's a closeup. I plan to take a few pictures of some individual locs so you can see their formation a little better.

I'm still surprised at the quick progression in the past 2 months. I was expecting my hair to take a little longer budding and matting. Despite the fuzz, the coils from my retwist are still in tact after almost 2 weeks. I think I'll definitely switch to the no product and palmrolling method. I love how my hair fluffs up after some time. At this stage, I'm not a fan of the scalpy look that comes along with palmrolling. Maybe I'll feel better once my hair has fully matured.

Week 18 - Month 4

It's been a long time since I've written about my hair and even longer since I've taken pictures. I have some great progress--lots of buds. It seems like I've seen the most change in the last month. Today was wash day and I decided to try a few different things. I was watching some loc'd YouTubers and one was talking about retwisting with just oil and water. As an aspiring minimalist, I thought I'd try it and see how it went.

I also decided to do an ACV rinse. I don't think I have buildup, but I figured it wouldn't hurt.

Here's what my hair looked like before washing it.

I hadn't worn a scarf in at least a week.

I also decided to try washing without any clips this time. I always find, particularly in the front, that the clip keeps flakes from being rinsed well.

I separated after I washed because I was on the phone and surprisingly I could find my sections in the front middle portion of my hair. This section is progressing a little slower.

The night before I actually detangled the last row or so of my hair with just my fingers and it was far too easy. I decided to try a different method with this section--three strand twists. This is how quotidianlight started her locs. We'll see how they hold up. Since my hair was loose I measured it--5 inches! Of course that's about 2 inches shrunken, but it might help the three-strand twists hold better.

This picture is horrible, but you might be able to see that this hair is silky and curly...not a nap in sight.

I believe it may continue to be my problem child for a while, but I'll keep trying different methods until something works. I really just need the sections to stay in tact long enough for it to tangle.

To continue with my experiments, I retwisted my hair and clipped it. I never do this but was curious about how it would look. Again, I used only a water and almond oil mixture in a spray bottle--no aloe vera gel today.

I can never figure out which direction to twist the front. Usually, when I don't use clips, twisting them toward the front looks pretty good. However, I'm not so sure about that or the results with clips. Kind of scalpy to me...

I prefer the fullness of my normal retwist, but this may help train my hair better. I don't really know. I'm palmrolling my entire head now too. Using this method highlights the fact that my hair is fine. I'm curious to see what it looks like after one week, then two.

So there's my 4 month update. I'm extremely pleased with my hair's progress. I wasn't sure how long it would take for the budding to begin.

I'm looking forward to the coming months...they are actually beginning to go by pretty quickly.

Week 15

Week 15 was last week and I haven't been taking pictures at all. I should, though. I've noticed lots of changes, but it seems like I can feel them better than I can see them. I definitely have good progress in different areas of my hair. I've noticed just a few buds, but I can feel that the hair is meshing and becoming more firm. The telltale sign for me will be when I wash and everything stays together. That's several months down the road, but it's coming! I'm so glad I started sooner rather than later. I'll definitely be in good shape for Homecoming.

I spoke to a guy that went to church with me growing up and who went to college with me and he said it took his hair about 8 months to loc. He has relatively soft hair as well, so I know that I need to just continue to hang it there and let my hair do what it needs to do without interfering. I'm almost at month 4, which is kind of amazing to me, so I'm on the road to locdom! By Homecoming, I'll be at 8 months. I'm excited!

Week 11

My 11th week went well. As a matter of fact...until I didn't wear my scarf my hair looked relatively neat. Now, I'm entering week 12 and I'm a bit fuzzy. I'm almost at the 3 month mark, which I consider to be April 3 since it's a Saturday. I don't have any true buds yet, but I can see where they'll be, hopefully by month 6. I have high hopes for month 6. By month 6, I hope it stays together better after washing. By month 6, I definitely want to see several buds. By month 6, I truly hope that my bottom 2 rows in the back stay together. Time will tell.

I started to search for YouTube videos of people's 3 month loc update, but I know I'll be frustrated because my hair is unlike most people's. There's one guy with soft hair that I'm following. He's at 6 months and has buds, so hopefully that expectation is realistic.

Week 10

So last week, not only did I not wash my hair, but I also showered without a cap and barely covered my hair at night. This is what I looked like before my rewtist today. If I think of it as a coily fro, it's not too disturbing.

After looking at these pictures, I kind of don't believe I went to work like this all week...my goodness.

Note about the last 2 rows...they still aren't anywhere near acting like they want to loc. There's some tangling, but it's slight.

