Lanza Loves Locks

As I mentioned in my prior post. I had a few double dragons from waiting too long in between reti appointments. At first, I was somewhat upset that I had let my hair get so bad, BUT those things came in handy. I was able to clip them and have test strands for some color experimentation. I had an insane amount of grey streaking my locks :(.

I originally wanted my grey covered and some funky colored streaks in fuchsia and teal, so Ms Gina (who you all may remember from my nail escapades) decolorized the one clipped locks, cut it in two and applied the semi permanent color. Well, the fuchsia came out red and the teal green, That wasn't the look we were going for, but it gave her a point of reference in which to work her magic from. She tried another test strand using a dif formulation and the fuchsia came out perfect, the teal, still green so we decided to go all fuchsia, which was fine by me. Once we got all that color game planing squared away off to the shampoo bowl I went.

Gina started off saturating my locks and then using L'Anza Healing Pure Clarifying Shampoo to remove mineral and product buildup and then applied L'Anza Healing Pure Keratin Infusion to, as she says "Infuse the hair with vitamin C encapsulated Keratin molecules that fill in the holes left behind once the build-up was removed."

After ma locs was all "infused n stuffs," she applied the decolorizer and color. Since my hair pulls red when colored, Ms Gina used a formula that combats the extra warmth in one step. After processing for about 45 min, I was rinsed. My hair had highlighted to a beautiful caramel color that I did not have the heart to dye pink so we left it.  Grey covered, some caramel colored streaks, I'm too much :D

I do now use some lanza products in my locks. Their noni fruit leave in conditioner helps my crunchy winter hair, neem plant silk serum smells yums and helps protect my color and their trauma treatment is awesome after a lock clarifying (baking soda/ACV etc.)

Progress Month 3 vs month 10

Slide show of my progress

Here is a slide show of my hair progression thus far...Not seeing to much change actually, or am i just being picky?

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Color At Nine Months

Ok I straight up lied and said two post ago, my next post would be about me coloring my hair when my happy behind wasn't supposed to be coloring it. So here it is lol

DISCLAIMER: JUST BECAUSE I WAS HARD HEADED AND COLORED MY HAIR W SUCCESS AT MONTH FOUR DOES NOT ENDORSE OR PROMOTE THE ACT OF DOING SO.

After checking in to my hotel one night and passing by a mirror with overhead lighting and seeing a smattering of grey hair and those lovely hair follicles that look like I'm nasty and don't wash my hair, I ran straight to the beauty supply store and got me some color.

Shopping list

Miss Clariol 203RR
Miss Clariol 70R
40 Volume Developer
Color Mixing Bowl
Color Application Blush
Secret Weapon (I can't tell ya'll which one, cuz my mama shared it w me on the condition I don't share but am allowed to mix it for peeps lol)
Shower Cap
and out of habit, a few packets of ION reconstructor lol

I mixed 2 oz of 203RR 1 oz of 70R w 2 ounces of developer and 1 oz of the secret weapon. I applied it starting with the grey first using the application brush, then to the rest of my hair. I didn't mash the color into the lock, just brushed it over my hair root to tip. I covered my hair w a shower cap, let it work its magic for 45 min, checking every 15 for brittleness.

Since I wasn't planning to condition unless I had to and the only shampoo I was using at the time was Dr. Bronners, which can be really stripping, I just rinsed my hair in the shower for about 20 min. It only took about 10 before the water ran clear, but I wanted to make sure all the color was out since I wasn't using a shampoo.

Color was done, hair felt a wee bit dry so i distributed a quarter sized amount of coconut oil through my hair and sat under the dryer on low heat.

I didn't have a lot of slipping. A bit around my crown area, but that is somewhat standard for me when ever I would wash my hair because its so soft in front.

DISCLAIMER: JUST BECAUSE I WAS HARD HEADED AND COLORED MY HAIR W SUCCESS AT MONTH FOUR DOES NOT ENDORSE OR PROMOTE THE ACT OF DOING SO.

The pic I posted is a few months after the color job, but you can kind of see the results. I'm thinking about coloring before or after the new year, so will try to be diligent and make a vid or something.

More Pics

Here are some more pics. Still a little scalpy at the crown. But lookit my lil babies, trying to get grown and swollen

Month Three w pics

Hello Blogland. It's been a while and I apologize for that, but school has been whipping my royal foxy behind. The school I attend operates on a quarter system and since I have a propensity to be a slacker as the school session rolls on, I opted to take 1 full term course and 2 mini 5 week courses. One at the beginning of the semester and one at the end.

Which means that no only is one entire semester of work crammed into a quarter, its condensed into five weeks!! Is there any wonder I am finding gray hairs in places I shouldn't be finding gray hairs? But that's another post entirely.

