The New Regimen :)

Hello, again!  I just remembered that I needed to provide a little update on my regimen.

Before I reached the 6 month mark, I was washing every 10 days instead of every 7 days.  I did this because I was having slippage and after my month 2 retightening, my SL consultant suggested that I try it.  And it worked!  In June, my consultant said I could stop braiding and banding because my babies had finally settled :) So with that in mind, there have been some other changes.

Washing - Squeaky Green Bar (Lush) or Grand Poo Bar (Oyin Handmade) every 7 days...on Saturdays usually.  I have been air drying and (with the permission of my consultant) blow drying if I'm in a hurry.  The blow dryer is one of those diffusers.  When I air dry, I soak up the excess with a super absorbant towl first and then I let it hang!!

Oils - My consultant started suggesting I use a bit of oil on my hair now that it's gotten settled.  Now, I'm a cheapy one when I'm not sure which kind to use so right now, I'm trying out this tea tree mixture of some sort that I got from Walmart.  No mineral oil or anything in it - so I figured I'd give it a go. When I can remember the name, I'll put it in my next post.  But I only put that in like once a week (when I don't forget).

Leave-in conditioner - Oyin Handmade's Juices N Berries and Greg Juice on the DAILY.  I'm thinking of getting the some more of the Carols Daughter Black Vanilla.  I like the way it smells - and I feel "earthy and serious" when I use it.  That's when I put on my browns, tans, and orange hues and say words like "conjecture". 

So that's the "regimen", if you can call it that. 

Shout out to all the followers (especially my home girl Tiffiany!) - you all are going to make me feel special or something!! LOL

Side note - I love HDTV. It motivates me to do this work that hopefully, in 3 years, will lead to some more letters behind my name.

The Lioness

The Super Post in Month Three

Happy Easter/Resurrection Sunday! It's my third month of having my SLs and I love them still! They still are racking up compliments and encouragement from women who are natural and relaxed.  April 15 (tax day and my parents anniversary) will be my official month 3.


But I have learned some lessons:

• FOLLOW DIRECTIONS: I have had major slippage at my retightenings and I think it's karma from month one when I was braiding and banding like I was supposed to be doing.  Braid and band - don't play the SL gods.

• WASH CAREFULLY: My athletic lifestyle has caused me to feel like my hair is icky.  So when I do that weekly wash, I can be a little bit overzealous. That's particularly the wrong answer! My consultant, Danielle, has asked me to be gentle and spread out my washes by  a couple more days.  Currently, I do every 7 days but I'm going to start pushing it to 10 days.

• AIR IS NECESSARY: Since my hair sweats while I workout like Luther Vandross on stage (sorry, Luther - you did sweat a lot) so I need not pull out all of my fashionable racing hats this summer.  And buddy, do I have PLENTY of wonderful hats.  I just got another one at the Shamrock Half Marathon in VA Beach (see pic below - btw I had the greatest time - shout out to LJ and Louise - the incantation!). The other picture is of me and my fantastic family!  Even though I grabbed this hat and shoved it on 10 seconds prior to the picture being snapped, the hat's addition is welcome.  But instead of hats, I think I'll be venturing into more visors.

I just had my last retightening on March 30, 2010.  Unfortunately, because of our schedules, my consultant and I let my hair go 6 weeks instead of our agreed upon 4 weeks.  NOT A GOOD IDEA.  My hair was desperate. That may have something to do with the incredible amount of slippage.  It took around 5 hours to retighten my head - we were in there til midnight.  Does any other SLer feel bad when they have massive slippage or some other hair issue which causes their diligent SL consultant to have to labor tirelessly over their head?  Well, we solidified a date for our next appointment so that it won't go that long again. Hopefully the tip I left made it a little better.


Speaking of my consultant, shout out to her! She's awesome and you can tell that God has worked in and on her life.  Even when I catch her on a difficult day, she's still hardworking and very flexible.  I try to put people on to her services because she's such an awesome individual and consultant.




HAIR UPDATE:
Here are some pictures.  These were prior to the retightening.

SKIN UPDATE
As far as my skin goes, it's doing better.  I'm still rolling with the clarisonic and the baking soda regimen.  Since there are not any major breakouts happening, it's not at the forefront of my mind right now.  Still looking for other options in reducing the dark marks on my cheeks.




FOLLOWERS!!
THANK YOU!  I want you to know how happy I am to have you as followers.  Your support is amazing and I appreciate you.  If there are any questions you have for me, you can always feel free to just ask or comment or whatever!  MUAH to each of you!




Goodnight, sweethearts in hair land!
The Lioness

Interviewing with Sisterlocks!

So today was interview day at University X.  It was good - I felt a little nervous because I didn't know what they thought about my answers to their questions.  There were no comments about my hair...except from the girl who knew me from a couple years ago when I had a fade (seriously).  She said "Wow, you really did let it grow out".  Which I don't feel like is a compliment or a diss - just an observation.  We'll see how long it takes for them to get back to me.

TIME FOR PICTURES!  I may be the single most picture-taking-in-the-first-month-with-sisterlocks blogger around.  But I keep finding new features on my computer that are made for blogging.  And I have a little secret! I tried the latch hooking - which was so niftily shown on kalia dewdrop's blog . Only a small section in the front so that I could test my moxie, but it felt like when I got these bad boys installed.  This one goes in the W column!

Here comes trouble!

Not that bad...I think I did an okay job.

My BF mentioned that I never showed any pictures of my hair prior to sisterlocks so I thought I'd include that for you all to see what length I was working with back in October.

And here are today's pictures (just found out that you can take pictures on your webcam - I know..common sense).  Good month one - and really looking forward to month two and three...and so on and so on.  Monday will be exactly a month since installation. 

And last but not least...HAPPY CHARTER DAY to the Lovely Lambda Chi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.!

More pictures! Time for a RETIGHTENING!

 

I don't like the picture (I look horrible and my skin is acting a donkey!) but my hair is still up there and doing ok.   This week I've been sticking with the water spritzing and trying to give up some of my bad hair habits.  

Here's the back of my head.  I think it looks pretty great! 

I'm going to Atlanta this weekend to visit a friend so hopefully, I'll come back with plenty of delightful pictures to share with you all when I'm not looking busted at 11pm, *smh* lol

As for the retightening, my first one is coming up but I have a schedule conflict and currently, I'm in heavy prayer that she'll be able to reschedule.  When I email her tomorrow, I'll see what she says!  Next Friday, I have an interview for a doctoral epidemiology program - and I'm SUPER HYPED!  I want my hair to look appropriate and professional but I'm scared that I won't know what to do with my hair.  The institution is  lily white majority White American and I am nervous that there will be a negative reception to my hair.  But I am heartened by my confidence in my research and my personality.  And anyway, my hair is GORGEOUS! It's so alive with flavor and taste.  And I wear it like a beauty queen :-) ...SHOUT OUT TO THE NEW MISS AMERICA from the one and only VIRGINIA!

Until next time...<3