Cactus crap!

What is up with me and smelly products? Other people seem to use them and have no problem. I tried to use the right product - Jamaican Mango & Lime Cactus Gro. It doesn't have alcohol or all that artificial stuff in it. I will never use it again. Maybe Jamaican Mango & Lime Cactus Oil is what I should have been using??? I picked up both products but only had enough cash for one so I went with the Cactus Gro. People have raved about both. I feel so bad. It makes my hair smell like soap or something. Ugh. The point is, the whole office probably could smell it. I am so embarrassed.

I rinsed my hair (with no shampoo) for the first time this afternoon. I had to get that crap out of my hair. I don't think it is completely gone but I tried. I sat under the dryer for 45 minutes. My hair still isn't all dry. I'm not missing Monday Night Football to dry my hair more. LOL. I hope it dries before I go to sleep. I am paranoid about mildew. Long story.

So this weekend I am going to watch my hair with shampoo. I hope this turns out better than the first time I washed my hair. I brought JM&L resistant Formula Locking Gel to palm roll with. That doesn't smell nearly as bad as that Cactus Crap.
In many ways I feel like this wash will be my real test. What happens if I doesn't work out? The last time I did it too quickly. This time I will take my time to separate my roots and palm roll.

I was browsing a natural hair mag in the store. In the Q&A section, a person was advised to go to a stylist to get the best care for her locks. That doesn't help me out. At all. If I could afford it, I would go to a salon in October. I am trying to do it on my own but...Before I give up, I will give it a real try this weekend. I don't have much of a choice. It isn't like going to a salon regularly is a smart financial decision for me. I may have to free form...

I am rambling too much. Bye.

Soft hair issues

So many things in my life are changing right now. I am trying to deal with doing maintenance on my own hair, check out college programs, making big bucks at flea markets (hopefully) and looking for additional income. Since this is a hair blog, I will focus on hair stuff. There is a possibility I will have a job interview soon. The problem is, I can't wear a wig. The interviewers already know me! So I will look silly wearing a wig or even completely covering my hair. Covering it seems like I'm ashamed of my hair. My hair is going through the teenage phase (7 months as of August 14th). I don't know what to do. Recently I've been wearing it back in a headband even though my hair really isn't long enough for that.

I've been doing a lot of dreadlocks research. I have spent hours reading about how other people are tightening their own locks. I learned two major things:

1. My hair will always be frizzy. Apparently people with soft hair always have a frizz issue. 2. Everyone's hair is different. I know that seems obvious but so many swear on rinsing their hair daily and I know my hair could not withstand that. Many people raved about it on one messageboard. Only two people (probably people with soft hair like me) said their locks would disappear if they washed it everyday. My hair would turn into an afro if I did that. I would love to be able to rinse my hair this weekend but the roots are already so loose...

Anybody out there at seven months locked with really soft (cotton like) hair? LOL I could use your input. Obviously I didn't palm roll the back enough. ::sigh:: I miss my ex-stylist. If I had the money, I would get someone to twist my hair next month. Tomorrow I will browse a hair shop and I may buy some recommended products. I'm trying to keep it simple. I already have the shampoo. Now I just need something alcohol free to oil my hair with. What I'm using now has all this bad junk in it. And I am reconsidering using something to palm roll with. Maybe water just doesn't cut it? People have recommended Fruit Of The Earth 100% Aloe Vera Gel and/or Waterbase Gel Pomade

One day I'm going to look back at these entries and laugh at how neurotic I am being about my hair. I cannot wait for that day.

Say nothing at all

People just don’t get it. D made it a point to let me know she thinks my hair looks like crap. Why does she think her opinion matters? No clue. Unless I’m being interviewed by you, I don’t care what you think of my hair. Get a clue. I had to get that out. I don’t like when people give fake compliments either. I never tell someone I like something if I don’t. I just don’t say anything at all. But no, D has to let me know what she thinks of her hair. She knows absolutely nothing about dreadlocks. Nada. She doesn’t get that frizzes are a part of the process. I am only in my 7 month of course I am going to have frizz. If she knew something about locks, she would know that! Ugh. Sorry. I just hate ignorance.

Now that that is off my chest... I don’t think I left shampoo in my hair. I think it was the loc gel I was trying to use. Next time I will use just water. I’m not washing again until 3-4 weeks. I still don’t know what I’m going to do or not do. I love the people who aren’t doing anything to do their hair (besides washing). They give me hope. How bad can my hair go if some people aren’t doing anything?

