7,8, & 9 month update

This whole time I thought I was uploading monthly updates. This month I'm officially 9 months in the journey. My hair is getting to a tolerable length and I am able to pull it to a puff. The only problem is…I'm wearing puffs entirely too often. 

My first puff

7 months pre wash

7 months post wash

8 months pre retightening

8 months post retightening 

My hair is growing at a weird angle. 

Since my 6 months, I have switched to a four week retightening schedule my retightening a went from 5.5 to 4 hours), my hair is settled ( no more slippage), and I'm considering taking the retightening class to be able to manage my growth. I start graduate school in August so I plan to take the class inthe month of July. 

Now I'm in the market for a great mousterizer because I only wash every 4 weeks and the summer is leaving my hair dry! 

6 month update

Just went in for a fresh retightening last weekend and here are my results. 

Before

After this last wash I had 4 unravel completely: 2 in the back, 1 at the temple, and one in the front. 

I did use new shampoo this wash. 

During retightening

After

My concerns for this month is… 

my open ends… they are getting annoying

I'm having massive shedding of hair every time I run my fingers through them!

My hair is now growing in a weird shape. The back is long and the front is short and curly. 

The middle is locking beautifully. 

I'm also considering taking the retightening class. 

5 month update

I completely forgot about my progress for month 5! I actually thought I was in month 4 still. 

The back is locking nicely but I still have a few areas in the front that are still pretty fragile. 

Sisterlocks: Month 2 Update

At the two month mark I became a little frustrated with my locks. The main reason for my frustration was the fact that they  keep unravelling. I band before every wash, decreased my washes to every two weeks, and tie down at night and sleep on a silk pillow. For some who may know, I went to my loctician at the 3 week mark for a touch up on the 7 that unravelled. Well i had to do so again this friday. She reassured me that I'm on the right path and actually gave me some great news. She said although they are unravelling, they are starting to settle. This made me happy to know that at least something was happening. I went ahead and scheduled my 12 week retightening for thanksgiving weekend and will see how i do in the next 3 weeks. 

As I mentioned before, I diminished my washes because I decreased my workouts.  Since i have no control whether they unravel, I'm going back to working out aggressively with cornrows then letting them dry before i take down and do a witch hazel/water mist. 

6 wee update

So its officially been 6 weeks since I had my sisterlocks installed. Im enjoying them! Although I'm still too short and too new to style, I'm making the most if it. Im the 6 week interval… I washed my hair a total of three times: once in the two weeks, once before I went to get them reassessed, and lastly right before my retightening session. I purchased the witch hazel and hoping to do a dru shampoo at three weeks and at six weeks. I went to her bc I had a few questionable locks and one completely unravelled. So we fixed a total of seven locs. Heres my 1 month mark: 

So, when I showed up to my session, My  trainee rewashed my hair with a dry   shampoo (witch hazel) then we started. It took approximately 5 hours to do. I had seven more fixed that either almost completely unravelled and 3 completely  unravelled. 

Somethings i have noticed is that the back few rows and the front area is growing faster than the middle area. If I keep up at this rate, my hair will be growing like a staircase! Also, I'm  considering stretching my wash sessions until budding starts. Because at this point my hair just curls up when the moisture hits it then starts slowly unravelling from tip to root. So I'll updates on what I decide to do. Can't wait for length and color. 

Started the work out sessions again and will tie my hair down with a satin scarf. 

Week 1: Sisterlocks Install and progress

So I had my sisterlocks installed and i love them! Im still getting use to the appearance ( they look thin), but playing around with accessories to make them pop. 

Day of install with freshly washed and air dried hair.

 Opted to go in the night before forpre parting  sections and setting up the grid for the front. 

 The front took 13 hours to do.

Back took 7 hours.  

 Ended up with 501 locks. I have a variation of small medium and large in the back. Initially i wanted all small sbd medium but was told that its considered "step sisterlocks" so opted for the traditional parting. My hope is that the front and back grows similarly in size.  I took down my first set due to size inconsistency.  She installed a reverse 4 pattern because it would provide the tightest hold for my lifestyle (very active). Both the reverse 4 and the 3 lasted. But i originally wanted the 3 because I loved the feel of it when i had the medium tester lock placed in my crown, and I read it gives a fuller loc.   

Ill monitor and see how these turnout based on sizing and lock pattern.

Week 1 looks

 

Sisterlocks and Fitness

Sisterlocks

So approximately 9 months ago, I decided to cut off my 3 year old locks to start on a new journey. I have always admired the precision and appearance of sisterlocks. I also appreciated the maintenance was not as tedious as my current set of locks. I was retwisting my hair every 4 weeks but with my new found love for fitness and sweating, I wasn't as appreciative of my locks. For those who follow my Instagram, or Facebook, I initially cut my locks off, got a relaxer, then got a low fade again. To me it was a tough decision because during that 3 month-6 month period, I hate the shape the hair grows out in and I hate the inability to have a variety of style; although others have proven otherwise. I also hated always having to section and create styles for my hair. So....long story short, locks won the battle and they will be installed at the end of this month.

