5 Year Anniversary

What have I been doing in the 2 years since posting my last update? Enjoying life and my Sisterlocks! I've had my share of "bunching" drama, a couple of haircuts and second thoughts, but as I celebrate 5 years of hair freedom (Dec 8), I'm so glad I hung in until I learned to accept my hair type and locs just the way they are. I absolutely love my hair and today I don't compare my locs to those of anyone else, except to say "yours are beautiful too!" To my sister-friend-loctitian and friends who loved and accepted my unique hair/locs until I could thoroughly do the same - thank you! To those of you just beginning this journey - hang in and enjoy every stage! To those further along the path than me, thanks for paving the way! Until now, I never had a "hairstyle" that helped me grow and change on the inside. Who knew? Dr. Cornwell, once again I salute you. Thank you for Sisterlocks, thank you for a way of life!

3 YEARS!!

Happy Belated Anniversary to me! December 8th 2009 marked the 3rd year of my wondrous Sisterlocks journey. From tons of questions and almost obsessive attentiveness to my hair, to now barely looking at or "messing" with my hair before I walk out of the door, I look back on my decision to be SL'd with absolutely no regrets and no plans of ever going back. Even though I've been unemployed since September 2008, it seems like I've been busier than ever. In addition to an already full plate, most recently I've gone back to school for a Microsoft certification(s). So nowadays when I do take the time to look at my locs, I'm so pleased. This is one of the best decisions I've made in my life and it gives me a profound feeling of pride in the sense that "Yaaay, I did something right!"

To Dr. Cornwell, all those SL-ers who've gone before me, those just starting out and those yet to make the decision - YOU ROCK!!

Thanks for stopping by and celebrating with me ...

Charlotte SLs Gathering - Keeps Getting Better!

I can't even express how much fun we had this afternoon -- lots of laughter, great food (courtesy of Sadie's Soulful Southern), questions, answers, new trainees/consultants, success stories, encouragement, off-the-chain giveaways, hair styling tips and lessons ... get the picture? Maybe these will help:

Mimi contributed her gorgeous handmade Tomoka's Twists and Ties and even gave us lessons on how to wear them!

And not to be outdone, Tonita graced us with her spirit all the way from MI by way of her fun and colorful handmade creations; headbands, spa fizzies, kleenex cozies, hip pursettes and plush guest slippers - wow! - Tonita, you are one busy & talented lady! Check her out for yourself at http://www.locaccents.blogspot.com/.

Needless to say, we were blown away by the generosity of both of these SL'd ladies. They added quite a bit of abundance and fun to our event. Of course we couldn't make things too easy, so these giveaways had to be "earned". Not everyone in our party was SL'd, but everyone had surely done her research. I was quite impressed that all knew most of the answers to our SLs quiz. Still, each of us left the event more informed and, if possible, more inspired. We also left with more friendships and happiness to carry us through to our next get-together.

Yes, looks like we've got a tradition going so we'll be looking at doing this again before the summer is over; send me an e-mail or comment to this post if you'd like to be kept in the loop.

Thanks to each of you for making this such a wonderful afternoon, especially those of you who drove a distance to get here. Thanks also for making me proud and firm on my decision to wear Sisterlocks! We're a unique group and we're definitely more than a "hairstyle".

June 20 Sisterlocks Gathering in Charlotte, NC

Hard to believe it's that time again, but we're ready! Our next SLs gathering is going to be on Saturday, June 20 at 12n. We'll meet at Sadie's Soulful Southern to share our various locked and natural hair experiences. Just remember: not locked, contemplating or already have locks of any kind, all are welcome. All you need to do is click on this RSVP link and let me know you want to attend. I'll keep you up-to-date via e-mail with the reservation details, etc. as the date approaches.

I think one of the reasons we always enjoy these gatherings so much is because we not only get to share our Sisterlocks/natural hair journeys, but we also get to share so many great stories of the wonderful things that this journey (quite unexpectedly) brings into our lives, both of which are inspiring to newbies and veterans alike. And as if that weren't enough, word has it that we may be graced, once again, with some superb giveaway items - yaaay!!

So bring your questions and experiences and let's usher springtime out and summertime in with a "natural hair" bang! Can't wait to see you there ...

Charlotte Sisterlock-ers (or not) Update

Well, the day arrived and we had a mighty fine turnout. There were 11 of us -- Sisterlocked, soon to be locked, and natural hair, *BEAUTIFUL* sistahs in the house. Some came as far as Durham (wow, that made us feel REALLY good!).

Some from other states (SC in the house!) ...

Even sistahs who were too far away to be there in person were there in spirit! Tonita and LocScrunchie each sent their spirits by way of giveaways. The generosity of these ladies really highlighted our celebration, and let me tell you, those items went fast! So fast, that I was only able to get a picture of these pair of earrings, courtesy of Tonita, that I managed to snag for myself.

Neither of these pics does these earrings any justice, but I thought I'd at least give it a try. Thank you Tonita and thank you LocScrunchie!! (LocScrunchie's giveaways actually got here just 1 day too late (darn, darn, darn), and I don't have the heart to open the box, because I might not want to send her goodies back if I do (smile). But again, just her thought of adding to our good time meant the world!)

But whether near or far, all brought a beautiful vibe to our gathering. It was so much fun to meet new SL-ers (new to us anyway - smile) ...

And to share exciting updates with others (Tonya (pink print) is a SL consultant in training!).

Check out these new babies! Installed by Syreeta (lady in lavender & grey striped shirt above).

Oh, and was I surprised and pleased-as-punch when I saw some of my favorite family members (who've asked to remain anonymous) in the house!

