Sunday, March 31, 2013

It's Easter!

So it is Easter! And in a Jamaican household that means bun and cheese as well as excovitch fish-- YUM.

I am spending the day relaxing and eating lol. Below are pictures of my hair styled for church this morning. I haven't been noticing any big changes but i have seen some more fuzz which is always a good thing with this process. It is minimal but hey! As of 2am monday morning i will be one week in! \(^.^)/











Wednesday, March 27, 2013

My Stats/ Regimen Plan

I decided it would be a good idea to post my stats so I always have something to look back on.

Installation start date: 03/18/13
Installation end date: 03/25/13
Installation time: 1 week, about 2-4 hrs each day
Lock count: 429
Starting length: 10.5 inches in front and top; 7 inches in the back (I cut two inches before starting for a "bob" look)
Hair type: 4a, fine, low/medium density

I plan to interlock with the 3-point method with a homemade tool (yarn needle) every 4 weeks hopefully. If I can push it to longer than that I will go to 6 weeks at most. I plan to wash weekly with a clarifying shampoo. I tried the Suave brand on monday night and it does not seem to be too harsh or stripping. I am saying goodbye to conditioners for now but I may do a deep conditioner every month and a half if need be. Until then I will use a light oil (coconut oil) immediately after washing (about a dime size amount. I also spritz my hair with a mix of water and aloe vera juice maybe 2times a week.

At this stage in the game, because my hair appears very scalpy, I like bigger sets like twist outs to hide the space and give the illusion of bigger hair ( I did a braid out after the washing on monday and I didnt like the results very much).

And these are the results of my flat twist out from last night with no setting lotion or anything-- just water.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Im finally Done!!

At 2:00am I finally finished my hair. I have 429 baby locks in my hair and I couldnt be happier!







This morning I woke up spritzed some water on the ends and threw 5 braids into it:

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Side Note

So after coming off of work, I spent 3 hours working on the two side sections of my hair. They are all done and now I have a whopping 291 locks. I have only two more sections in the front and I am hoping to finish them after work later on (but let's just keep our fingers crossed until then shall we). In any event, I am super stoked about this whole process that is about to take place. =D

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Half head

So this post is just to show how I go to work with only half my head done. I still have four sections to do and I keep them separated by the bigger plaits. My job is pretty chill so I just put 2 cornrows to the back and pinned the ends up. Pretty simple.

Friday, March 22, 2013

What I wanted was Sisterlocks though

So the hype all started when I discovered sisterlocks- a form of microlocks formed by interlocking the hair. What I also found was that these type of locks were waaaay outside of my budget. But i had to get them because of their size and versatility. After some wide array of research on GOOGLE and YOUTUBE i figured out how to interlock my hair (pictured below). And so I attempted one and it worked so I kept going. My only gripe was that doing one took literally 3/4 minutes. These pics are after night one.











I couldn't possibly take that long only to make 12 locks so I had to find a better way. So I went back to YouTube and looked at my other alternative: braidlocks, locks made by leaving braids in your hair to matte over and mature. I mimicked the size and partings of sisterlocks in order to achieve the same look. I officially started my journey on Monday, March 18, 2013.

And the back is done!

I cant believe it but it is finally finished. Well, the back that is. And so far that is 192 locks back there ! Im too hype.

I have no idea why the pics wanted to go all sideways smh

My obsession

Dreads, locks, bongonati, natty dread. Whatever you want to call them, I've been obsessed for over 8 years. Maybe it is because of my Jamaican background and being so encapsulated with roots reggae and rastafarian culture. Either way, in high school I threatened to shave off my head and lock my hair. Unfortunately my mom was against it-- fearing that I wouldn't be able to get a job in the future.

Jump forward 6 yrs.

I decided to go natural in 2010 and transitioned from July 2010- March 12, 2011, when I decided to cut off the remainder of the perm. Scared, nervous but most of all extremely happy and certain that I was doing the right thing.

Jump forward 2 more year

I am now two years natural and loving it and itching for a change. In the bible the number 8 represents a new beginning and with that comes my desire to start my lock journey. I've come full circle and feel it is definitely my time so I will be documenting my progress in days to come. Stay tuned..

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Why Au Jus?

So I know you might be wondering why I entitled my blog AU JUS. Funny you should ask. So here's the story. Back in my freshmen year, during lunch time (approx. 3pm) me and my friends would always meet up and go to the cafeteria. This lunch room had the food buffet-style with plenty to choose from for all courses. While scoping out what to eat, I stumbled upon a 'steak au jus'
. So I turned to my roomies and like "au jus?" Long story short, I didnt know what the hell it was and walked right past it and got my burger and french fries. When we got to our table, I decided to GOOGLE it:

Au Jus- French. (Cookery) (meat) [a] served in it's own gravy [b] served in meat's natural juices
{Literally: with the juice}

Ever since I found out what that phrase was all about it was over. I used it in every chance I got. When I decided to go natural in my junior year, I posted a picture of my big chop on FB with 'Au Jus' as the caption.  I use the term to refer to a coming in to myself, and getting to know ME. With all the different pressures and influences that our environment offers on a day-to-day basis and whatever inner conflicts may spring from it, I remain me despite it all.

So this blog is just that, me, served in my own juices. LOL