Sharing The Wisdom and my Sisterlocks

​Four more years of locking, culminating with a three year anniversary

I first locked in 2006, making 2016 my tenth year of being locked via two separate journeys via Braidlocks(7) and Sisterlocks(3). They fit my individuality and season of life. When I was young, I was always that girl braiding and doing my neighbor's hair or dorm sister's hair, often for free because I enjoy hair. 

 In the spirit of sharing, I thought I share my 3rd year milestone. My locs have creeped way past arm-pit length.

My regimen:
-Soak locs twice/month for 30 minutes in sink full of water, capful of shampoo, 1.5 cp ACV, 1 cp listerine, .5cp aloe vera juice and 8 drops of rosemary, massage scalp and brush locs with soft-bristle face brush
-Rinse with ACV rinse, Rinse with water
-Condition with infused chamomile, peppermint or detox tea
-Dry with cool setting blow dryer, enough to get the wet out. In the summer I let dry from there. In the winter, I dry a bit longer

Through the week:
-Condition frequently with Rosewater, as needed. Massage VitE oil into scalp and hair. That's IT!

Style:
-If I wear it curled, with damp hair, I will braid in sections and ONLY curl the ends with black pipe cleaners. If I need to go out to let my hair dry, I'll put a net on it, gathering it back inside the net. I'll let the style drop throughout the week. When I get home, I put the net only back on to keep the curls out of my face, because I cannot stand curls dropping in my face, I can't think. haha. Anyone else like that? The thick-hairnet (the kind that looks like a loosely crocheted cap) is a lifesaver because I don't look like grandma with my bonnet on(hubby hates that) and it helps to hold the curls longer.

-Around month 18, I was able to pull it back into a bun. That felt like forever! I buy black pantyhose socks from the Family Dollar store, cut them in 2-3 inch sections, roll them up and use them as scrunchies. If I want an neat, interview ready bun, I will use a hair net(invisible kind).

Other than that, I will freeform and just not care too much. I'm not into styling too much with this journey. If my edges are frizzy, I'll spritz with water or rosewater and tie back with a scarf until smooth. I sleep on satin pillow cases, wrap my hair in satin bonnets or scarves and most importantly, I don't sweat the small stuff. Locs are going to grow, so I just let them do that. I still intend to cut my hair back to shoulder length once the front catches up with the back's length, until this journey comes to a close in the 2020's.

What I've Learned

-Sisterlocks. SLs provide a uniform grid, style; however, there is no magic to maintenance. IMHO ALL of the magic is in the install. After that, it just depends on how adept and confident you are in DIY. I've maintained mine for 3 years and I am not SL certified. I have never tightened with the SL tool (although my loctician installed with it). In the beginning, I was terrified because the installation locs were slipping so much because the matrix settled in. My confidence grew with each tightening. In the beginning my hair confused 'others ' because the locs were virtually indiscernible. That changed quickly by month 2, then they became stiff and difficult to 'mold' into a style and clearly looked like a messy style for a year or two. They remained stiff and unruly much longer than my BLs and that caused me to NOT enjoy this journey. Somewhere around year 2.5 that feeling dissipated. 

-Products. Because this was my second journey, I was not so nervous about products and styling. I became a minimalist and it worked well. When I was, I only use half a capful of shampoo in a full sink of water. From there I rinse. It really does not take much at all to clean and maintain locs. I've also transitioned away from aloe vera juice. I find rosewater to be more soluble, less sticky feeling and the smell amazing that's all. But both are great.

-Breakage. I did see one lock break so far. Locs in the front are small, larger in the back. A lock along the hairline broke, I reinforced it with naturaly kinky hair and handle it more gently. Boy, am I glad I went with a larger set of Sisterlocs

- New growth. I've had a total of 10 new patches of hair grow, that I've created new locs out of. After knotting up the hair and tightening the new growth,  I use kinky hair to loc up and anchor the rest of the loc, reduce unraveling and lengthen the loc. Once loc matures and reaches desired length, I snip off the add-on hair. Interested in learning how or getting some broken locs services? Let me know.

-Conditioners, oils etc. I just don't. The only oils I"ll use when my locs feel extra scratch are almond oil or Vitamin E, For the past year, just Vit E. It's enough. I no longer massage oil into the length of my loc. I will use plain water to smooth down the frizzes and mess my hair into the loc-maybe. I did that moreso the first two years. 

-Hang in there. I hated, I mean hated months 0-24 (have I shared that enough?). My commitment to researching the SL mystique and my investment of time and money kept me from taking them down, that's it. Because I remembered that year 3 is magical I hung in there for 2016 and it is now. I looked at time in terms of months (12/24/36) and it just wasn't so bad that way. I stayed busy and offline. Well, you all have witnessed that. I desperately did not want to run into the comparison/stalking game which could lead to frustration so I got busy with my life, finished up another degree, sent a kid off to college, took on a promotion, started a hiking club, reactivated in my sorority  and some other real life things to get me out from in front of the computer-boy does that help!

-Career. Locs are so indescribably me that I have to work in fields that embrace me. I just have to. When I was younger, my identity was compromiseable. However, just shy of 50 (yikes we've been conversing about hair since my mid 30's!!!) ,I am who I am. It's been interesting. When I left pharma I had locs. Recently, I spoke with a manager about some new opportunities. They supposedly preferred mature reps with experience and a science background was a plus, so I thought why not? Let's talk. Quickly, I could see the preoccupation with my hair. He didn't call back either. He was polite but that was about it. My hair was pulled back, neat profession. However, that industry is so uniformly Caucasian again that diversity is nonexistent and they did not 'get' me, probably didn't even listen to what I was saying. I happily accepted the rejection and cringed at who I would have had to become to be 'accepted' by them again. My field in Clinical Development Management embraces by diversity. I work between academia and with hospital professionals. Some days I wear pears, other days Birkenstocks. I like both. I would not want to have to put on a costume and play a disingenuous role everyday. I had energy for that when I was younger, not now. Now, I really like who I am and I want to be appreciated for that. Ive been promoted 3 times with my current profession in less than 6 years, so I would say locs it is; and, the path I'm on is surely validating who I am. Please be you and if you feel you have to play the role of a character, stop and go the other direction-fast. You can succeed with your locs and most importantly you can be yourself. For the right employer you will excel.

How's your journey coming along?

That's about it. If you have any questions, let me know. 
Without a doubt, black lives matter TOO; and that's the point. God bless and be safe out there ya'll.