holiday pictures

In these pictures I wanted
to do something new so
I did an updo with twist on the side
and before it fell I had a hump in the
front and I added a deep wave ponytail
for that extra something. I loved
it because it was new and classy and

it still showcased my locks and the
awesome diverisity the SLs provide!

For Christmas day I did a simple braid out in which the ends were curled. These pics were taken towards the end of the day when the curls pretty much fell but the braidout lasted for a few days.

LOok what the cat dragged in

Hey All Its been a looong time I know. Life has a way of sweeping you off your feet and carrying you into uncharted territories for months before you even realize you've left your business as usual day and mindset. All that being said things are going really well on my end, I am in the clinical portion of my Chiropractic education soooo if any of you are in need of a chiropractor and in the Florida area hit me up I would love to be your student intern ;-)!

On the sisterlock front I have news..... I CUT MY LOCKS! DUN DUN DUNNNNNN.....

Just kidding LOL but they have been going through some serious changes which have made me wonder if I should cut them.. short, not off to get rid of all my color and just start over with my uncolored new growth. The problem is that my hair has never done well with chemicals, be it relaxers or color ( especially color) this is the same problem I faced when I was a loose natural and colored my hair I loved it and then months later my hair started freaking out and breaking off at an alarming rate which is whats happening with my locks. ( I should have known better right?!?) Its growing really well but my colored end are breaking despite efforts of deep conditioning and things of that nature which just aid in my hair becoming very soft and unlocking. Decisions decisions...

I am still very much in love with my locks though, more so now than ever. My grid is still intact almost 3 years later ( a testament to the absolutely amazing job my initial consultant, Claire Greene did, and the ease of DYI after taking the reti class) They are at an awesome length, I wear my hair out quite often now and I don't curl it much these days either but when I do curl it or put it in a updo it looks great. It has so much bounce and it never looks dry so aside from the color breakage issue My hair is doing wonderfully. I'll post a few pictures of some styles I wore for a holiday party I went to and some comparison shots a little later.

I've also been considering becoming a consultant myself.... Hmm what do you guys think?

Still here

Hey all, First I'd like to say big thanks to Gigglz for the creative page shout out I haven't had a chance to post it but I will. Life has been so busy I have not had a lot of time to post but I have still have been following many of my fav blogs.

On the SL front my locks are doing very well. They have gotten a really nice length to them. I saw my reflection in a hallway mirror one day and I was surprised at how long they had gotten without me noticing. Now when I curl them it gives it a great bounce. Below are pictures of the first spiral set I did, it came out great I left it in the big spirals for about two days, it would have lasted three but it got wet in the rain so on the third day I separated it and it gave a great full curly look which i wore for the rest of the weak. Now its just a slight crinkle in them but still looks nice.

As for the integrity of my locks some of my front locks have broken off midway and I must admit that its most;y my fault. Mainly because I have had the build up issue in the past I would rub and scratch my lock to try and get it out that way ( instead of squeezing them while washing) and it began to slowly damage the lock strand by strand until there was a thin spot where the buildup use to be, two broke and I cut the other two so they wouldn't break.

Products: Since I used a lift and have colored my looks I needed something that would replace some of the moisture in my locks and the sisterlock products which are designed to make your locks rough to promote locking were not cutting it, well mainly the shampoo. So I went to a consultant down here, ( Finally found one that works really fast and does quality work) suggested I use design essentials color system and their leave-in conditioning spray. I was apprehensive at first but let me tell you. First off both products smell fantastic! Next the shampoo cleanses my hair and scalp very well without drying it out and the leave in condition has to be heat activated meaning I spray it on damp or dry hair and blow dry my hair for about 3-5 mins to activate it and it leaves m hair feeling so incredibly soft its amazing. Although my hair feels soft I have not noticed any of my locks softening to the point where the unravel or begin to unlock. Best part of all... neither product leaves me with BUILD-UP!! Which those of you who have been following me know has been a problem of mine on and off since I started my locks. THIS PRODUCT IS AMAZING!!!! I've been using it since April and still no build-up, no unraveling, no dry brittle locks. YAY!

My routine these days in: Wash with Design Essentials color shampoo and Sisterlocks Moisture Treatment as my conditioner. once a week-2weeks depending. I believe this is still the best rinse out conditioner out there for sisterlocks it always leaves my locks feeling great, but if I don't wash it out completely it does leave build-up. Then I'll do a DE leave in conditioner spritz about 3-4 days after that just to moisten and soften my locks in between washes. Rarely do I spritz with water and EO mix in the mornings anymore simply because I've been doing roller sets or braidouts and the water would cause them to falls and I try and make them last at least a week. I do do it before I set my hair though.

Totally missed my 2 year Anniversary!!!!

Wohooo Its been two years since I've been Sisterlocked and I'm still loving my locks, lets take a look back shall we!

Spicy Locks!

I Choose....

Oh my oh my, Hello there fellow lockers!! I come today with a cheery spirit and a renewed sense of peace. It's been a long time since I've felt this good about life and the greatest part is, its not really due to anything. These last few months for me "haven't been no crystal stairs" let me tell you. But as I sit here on this last day of February I'm reminded that I have so much to be thankful for and so in this moment of serenity I choose joy, I choose happiness, I choose peace, I choose adventure, I choose romance, I choose to love and I choose to live. Stuck and stifling in a world filled with death and sorrow I choose to live. And live I shall!

My Redemption from sorrow has brought me into a state of Renewed, joy, faith, life and love!

Blessings all...

