A Life Goal

I have many passions in life, and one of those passions is writing. Every since I was about nine years old I've written short stories and poetry. It was also a dream of mine to become a famous author and reach millions of people through the expression of words. Back in 2013, there was a writing program going on at my local library and I signed up for it. There was no money involved, but that didn't make me hesitate. Everything doesn't always have to have money right up front. Sometimes the blessings come a while later, and right on time when you need them. This book was co-written with two other young ladies and in it I wrote ten poems that I would say are pretty good, but I've gotten so much better since then....as I should. Now I am so ready, so motivated, and so determined to make that dream come true. As of right now I am gathering thoughts on an up and coming short fiction project. I will most likely make it available on amazon kindle as an e-book for purchase. I want to write for children, teens, young adults, and beyond. I have a message for each generation of people, so for all the writers and story/poetry lovers out there follow my journey. I'll most certainly keep you updated.

 Here is my first published book titled Finding Our Own Way: A Collection of Short Stories & Poetry...and there are more projects to come. This can be purchased on amazon for $5.00 and will raise funds for the library.
That's me on the right by myself, my locs were just starting out...aww lol. If anyone has tips or references please feel free to share.
Lets make dreams manifest the year!

Loc Retwist No gel

So here I am after going three months without twisting my hair (12-12-14). I re-twisted my hair yesterday using nothing but the water that was in my hair from washing it and oiled it with olive oil. The no gel thing will be apart of my new routine because I achieved the same results without it and it cuts down on twisting time, I don't have to reach down for gel, put it on the loc, and then twist. I'd say I finished my hair about 20 minutes earlier than normal. As you can see, I had lots of new growth and I love letting my hair get this thick before re-twisting it it just looks and feels better to me. After 2 years of locking, its no surprise that my locs would be trained & have a natural hold from being twisted so many times. Having a simple hair regimen just adds more appreciation to my hair, knowing its natural and I don't do much to it...such a plus. I'm not sure if I mentioned this already but I have 161 locs, I originally had 162 but I combined one with another because I felt like it was getting thin so now I have a two headed dragon as they like to call it. Stay tuned for more posts from yours truly (:

Top Ten Music Playlist of the Month

                                               

I love music and I'd like to start a music of the month segment for all the rhythm lovers out there....
             
          70's/80s funk
1. Parliament - Agony of Defeat
2. Spence - Get it on
3. Cameo - Back and forth
4. Mtume - Give it on up
5. Dazz Band - Freaky Lovin'
6. Curtis Mayfield - Get down
7. Dynasty - Groove Control
8. Mass Production - Turn up the music
9. Heatwave - Grooveline 
10. Lakeside - Raid

That's my top ten songs of the month (: I listen to just about all genres of music but my favorites are funk, dancehall, and new jack swing. When I listen to music I really like to listen to all the different sounds/instruments that are being played. Music is art, its healing, and has a voice within itself. It speaks to me on many levels, what about you?
 

Annoying Comments about Natural hair

                                                              

I remember back in 2013, I was sitting out front of a store with my grandmother waiting for it to open. As we are sitting there I noticed she kept staring at my hair and right then and there I knew she was about to make a comment. I was about 4 months loc'd at the time and my hair was starting to somewhat look like locs, or at least to a person who hasn't seen many sets of locs. So anyway, after staring for a little while she finally said "you're not getting dreadlocks are you because I don't like them"...Um excuse you? First off last time I checked this was my hair and since when did I make decisions based off your preference? So I said "yeah I am locking my hair" and just waited for the response. She goes "although it looks cute on you, I still don't like them. I want your hair to be nice and pretty". What the hell is nice and pretty? Oh wait let me guess a press and curl right? I didn't even say anything because if I would have responded to that I would have really offended her from already being annoyed of her ignorance. When I look back on it though I wish I would have responded but in a conservative manner along with dropping knowledge of course. But the sickening part is this, she admitted that it looked cute on me, but basically saying its not good enough or pretty enough. Slavery has really did a number on us, but fortunately more and more sistas are going natural and embracing themselves along with waking up spiritually due to the shift of consciousness we're in. What are your thoughts? Share your experiences I'd be interested in reading it.

Update 3/2/15

Its been an extremely long time since I've posted anything on this blog. There isn't any reason why I haven't been posting really, I just didn't make blogging an everyday hobby like I said I would. But anyway, here's an overview since I've been gone:

This pic was taken 12-27-13. As far as length goes it grew but the beanie is hiding the length. And they still look like twists just bushy.

 This was taken 3-21-14. not much of a length difference but the texture was definitely starting to change. 

This one was taken 6-6-2014. This is me enjoying that good ole summer heat on my back porch (: There was actually a lot of growth here, but I was three months post re-twist so my roots were super thick making my hair appear shorter. 

Okay this was taken 9-3-2014. It grew pretty good since the march photo. 

