No, I don’t style my own hair anymore.

Unless you consider a ponytail or a messy bun to be a hairstyle. As my locs have grown, styling has become more of a challenge. I do occasionally curl my hair with loc loops, when I get bored.

5 Years

I haven’t posted here in a long time. As my locs have grown longer, I’ve settled into a routine and their just isn’t as much to say. But I’ve been doing more experimenting with styles and this year will be my 5th year with locs so I am going to try to start posting on a semi-regular basis again.

Now that my locs are fairly long (below the shoulder – bra strap length, depending), I do have a bit more versatility with updos that I did not have before. So I’m going to start taking pictures of my experiments as well as my stylist’s magic.

To be continued….

formspring.me

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Lock Loops

My Lock Loops arrived in the mail.

DIY and salons

dyed black w/ brown highlights

I’ve been a DIYer for several years. Partially for financial reasons, partially for personal reasons.

I didn’t know how to take care of and style my own hair until my early twenties. Until then I relied on other people – braiders, stylists and kitchen beauticians – to do my hair. It became a running joke in my family that I would never know how to do my own hair.

Shampoo day and early product review

The cold weather has contributed to some hair laziness on my part. I’ve been going longer between washes out of dread of cold wet hair. Of course, my locs paid the price in the form of buildup and dryness.

So today, I gave them some intensive care: two washes with clarifying shampoo, two with a moisturizing shampoo, a wonderful deep condition, prolonged rinsing and then a light coat of a new product.

It’s been so long…

Between moving and starting a new job, I have completely neglected this blog. Well that, and not having much going on with my locs. I’m in a new city with more loctician options so I am thinking about stepping into the exciting world of professional hair color and intricate styles.

As soon as I find a loctician, anyway. Progress pics soon!

Curls

I’ve been experimenting with curlers during the last month. I bought perm rods in two sizes and setting lotion from the beauty supply shop and watched a lot of YouTube videos. I’ve curled my hair 4 times with mixed results.

Problem #1: I can’t sleep with hard curlers in. I’m going to get some soft curlers (either Soft Spikes or Loc Loops) and see if those are more comfortable.

Problem #2: My hair takes forever to dry. The one time I dozed off with the curlers in, I woke up and my hair was still damp. I’ve added a soft bonnet dryer attachment to my wishlist.

In spite of those two problems, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how my hair has turned out. I use bigger rollers for a wavy look and smaller ones for tighter curls. I have only been getting the tight curls on the locs that dry completely before I remove the rollers, so I hope that better drying will improve my results.

Hair tools and accessories

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.

I’m a pretty low maintenance locer but there are a few tools and accessories that I find absolutely essential.

(Pardon the wrinkled background.)

Summertime – gratuitous hair pic

I love the summer. The thing I have really enjoyed about having natural hair is that I don’t have to stress about getting it wet.