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.

This Morning

Warning: Rambling Ahead...

This morning, I'm feeling like I should just finger coil my hair and be done with it. I never gave my first set a chance because I didn't think they'd make it it. I'm still worried about the back and am not sure what I'm going to do to keep it presentable and coiled. I can't remember for sure, but I think I went to sleep with a damp head last time. This time I'll make sure that I do my hair in the morning so it's dry by the evening. I'm not going to sit under the dryer or anything...or maybe I will for just a little while. I'm thinking I'll still have smushed hair in the morning and will need to do something about it, particularly the sides and back. I absolutely do not want to soak my hair every day like I tried last time. I may test spritzing on Sunday and see if it helps. Or maybe I can just wet my fingers and twirl the coils to help them get their umph back.

I'm searching on Nappturality while I write this post and it seems like this problem won't last forever...not sure how encouraging this is, but it is what it is.

I also decided that I will make no public proclamations this time. I need to prove to myself that I can stick with it and all of the frustration that comes. I'll document my journey privately and post photos once I make it 3 months. I hated having to retract the start of my journey next time so I'll hold everything until I can prove my tenacity :)

I've been keeping up with MrMustBeNice1's journey on YouTube and his hair is softer and way looser than mine and he's seeing great progress at 3 months. He started off getting his hair retwisted every 2 weeks and although it seems excessive based on what I've read, it seems to have worked well for him. I think he's stretching it out longer now to decrease expenses but I might just follow his lead initially. TBey says that she retwists hers every other week and has been doing that for a while with no detrimental affects. I think some of that depends on your hair. Her hair seems to be a lot thicker than mine and can handle the frequent manipulation. Another key is to do it while your hair is wet.

I'm looking at the set of coils I started and then undid at the beginning of this month and those parts are entirely too big. I know I have a small head but I need to make them smaller. I suppose it's safer to go smaller because I can always combine later but I won't be able to make larger locs smaller.

I'm looking at one lady's album and it looks like she has maybe 7 on the bottom row.

Interlocking to Start Locs

This is a serious contender as well. If I do it myself it might take a while, but I'm considering it.

Here's the best video I've seen so far during my very quick search.



Since my hair is shorter, it won't take quite as long, but I still think I'll be looking at a minimum of 6 hours. I'd be willing to pay someone to help me, but I don't know if I have any interested friends. I'll check a few salons to find out their prices for starting locs with this method. I'm wondering how many of them will do it.

On the Grow

I have 2.5" of hair so I'm still on the path to having 3" by the end of February, which is supposed to be some magic number so I can start my locs but I'm not absolutely sure about that. I'm beginning to think that I may have more success with longer hair. I really want to start my locs sooner rather than later, but I don't want to rush and be unnecessarily frustrated as a result.

I just sent Kim of Kimmaytube a message asking for advice for shorter hair. Clearly my hair is not long enough for protective styling and won't be for a minute. I'm already noticing a few knots here and there and we know that's just the beginning. In addition, my hair texture is nothing like hers. She has far less shrinkage than I do. I think the key to me retaining my length until I loc will be to wear it stretched as much as possible. The question is...at what length will I be able to do that. I feel like once I have enough hair to do that, I'll have enough hair to loc. I don't know what I'll ultimately end up doing but I'm feeling like I really need more hair to loc successfully.

Right now I'm still partial to using some of the techniques that people with straighter hair use, primarily because of the texture of the back of my head. Someone on NP recommended using different techniques for different parts of my hair but I am not interested in that look at all. Braidlocs might still be an option with more length.

Hair Growth Projections:
   End of February - 3"
   End of April - 4"
   End of June - 5" (Mel's Wedding)

   Beginning of October - Homecoming (6.5")

The two events that I'm most concerned about are my soror's wedding in June and Homecoming in October. I am not interested in looking like a work in progress for either of those events.

Twist and Rip?

This looks appealing as well. Supposedly it's a good method for curly hair. When these sites say "curly" I know they aren't thinking of my hair type. I keep seeing around 6 inches for the ideal length to use this method, but I'm not buying it Lol! I don't see any reason why you would need longer hair to do this. Maybe these recommendations are for people who are concerned about length.

The advantage of these methods that people with straighter hair use is that they tangle the hair from the start which gives it a jump start. Locs are just tangled hair. With the methods that most Black people use, they have to wait for the hair to tangle on itself.


Find more videos like this on dreadlocks forums

Here's a description:

The process is fairly simple. Gather the section in your fingers and twirl it. I spin clockwise relative to my face. I don't know if this is relevant. Don't twist it too tight, or when you go to rip it, it will bunch up way too densely to reach the root end of your hair, and you'll end up with a long length of straight hair between the knots and your roots. Instead, twirl lightly. 

Then slide your fingers slowly toward the tip of the bunch, until you feel the end of some hair. Next, split that bunch into two, and pull it apart. The crotch of the separated bunch should slide down to the scalp. Don't pull too hard. You may not be able to see, but you just made a thin layer of tangles. 

Now, without retwisting, grab a little bit of hair from one half of the bundle and pull it into the other half. You only need to retwist every three or four rips, or when the hair gets too bulbous. 