Okay here we are last month (2-13-15). I'll be two years locked on the tenth of this month. It's been a fun journey so far, I have no intentions of cutting/combing out my locs any time soon. I haven't done many styles yet just a pony or the half up half down but nothing fancy. I'm working on perfecting the basket weave then I'll probably be rocking different variations of that style. For those who may want to know my hair type I'd say 4a at the crown and 4b in the back as well as the sides. My wash and twist routine for last year or so has been every three months. I don't like my hair twisted often I prefer the thickness and also just letting it be most of the time. My last re-twist was 12-12-14 using Murray's Loc-Lock Gel and washing with the Mane 'n' Tail shampoo. I want to stop using gel, not because of build up but to have one less thing in my hair. The only thing I put in my hair after a re-twist is olive or coconut oil. Some loc wearers enjoy conditioning but I prefer hot oil treatments instead. I don't palm roll I just twist the roots because I don't mind frizz and I use a hand held dryer to dry it for about thirty to forty minutes. Well, there's my update. I'm going to really make an effort to post more often so don't hesitate to follow me (:

My Vegetarian Diet

A while back I stated my thoughts about being vegetarian, but now that it has been a few weeks I can talk about how I feel. Honestly I feel so much lighter mentally and physically. I'm also more energetic and less sluggish and lazy. Coming from a meat lover, I was shocked that I was able to easily and quickly give up meat. I didn't take little baby steps, I just instantly stopped. I don't even crave it from time to time. I mean I was one of those people who felt like a meal wasn't complete unless some kind of meat was included. So I'm pretty amazed at myself. But I do believe I am experiencing some side effects from this sudden change. I've been having small boils, bumps, welts pop up every now and again and then disappear. I believe my body is having a withdrawal because I've never had anything like this going on until now. But other than that I'm doing fine. All I've been really eating is vegetables, fruit, rice, and beans. In between that I'll have a snack which probably isn't so healthy, but my main focus was to stop eating meat. I do want to get to a point where everything I put in and on my body is 100% natural and organic, and I will. Sweets and junk food is my bigger problem but I can see myself not eating anymore of it in about a month because I barely eat it now compared to how I used to.  So now a typical day for me is oatmeal  with fruit in the morning, steamed vegetables for lunch, and probably more vegetables and rice for dinner. I drink more water than I used to, and just more conscious of what I put in my body now. Like I said I'm still not where I want to be, but I'm not going to be too hard on myself because its a working progress. I'm going to start juicing as well as soon as I get my hands on a juicer, and a blender because I want to make smoothies too. All in all I'm really happy, I wake up happy for no reason and I know the best is yet to come.

New Products & Starter Loc Update

Keepin' It Old School.

I know I said I'd never be without

my Dudu Osum shampoo and conditioner

but my scalp has been so dry and a little

flaky. Maybe because its been really cold where I live, but all I know is I kinda panicked because with me starting locs the last thing I want is a bunch of dandruff in my scalp. So I went back to using what I used when I was relaxed which is the good oldie sulfur 8. 

When using these products I never see a single flake. Of course it's not all natural like I wish, but it'll have to do for now. In the future I'll try making my own shampoo with tea tree and peppermint oil in it for the dandruff but for now I'm going to use something that I know will work for sure. 

I re-did my starter locs last Sunday which was 3-10-13. I know locs thicken over time so I made my parts just a little bigger and I want thick locs, not too thick though, so I'm more content with them now. This is me on Sunday that just passed (3-17-13) coming in from the store. While in line at the store the cashier asked "are you growing locs?" I said yeah. Then she goes "I want locs so bad but I'm scared" and I chuckled. I was going to ask her why, but there was people in back of me waiting so I just left because I didn't want to hold up the line. If I see her again I'll ask because I'm curious to know her response. But anyway I was flattered that she thought I was locking, because these were only 1 week old twists. 

Now this is me the Now this is me the same day just before I washed my twists. Everyday last week I spritzed my hair with my homemade water/oil concoction because of what I explained in one of my older posts. I knew by me doing that my hair would have a nice hold while I was washing it.same day just before I washed my twists. Everyday last week I spritzed my hair with my homemade water/oil concoction because of what I explained in one of my older posts. I knew by me doing that my hair would have a nice hold while I was washing it.

And I was right. None of the twists unraveled as I washed them in the shower, although I'm sure my hair texture played a part as well. I washed my hair as it wasn't even twisted. I mean I was gentle, but not all that gentle because I wanted to make sure my scalp was free of any dandruff. I was so relieved to not have to re-twist any of them.

This is me yesterday (3-19-13). I re-twisted my hair the same day I washed it with the sulfur 8 gel in the above picture. Then I sat underneath a hooded dryer for exactly 30 minutes. The 2 strand twist pattern is still visible in my hair, but that's to be expected anyway its only been a week and some change. I just can't wait until it disappears. As far as the gel goes, I like it. It has a very nice hold with no flaking or residue and the scent is light. The consistency of it is kinda watery and thought it wouldn't hold my hair good enough but I was wrong. I just twisted the roots around my finger, I didn't palm roll my twists because I couldn't care less about frizz. Plus I didn't want my hair looking thin. 

One mistake I did make though is after I washed my hair with the shampoo I didn't do a hot oil treatment to put some moisturize back into my hair. Since I'm just starting my locs I don't want to use conditioners because their purpose is usually to soften and detangle which defeats the purpose of what I'm trying to do. But I should have washed, then did a hot oil treatment, rinsed, and then re-twisted. My hair was so dry, not hard or brittle, but dry. I was just so anxious to re-twist my hair I forgot all about it. So I just sprayed my hair with the sulfur 8 braid spray above and my hair felt better. Then I rubbed some tea tree oil on my scalp. I'll probably wash and re-twist every two weeks unless I come up with another time frame. Only until my hair is officially locked, then I'll re-twist whenever I feel the need to. For the next two weeks I will be oiling my scalp and hair with Jamaican black castor oil along with other essential oils. I'll be doing hair updates with pictures monthly not weekly. I figure week by week won't make much difference. 

Lastly, happy growing and shout outs to all the loc heads out there!