My First Attempt At A Loc Updo

Hello all! Just a quick posting with a couple of pictures of my first attempt at a loc updo...I just love updo's! I wore them all the time as a permie and also as a loose nap, and now I've got enough length on my locs to do a modified updo....YEAH!!! All right, enough cheering...on to the pics:


Sorry that I couldn't get the lighting a little better and a better closeup for detail, but here's what I did to achieve the look: I divided the back of my head in half (more or less) and created two under-handed french braids that run from the nape of my neck to the crown. I pinned the ends of the braids to hold. The rest of the locs were lightly misted with a mixture of water, rosemary e/o and a little veggie glycerine and set on satin covered sponge rollers, using end papers. The rollers were left in overnight, unrolled in the morning and...VOILA! a curly updo. I thought it came out pretty cute--I'll wrap it up tonight and see just how long I can keep the style. I'm so excited--my locs are finally long enough to allow me some styling options! If any of you divas out there have suggestions on additional short loc styles, please let me know! Much love and blessings...janel

Back In The Saddle...

Hello all you kings and queens...I know that it's been a while since i've posted. This was completely unintentional on my part and if you are a faithful follower of this blog, I do humbly apologize. Have had some major issues at work: I've lost four employees (one of which was my only supervisor), I was down with the flu (seriously down) for the better part of a week and recovery has been really slow. I'm now currently putting in 60+ hours at work until I can get a new person hired into one of the two supervisory slots that I have open and trained. I'm coming home dead tired (literally) each day, and in the short term, it's not going to get any easier.

Anyway...to make this posting loc related--you know that flu that I had really did a job on my hair indirectly. I was running a temperature of 105 degrees (yep, it was the real-deal flu!) for several days and you just wouldn't believe how dehydrated my hair and skin became! My skin was flaky and had really fine lines especially around my cheeks and forehead, and my poor hair--dry, flaky, itchy scalp, and crispy, crunchy locs. I swear, they sounded like cellophane paper crinkling when you touched them! I was in a panic, let me tell you. I put out a call to my YouTube loc buddies for some suggested remedies and several of them came through--most of all it was going to take time and I had to work on getting my internal fluid levels back on an even keel. Adding vegetable glycerine to my daily spritz helped, along with some extra conditioning. My hair and scalp feel a lot better now, although I am still having a little problems with flakiness. I'm sure that will eventually right itself. Anyway, I hope this post finds all of you in good health and high spirits and looking forward to spring! I shall endeavor to post a little more often in the coming weeks and by all means please feel free to comment and offer suggestions for topics for discussion! Be blessed and talk with ya later!

Happy Locaversary!!!

Hello ladies and gents! January 4th, 2009 was my one year locaversary and I made a short video to commerate the event. Ok, so it may not be momentous to everyone, but it's a big accomplishment to me LOL! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the vid and thanks for all of your support. Bless up and I will post more a little later...hugs and peace, janel

My Loc Journey (1/08 to 11/08)

Hello ladies and gents! Thought I would cross-post this video montage I made of my loc journey thus far. It's been a real trip and yes!! I'm still in love with it...be blessed!

I know, I know, I've been slackin' on the blog entries. So sue me--no, really, I've transtioned to a new store and life has been a little more hectic than usual. Things have finally quieted down for a few minutes, at least, so I thought I'd post this short video of my 10 month loc update. I can't believe that it's been ten months already--my hair is growing like weeds and I absolutely love it! Just thought I'd take this time because retail is going to be busy from here on through Christmas so I may not be making another entry again for a few weeks. Be blessed you all, hugs and peace! janel

The Great BUILD-UP Issue

Hello all you loc-lovers! I'm feelig a little better after having to wash my hair in freezing cold water the other day. Yeah, I survived, but I REALLY wasn't happy about it--I HATE WASHING IN COLD WATER! Anyway, (I hope) that the water heater for this building has either been repaired/replaced and now I'm going to rewash my hair using HOT water. I don't know about anyone else, but especially for my hair, it just doesn't feel like it's clean unless I've used warm/hot water. Maybe it's just me being crazy...(it's not like I haven't been crazy before! LOL)

All of this brings me to the dreaded issue of LOC BUILD-UP--why does this seem to be such a problem? It seems to me that if you are washing your head thoroughly and rinsing VERY thoroughly, you wouldn't have that much of a build-up problem. Now, I know that product choice has some bearing on the matter, but still... Very oily products would seem to be of some concern, but then again, if you use these types of product in your hair/locs, it would seem reasonable to me that you would wash your hair a little more often to make sure that the product doesn't become embedded in the loc and it would seem reasonable that you would really scrub the hair and scalp and then pay particular attention to rinsing out the product. Am I making this just a little too simplistic? All the stuff I read on the loc lists about using apple cider vinegar rinses (AVC) and baking soda rinses and such goings on...is this really necessary? I would think that we all would know by now how to wash our hair--if you're loc'd, you'll just have to take a little more time to work the shampoo into the scalp and through the locs, since the shampoo/water mix can't flow through as freely as it does when one is a loose nap. Then, after careful scrubbing, be sure to rinse very, very thoroughly with lots of running water to flush out all the debris. Repeat the process if you wish. Just that simple, in my opinion. This can even be accomplished with cold water, though of course this is not my preference! People, this is not rocket science, nor is it an exceedingly complicated task. To avoid most build-up issues, just wash and rinse your hair thoroughly as often as it needs it! Be blessed, hugs, and peace...janel

Loc Washing Madness!

Hey people! I'm taking a few minutes to post since I haven't done so in a while and since I'm sitting here boiling water to take a bath instead of taking a shower! That's right, the water heater for my apartment building is out and guess who woke up to no hot water?!? ARRRRGGHHH! I HATE COLD SHOWERS, epspecially when I have to wash my hair. I am too damn cold natured to appreciate pretty much cold anything--except for ice cream, of course! Even on the hottest day of the year I can't do a cold shower unless really forced at gunpoint, let alone wash my hair. But alas, I really must wash the dreads today before I go into work; I close the store tonight and will probably not have the energy to do it when I get home. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this, since I really like to rinse well with running water...I even had plans to do a full twist and clip thing and sit under the dryer for a while--guess that's out the window now. I'll be lucky to get to work on time at this rate! Why is it that a watched pot never boils? Just because you want it to!!! Don't know how "squeaky clean" the hair will be this time since I'll have to really grit my teeth and rinse under cold running water. Never mind that it's September here in the Ohio Valley and the high for today will be in the mid-90's; that water that SOME people call tepid is COLD!! Catch you all later, have to keep talking myself into this dreaded ritual...be blessed, hugs and peace. janel