Anywho, I am on month three, yippie!!! My last retightening was on April 30, was about five weeks from my last appointment and took a little under two hours. I have about three locks on the right side of my kitchen that constantly slip. I don't know if this is because I sleep on this side and my sleep bonnet rubs against it when I turn, but the other side is locking up just fine.

A few days ago I woke up and looked in the mirror and was like, dang I gotta leave the lock loops alone until my hair gets longer. Then I remembered, hey, I haven't set my hair in over a month. Good old shrinkage. My hair has constricted to about half its install length. The ends are swelling and budding, OMG, wait, I'm in the next stage of locking!!! Cool. I actually like it a bit better, I can truly freestyle and not have my head looking confusing. Now, if I can just keep my mother from yanking at the "knots in yo head," all would be well.

Photos to Come, but busy packing for Vegas, Phantom, here I come!!!

First Retightening

Had my first retightening yesterday. Took a total of about 3 hours including retightening (actually that part took about an hour,) shampooing and sitting under the dryer. Being as it was only two weeks, there wasn't much new growth, but enough.

Shannon (my consultant) tightened first and then washed. It felt soooooo good to have someone else shampoo my hair. I missed that luxury since I stopped going to the shop. I used to have my hair professionally shampooed every few months as a treat because I love it so much, but most beauticians would try to talk me into some perm or under a pressing comb, so I just said forget it.

I actually packed my own shampoo (Dr. Bronners mix of peppermint, eucalyptus and lavendar shampoos with some water,) just in case she was going to use the Sisterlocks shampoo. Nothing against Dr. C, but I don't want ANY chemicals on my scalp period. As a matter of fact, when I DO get the green light to color, I more than likely will only color the tips of my hair, not the root. But I digress.

Shannon does use Dr. Bronners for the same reason I do its natural, affordable and does the trick. After shampooing, she put a light oil on my scalp and a bit of shea butter conditioner and set me under the dryer.

At first, I was disappointed because I was like, man everyone else gets rollers before they get under the dryer, why didn't I? Well when I was done I saw, my hair has a natural crinkle and GASP, my ends have started developing curly-q's whooo hooo..

So my next retightening appt is March 17, which is a little shy from three weeks. More info to come.

Lock Loops

Ok, so I was a bit bummed out about the state of the ends of my hair, so I went on a mini shopping spree. Ordered myself some Lock Loops and a few Loc Socks . Still waiting on the loc socks, but my lock loops did arrive (rather quickly I may add.) I used about 13 locks per curler and got super tight curls...Too tight. I think I would like it if I wasn't having a bad lupus flare which made my face super puffy... Will post more as the days go on.

I Did it!!!

Sisterlocks all installed whooo hoooo. A total of 26 hours totalling 404 micro and small sized sisterlocks. The install, while long, was worth it knowing I never have to sit for that long again!! My loctician Shannon Scott, was awesome and patient for putting up with all this hair, standing on her feet for that many hours five months pregenant. She never sacraficed or took short cuts. The parting is impeccible and the tension and sizes of the locks consistant. She rents space in at Doubletake Salon at 21st and Broadway in Sacramento. Shannon now has 51 Sisterlock clients as well as many traditional locked clients. I chose Shannon not only because she comes highly recommended by locked sisters in the Sacramento area, but because she believes in all aspects of organic and natural care. Her styling products are all created by a local african american esty using organic ingredients. Having lupus, it was important to me that my loctician understand that I favored a more holistic lifestyle in general.

I also chose her due to her care of her clients. For the first 6 months, she likes to see her new clients every two to three weeks to monitor their progress. The biweekly visits include washing, styling, retightening and overall assessments of lock progress. Talk about full service, I don't have to braid and band because she will do it for me!!!! AWESOME.
But enough about Shannon, I will share more about her as well as pics of her beautiful, healthy traditional locks after my next retightening.

As far as the look, well it doesn't look quite as I expected. I thought that it would be much fuller, but I know that Sisterlocks are very chameleon like and will shape shift quite a bit throughout this journey. I will make it a priority to post updated pics at least biweekly after my salon visits for the first 6 months. I know that some changes can be subtle and I don't want to miss any phases.

My scalp is a bit dry and itchy, which is common for me after braiding. I just applied a bit of rosehip oil mixed with clove and peppermint oil, which seemed to solve the issue so far. I did make a spritz of spring water that I heated and seeped with nettle, chamomile, flax seed, horsetail, rose, calendula, clove and lavender in a cheese cloth. I then added some sweet orange, rosemary and GSE to preserve it. I was considering adding some veggie glycerine, but it can make hair hard and brittle in the cold months, so I decided against it. I did make another smaller spritz bottle with the same solution but added a bit of jojoba oil (20%) mixed with rosehip (50%) and sweet almond oil (30%) for those dry scalp days. I chose a majority of rosehip oil as it absorbs into the scalp almost immediately, so no build up.

Here is the one pic of the final outcome, more pics of the parting etc to come, I am just still really drained.