Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving all!

I always love being with family. Family can piss you off, make you just cringe, but in the end, you all know its out of love....and there is tons of love in my family.

This year, I decided against putting up and my baby's father stayed home....if he comes around, he does...if not...oh well. Our lives will go on...

Still on the countdown for my hair. This time next week I'll be heading home to get ready for my install. 7 more days! Seems like a loonnnggg time! I'm just giving my hair a little more time to grow.

I am scared though. I've seen tons of pics of sisterlocks and I know that they all can look different, however, I have yet to see a blog or a pic of the install on a sista with less than 4 inches of natural hair. My natural hair is measuring in at about 3 inches and 2.5 in some areas of my hair. My test locks are short.....just not sure how I'm gonna look initially.....

Sisterlock Test Locks

In my haste to write about "Good Hair" I didn't post a pic of my test locks...

Its been fie days now, and aside from occasionally feeling something while trying to pick my hair out, I haven't noticed my test locks in my hair. They have actually curled us and are kinda tucked amongst the hugeness of my afro.

Of course I'm still excited! Of course I wish this Monday waws November 30th which would mean I only had a couple more days till my installation, but since I still have two more weeks, I'm gonna stop trying to count the days.

I'll instead focus on shorter milestones.....Thanksgiving on Thursday, class on next Tuesday, payday... LOL

Good or Bad Hair???

Soooo,

Last night I finally saw "Good Hair"...and I'm kinda surprised at how I feel about it. Its almost like I was watching Rosewood or something. I had so many thoughts running through my head..I got a chance to watch it while the mister was at work and the baby was asleep, no interruptions whatsoever.

That movie has...
1) confirmed my decision to go natural. Funny how Eve is quoting "I am not my hair" as a justification of wearing weaves and relaxers, but the true intent and words (in the song or otherwise) is to freely be....
2) Ironic that (as the sister described)people think you are being "revolutionary" when you decide to wear your hair in its natural state, be it locked, free flowing, afro, braids, etc.
3) Confirmed that I will NEVER put a relaxer in my baby's hair...my baby has DRAPES! Why? because I'm patient with her, I'm patient with her hair. I thank God I had no clue what to do with her hair...to this day, I don't know how to braid. But I research daily on what I can do to her hair that does not require heat or a relaxer. And my baby doesn't have the silky straight hair, her hair is dense and coily and curly and I've heard countless times, "you need to put a perm in her hair". NEVER...those are for lazy ass mothers who don't take pride in their child's hair. Your baby doesn't even have her set of adult teeth and you put a relaxer in it??? No thank you!
4) made me even more adamant about never going to another Korean/Japanese/Chinese beauty shop. You can't even speak English, yet you sell tons of products made for my hair and have the nerve to tell me what's natural?? KICK ROCKS!

I could go on, but I won't...I think I got my point across.

Being natural is so liberating! There are no expectations on how I will look....Sure I don't have ppl coming up to me telling me how straight my hair is, or how great my layers look. But i do have ppl telling me how beautiful my afro is...how it "fits my face", even white ppl have commented on how beautiful my hair is.

Why is it so foreign for us to rock our natural hair? White women accessorize their hair, some alter it with color...but they rock the hair that they were born with, just figure out the texture and do what is necessary for their hair.

I know the ideals and feelings are so deep rooted and it'll take some time to un-do...But it can't stop at "Good Hair"....

I commend Chris Rock for making it informative yet comical in order to reach a broader audience, but I still don't think the message was had beyond the credits of the film.

I'm just glad I made my decision a long time ago...

I'm on my way....

Hey, Hey, HEY!

I am pretty diligent when I want something....I wasn't going to let up until I got results!

Unfortunately, out of all the people I contacted, whether by email or phone, only ONE person contacted me back (and she called to tell me she wasn't taking any new clients).

I was kinda upset....how could one begin their journey with Sisterlocks, if it's gonna take weeks or even months to get them started. If there are more people out there like me, then I'm sure they just decided to do something else....

Until KiKi came along....

If you do your research and you read the blogs and Google more and more, then you begin to see the some familiar faces....and if you're as gung ho as me, then you connect them together.

I sent KeAndri Talley of Natural and Free, LLC at www.naturalandfree.com a message and within 20 mins she replied....the NEXT DAY, I had my consultation.

That's right! As I write I have my test locks and I'm scheduled for December 4th.

KeAndri really upheld the professionalism that I expected from all the other consultants....maybe they don't need new business, but if you represent a larger company and trademark, then you should act better with responses. Hell, auto responses are still available on email servers.

But, that's ok! I am already looking forward to my sessions with KeAndri, and that's how its supposed to be....forming sisterhoods while getting Sisterlocked.

And soo it begins....

Lots of things have happened in the last three years, and while those things have greatly shaped my present... on here, they aren't that important....not because you don't need to know, but mainly because, if you're smart, you'll kinda figure it out.

I'm still a DIVA....just transforming a bit....starting with my hair.

My hair has always been beautiful....for as long as I can remember. My mother took great care of my hair, so much so that i never even washed my hair before I turned 18. Healthy, long, beautiful, thick hair.....my hair was her prize...then i went to college.

Imagine, being 18 and not even knowing how to wash and dry my hair? Miraculously, I still had great hair...my hair was a trooper, it endured all the craziness i did to it.

Healthy, thick hair....permed hair that looked like a wig when it was curled and styled...never wore braids that much, other than the ones my mother put in my hair....

Then I began to experiment...colors, cuts, long, straight, everything, and no matter what i did I was still bored with my hair. No matter what style, it was always cute.

That's cuz I MADE my hair...flash forward....

My daughter is a beautiful 2 year old who was born with a HEAD FULL OF CURLY HAIR. Everyone told me that it would fall out...baby hair always does...well it didn't. It got longer and thicker and curlier and my days and nights were spent researching and spending tons of money on products....cuz I had NO CLUE WHAT TO DO WITH HER HAIR!

As a mother, you never want to harm your child. No tugging, pressing, or any of that, especially not on a baby (she's only 2) Snow White would have never ate the poisonous apple if I was her mother...I would have gotten to it first. But how can I try out these products if my hair is permed.

So...I cut it off. My shining glory was cut off... partly because of my baby girl, but also because I no longer wanted to be defined by my hair. My uncle once said, "I either see you with your hair done, or not, never an in between...."

What is in between? The period where you need a touch up?

As I am learning about my baby's hair, I'm learning about my own...and myself. People look at me differently with my afro...some think I'm on this deep path, listening to India Aire and Musiq everyday, burning incense and such. I laugh and reply, "honey, its not that deep...I just wanted natural hair". But why, when someone chooses to wear their natural hair, is it perceived to be this deep transition? Or is it?

I wanted my daughter to love her hair....I wanted, from as long as she can remember, her to know that I love her natural hair because I love my own. How can I tell her, "No, baby, your natural hair is beautiful, you don't need a perm", when I go and get "touched up" every 6 weeks.

The pic you see is 3 months after the big chop and I love it...but I want something more....

I've decided that more is Sisterlocks....