Come To Jesus Moment

Hey Everybody,


My locks are finally taking a turn for the better. About six months ago I decided to start DIY’ing my locks. There were many challenges; a few of my locks were knotted up because I did not pull the lock through the hole tight enough. I was scarred to handle my locks too aggressively at the time. Then there was the issue of thinning locks. More than a few of my locks were very thin at the root. I am still not sure who to blame on this one. My consultant retighten my hair with a crochet hook, which could have pulled out too many hairs at the base. I did not notice this problem until I started DIY’ing. At first I was just very careful when I did my reti but then some of them got so thin they were hanging on to 3-4 hairs. Eventually a few came out at the root (white ball still attached to hair). I had about 6 locks just come straight out my head, creating bald spots.

I had between 25 and 30 weak locks, most were so weak they could not be combined because any manipulation would cause them to break directly from the scalp. So I decided to cut the weak locks off, this was a dramatic step. I have over 400 locks so removing 25 to 30 seemed like a breeze. Well it was not! I had missing locks all over my head! My hair looked a mess, I had about ½ inch of loose hair in various places of my head. I was missing at least 8 locks right at the front of my hair line, 7 at the very top, 4 each on the left and right side of the head and about 6 at the nape of my neck. My hair broke off badly at the hairlines because the roots of the locks were so thin in at area and the locks were hanging on by a thread.


I was really upset and thought about removing my locks and starting over. I didn’t know if I should be mad at my consultant or mad at myself for letting this happen. Then I watch a YouTube video from Necoleisthenewblack and she was discussing her locking journey, she basically said she DIYs and make many mistakes but it is apart of the journey. This inspired me to keep my locks and just wait it out.

In the meantime I started back using Carol’s Daughter products because I needed my hair to grow asap. Then I began to twist all the short loose hairs and pinning them down out of the way. It had the appearance that they were locked and it didn’t look so crazy anymore.


Finally after 3 ½ months the hair was finally long enough to lock. Last week I put 17 new baby locks in my head. The new locks are mostly in the top of my head, the hair lining and the nape. You read right I put the locks in myself with the nappy lock tool. I was very proud of myself. I am totally self reliant with my locks, I do have access to a consultant if I need assistance.


Let me just say this has not been an easy journey and there has defiantly been some mountain top and valley moments. I am still waiting on some sections to grow out so I can lock them, I suspect the ones that fell out at the root may not be ready until the end of the year or the beginning of next year. But I am now a master at making a bad hair day look good. My friend Gina is good a braiding my locks to hide unsightly areas. I was a little upset because there was not a lot of documentation online to discuss the issues I was having with my locks. Of course there were many singing the praises of sisterlocks but non addressing detrimental issues. What I will say is if you are having problems with your locks please don’t get discouraged… consult a knowledgeable locktian or consultant… but remember you may have to take drastic measures and do be afraid of that. Each of our journeys is different and bad things are to be expected. Below is a pic of two of my new babies on the hairline

Hair Changes

I finally found someone to help me with my hair. I am still going to be a DIY’er but I have chosen to have a certified consultant troubleshoot some of the problem areas for me. For example I have a more than a few locks that have either broken off at the root or are hanging on by a thin piece of hair. For those that are barely hanging on I may decide to cut them off and start a new lock, cuz it I try to tighten it will surely break off at the root. Again I am not sure how so many locks thinned out, they were doing just fine then BAM! I am tempted to blame my former consultant but honestly I just do not know if that is true. Some have said I retighten the lock too much, but that is simply not true, when I started DIYing I found some locks were very thin at the root to begin with. Those thin locks that I did retighten broke off the next time I tried to retighten them again. Part of me is pissed off… but another part says hey it’s just hair.. chill out! I am learning how my hair grows, what it can tolerate and what makes it angry. I am having some trouble getting all the loose hairs around my front lining to go into the lock. My new consultant will be helping with that as well as fixing some holes in my locks. I have been going through the same hole while doing reti’s and this has caused some problems…nothing that can not be fixed. I just found out that it is not as simple as doing the 4 point rotation; you can not do horizontal latching one after another. For example if I do a latch going south, the next latch can not be going north. You must go north, east, south west… in other words….horizontal, vertical, and horizontal, vertical. This will prevent holes in the lock. All the tutorials on YouTube forgot to mention that important detail! But as Mc Hammer would say…It’s All Good. What I know for certain is whatever happens I am not putting the creamy crack back in my head.

Thinning Lock........Help

I am having a really bad problem. Last month I started doing my own reti’s. I noticed that some of my locks were very thin at the base. For the ones that were extremely thin I combined them with the loc next to it. I left some alone and just did the reti. Now this weekend I did the reti and lost about 6 locks. Three literally fell out in my hand and left bald spots. I use the nappy loc tool so I am sure that it is not cutting hairs at the root as a reti. However, my consultant uses the hooking latch. I am just not sure if this is normal or not. To my knowledge this has never happened before, but I can not be 100% sure because I was not doing my own hair prior to last month. Has anyone ever had this problem before?

