Hubby's Second Set of Locks

Okay apparently I have too much time on my hands, because I have been blogging like crazy, but I like it. It's like therapy. Plus I have a lot of catching up to do. Eventually I will post updates on my hair.

Anyhow long story short. My DH started growing his hair out in Nov. 07 decided to start his own braidlocks in April 08( talk about too much time on his hands, lol). Anyhow they came out decent, the parts werent straight but he was okay with that. He started the braidlocks method because he has a very soft texture and wanted the freedom of being able to wash his hair whenever he wanted. Through out his journey I was maintaining his locks with the NappyLock Tool One year passed by and he decided that he wanted to start his lock journey over, he wanted them smaller and neater, meaning he wanted straighter parts. If only he would have waited for me to do them. Anyhow so I took down his locks in May of this year and restarted them with the NappyLock Tool in June. In the beginning he was happy with his locks, however due to my severe nausea and vomiting, his locks werent maintained as much as he liked them to be and he did not want anyone else in his hair. Anyhow now he is frustrated with the frizziness(sp?) of his hair. I told him to be patient that the frizziness(sp?) will go away when his hair locks! Just to make him happy I have been researching on other blog sites and you tube for a plan.

My plan for him is to start retightening his locks with a latchhook, as I heard it cathces more of the loose hairs at the base, and to start palm rolling the rest of his lock with some type of locking aid (seen a few of videos of this process on youtube). I'm not sure if this will work for him but I will give it a try. Anyhow on to the pics.

This is a collage of his 1st set of locks before a retight and after. Click on the pic to enlarge.



This next set of pics is after the take down, it was very tedius but it didn't take as long as I thought it would. Click on pic to enlarge

I am so jealous of my hubby's length and texture!

These are pics of DH's 2nd Set of Locks. Click on pic to enlarge.



They really turned out nice, however they don't quite look the same, I do believe that locks can be revamped. When that time comes for me to retighten his hair. I'm so excited to do his hair, I can't wait! I will post updates so stay tuned!

Until Next Time Much Love

My Trip to the Big Easy ( New Orleans)

Pic of my immediate family

It's really not much to blog about, our family made a road trip out of it, we made a few stops to visit family and friends along the way.

The family reunion was nice, I have to admit it was better than the one last time you can read about it HERE .

Anyhow during family reunions you don't really have the time to go sight seeing. THe only time you have to do extra activities is to do them at night. Well we had plans to go out one night but they fell through. And I'm glad they did. Because the next day between family reunion activities we were able to go to some of the tourist sites. Lets just say all of us were glad that we didn't go the night before, because we were amazed at some of the things and half dressed people(women) we saw that day of. I guess I'm getting older, I'm sure if I was younger the sites that I seen wouldn't phase me anywho. Don't really have that many pictures to share because I didn't take many that were blog worthy, lol.

As you can tell this pic was taken from inside the car, lol.

Just in case you havent had a chance to read a post about my previous reunion, back in 07. I will give a short story about my family members that are Sisterlocked. There is about 5+/- that I know about. They still act weird about the whole thing. Whenever I compliment one of my family members I get the attitude "I know my locks are all that, why are you talking to me?" The next time I won't even bother. I was just trying to share some love. I mean we did come here to fellowship. Am I taking this hair thing to serious?

We tried to add some New Orleans culture to our activities.

I look forward to our next reunion because it's going to be in Orlando. Not that I've never been there before but the travel time will be a peace of cake especially with 3 kids, lol.

Gotta Go Next up is pics of my hubbies 2nd set of locks!

Until Next Time Much Love

Brotherlocks

During one of the visits of getting my hair retightened. Yes it took more than one visit my hair was that far gone. Anyhow I had the opportunity of meeting one of my consultant's clients who had Brotherlocks. I was blown away once I saw them. I have never seen Brotherlocks in person up until then and I must say they were beautiful. In my opinion his locks were perfect! He has been growing his locks for 10 years now and has been doing a great job of maintaining them. He only puts Ginseng oil in his hair not sure what he washes with, I wish I would have asked more questions, he was friendly. Anyhow he allowed me to take pictures and share them. However I do ask that you do not copy them. Please enjoy the view.

TOP VIEW

SIDE VIEW

BACK VIEW



Side Note: To those who blog from there phones. How do you post the pictures as well? I was successful in writing the post however when it came to posting pics I did not see a link for it so if anyone could help please do, thanks.