I did it!

My hair stylist stood me up. He just started a new salon without me. He didn’t call. The people at the salon said they tried to call me to tell me he was gone. Something about “cell phones”. Well the cell phone number is the only number I have. And apparently it was good enough to use 5 or 6 times in the past. I’m not going back there. Not just because my stylist is gone. Another woman at the salon offered to fix my hair next Saturday. I will be canceling that appointment tomorrow. I am no longer going to get monthly maintenance done at a salon.

I washed and palm rolled my own hair for the first time ever. I still can’t believe it. I did it this morning. The whole process took less than 2 hours. It didn’t come out perfect. The #1 problem is there is still a little shampoo in my hair. That may be the worst thing ever but I’m not washing my hair again until 4 weeks from today. I made other rookie mistakes. I probably overly palm rolled some of my locks. And I didn’t always do it in the right direction. I didn’t know what I was doing half of the time. Now I can see that I focused too much on the roots and not enough on the rest of the lock. At least I think that is the problem. I don’t know anything! I also didn’t have enough hair clips to use after I palm rolled my locks. I brought 60 clips for $10. I probably needed at least 20 more. So some in the back (the hidden ones) didn’t get palm rolled at all.

My mother just happened to have a 20 year old hooded hair dryer. She has only used it 5 times. It still works. I sat under the cap for 30 minutes on medium. 85% of my hair got dry. I didn’t bother with conditioner this time. I just want a CLEAN HEAD OF HAIR. Next time I probably will use conditioner since my ex-stylist used it. For shampoo, I used Suave Clarifying. A lot of people recommended it so I thought I would just try and it. And it was cheap. Haha. I mostly palm rolled with just water. I did buy some natural loc gel but I didn’t use it that much. I didn’t know if I should have or not. Right now my hair is frizzy as ever but the roots are nice and tight.

I hope I get better overtime. I’m worried about palm rolling in the wrong direction and how much palm rolling to do. Some books said to twist and palm roll. I didn’t do that. I am still confused about the twisting thing. I need someone to show me. Reading about it has only confused me more. It seems so simple but I can’t figure out how to do it. I think I will just stick with palm rolling if that is okay to do.

So I will be doing my own maintenance most of the time. Since I am still in the beginning stages, I will see a stylist maybe once every 3 or 4 months. I want to make sure I’m not destroying my hair. I am not starting this lock process again. That is not an option. Once my locks mature (I can’t wait!!), I will go to a salon once a year for maintenance. So around mid October I will probably try to call around to see if I can find a professional to wash and retwist my hair. That is assuming, there is no hair emergency before that time. LOL.

Well I miss having a stylist but this really is a good thing. I just brought a car I can’t afford (bad idea) and now I have that extra $60 a month. I guess this was a blessing in disguise. Though it still hurts that he didn’t call me. I never thought me liked me personally but I thought he liked my hair. :-(

No hair pics

I don't know if anyone even reads this blog but I'll do an update anyway. My digital camera is broke so no more pictures for a while. I am in my sixth month or am I working on my seventh? I don't know. Anyway things on the hair front are fine. My stylist wants to style my hair next time I go to him in August but I don't know how to tell him that money is tight. I guess I could say just that. I don't say a lot when I'm there and now all of a sudden I have to give my life story??? I'll come up with something.

5 months in

I have started oiling my scalp. I haven’t done that in years. Oil/grease usually gives me flakes but now I also have Sulfer8. It seems to be working. My stylist told me to do it three times a week. I’m only doing it twice a week. I hope that is good enough. Maybe my hair won’t be as frizzy. I’m using olive oil. Unfortunately it has alcohol. I know that alcohol is bad for hair but all the natural stuff I have tried has that fruity smell. I don’t want to walk around always smelling like I just walked out of a salon. Some people would have a fit! So I’m sticking with that until I can find an unscented product.

Even though this journal isn’t regularly updated, my hair photos are updated often (link on side of this site). I will have some beach hair photos this weekend…if it doesn’t rain the whole time. ACK!

Something’s Gotta Give

Today is my four month lock anniversary. I don’t know what to make of my hair. I notice that no one else’s hair looks like mine. I was going to post on a forum but I chickened out. I am a lurker on a few message boards but I don’t like to get too involved. I will just wait this out. I don’t know if this is what is supposed to be happening or if my stylist is doing something wrong (doubtful) or if I am doing something wrong. Maybe my hair needs to be re-twisted more often. Maybe everything is going fine. ::shrug::

I went to the salon for my wash & re-twist yesterday. My stylist said that my locks will start getting thinner. I guess that is a good thing. Bleh.