Selecting a trainee or consultant:

I probably emailed a gazillion qualified trainees/consultants in search. My main objectives were: How well the previous clients hair looked and thrived, the interaction between myself and the person, how receptive they were to my concerns and questions ( I am inquisitive ya'll). So my search lead me to consultants in \: New York, Alabama and Atlanta. Now the discouraging factor was the cost it would entail to travel there, lodging, and pay the consultant. So my search redirected me to contacting the trainees in my state to see where they were in the process of obtaining their certification and how well their novice installs appeared. Welp, I said all of that to say that I found a trainee locally had all the attributes I was looking for in a consultant and she was very courteous and professional. We've emailed back and forth what seems like 12 times before even setting up the consultation, and she was it.

Tester Locks

During my consultation I had tester locks installed ( approximately 6). For the first two weeks I wanted to mimic the environment that my hair would be in once started so I did not condition my hair nor put other additives in it. I simply shampooed and air dried. For me this was hard because I'm a product junkie at heart, but I was successful.

Of the six, four stayed. Now the four that stayed had some issues as well. Two completely unraveled with one having slippage in the back, a third is unraveling from the end but the base still seems to be intact, the other two are small and kind of holding up, and my favorite sizing/ pattern didn't even flinch!

So when I go back at the end of this month, I will have had my tester locks for a month and will be immediately go into sectioning in preparation for locks.

My next post will have the tester locks installation photos and two week progress as well as my installation process.

Fitness

I am still in the process of tailoring my training schedule and defining my new fitness goals so stay tuned.

Fasted Cardio

This morning I found that I could not sleep. I tossed, turned, called my granny with still no resolve. So next best thing… take my frustration to the gym. I completed my fasting cardio at 5am. But on days where I'm working through the night I figure that I'm going to switch it to 4pm, shower at the gym and be at work by 6pm. I will the. Work all night, then go straight back to the gym for strength training at 8am. I'm still trying to piece my schedule together to fit several different fitness classes. I think I'm also going to purchase some home gym items to help me get some type of workout at home too so that I'm not completely dependent on the gym.

Changes

I've decided to split my muscle groups up even more. Meaning, instead of a complete leg day, I will train twice a week with a variation of larger and smaller muscles. Today I had the opportunity to do quads and calves, with squats and lying leg press. Next week, I will complete my glutes and more hamstring exercises. I have been working and out every day and attending the gym two times/day I'm hopes of spending less time but getting more work done.

Those lying leg lifts, I was able to complete 3x12 (100lbs) then 2x15 (120) with leg placement variation. I also went up on my leg extensions to 75lbs. Squats 70lbs, and leg curl 50lbs. Doesn't sound like much but I will be adding another leg day with weighted lunges, deadlifts etc.

That's it for me folks.

Setting records making my own personal goals!

The infamous leg day came for me on Thursday and I'm pleased. Last week I started incorporating lying wide leg press to my regimen (I usually do the seated press), good golly is it tough. When I started doing leg press, a trainer told me to start at my body weight so I started pressing at 135. Theming leg press on he other had is tougher because its literally you pushing the free weight up. Last week I completed 5x12 at 90lbs. This week I completed 5x10 at 100lbs. I may do another round at 100lbs so I can increase my strength to 12 reps per set. That alone with 30 second rest breaks left me completely drenched in sweat!

Another accomplishment made since I omitted dead lifts on back day was adding weight to these exercises. I was able to get the squat rack all to my own so I added 10lbs to the 45lb barbell and used the padding and went to town. When I fusty started my journey I could not even lift the 45lb bar, then, I only able to use it in the form of dead lifts only, now I adding weigh to both my deadlifts and wide stance squats.

My vastus lateralis muscle protrudes as is but I need to work on my definition more on quads hamstrings and V.S. I think I. Was so focused on inner thigh that I'm neglecting other leg muscles.

Unfortunately I was t able to really get into my other exercises because my hypoglycemia started kicking bad. I know it's bad to work out on a empty stomach but I was so presses to get my workout done that I did not want to stop at the grocery store for pre and post meal nutrition. I'm fixing it though.

So inconsistency killed the cat!

One trait I would have to say I absolutely hate about myself is the fact that I'm so labial and inconsistent. To my defense I absolutely hate driving in the rain. Unfortunately it rain all week and, will rain until Monday.

Last night I had a bit of fun during my workout. I was able to complete all the new exercises I've been dying to try out. Next week I'm hoping to increase the the 15lb dumbbell and incorporate my arm raises. By the way, I hate those things but I love the definition I'm yielding.

Still have areas of my body that I'm trying to build up so we shall see if a change emerge.

I'm also starting a steamed only entree choices. Converting my oils to olive oil has not helped.