Until next time much love!

Just call me Prego

Everyone else does!

If you have guessed that I was pregnant you guessed right, that's seems to be the only reason why I go missing from my blog. Unfortunately when I get pregnant I get very ill, ill to the point I'm vomiting continuously, non-stop. This is called hyperemesis gravidarum in pregnant women and it is no joke. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I got sick and it finally resolved a few weeks ago, mind you I'm almost 7 months, so that "you only experience morning sickness for the first 3 months" is for the birds. Let me briefly explain the torture I went through
-I lost 30 pounds ( I couldn't eat ANYTHING for weeks)
-I had to be hospitalized for dehydration
-I received home health so that my hydration therapy could continue ( cheaper than going to the hospital)
-I also had to wear a medicine pump( that provided nausea medicine) 24/7 (for about a month and a half)
-Worst of all I was too sick that I couldn't get my hair done. Lets just say that I went months ( which I do not recommend) without getting my hair retightened. I wish I had taken photos of my hair to show how badly damaged it was, I had an afro of about three inches of new growth! Several of my locks had married together and they were not trying to get a divorce, so when I finally got my hair retightened I lost several locks. Which majority are in the front. If there were a good time to go loose nap that was the perfect time. However I stayed optimistic. Plus I took a good look in the mirror and realized how much my hair has grown and fell in love with the length. My locks are even longer now that they have been retightened. Mind you my hair has never been this long( when permed), plus I'm able to put it in a true ponytail, there is no way I can give that up now. I'm having too much fun with my locks, maybe in the future.

I realized that I have had my locks for 3 and a half years now, and I can't believe its been that long. Although now I have several baby locks I couldn't be more happier with my hair. Thanks to my consultant who even agreed to restore and repair my locks, I have nice parts again and I think I have more locks in the front than I did before, which is great because eventually it will be fuller. One day when I'm bored(have time on my hands I will recount my locks). I'm glad that I decided to go natural and decided to lock up. Some time this week I plan to style my hair, so hopefully I'll remember to take pics and give you all updates.

Anyhow this is just the beginning of updates I have several more so stay tuned:

*My trip to the Big Easy
*My Hubby's new set of locks( which are not so new anymore done back in June)
*Me And Hubby's 5 Year Anniversary (cruise to the Caribbean) and no the baby was not conceived on that trip. Lol
*Vegetarian/Vegan Updates ( You all will not believe what happened)
* More hair updates/pics)
*Contemplating becoming a Sisterlocks Consultant( really thinking hard about that one)

I believe those are it for now so stay tuned!

Until next time much love~

I thought this pic was neat

Back From My Hiatus!

Hey all just popping in to let you all know that all is well. I believe it is safe to say that now....

I can't believe it's been 5 months since I last posted. I have so much to update you all on, I'm not
sure where to start. I plan to catch up on everyones blogs in the coming weeks, and I do plan to update my blog sometime this week.

There is a good reason why I have been Missing In Action, let's just say they say the third time is a charm!

Until Next Time Much Love!

3 Year Anniversary

I'm almost two weeks late, but I had a good reason, I almost set my house on fire and figured that was more of a priority.

Don't worry every one is ok, the fire only lasted about a good 5 minutes. There was very minor damage nothing a little scrubbing and painting can't fix. Lets just say I need to stay away from the kitchen for a while, lol.

Anyhow onto more important things hair. It's been three years, I can't believe it's been that long already! I have to keep reminding myself by counting the years that I first got them up until now on my hands, lol. Anyhow through all the ups and downs I'm still in love with my locks. I still contemplate of starting over but then the idea goes away only to resurface again. I have a feeling that I'm going to leave well enough alone, because if I really wanted to start over I would have a long time ago. All is well with my hair it is continuing to grow. I don't style much unless you call "freestyling" a style. Every now and then I will do the occasional braid out but I pretty much freestyle 99.8% of the time. I need to get out of this rut.

Maybe I should start a style challenge for myself. And style my hair every week for a month and see how it goes. It won't hurt right?

I'm starting to come to grips with the fact that I was born with thin hair, and that my hair will never be thick, this has been passed on to me for several generations. With all the damage that I have put my hair through I should be happy that I have any hair left, and I am. I will never put my hair through that torture again. I am so happy with my locks and have grown to love them that I can't imagine my hair in another style. My locks fit me and I fit them!

