September locks

Am up to my eyes with work so i've been doing pretty badly in recording my journey. But so far so good- am not complaining. The volume, which am certain will increase a little more, suits my face. I've decided to leave my locks alone and not tease too much. But am looking forward to styling after it matures a little more and after am through with braiding and banding.

This is Ngeri, my colleague and friend. She sisterlocked about three years back and her head of locks is staggering - she has so much hair you need to see it to believe it.

Ngeri now self maintains and no longer makes those long trips to London. Retightening takes her a week.

This is Mugure, another colleague and friend. She installed about two years back. I remember how tiny and thin her locks were back then, but now they've thickened in a nice way.

Mugure also self maintains and is also through with the London journeys. Retightening takes her about four days.

Am glad to be walking my journey with these two friends and am grateful for their help along the way. All three of us chose different consultants but we're all happy with the results.

Remembering two-strand twisitng

30 December 2007 was memorable because that’s the day I decided to give my hair a break and stop everything that I thought was damaging and thinning my hair - especially the front. That day my hairdresser came to braid me, but I told her how one day I wanted her to try out the two strand twist with my kinki hair and without adding hair extensions. And she said, let’ give it a try out now.' I was so pleased with the results and that was the turning point. Unfortunately I lost my hairdresser cause I decided that I’d start to twist myself after that. I had not been the type to braid, plait, corn-row or even perm myself – it was all too tedious - but this time I wanted to try. Through trail, error, determination and a lot of patience, I'd stand in front of a mirror and try and try until I got it. I must give credit to Welly, a dear friend from Barbados who for years tried to convince me that twisting with my type of hair could work.

So I began a weekend ritual on Saturday or Sunday just to twist my hair. I remember cancelling lots of outings coz I needed to fix my hair. At times I did it on a Friday night after work which meant sleeping around 3am. I could have left the locks in for at least 3 weeks but the dandruff – those flakes – they’ve bugged me for years. Anyways, it took me between 6-8 hours twisting. I’d sit in front of the telly and twist and twist and twist - oh yes my arms hurt. I tried out lots of twisting gels but the one that worked best for me was Lustre’s moisturizing gel; it made my locks soft and manageable. I was thankful to the many sisters who posted video clips on different types of twisting methods, crèmes, maintenance and styling.

My last twisting weekend was 18 April 2009, one week before my microlocks were installed. I was going to miss twisting my hair but over a year was enough and I was ready for another change.

Now I look at some photos of my twisting days and I truly feel proud of what my hands could do. My locks were a success and am glad I had a go at them. So really, where’s there’s a will, there’s definitely a way. I shared my twisting experience in a Zambian magazine last May and I can only hope that I helped some ladies with this freeing and priceless hairstyle. Voilà!

Drinking water to rid dandruff

Image: Victoria Falls, Zambia

My dandruff still bothers me. I’ve seen a dermatologist and used several medicated shampoos but nothing’s helped. Whether its stress related or my hormones playing up, I do not know, but I certainly do not feel particularly stressed. Anyhow I’ve now decided to attack the problem from within.

Water has never been my favorite drink and even though I knew that one should drink at least a liter of it a day, I didn’t do it cause it was too hard; plus I didn’t like the idea of running to the bathroom every so often. But now that am so eager to solve my scalp problem, I force myself to drink - not just a liter - but a liter and a half of water a day.

It’s now been two weeks since I started the water diet; the dandruff has gotten a lot better and the uncomfortable tightness of my scalp which I used to feel after shampooing is gone and so's the itch. I used to shampoo my hair once every two weeks but now wash every weekend. Since my consultant advised me to do just one shampoo, I make sure I massage my scalp for some time before I rinse. I must say with my long nails it's not that easy - I tend to use the nails instead of my finger pads. Anyway, for the final rinse, I mix a little white vinegar or apple cider vingegar water in a large dish - sometimes I soak my head in the dish before pouring it over my head.

Psalm 1.3 says '... like a tree planted by streams of water which yields fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.' The healthy vegetation around the Victoria Falls (above) is living proof! So I suppose if I take in sufficient water as per my body's need, my skin in general should improve and so should the dandruff. I’ll give myself a month to see what happens.

So 'changing times...' is not just about my locks but about discovering and transforming myself in many different ways which will enable me to enjoy and face life in a more meaningful manner.

Bunched up for exercise

This is how I bunch up my locks for exercise because I tend to sweat quite abit. And of course because my locks are still in their formative months, I need to take care not to get them dripping wet while I do aroebics, sit ups, yoga and dance exercises, etc. When am through I let my locks down to let the air through and to dry my scalp. I never leave damp locks bunched up cause that's when they could easily get a bad pong!

My locks at four and half months

Once again I did the Paris-London-Paris trip to get my hair retightened. This was my third retigntening and it was exciting to get it done and a pleasure to see Marie again. She's quite pleased at the progress of my locks and she gives me great tips. The back locks have coiled up well but the front's lagging behind -the ends are still fluffy.

My brother-in-law's quite puzzled about my trips to London to get my hair done. He said he'd like to do a book about me coming all the way from France to get my hair done in London. Am sure he was more puzzled at the sight of my hair after retightening coz it wasn't at all glamourous like the braids and weave dos. He'll have to wait a couple more months then he'll definitely see the glamour in my locks!

Since installation I've been quite good at keeping my hands out of my hair but I get bored with the same look every blessed day and especially when I have to cross women with beautiful weaves and braids, I get all nostalgic about those days of different hairdos. But no way, I am so into my locks coz I know am gonna look divalicious in a couple months!

Yesterday I had time on my hands so I played with my locks and bunched them up. I was very gentle, especially with the ends and the locks that were too short to hold just stuck on to the others for support and the end result was quite good. I was pleased with the work of my hands. I think I did a pretty good job when I added the hair piece although I need to get another that's alot closer to my hair colour.