And the pièce de résistance -- the beauty of the locs all around!! You're probably thinking, "Who could ask for anything more?" Well, right about now I'm asking myself where are the rest of the pics that I snapped earlier today?!?!? I KNOW I took more ... Is it just me, or do I seem to always suffer some sort of "camera drama" at these events? Fortunately others took pics too, so jump over to LIU, cuz there's probably a posted link to more pics there. Or maybe there'll be a comment left here with a link to more pics.

Okay, I'll just get off of that and move right along into a shameless plug. BlackRussian is wearing the heck out of that Sassy Cap! Sassy Cap courtesy of MyCrochetPassion; cuteness courtesy of BlackRussian.

Yours truly had a very nice time, but had to cut it much too short because I was scheduled to teach a crochet class. Now you know I love little more than crochet, but I found it very difficult to tear myself away from these ladies.

So back to the "who could ask for anything more" question. When are we going to do this again?? Hopefully this spring? Stay tuned to my or BlackRussian's blog, we'll keep you posted!

Sisterlocks Gathering - Saturday, February 28

Okay, clearly we are overdue for a SisterLocks gathering in the Charlotte, NC area. BlackRussian and I came to this conclusion last month and, as a result, we've planned to have our next Charlotte-area gathering on Saturday, February 28th at 12:30 p.m. It will be held at the Crown Point Family Restaurant, 2815 Sardis Rd North, Charlotte, NC 28227. This info has been on BR's blog for about a month and I'm now posting it on my blog too (and on LIU) in hopes that the word gets out to everyone who would like to attend. If you have locks (of any kind), want locks, are considering locks or going natural, you are more than welcome to join us. The only thing we ask is that you RSVP to Black Russian by posting a comment to the "Sisterlocks Gathering" post on her blog or by e-mailing her at the address on the lower right side of her blog. We need to have an accurate count to make our reservations at the restaurant, so please RSVP no later than Wednesday, February 25.

We anticipate having a great group and a great time, so we look forward to seeing you there!

2-Year Anniversary

Incredibly, it's been about a year since I've blogged about my locs - tsk, tsk, tsk. And probably the only reason that I'm able to now is because I'm in between jobs. But even being off from a traditional 9-5 since early September, because I'm the kind of person who always has something going on (oftentimes too much!), it's still taken me a while to get to my blog. However, when I realized I was coming up on 2 years being Sisterlocked (Dec 8), I thought "okay BlessedGem, hold the presses; you simply must take time out for an update".

So here I am, at a place in time that once I thought I'd never experience. For newbies who may be as impatient as I was, it really does happen. A year finally gets here and then, before you realize it, two years have crept up on you. In the beginning, I was all about the SLs. Don't get me wrong, in a very real way I still am. Most days I love and adore my hair. On the rare occasions that I don't, it's because all I think I can see are my bunched ends (a result of my stubborn need to cover my patchy gray). But even when I think I'm having a "bad hair day", those are the days that I usually get the most compliments. Ironically, I think the decrease in my every day involvement and concern for my locs is because they've achieved my purpose in getting SL'd in the first place ... so that I could have beautiful hair with minimal involvement. Hair that would do it's own thing and stay beautiful without requiring me to jump through hoops. Shake it out and go -- y'all with SLs know exactly what I mean. ;-)

So ... even though I'm not completely locked yet, I'm happy, joyous and free with my SLs. Speaking of not being locked yet, last month my consultant suggested that I go back to banding and braiding - bummer! If you read my other blog posts here, you'll know that I started with about 3" of natural hair and the rest (about 5"?) was relaxed. Well, the relaxer was cut off at the beginning of this year and to my surprise, it was barely noticeable in terms of length, I loved it!! But because I chose that route to SLs, and because of my hair type/texture, I'm just now experiencing the process of the ends (ever so slowly) closing up, budding on the ends, all of that loc chemistry going on. It's truly amazing. I really enjoyed the few months I didn't have to band & braid, it was so freeing. But I'm willing to do whatever I have to do to work with the locking process and, once again, I didn't find it as difficult to go back to b&b-ing as I thought I would. I guess after doing it for so long, I just got right back into the routine.

If I've learned nothing else from this process, it's been "patience" and "enjoy the journey". Otherwise, I'd go crazy only focusing on the goal and wondering when (and if!) my locs and I will ever arrive to lock-dom. So overall, I'm just enjoying every day of freedom I get with my SLs. With a wealth of great stuff going on in my life, I'm so thankful that I don't have to figure out how to fit in a lot of time to make my hair look wonderful. Thanks to SLs, it just does.

Umm, for those that are new to SLs, I should probably state for the record that my locs don't just naturally curl like this (oooh, that might be nice though). This "do" is the result of just simply taking a section of my hair, spritzing it with Lotta Body setting lotion or Taliah Waajid's "Tight Hold" styling gel, separating that section into two and twisting it (hanging twists similar to hanging plaits), then rolling it about 1/3 of the way up with a SoftSpike curler. Actually, the day that I went to style it, the plan was to take out the SoftSpikes and then undo and finger comb through the twists. Well, taking the SoftSpikes out was as far as I got because I actually liked the way the twisted sections looked just staying hanging & twisted! Wish I'd taken a picture, but it was kinda cute, especially since I haven't had to report to an office during this time. The last couple of days I just pulled some of the twists back into a scrunchie, giving the style yet another look. Then, as I was getting ready to visit my best friend today, I remembered my SL-anniversary and thought it would be a good idea to ask her to take some pics for me ... so this was the first time I'd taken the twists out since I'd set them a week ago. I definitely plan on wearing those twists again.

Didn't my best friend do a great job taking these pics? See, I keep tellin' you, I'm just blessed comin' and goin'. :-)