First let me say that I am taking HCG as a way to lose weight. HCG is a hormone that is produced in pregnant women. When used in a homeopathic way it is a great way to jump start your metabolism. I am at a point in my health were I MUST lose weight, it’s not an option and I am only on HCG for 40 days. It is working wonderfully and the weight is finally coming off. I have only been taking HCG for two weeks.

I did some online research and it seems that pregnant women have thinning locks and part of me thinks that the thinning locks an HCG are correlated. However, if you read my previous post you will see where I have had problems in the past with thinning locks. Given the fact that I now have three bald spots in my head I am slightly alarmed.


Is this normal? I do have small locks but there are some that would be considered micro locks. These “micro locks” are the ones that are thinning at the root. There are so many factors that could have caused this to happen. I am in school trying to obtain my bachelor’s degree in civil engineering while working full time. Needless to say the classes are hella hard and I am hella stressed.

There were also times in the past when I wondered why my consultant let my locks get so thin without combining them. What I am trying to convey is there is a multiple reasons why locks could be thinning at the root. I just want it to stop! Lately my hair has been dry and brittle. My scalp has been flakey and dry as well. With that in mind I decided to part with my cash and get my hair a little a treat. I headed to Sephora and purchased some Carol’s Daughter Tui hair shampoo and smoothie conditioner, healthy hair butter and some tui leave in conditioner. I left the conditioner in my head overnight and my hair loved it. I rinsed out the conditioner in the morning and it was like someone did CPR on my hair! I am trying to drink more water, keep stress at bay and stay on top of my hair maintenance. I noticed some peach fuzz hair growing back in one of the bald spots so hopefully we can start a baby lock soon.

It’s Official

I am officially a diy’er

Let me be the first to say it was not easy. There was some knotting, some joining together and even a few casualties but I did not give up and I finally finished. I used the nappy lock tool . This thing is so easy to use you would have to be just against diy not to like this tool. I do have a small complaint…. I would like the tool to bit a little bit, tizzy wit longer. The straight end is great fro untangling but it would work better if it was longer.


One of the first hurdles was separating the locks enough to make sure that they would not be joined. Initially this was very hard, no matter how I tried it seemed like I married the a loc with another loc. It was becoming very aggravating and at one point I thought I would have a head full of two headed dragons. The next hurdle was time. Y’all it literally took me three weekends to finish my entire head. I am too busy during the week so the only time I have to attack my head is on the weekends. I split the hair into fourths and it took me 4 hours just to do the front right side. Then when I attempted to do the left front side it took 2 hours, basically the more I did not the shorter the time span. Eventually the knots started to decrease and the marrying of locs was happening less often. My arm and neck would hurt like hell so I could only do it in 30 minute intervals. I was clipping some small stray hairs off of one and accidently cut it off! But I used a remedy saw on Maryee’s blog. I took a needle and black thread and sewed it back on. It really worked, I just reattached it to the part of the lock that was still on my head. At first I was really concerned because I could not see the parts. But then I remembered what when I first got my SL I could not see the parts either. I have very thick hair and the parts are not always visible. I do need to work around the hair line get those stray hairs but its all good!

Speaking of stray hairs I need to learn how to include the them into the loc. Because I waited so long to retighten my ends there was a great deal of stray hairs. I also noticed where some of the locks were only holding on to few hairs so those had to be joined. I also need to learn how to style my hair. I pretty much wear the same style over and over again, which can be boring. I also realized that I had slacked off taking care of my hair. I just took advantage of the locs and did not pamper my hair like I did when I had a relaxer. I now understand natural does not mean unkempt, it’s still hair and still requires attention.

My hair and scalp was extremely dry and thirsty. I’ve heard that the scalp produce natural oil….well that is not the case for me. I had to soak my scalp and hair with conditioner and olive oil for a few hours. This lead to my hair feeling softer and more touchable. I also have to make sure that I mist my hair every morning because my locs really love moisture. My hair is not at it’s healthiest right now and I am making it a point to get my hair completely healthy.


There was some up and downs and it may not look as well as when my consultant did it, but I am glad I did my OWN hair. I am certain I will get better at it the more I do it. I am making it a goal to learn as much about my hair as possible. If I go to the shop it will be on my own terms. Here a few pics of my hair. I used pipe cleaners to get the curl! Chile the sun was shining this morning

DYI'ing My Sisterlocks

I am not sure that I will be able to call my sisterlocks….sisterlocks after this weekend. Some sisterlock enthusiasts believe that if you don’t use the sisterlock tool and you are not using (or not) a certified sisterlock consultant then you don’t have sisterlocks.

I know this is what Dr. Jo and the home office promote, but I don’t necessarily agree. I know the purpose behind that thinking is brand driven, and money motivated. Get people to believe that they have a superior product and add a high price to it, and then viola people think they are in an exclusive club.

One of the reasons I was attracted to sisterlocks was because it allowed me to lock and still have a small amount of permed ends. It was never about the brand, it was more about the method. However, had I done the proper research I would have found out that braidlocs and nappylocks would have offered me the same results. If I had known that I may have went the cheaper route. Nevertheless, I do not regret getting sisterlocks, they are beautiful and very versatile.

