Saturday, December 6, 2008

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'. :-)


14 comments:

Tee said...

You're locks look absolutely amazing!!! I can't wait till mines settle in a little more

Tee

Mel said...

Check you out! I think your hair looks fantastic, it really has thickened out. I love the twist/ss set; I'll definitely ive it a try. Who'd have known that time would fly so fast, I'm approaching two years too!

I hope you won't leave it so long to post again ;-)

BlessedGemLady said...

@Tee - thanks and they will! ;-)

BlessedGemLady said...

@Mel - Mel, I've missed you(!!), but thankfully you update your blog much more often than I do, so at least I've been able to keep up with you from time to time that way. I look forward to seeing your 2-year post. Take care!

Tracy said...

Wow you lock look wonderful. Thank you for the post. I am impatiently coming up on one year and your post was a boost! Both you locks and your smile are great!

Maryee said...

Amazing!! Congrats!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey BGLady,
U look mar-va-lous dahling!!! The time does fly by when U R enjoying tha journey. I 2 have been a lil laxed about updating my blog. When I do, I will let ya know. Your crochet items R beautiful as well.
Jos

BlessedGemLady said...

Thank you SO much ladies! You all have given me so much inspiration, some of you from "way back when". So I'm honored to be able to give some back any chance I get. We've got it so good with Sisterlocks!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CarmenNC said...

I'm sorry, Mister is a co-worker, forgot he checked his gmail.

I can't believe it. I know you've been alive and well, but a post. LOL. The roller set came out perfectly! Good seeing you around blogland. See you in twitterville, lol.

Anonymous said...

I searched on google for SISTER LOCKS IN CHAROLOTTE and this beautiful lady with beautiful locks popped up and it was you, ichelle. I'm thinking about sisterlocks...we'll see. Loveya, Shenika

Free McK. said...

I've been waiting on a post from you mam'! LOL Your hair is beautiful. I am coming up on my first year. Is the second year really the "growth year"?

BlessedGemLady said...

@ Carmen - even though we're always in touch, thank you for posting a comment for me here -- you're my friend and MDF (Marketing Director Forever) - LOL!

@ Anon (Shenika) - wow, how awesome that you found me here after we just had the Sisterlocks conversation the previous evening. I never considered that MY blog would come up in a Google search, even though I've definitely found others' blogs that way. Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving me a such a generous (just like you) comment!

@Free P - I never thought of the 2nd year as being the growth year. Gratefully, my hair has always grown pretty quickly, so I guess I really hadn't paid much attention. As a matter of fact, I compared to the 1st year, I really haven't paid that much attention to my hair at all! I just know that, with Sisterlocks, I absolutely love my hair more than ever.

Khandi said...

Congrats on your locaversary
Your locs look lovely, really grown and i'm loving the style. I sometimes get impatient as well well wanting my ends to seal, but as you said i know it's a journy about patience