When that time comes, hold the knotted section in your fingers and roll it so it's even. Use this action to push any loose loops up into the bundle of unknotted hair. Then retwist and repeat. Once you get a good layer of knots between your scalp and the ripping, you can pull the hair apart pretty hard. Just don't go pulling your hair out.

Took Them Out

I took the braids out last night. I'm considering using the backcombing method and possibly waiting to gain another inch or so. The hair in the back and around the front edges weren't holding the braids at all. I think if my hair was longer, it might do better, but I don't want to wait a year to start my locs.

So, I started my NP search and came up with just a few people who have actually used this method. Based on what I read, a lot of black people aren't familiar with the technique and think that only white people start their locs this way. There was also some concern about breaking hairs, but I mean...the style is just matted hair. I'm not sure why it would matter if the hairs that are matted are in tact or broken.

Here are some notes I pulled from the NP threads:

Tools

• Find a strong, small-tooth comb (like a metal lice comb)
• I  did use a pet comb that has metal teeth (bought one at petsmart) to do the backcombing.
• The finer steel comb is great because it really gets the hair knotted 

Labor

• Warm up your arm muscles, because you'll be hurting
• It is laborious as all hell. So be prepared to sit for a good day especially if you want them done neat. 

Technique

• It really is as simple as it sounds...comb backwards to tangle and palmroll. The end!
• Once you back comb them you palmroll it til it takes form

This video shows backcombing without palmrolling. This is the only video that I've watched that shows a neat product after just backcombing.



Knottyboy.com has videos that show both, but their backcombing doesn't look as neat.

Products

• You can use aloe vera gel but they will stay. 

Advantages

• Once done they look like instant locks!
• I was able to wash them with in a week
• They took only 4 months to lock.
• Just palm roll and go
• They grew like crazy
• No gel or goop to hold them in place.
• Gives you a head start with the locking process. Especially if you have at least 5-6+ inches to work with. Its sorta like you've eliminated a step by tightening the hair together with itself and it gives ur hair a jump start because it doesn't have to knot together as much because you've already done it by backcombing.

Difference from Other Methods

• I did not recall budding or those tiny balls at the end with the exception of locks around my hair line because they were too short to back comb.
• Regardless, they still had to go through the stages it just made it a lot easier to do.
• When you backcomb them they are meshed not quite tight but they are set in place. As time go by they start to tighten and become denser.
• You still go through the fuzziness and stuff but they are tangled and meshed where as coils and twists are not.
• They will still have to go through the stages of shrinkage, having those little balls at the ends, even meshing and condensing. They appear to look like dreads but they are not locked but locked enough to not unravel. 

Starting Length Recommendations

• Actually if you can start with 4 inches would be ideal because you want to have enough hair for it form a lock.
• You should have at least 3 inches or more because when you tease them back they should have some length to them

Braidlocs

I just redid my entire head with small braids. I didn't plan to. They're smaller than the coils. The parts are probably a mess, but I think they should hold up better. I am very nervous about going to work like this...

Update: Still nervous at work even though I've received a few compliments. I think what bothers me most is being able to see my scalp. I have fine hair but it's dense, so I'm hoping that over time...once my hair grows and I actually have mature locs, it will fill in.

Here are photos:

Started my Locs

Kind of...I think I'm going to redo the back today.

Here's what we have from yesterday. It took me a little over 2 hours:

They look way too big for me. I counted about 96. I was so stressed out over this dern grid, but it is still jacked. Because my hair is actually pretty fine, I think I was afraid to make sections that were smaller. I don't know. I also have a small head so I guess I should take that into consideration as well.

I used aloe vera gel to twist.

The last two rows are going to give me problems. I may end up backcombing them at some point. It was definitely challenging to see. I ended up changing my set up in my bathroom.

This weekend, I'm taking the plunge

I think I'm going to coil my hair today after I run some errands. I just need to review my "plans" to figure out how I'm going to moisturize my hair after I clarify. I'm going to the beauty supply store or Walmart to buy a few spray bottles to store diluted shampoo and whatever else I may need to dilute. I'm also going to pick up a stocking cap. I'm going to try washing with that initially. I know it isn't the optimal solution, but I think it should work.

I see several people used aloe vera juice in spritzes. I may price that at the health food store too.

Test Coils

Here we go. I couldn't wait and as soon as my family left, I got started on my test coils. They didn't take me long at all. I didn't use multiple mirrors to ensure the parts were straight. This is just a test run to get an idea of what they will look like.

I didn't wash my hair first. I just spritzed it with water and used aloe vera gel. My hair already had conditioner in it.

I don't love the look on me, but the truth is...this is where I have to start and the sooner I start, the sooner I can leave this phase. I'm going to wear these through the weekend. I will probably wash them out Monday morning before I go to work.

I may also wash them on Sunday to see how well they stay put to get an idea of what I'll have to contend with later. I may go ahead and start my loc journey in December instead of waiting until February.

After sleeping...

I wore a satin cap and it stayed on my head very well. The back is visibly smushed. I should have probably made sure my hair was completely dry before going to sleep, but I didn't and I was too lazy to get the dryer. I'm not sure if that would have made a difference or not.

The last row at the bottom is going to give me problems. This hair is the softest on my head and has the loosest coil. I may end up using a different method on it later.

I need a tam...I'm not sure if they would give me a lint problem but they sure are cute...from Esty:

Crochet Boho Tam MUSTARD

 

Classic French Beret