Sisterlocks are one of the best things that ever happened to my hair. However, the cost of maintenance has really put a strain on my pocketbook. The point of going natural was to get in tune with my natural hair and to lessen the cost of hair maintenance. Honestly, I did not accomplish any of those goals. I was not in tune with my natural hair because I rarely paid attention to it. I left that up to my consultant, I felt she was getting paid to notice changes in my hair and solve any hair dilemmas I may have had. Any y’all already know how a feel about the cost.


Well this is about the third time my consultant has went MIA on me and quite frankly I am sick of it. I don’t feel like I should have to plead, search and wait to PAY someone to do my hair. I understand that things beyond our control happen, but can’t this be communicated? Leaving a message on the voice mail , stating that you are out of the office is simply good business….right. Well, whatever!


Yesterday I started the DYI process. I retighten (reti) about 9 locks. I had a little knotting and I found out I was looping through the same hole. I even to get a few knots out. But for the most part it went smoothly. I found that some locks have very thin roots. I know that some of my locks will be combined to strengthen the root bed. I was upset to find that my consultant continued to latch locks that had thinning roots. Some locks will be combined with purpose and I am positive some will be combined on accident. It is very hard to see what is going on in the back of your head. I will try my best to keep the locks separate. However, my locks are very close to one another and keeping the neighboring lock out of rotation can be hard at times. I am using the 4 point rotation. Hopefully I can finish my entire head this weekend. I will document the process and tell you how I did it, any mistakes I make and if it was all worth it in the end.


I will be using the nappylock tool as well as the latchhook. Keep me lifted up in prayers this weekend. I am determined to do this and be responsible for my own hair. Maybe once I figure it our I will take a reti class so I can offer my services to other sistahs who do not want to pay ridicules prices to have their hair maintained

Tired of Being Sick.. And Sick of Being Tired

I am feeling a bit frustrated right now. My loctian continues to go MIA, don’t return calls and rarely answers the phone. I drive pass the shop and its empty. My loctian lives in my neighborhood and lives on a main street, when I drive past her home her car is parked outside.

First let me start by saying there is only ONE sisterlock certified consultant in the ENTIRE city of St. Louis. My consultant used to be that one person. However she uses the crochet hook for the rt and the next thing I know her name had been removed from the SL web page as the certified consultant. Shortly thereafter another name was added and she is now the ONLY certified SL consultant. I am saying all this to say that this shortage of consultants is leaving me in a bind when it comes to getting my hair done.

Due to the shortage I have to get in when I can and most of the time it requires me to take personal time off my job. Not to mention the new consultant does fabulous SL but she works really slow and told me it would take 5 hours to rt my head. Now at 20.00 an hours that would be 100.00 . Then I found a loctian that uses the nappyloc tool but she charges 85.00 per hour and she says it will take about 1.5 hours and that will be 127.00. I feel so trapped when it comes to my hair.

Either it will take a great deal of money, or I have to catch my loctian when I can. I am so tired I thought going natural would be more economical. I hate the fact that I have no control over my hair. So I am just going to force myself to learn how to maintain my own head.

This is really my only option. It would finally give me more independence with it comes to my hair. I’ve tried it before and created a few knots in the locs. This time I am going to do research and use the nappyloc tool instead of a plastic crochet needle. I hate for my locs to look unkempt and I hate feeling like I am stalking someone to do my head! If anyone knows of any videos or good tutorials on DYI using the nappy tool let me know.

I am bound and determined to start doing my hair maintenance myself. The whole purpose of going natural was to break the bonds and get more in tune with my natural hair. I am sure there will be bumps and bruises along the way but I gotta take control of this situation.

The natural hair phenomenon has taken hold and have your loc maintained by a stylist can be very expensive. Everyone claims to be and “expert”. God forbid that you are new to natural hair, you will become prey to everything the so called experts say and they will break you financially with all the creams, potions, lotions and styling. Don’t get me wrong there are really some people out there that know their stuff when it comes to natural hair, but there also some vultures out there looking to feed on the natural hair frenzy. I just don’t understand how someone can say they charge 85.00 an hour to locs. That sounds ridiculous to me.


The sad part is I actually love my loctian. She is fair with her pricing, efficient; she is really knowledgeable about natural hair and a great person. I just don’t know why it’s so hard (lately) to get an appointment with her. Whatever that case, (in Tupac Voice) “ It’s just me against the world baby!

Hey Y'all

Hi Friends,

It’s been a minute since my last post. This morning I work up and decided to snap a few pics with my cell. I am barely awake but I just wanted to post a few pics of my hair. It’s still growing but I have hit a wall as far as styling options. I wear it down most of the time… its not long enough for a lot of updo’s. So I have to research some style options. Since my hair has grown out it does not hold a curl like it use to. I rolled my hair on some perm rollers last week. I used some foam setting lotion on each section before rolling it. I rolled my hair Saturday morning and took them out on Monday. On Monday I barely had any curls! I let the hair air dry and I did not want to totally saturate the hair with solution because my hair takes foooorever to dry and I don’t have an overhead hair dryer. I am going to get some loc loops or some other form of them and see if that works