Don't Get It Twisted

I'm enjoying my new camera. It has this neat x3 self timer that takes 3 consecutive pics. Needless to say I've been taking lots of them. I don't know if I've simply been in a writing mood, or the pics, cold weather, and being stuck home have stimulated my desire to write. Either way, I've enjoyed expressing my thoughts here of late. Besides, it's easy to write about my passion - Sisterlocks.
Nappy & Happy
The reason I blog is to share Sisterlocks knowledge and hopefully bring others to being nappy & happy. When I became interested in Sisterlocks and started my research, I wanted to see good, clear, close up pics of locks. That's my goal in the pic selection for my blog, and of course, I only choose the nicest . I took enough ugly pictures as a child, hated all of them AND my looks (an upcoming post). I read a comment recently on LockItUp - something about blogs with "only good or pretty pics of locks...that ain't real life." Well, just for the record, I don't always walk around with curled, coifed locks. So don't get it twisted.

I also DON'T spend a lot of time on my hair. I PLAY with my hair alot, but that's a joy not a chore...I can't keep my hands out of it. Sometimes I just stand in the mirror almost in awe that this is MY NATURAL hair. Not only is it my natural hair, but a wash, condition and a 4-6 weeks retightening is all it takes to maintain my Sisterlocks - no costly products, no hours wasted sitting in a salon. I have never been happier or more content with my hair and my overall personal look. I wish every sistah of color could experience this hair joy and freedom. You fellow lockheads know what I mean.

Here's how cloudnine expressed it through a post here:
I realize that my hair will never look like another sistahs locks...what I did not realize is that my hair could look like this period. There is not a day that goes by that I do not stop and thank GOD for this miracle. I have never been so completely happy with my hair in my life!

Any Day is a Good Hair Day with SisterlocksFor those of you just locking - don't get it twisted. There are some bad "lookin" hair days for me, but not "bad hair days" 'cause any day with Sisterlocks is a good hair day. When I'm at home, I don't do anything to them except put them up out of my way. This isn't a pic of a style - it's the same braidout from earlier in the week. I just quickly pulled my locks up with a scrunchie. You can see, I need a retightening and color touch up. (I'm thinking of waiting until my 2 year anniversary in June and getting highlights...don't know if I'll be able to deal with the grey hair that long, tho.)
It's casual Friday. Here I am at lunch, locks pulled back with my B-Tie. I've done nothing with my hair all week except pull it back and let the krinkles from last Saturday's braidout do their thang.


From Plain to Daaannnggg!
Four hours later, I came home and set my locks with my fav Caruso Steam Curlers for a dinner date. (Duh! Yeah, you read correctly - I said date....tehehe) The curls help hide the fact that I need some color and a retightening. This look is a result of the earlier in the week braid out, a Caruso set on large (front)/jumbo (back) curlers and the fact that I need a retightening. Both combined gives me more volume. I actually like this look very much. See how easily you can go from plain to DAAAAANNNNG with Sisterlocks? So don't get it twisted! (I didn't take the time to crop any of these pics. These were taken about 11:30 last night after my dinner date. You can see my messy bed and the man I came home to...tehehe!)

Best Pic Ever
Here's the best photo of me and my locks ever. It puts all of my digital photos to shame and really captures the true look of my locks. I'm proud to unveil it here in it's rightful place on my blog AND in my office. (The artists, "Lil Mamma" drew this while spending the day at work with Auntie Blaq while her mom had chemo.)




















So you see, your locks can have any look YOU want. And that's da real truth about Sisterlocks. So don't get it twisted!

Like Someone Else's

I tried a braid out this week. I washed and conditioned my locks, braided them (about 20 braids) rolled the ends with ssc and a Lottabody/water solution.

The result was this super curly/krinkly look that I really wasn't feeling. I couldn't style it and it just looked unruly. So I slept on it (no pineapple, no scarf). The next day, the curl was looser but I had "big hair" instead of the falling krinkly look that I admire on others like Sister-In-Locks, Leighann & Creyole.

Day three - today, the curls are loose enough that I like the look. I am always learning - no discovering - something new about my hair as this journey continues. As I was finger combing my curly/krinklies, I realized it was my naturally layered locks that prevents them from hanging the way I think they should. In fact, that's not something my hair will ever do, so I can just stop trippin 'bout dat...duh!!!


LIKE SOMEONE ELSE'S

This past week, while reading some blogs I found it ironic, that we always seem to want what we don't have. Locks "like" someone elses.

I was reading my gurls' TRA and Creyole's blogs (I haven't asked for their permission to share this, but they're my friends and know they won't mind me singling them out. Click on a name to read their full, interesting post.) Each wishes for a hair characteristics they don't naturally have.

TRA would like softer hair while I envy the feel of hers. I often feel if my hair were more course, my locks would look and hang better. The truth is, TRA's locks have naturally inherent characteristics, just as mine are uniquely mine. In other words, it is what it is. Now there are things and products we can use to help our locks feel and look closer to how we'd like them. However, I suggest the more we understand our naturalness and how to enhance it rather than change it, the more natural our locks will behave given time.

THE TRUTH

Creyole and I locked two months apart...she's understandbly anxious to completely lock, she wants her ends to lose the bud, she want's the shorter side to catch up with the longer side. But the truth is...hair locks at its on unique pace, it will bud when it's supposed to bud, and one side may have always been and will always be different. You know why? Because it's intrinsically "your" hair; like you - similar - but unlike any other.

LOCKED4LIFE!

But the good news is, when it does lock - it's locked and locked for life! Those specific hair worries never to surface again. Then you can cut them, style them, and have the freedom to do all the things that gave you reason to want Sisterlocks in the first place, making the lock journey intimately yours and characteristically - you.

As my Sisterlocks journey continues, I can break another unseen chain and embrace the knowledge that my locks will never lay like Sister-In-Locks, or feel like TRA's or look like Creyole's. But they're not supposed to. They're supposed to look characteristically like - BlaqKofi.

Iced In - What does Blaq do?

What does Blaq do besides blog during a 3-day rainy weekend, confined to home in 20 degree weather, with treacherously iced streets?