Now onto Pictures.....

This is a collage of my locks during the first year:



During My Second Year:



Last but not least here are a few pics of my locks leading up to my 3rd year:



You can click on the photos for a closer view. Hope to be back soon with photos of me attempting some style.

Until Next Time Much Love

All That Hair

I know these are not pics of my hair, but I pinky promise that some will be coming real soon. (Like this weekend soon)

Hint: My 3 year lockversary!


Anyhow these are pics of my DH's loose hair, that's a damn shame to have all that hair.










(Makes no sense) I guess I'm a little jealous.



him @ Work

Although he likes his loose hair, he does miss his locks and I will be placing them back in ASAP, via the nappylock tool method!

I'll be back soon,

Until Next Time Much Love!

It was my birthday

Last month I celebrated turning one year "younger"

Me and my boo, lol. Decided to take this opportunity and share it with each other, without the kids.Trust me we needed that mini vacation. We went to Daytona Beach and Orlando. I had a blast. I can't remember the last time I did something on my birthday, I know it's sad.

How I feel about turning a year younger, at first I was a little down, but I realized that I have a lot to celebrate for. I have a wondeful husband and two kids that love me dearly. Oh yeah and the rest of my family, lol. I have a very rewarding career as an Registered Nurse and if I ever get bored there is so many other opportunities I can change over too if needed. I had the blessings of God to be able to move into two brand new houses. God is good. I'm working on my dream house next, no more moving after that, hopefully, lol. Anyhow I'm please with how my life is going. Don't have much to complain about.

Anyhow here is a slideshow of our trip, hope you enjoy.

Oh yeah I finally decided to update my vegan blog with lots of pics.
Click HERE to see the pics.

Take Care

Until next time much love!

Taking Down Locks

Don't worry it's not me, I haven't reached that point yet. As you all know I've been talking about it off and on but I think I'm content with my locks for now.

Ok back to the story. My DH wanted to take down his locks because he wants them a little smaller and a little neater. After a whole year he decides to do this, lol. He has been talking about taking them down and starting over for a while now and I was trying to get him to do it earlier on but he thought it was impossible and that his locks were locked! Negative! Why don't men listen to women? 99% of the Time we do know what we are talking about, lol. Anyhow he had no choice but to believe me when three locks decided to come out on their own even after being braided and retightened with a tool. I'm still amazed that they came aloose.

Anyhow so now we are in the process of taking down his locks, it's taking a while only because people do have to work to pay bills. However today I'm off and hope to finish taking them all down. It's actually pretty easy, just time consuming.

I will take pics of his old, loose hair and new locks and hope to be back soon! That's if I don't get lost! Speaking of loose hair my DH loose hair is so beautiful it almost makes me want to become a loose nap, I'm just sayin!

Anyhow hope all is well with everyone and hope to catch up on every one's blogs soon.

Until next time much love.

My Journey To Veganism

I'm so excited about this journey and can't wait to get to cooking.... wait did I really just say that? Naaa.. Couldn't Be. Ok so I admit that I don't like cooking but I know I need to start if I want to eat, lol.

There is so much info on veganism that I couldn't believe. There is also millions of recipes out that I should never get bored!

Anyhow I'm so excited about this jouney that I decided to blog about it! Yes I'm starting yet another blog. I just have so much to share, lol.

There is so much info out there on veganism that I couldn't believe. There also millions of recipes out that I should never get bored!

Only have one post so far, my next post will feature pics of my garden that me and my DH started in our back yard. I can't believe the transformation. Everything is growing so quickly! I just hope everything survives, lol.

Well that's that, please feel free to stop by if your interested. Hit me up at My Journey 2 Veganism

Or you can also find the link, linked in the side bar to the left <--.

Well I better go, I do have a job to go to in the AM.

I guess I will blog about hair and post pics, the next time around. This is suppose to be a hair blog,lol.

Anyhow take care,

Until Next Time Much Love.

Vegetarian to Vegan

As far as food is concerned....

I finally made the dicision to kick the eggs, milk & cheese! It took me a long time to get to this point. A week ago I tested myself to see how long I could go without the eggs and the cheese and I did better than I thought I would.I could deal without the cow milk since finding Almond milk I feel like I'm in heaven when I drink it. I was still tempted by the cheese every now and then, but I do realize it's not that serious and I should be able to live without cheese, lol.