Redemption Empress Kay Exquisite.

thoughts

This weekend was interesting... A friend of mine suddenly died while taking the physical portion of a police academy test. Then Sunday another friend informed me that their grandmother had passed that day only a few hours before. It made me stop and really really evaluate life. Is it even worth it to make plans? I mean really... the word says "man makes plans and God laughs at them" (paraphrased but you get what I'm saying) If He is the only one that knows and directs or future should we even plan for it? I mean your whole life could change in a instant, your thought process, goals, reasons for going on... all of it could be drastically altered by one decision or by one unchangeable moment in time. Then what?

Sometimes I wonder why death can be so incomprehensible. Its truly hard for me to understand how someone can be here one minute and then cease to exist the next. All that's left of them becomes a memory until you have to sometimes wonder if they ever really existed or were they and the way you really felt about them all just a figment of your imagination.

Stylez

This is the style I did for a Christmas party and a wedding I went to. For the Christmas party I wore it as is in the pictures and for the wedding I did tiny bantu knots and connected them together where the loose hair is on the side and left the bang out. I didn't take any close ups of it then though. It was a simple twist back with bigger twist in the back. I didn't want my hair sticking straight up so that's why I pinned it to the side.

Thousands of birds falling dead out of the sky....Hundreds of thousands of fish dead?!?

I'm sure you all are up to date by now about the freaky occurrences of the US that are now spreading to other parts of the world. For those who have not heard yet, on New Years eve thousands of birds started falling dead out of the sky in Beebe, Arkansas. Many folks of the small Town awoke only to find their lawns and streets covers with dead birds.


A few days before over 100,000 Fish washed up dead in Arkansas.

Then on Monday More dead birds began to fall in Louisiana. It brought the number to over 5,000 birds. Then today the news has reported that on Tuesday over 500 Black birds fell dead in Sweden.
Crazy right? The craziest thing is all the birds seeming have all died from the same thing, some sort of blunt trauma. They all have massive damages to their eaks, wings, liver and heart as if they collided with something midair or that something hit them.




I want to know, What do you all think is going on?

What Happened to my bloglist?!?

Soooo my entire blog list has disappeared from my blog somehow. What the heck. I was looking into a new template and playing around with it but I didn't apply or save anything. Now I'm looking on my page and my entire blog list is gone. Does anyone know what happened or how to get it back. Will I have to create it all over again? Sadly aside from a handful of blogs that I frequent and who frequently update I don't remember all that I had on the list. Help!

Fantasising about an unearned reality.

Sometimes I wish Life was easy and came with all the answers you know. That it was already laid out for you and all you had to do was live. Everything in life that was for you would come to you naturally without work. Things wouldn't be so hurtful, sadness would never come, pain would be an alternate reality. But I guess there in lies my fantasy. I stare at this picture and although I am no longer a little girl, I find myself still doing the same thing. Staring into a mirror and imagining who I will be when I grow up. Yet am I not grown? Is this not my future? Am I the woman that little girl thought she would be those years ago?

reflections

Well its that time of year again. Preparing to close another chapter in my life entitled 2010. It has been an interesting one I will definitely say that. I've grown to become very comfortable in this city I'm in. Developed some really wonderful friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. throughout this year though I have had many experiences that have broken me, hurt me, strengthened me, excited me, brought me immeasurable joy and lots of peace. I thankful that God has allowed everything He did into my life this past year. Its hard at times but I know He is molding me and shaping me. One day I will be a finished product, right now though I'm chipped ill formed, mispositioned and soggy (lol). To be finished though I know I'll have to continue to push and one day face the furnace called life. No worries though because I know that I'll be a lot stronger once on the other side.

Stylze

So what have me and my hair been up to? Lets fill you in

My locks are growing like crazy now that I have colored it is a lot easier to note the change in length each month by the line of demarcation of color to dark.

My hair doesn't curl nearly as easily and when I do get it to curl afters hours- a day of having it in curlers it falls flat in no time, so I have not been using my lock loops or bantu knot sets lately.

I can get my hair into one ponytail and have it not look too stingy, or at least bearable LOL Yay!!!!!! BIg accomplishment especially on those days when spending time on my hair is just not an option.

I have been experimenting on styles a little. Something to spice up my locks and bring new life into our relationship. I find I'm favoring the pin up styles more and more lately and more tussled appearance to set of evenings out works really well with my length the way it is now.

I do still to the braid out but not as much as I used to. I find myself free styling a lot more now, mainly because of my length and the natural bounce my hair has it just doesn't look as bad to freestyle as it once did at my shorter length.

I'm still in search of a consultant in the central florida area that I can go to when I just dont feel like doing my hair.

I change my reti schedule from every 3 weeks- front one week-end then back the next to and every 4-5 weeks entire head or split, which just did not work for me. My hair grew out too much in that time and it just took way too much time to complete my retis, time which I just did not have. It didn't look horrible but my hair also didn't look that great at the 5 week mark either. Definitely not the tapered look I'd gotten myself accustomed to. ;-) So I'm back on a 3 week half and half schedule, it works for me.

I definitely don't obsess over my locks anymore, well at least not as much as before lol. I've kinda just been allowing them to do their own thing, but I guess that's just natural now that my ends are completely sealed I really don't have as much to worry about. I wash them when I want, style them how I want or just leave them alone and it all works out the same.

The only thing is now that I've colored, I realized that i need some new type of conditioning treatment or something to restore the moisture balance to my hair especially to my ends. Anyone have any suggestions?

New landmark revisited, its awesome to have my hair tickle my neck, shoulder and face and freak out because I think something is crawling on me, only to realize that its my hair at its new length. :-)

I'm still totally in love with my SIsterlocks. Every new stage brings new life and a new quest to learn how to manage this hair of mine.