Week 9

I decided that I was not going to wash and retwist during the weekend. It's fuzzy, but not quite as bad as it was in the very beginning. I don't feel like I have quite as many loose hairs. I'll add a picture later.

2 Month Anniversary

March 1! I'm 2 months in and really proud of myself. 

Week 8

Week 8 is just ending! I'm so proud of myself even though I'm not completely comfortable with the way my hair looks on most days. I continue to move through the world with confidence as if it looks amazing, knowing that in a year or so it will look amazing :)

My "washing without clips" experiment last week was not completely successful. The front/top section of my hair did not stay together as I had hoped. The back wasn't as bad as I thought and the sides were fine. So, this morning I will clip the front/top section before washing.

I feel like my hair is progressing. I think I can see where the buds are going to be. The coils look less perfect and if you look closely you can see some indications of matting in certain areas. It seems like it has to be progressing but it's at a stage where it's not visible. The mere fact that I haven't combed the shed hair means that it's in there somewhere.

I had an interesting conversation with a lady at work yesterday. She didn't realize that I was locing and made a comment about my hair looking good in terms of growth. She's the second person at work that has mentioned my hair growth and I know I have no sensible reason to be irritated but I am...only because that's what hair does over time. It grows. All hair grows. Whether you see the growth or not is related to breakage, but all hair grows. I BC'd in August. It's almost March...of course my hair has grown. That shouldn't be surprising, but considering the mistreatment of hair in the black community, it is. What a shame.

She also said something like..."well, it looks like it could be done..." This was before I realized that she didn't realize I was locing and told her. "Done" - what does that mean? I think it means "manipulated to look neat." And of course, "neat" is completely subjective. I'm positive that as my locs mature, I will be less concerned with attaining the status quo standard of "neat" hair. I'm not going to be obsessed with retwisting my roots. I'm going to aim for 6 weeks to give my hair the best chance of being healthy. I'm pretty sure I'll have fuzzy hair and I'll get used to it. Once I get some length, I'll begin styling, but I'm not really going to worry about that for a while.

So, this is where I am at week 8, about to enter week 9 and my official 2 month anniversary on March 1. It's certainly exciting and I can't help but wonder what month 6 will look like, but I'm expecting some great changes by then :)

Week 7

I'm going to take a break from photographing my hair. It's not visibly changing much anyway. I'll move to a monthly schedule, but continue to write each week.
This weekend I plan to wash and retwist my hair, as I mentioned last week. This time, I'm going to attempt to wash it without clipping it. Hopefully if I keep the water pressure low and scrub gently I won't disturb the coils too much.

Week 6 - Changes are Coming

I am washing and retwisting my hair tomorrow and will do so each week until I hit 3-4 months. At that time, I will reevaluate my maintenance routine. This fuzz is out of control. I know that my scarf came off several nights and that probably contributed, but there are so many loose hairs it's ridiculous. 

The way I rationalize it is this...

The reason for limiting retwisting is to avoid weakening the roots of your hair. They advise against retwisting hair while it's dry.

I don't think that washing and retwisting my hair at this stage will matter or impact my roots at all.

My hair will be wet.

I don't coil my hair tightly and clip it.

My hair isn't locked yet.

That's my rationale. It may be completely false, but until I see a bud, I'm retwisting weekly. I cannot take going to work looking like this another week. Plus my scalp was itching a lot this week. I briefly considered washing my hair and not retwisting it last time I washed, but with my hair texture it needs as much help/training as possible. 

So here we are...tomorrow will officially be 6 weeks!

Week 5

I'm going to catch up here soon.

So last week was actually "week 5."

After being frustrated with the back 2 rows for the past month, I decided to backcomb them. My goal is to just keep the hair together. This hair is so different from the hair on the rest of my head it's amazing...

I used this flee comb from Pet Smart based on a recommendation from a lady on Nappturality.

This is what it looked like after backcombing it. 

Then, I palmrolled it.

I measured it and I think my hair is about 4 inches now! You'd never know :)

Then, because those pieces are straight and the rest of my hair is coiled....and I'm not trying to look extra crazy...I pincurled all of those pieces.

They came out pretty well, but they didn't stay that neat for too long :(

Pincurling might have to be a nightly routine, unfortunately. Although I'm not sure what that hair will do once it's wet.

Here's a look at the fuzz in week 5. It's really driving me crazy.