Another reason I finally decided to let go of the dairy and eggs is because even after being a vegetarian for almost 2 years my cholesterol was high at my recent check up. I do understand that my high cholesterol could also be due to genetics but I'm still upset about the results.

Although I have stopped eating meat for almost two years, I still haven't been eating or making the healthiest food choices. So I am also on my quest to eat healthier, I'm decreasing all the rice, bread and pasta to hopefully 1-3 servings a week, and decreasing my sugar intake as well. Which will be a challenge, considering that I have several sweet teeth, lol. We shall see...

Do to all this non exercise and excesive eating of all the wrong things, I have since put back on weight, so getting my but back in gear and exercising is imperative which I will discuss in my Running/ Weight Loss Blog.



Anyhow as far as my family me any my hubby decided that we should let the kids eat fish and only fish. It was hard to come to that conclusion but I do think it is for the best. My hubby even left me for fish, lol. Just kidding well sort of, so now I'm the loner, it's ok. They can have the fish. So now I'm off to reading the book that I never finished, Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis & Vesanto Melina. It's very informative.



I look at the bright side because now this will force me to cook more, (Which I'm not to fond of, Thank God my DH love's to cook) Anyhow I will look to Meikmeika's Blog for inspiration, she makes is look so easy. I will attempt to cook 1-2 new meals per week, (I have to take baby steps, lol) Wish me luck yall, hopefully I won't have cheese withdrawls, lol.

Hubby's Locks

So I thought it was time to update you on my DH's locks. I wanted to wait till his one year mark but I was to anxious to show his progress, lol.

For those who don't know this is his 3rd attempt at locks. The first two times he attempted the twisting method. However he couldn't resist the urge to wash his hair. For some reason my hubby likes to wash his hair every day (I've cut him down to every other day, lol), which makes the twisting method almost impossible. So finally the third attempt he decided to try with braids, he wasn't particualr about parts just grabed and braided, so far so good. However since his hair grows like mad he has to deal with fuzziness.

I think I will start alternating methods from twisting to latching to see if that will help. What do you all think?

His locks are 10 Months now, I can't believe it has almost been a year! Well enough of the talking(typing) Here are some pics.

The first collage is a pic of his locks before I retightened them. That is about 2 and a half months of new growth( makes no sense for someones hair to grow like that, lol).


It looks like he is free forming.




And Now for the finished product...




Although he has a lot of fuzziness and unstoppable growth. I think his locks are turning out pretty good. Unfortunately he is still afraid to wear his locks out in the open because he doesn't think it's long enough... MEN!

Side Note: I absolutley love this song that is playing in the background. It's called Hello by Beyonce. My DH literally had me at hello the first time I saw him, however it took him a few years to realize it, lol.

Until next time much love!

Dandruff + Beautiful Locs Part 2!

I had to do a part 2 for the simple fact that my dandruff was seriously that bad! The the dandruff was so far gone that it started spreading to my ears and the skin surrounding my hair line. Me and my consultant discovered that the dandruff was so severe that it was thinning out my locks and even noticed some bald spots. So I could not let this dandruff problem linger on and went to see a dermatologist.

In this picture you can see how bad the dandruff was eating at my scalp around the edges and even spreading to other areas of my face/skin. Sorry for the disgusting pic, but I had to let you all know where I was coming from.

I was prescribed a medication (steroid) called Luxiq. It came in a mousse form. At first I was skeptical about it, but it was very easy to apply to the scalp and probably better than other forms that I have heard of in the past. This product is very expensive but very well worth the money when I say that it started getting rid of my problem in hours I mean it lieterally. After using one application only once I saw results the very next day. As the days went by the more and more my dandruff disappeared. The only thing I was afraid of is once I stopped using the product, would the dandruff retrun. So far so good, I have very small flakes every now and then which is expected but nothing compared to what I just went through. Sorry I don't have any after pics, too lzzy to take them.