Buckwheat stage

I was going to do an entry about my confusion about the bad stage. Am I going through the bad stage right now or what? I haven’t gotten my hair wet and I have been wrapping it every night. Why it so messy? I got the answer from a novel I’m currently reading. They call it the “Buckwheat stage”. It is described as

That’s when your hair is growing but hasn’t really locked up yet, so it’s just standing all over your head looking like Buckwheat.

That is probably me. Of course my hair isn’t that messy because I have twists but I do have a lot of extra hair that is NOT twisted. And when I go to the salon the extra hair doesn’t stay twisted long. That may be normal. At least I hope it is.

By the way, I’m reading What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage. I am also listening to an audio book by Alice Walker. That main character also has dreadlocks. I keep getting the stories mixed up. I don’t know what happened to who. Heh.

Curls?

I’m 90+ days in. My stylist said I will be able to get my locks styled soon. I’m not sure about the cost so I may decline that offer. I would like to have curls from time to time. I could probably do that myself. I just have to put rollers in, right? LOL. I’m beyond clueless. Anyway, not much is going on. He no longer leaves the conditioner in since my hair is locking.

I updated my hair album with two new pics. I’m looking at a person’s hair album 2 years into the locking process. *drool*

blah

My last entry was pure frustration. I just hate the fact that when my hair gets wet or I don’t wrap my hair tight enough, there is nothing I can do to fix it. I am so incompetent when it comes to hair. ::Sigh::

Anyhow, my hair is still frizzy. I go back to the salon in less than two weeks. I will post new pics in my hair album soon (link on sidebar). The following is an unclear pic of my hair from Saturday:

Groan. Groan. Groan.

I think I messed up my hair. I have to live with this crap until mid-April. This past weekend I spent the night at my mom’s house. I forgot my wrap so I went and brought a satin cap. Well a satin cap can’t be tied tightly. It is a cap. It can’t be tied at all. And then last week, my hair got wet for a second when I was outside in the rain. I quickly put a hat on but it still got wet. Screw it. If I have to be perfect for my hair to look okay then I give up. My hair will look messy for a month and I will be completely fine with it.

Yeah right.

No doubling back

It looks like my hair had a growth spurt overnight. It will probably shrink back after a few days. My hair is finally starting to lock. I guess I‘m stuck with this style for a while. Heh.

Obviously I don’t have much to say about my hair these days. So I will just go over my salon routine. It only takes two hours. First I get my scalp messaged. Then I get my hair washed. He uses leave in conditioner for now. He will start using regular conditioner when my hair (fully?) locks. After the wash it is time for the re-twist. He twists and then puts a clip on the end of each twist. Then off to the dryer I go. I know some people have issues with sitting under the dryer. I used to be anti-dryer when I had straight and nappy hair. I didn’t like what the heat did to my ends. Now it doesn’t bother me. I don’t know how the heat is affecting my ends. So far I don't see any problems. With locks it might not matter as much (to me at least). After the 20-35 minutes under the dryer, he snips some of my ends. All during this process, he is spraying stuff on my hair. I don't know what the product is. This happens once a month. The End.

I updated my hair album with after-the-salon pics. This weekend I will try to take some clearer pictures. I’m going to try different settings on my camera.

All is well

March 14th was my two month lockaversary. I am feeling good about my hair this time around. I haven’t worn a hat or a snood in a month! I have an appointment at the salon on Saturday. Right now I am only going to the salon once a month. I hope this continues. I don’t need maintenance every two weeks. I can live without that.

My hair routine is really simple. Okay, I don’t do much of anything so I can’t call it a routine. All I do is spray Sulfer8 almost everyday and then I oil my hair once a week. And I have been wrapping my hair extra tight. I wonder how much that will change when my hair locks. Eventually I will be doing my own maintenance. That is a scary thought.

I will probably update my hair album this weekend after I get back from the salon.

No water

I am really liking my hair this time around. It may have something to do with the sides of my hair being different. I think he styled it a little. I don’t feel the need for a headband. Of course I like it now - I went to the salon 10 days ago! I can’t believe I have to go back on the 18th. That seems so soon. I hope my hair continues to look like it looks now. I have been wrapping my hair much tighter. I only woke up with a headache once. LOL.

