21 January 2014

Update: A Week Later






Hi guys,

Just delivering a brief update from last week.  I've washed my hair 4-5 times since then, massaging in coconut oil and letting it air dry each time. My hair felt dry at first but it's softened a lot in the last day or two.

So you could say I've adopted a wash 'n' go routine. I'm not sure how things will develop from here but since I can't rush nature all I can do is wait it out.

In regards to new growth, I saw a video that has me a little concerned:



thoughts?

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13 January 2014

Update: Puffy Roots, New Growth, Length?


Hi all,

I've just washed my hair and am currently sat with a shower cap on feeling deflated. Essentially:
  • I'm tired of shrinkage.
  • I'm tired of my roots not loc'ing up.
  • I'm tired of a retwist being the only option to show my length.
  • I'm tired of having short hair period.



It's been months since I examined my roots and running my hands through them today made me smile. But it's because of these puffy roots that the rest of my hair still looks short. My roots are a good 2-3 inches long and my locs are a good 3-4 inches long. It's that half and half thing that really makes them look so odd to me. Now if my locs were 7-8 inches and my roots were 3 that'd be fine.

I remember feeling this way in September and now it's January. I see you all with long locs and I know it's possible, but it's been 21 months already! At first I knew it was the buds that were swallowing up some of the length but over the last month or so I've noticed that my buds haven't  made any visible progress. Actually all progress seems to have stopped in general.



Yes it looks fine when I retwist them and my grandmother certainly approved of my last hairstyle but it feels so limiting, trying to preserve that level of neatness. It's lost its charm.

I don't really know what to do next. I need advice on how to work with short locs without the pinned up grooming. I've decided to give my hair another year before either getting extensions or putting this journey on hold until I have a length I'm comfortable with. 5 inches in almost two years just isn't fair.

I'm going to oil and dry my hair and then leave it until I get some input from you guys :)



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6 January 2014

Twist and Tuck (Faux) Crown Style on Short Locs


Hello all, here's the low key loc style I had last week.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Wide bobby pins (choose from small, medium or jumbo for best hold and comfort - I'm using medium pins).

HOW TO: I set my retwist going all back and once I removed the clips the front fell into a natural side parting. From the front I formed the crown by making two single row flat twists going in opposite directions around the perimeter of my head and secured them at the back. Inside the crown I made more flat twists starting from the top of my head, going down, and secured each one again. I then tucked the ends into the crown until I was happy with the look.





With long locs you can do one complete flat twist going around the perimeter of your head to make a real crown and you'll probably get a nice low ponytail/bun at the back or you could have it to the side.

I knew I wanted something sleek and off my face for when I dreass up but with such short length I couldn't figure out how to make it happen until now.


Love it.


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4 January 2014

Month 21

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM NATURALOCS



First post of 2014 and this blog just keeps getting better. Hopefully you'll have noticed the fine-tuned layout and improving photographs to come.

Yesterday my locs became one year and nine months old and tomorrow will mark two years since I had my hair cut off.  It's a good feeling. My locs are relatively low maintenance nowadays and I do wonder about what it would be like to stop retwisting altogether but I would like a lot more length before that happens.

My scalp has been dryer than usual so I'm washing my hair a little more frequently (sometimes without shampoo)  and applying coconut oil directly to the worst areas. I wrap my hair every night with a satin scarf and top it off with a satin bonnet and it's making a big difference to the quality of my locs, they stay tidier and moisturised for longer and of course it prevents lint build-up.

I was grateful to learn from MzTeequal that my "slimming locs" are quite normal. She explained that maturing locs get thinner as they compact and that much of the fattening up of locs tends to happen in the budding stage, which makes perfect sense. I'm very happy with the size that I have but I'll keep an eye on the smaller ones.







Next post: Twist and Tuck (Faux) Crown on Short Locs


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**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**