So I started a routine
My routine has been washing my hair weekly (with several anti-dandruff shampoos all poured into one spray bottle), (Hey I was desparate & plus they were already instock, lol.) I also started using this product by Jamaican Mango & Lime, that my DH swears by. It's called No More Itch Spray (Gro Spray) I originaly bought it for him because he was always complaining of his itchy scalp. However he has battled dandruff as well and noticed that this product has been keeping his dandruff at rest so he told me to try it and I have been using it, I just don't use it as much as I should (the product recommneds twice a day), I only use it like every other day, however I do believe it is working. I'm also going to start back using the ACV rinse once a month, I beilieve it helps.



Speaking of products I have started using this new product that I think whoever is a product junkie should try. It's a product by Motions called Marula Natural Therapy Hair and Scalp Oil.

I think it's a very good mositurizer and it smells like heaven. You would want to sniff your hair all day, seriously! It also adds a nice shine to your locks. Becareful, a little goes a long way!

I never heard of Marual Oil until recently I believe it's an essential oil. Marula originates from a tree in Africa that produces fruit(female trees only) and I bleive the oil is produced from the nut/kernel from that fruit. I'm sure you can google it and find out more about it, however if you want to find out a little bit about it now you can click ! HERE

Anyhow this year one of my hair goals is to fine one product line and one only that can assist with all of my hair care needs. Do you think that is possible? Over the years I noticed that I have accumulated to much hair products under my sink and it is time to get rid of them. I don't think I'm asking for too much, all I need is a nice leave in conditioner/moisturizer, anti-dandruff shampoo, deep conditioner, and something to set my locks with for styles. I know there has to be at least one product line out there that can accomodate my needs, I'm looking for an African/African-American owned company, I want to help my people out. So if you all have any suggestions please recommend and leave comments.

Well it's my time, I have so much more to say, but so little time so look forward to me being back sooner than later.

Up Next: Update on my DH's Locks! They Look Awesome!

Until next time much love!

Dandruff + Beautiful Locks Does Not Mix

I need help.

Lately I have been having problems with my scalp. It's starting to get to me.
It's like I experience dandruff with the seasons. Sometimes my dandruff is controlled( like I never had the problem to begin with) than other times it's never ending. Like after washing your hair a millions times only to see that the dandruff is still lurking around, like you didn't wash your hair at all. I hate it!

I'm not sure what to do anymore, it's like I think I know what works and I thought I used what works, but apparently it's not working for me, or I'm doing something wrong. Anyhow so I come to all of you asking for your tips and advice. My consultant advised me to see a dermatologist but I hate going to doctors (go figure) and I want to try to get rid of this problem one last time on my own. I would hate to go to the doctor and spend all that money only to have those products not work for me. I know there is something or some routine out there for me that could possibly work I just haven't found it yet. Anyhow enough of that.

Besides the dandruff problems. My locks are coming along pretty good. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but my new consultant had started several new locks for me due to so much new growth in between parts, however those new ones have sinced been washed out due to me forgetting to clip them down so they don't come out. Anyhow on my latest visit they were restarted along with several more at the front of my hair line and sides, which is a good sign it means my edges are filling back in, they are not completly there but it's a start. I'm hoping the next time I go back she can reattach the locks that were cut off from the ones that I combined together. Anyhow because of that I now have my straight parts again which wasn't a big deal before but now I like my parts. So my locks are still a work in progress but my hair has never been healthier and I'm so in love with my hair.

I finally got my camera but I haven't took any flatering pics of my hair yet so until then you all will only get this sneak peek.



As for my hubby locks, yes he still has them. He's hanging in there and he really likes how they are turning out. The only thing is he doens't like when I retighten them.I guess I do them to tight. I promised I would ease off some but he still hates it. I try to tell him its not good to wait too long in between retightenings and that it wouldn't take so long if he would get them retightened more frequently, but you know men, they never listen.
So I have a pic of his locks from early Nov. @ 7 months ( yes it's been that long he is going on 9 months now) However I will be retightening them soon and will post with updates.




As far as my kids they are doing great, they are getting big. My daughter is so bossy and likes to beat up on her older brother, and my son he is the total opposite of her he is calm and laid back so he lets her get away with it. I'm curious to see how long that lasts. I'll update you with pics soon, they are too cute.

Anyhow as far as my weight loss blog I have finally updated it, I ve been off track way to long and slowly but surely I'm getting back on. I had put back on 10 pounds but I have since lost 6 of those, so I'm getting there. If anyone's interested the link is on the left side bar or you can find it HERE


Anyhow I'll be back sooner than later,

Unitl next time much love!