I do have one issue. I haven’t oiled my hair since last week. I love the oil I have but the smell is too strong. Even when I use a little it still smells like I just walked out of the salon. ::Sigh:: I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t want to use it when I know it irritates other people. On the other hand, I want to oil my hair. WWOPD? (What would other people do?) As of right now I am planning to oil my hair on Friday or Saturday. By Monday the smell should be gone or at least faint. I was diluting it with water but now I have the “no water” policy so that’s out. After my last experience I am scared to use water on my hair.

Things I’ve learned

Doing the same things and expecting different results is crazy. I am doing some things differently this time around.

1. I will wrap my hair tighter at night.

2. I will make sure my hair doesn’t get wet. This is partly due to appearance and partly due to me wanting my hair to lock ASAP. Last month I was caught in the rain a couple of times. And when I tried to give myself a dry shampoo, some of my hair got wet. I think that is why my hair looked like crap during that last week.

3. I will use Sulfer8 daily. I am already struggling with this one. If I keep flakes out of my scalp then the flakes can’t fall in my hair. (I’m a genius!)

I think that’s all. I know it is silly for me to be disappointed that my hair hasn’t locked at all. But I was told my hair would lock quickly. I thought I might notice something by now. It still looks like twists. They are a little thicker than they were last time.

Comparing my hair

I just realized how bad my hair was looking. It is partly perception. If I think of my hair as “dreadlocks”, I’m fine with it looking unkempt and frizzy but sometimes I think of my hair as “twists”. For twists my hair looks like crap (before the salon). Of course 99% of the people that see my hair have NO IDEA that I am locking my hair. All they see are messy twists or better yet they see it as messy hair. Hair that needs to be fixed in some way.

I’m just thinking. I am trying to come up with ways to keep my hair looking better. I think I am going to try different wraps at night. My stylist did ask, “are you wrapping your hair?” LOL. Yes I have been but obviously I need to do something different.

My hair album should be titled: Learn how to do your own maintenance or your hair will look like this. I posted my hair album link somewhere and now I am embarrassed. How pathetic. NO ONE’S hair looks as bad as mine.

Third doubts.

I can understand why people suddenly cut off their locks when something bad happens. I felt like doing that yesterday. Well I don’t have to cut, I can just untwist. I’m feeling a little better about my hair now but I really want to do my own maintenance. There are just some things I’m not good at: writing, speaking, fashion, HAIR and many more things. Sigh. I’m thinking about paying someone to show me how to do twists. Who? I have no idea. LOL. I think I’ll be fine once my hair locks but until then I’m clueless. I have read directions for twists and I twisted my hair. My hair looked nothing like my hair looks right now.

I would recommend the salon to anyone. In fact I plan on suggesting it to people online. Salons just aren’t for me. I hate them. I thought I could get over it for dreadlocks but no I can‘t.

So I went to salon yesterday. I finally got my hair washed! That felt good. Then I got my hair re-twisted and sat under the dryer. It only took 2 hours. You would think that I would have some kind of plan, now that I’ve had my locks for 40 days. But I still don’t know what products I will or won’t use. I think I’m sticking to Sulfer8 and Hairobics hair oil. I think. I don’t know how to clean my scalp without getting my hair a little wet so…

Hair album updated.

39 days in, help!

39 days of twists with no maintenance is not pretty. My hair looks like I don’t sleep with a wrap on but I do every single night. I wish I knew how to palm roll or something but I have a loctiation. He is supposed to do all that. I don’t want to mess it up more than I already have. When I gave myself the “dry” shampoo, I think too much of my hair got wet. I probably won‘t do it again. I hope he doesn’t notice any major damage when I go in on Saturday.

I was worrying about flakes for nothing. I had a pretty good mirror this weekend with excellent lighting. I couldn’t see many flakes. If I can go 39 days without major flakes, I’ll be fine. For some reason there are more flakes in the front but they are so tiny. The bad news is, I will be wearing a hat all week. I've never wore a hat for that long. I don't think I will cave in and take the hat off like I usually do.

i don't care

I have too much going on to worry about my hair. I am stressed out. With that being said…Some people should never try do to do anything to their own hair. That someone would be me. My hair appointment was canceled. Apparently my stylist has the flu. So I decided to give myself a dry shampoo. Ugh. Why? Now my hair smells like sea breeze! Ick! I give up.