 I may move to a weekly wash and retwist routine. I know it's more frequent than recommended, but I can't deal. I think as long as I do it while wet, I should be fine. I don't twist tightly and I don't use clips so I doubt that I'm putting stress on my roots. 

I really want to make it until Saturday, but I don't think that's happening. I may be washing and retwisting tonight...

Week 4

I actually didn't realized I published the last post. I was planning to add photos first. Oh well, I'll add them later to that one and this one.

This is actually a few days late. I wrapped up my 4th week on Saturday.

My scalp was so dirty all week, so I had to wash it and retwist on Saturday.

I decided that the stocking cap approach was not good enough, so I decided to clip my coils together towards the ends to keep them together and also allow me to scrub my scalp.

I think I diluted my shampoo too much as well, so I used it straight from the bottle this time. My scalp felt a lot cleaner and now I think I'm ready to go 2 weeks until the next wash and retwist.

The bottom 2-3 rows are still driving me crazy. They're not tangling at all. I'm going to do some research to determine the best course of action for them. I may see a loctician for a consultation as well, but I'd like to see someone who does more than coils. I'm not sure if interlocing those hairs will help. I don't think you can backcomb sections of hair that small, but I'm going to look into that as well. I need to research causasian locticians in my area. They can probably help with this section of hair more than a black person.

Week 3

I'm writing this late. I was less than thrilled with the amount of frizz on my head at the end of 2 weeks since the last retwist. I just tried not to look at it much. 

I timed the retwist and it only took an hour. I think it will go faster once my hair is actually loced and I can feel my way through instead of having to use the mirrors. As I retwist I can definitely feel tangles so I'm excited about that. The back of my head is really getting on my nerves. 

My plan for the week is to be much more diligent about ensuring my scarf stays on throughout the night. I'm also covering my hair in the shower. I'm curious to see if this makes a difference in how well they hold up over the next 2 weeks. 

I can't wait until I can wash my hair the way I want. I'm going to research this a little more. I added more shampoo to my spritz bottle. I think I diluted it too much. 

I'm technically into week 4 and I'm pretty proud of myself. I have no desire to undo my work, so I'll probably post this sometime this week and update my fotki too.

Week 2

It's fuzzy but I'm going to hold off to wash and retwist until next Saturday. Well, I'm going to retwist the bottom 2-3 rows and leave the rest until next week. I think that should be okay for now. It's not going to last anyway, but I want to help it along. Hopefully in 4 months it will begin to take better shape. Currently the coils quickly flatten into circles...I'm not explaining that well but you can see what I mean by looking at the pictures

All in all, so far so good I think. I still wonder if the coils are the correct size but only time will tell. With my hair texture and density I'm pretty sure I couldn't/shouldn't have made them any smaller.

Week 1

01.01.10 - DAY 1

01.09.10 - WEEK 1

I said I wouldn't speak on my journey publicly until I made it to one month, so I'm saving this post until then. Overall, I felt really good about my first week. I did a pretty good job of keeping my hands out of my hair. I did feel the back which was completely flat by week's end. I refused to even look at it in the mirror because I knew I'd want to retwist it.

I had no urges to undo my work, which is good because it took me forever to coil my hair.

By the end of the week, my plan was to simply retwist the back two rows. However, my scalp had begin to itch just a bit so I figured I'd just wash it and retwists it. I used a wave cap that I purchased last month and used diluted clear shampoo in a spray bottle.

I can't say if my scalp got really clean, but I'm not worrying about that too much right now.

I was a little nervous when I removed the cap, because I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be able to find my sections.

Surprisingly, when I began separating my hair to retwist it, I could actually feel the sections, even in the back where it appeared as though they didn't hold. I was really amazed that beneath the fuzz and wet hair I had sections. I didn't time my retwist section, but I think it took me about an hour, which was a relief. I'm not taking this journey to spend a ton of time maintaining my hair. Once my hair is loced, that time will probably decrease because I won't have to sit in front of the mirror. I'll probably be able to feel my way through.

The final result looks pretty good. I just used aloe vera gel to retwist.

I do not want to wash and retwist my hair every week. I'd like to go at least 2 weeks between retwisting but I really got nervous about the itching. I'm hoping that washing it will help it tangle. Everyone says how much locs love water. I could feel as I retwisted that some of the hair had begun to tangle on the ends of my coils, so I could tell how the buds would eventually appear there.

I wonder if the back of my hair will fare better this week or if it will look the same. If it does the same thing, I think I'll retwist just the back. I don't know. I'm probably lying. I really need to start working out and if I do, I'll definitely need to wash my hair once a week.