I'm Free!!!

Ok, so it’s been quite a while since my last ‘true’ post (oh the shame…I’m so ashamed) so let me start with a post that I have been meaning to do for months now…

I took the retightening class back in February ’07. I must say that I have felt liberated and empowered with my locs ever since. While I adore my consultant, it was a 2 ½ hour trek every 5 weeks for my retightening…that became old very quickly. I do, however, plan to visit her at least once a year for a check-up and possibly a grooming. For now, I'm just glad to be free!! I find myself retightening locks on a whim, these days. I need to be careful though, because I'm beginning to have locs all over that are at different stages....some are ready to be retightened, some are definitely in need, while others are not. Kinda a pain to search for the 'next potential loc to tighten'...but anyway...I digress...Oh, speaking of grooming, can anyone tell me what exactly I can plan to expect from a grooming session? I’m thinking that she will trim excess hair around each lock and maybe combine any tiny or weak locks? I’m sure I’m missing some things. Is it worth the $$$? Help?!

The first few times I attempted self-retightening, it literally took me 1 week for me to complete my head. I stopped frequently because my arms got ridiculously sore. Also, I kept getting confused with the direction I needed to point the tool, based on the side of my head I was working on….needless to say, it was very daunting at first. Several months I contemplated giving my consultant a call and telling her that I gave up and please help! But I know she would have encouraged me to finish on my own, so I forged on. Now, I am happy to report that my retightenings take about 2 days, with me working off and on both Saturdays and Sundays. I typically can finish before work on Monday if I start Saturday morning. My goal, of course is to get within 1 day, preferably about 3-5 hours would be ideal. I’ve made a slide show after some of the first ‘self sessions’.

The pics below are random pics taken pretty recently…some as recent as last week during my visit to my sister’s (went to the beach). In the picture of me and my son sitting down on the beach, I hope you can see some of the texture I’m getting with my locs. It’s kinda blurry because I got my camera wet, and I believe it was trying to fade away (it’s off being repaired now) I was proud of this pic. It’s one of the few times I’ve worn my hair up (it’s just now beginning to be long enough on the sides…still no go on the back up-dos yet…that reminds me of my next post….my kitchen…still to come).