We're locking and rolling

Monday, January 19

The kids were out of school for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so we planned on hair for the whole day. We were really hoping to get most of it done. And even though we spent from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. with only a few stretch breaks and a short hop to McDonald's for lunch (we even brought it back to eat it), we only finished the front section. Naomi's hair ranges from 6"-9" in length and each loc takes about 2-3 minutes. But with separating, parting, and combing, the total time per loc is probably closer to 5-6 minutes! We now have 150-some locs completed.


Here we are with front locs tied up, and the unlocked hair in the back in box braids with big beads.

Sunday, January 18

Washed, combed, and ready to go! ~ FYI: Her hair in these pics is soaking wet.





Parted out!

Even though I had it all combed out in the morning, it still took close to 45 minutes just to separate her hair and get the sections parted. Now you know why I am so excited for the locs!


The locking process is going much slower than any of us anticipated. Naomi is very tender-headed, and our sweet loctician is very accommodating to her needs -- thankfully, or it may take even longer. The first day we did four hours and got a small section in the front complete; about 40-ish locs.

Naomi is getting Sisterlocks!

I’ve posted on my adoption blog about our braiding experiences ~ it's just not that nostalgic mother-daughter bonding time that that I’ve read about in folk literature. It is more a time of impatience, short tempers, fussing, and scowling -- from both of us. Every weekend we would struggle over when to do hair, how to do hair, and more often than I would like to admit we would just skip it and go for the puffy bun. Not that it didn’t look just cuter than cute - the first day. But it succumbs to the fuzzies by Day 2 and even my best attempt at small braids would last a week at most. I refuse to surrender to chemicals … although on Christmas eve day I did give in and use a flat iron to straighten her hair. On top of the fact that it took 3-1/2 hours to do, it looked only “okay” the first day - though she liked it - and less than okay until we got back to doing something else the next week. Thankfully she was not in school and we have allot of headbands.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I happened to run into another family with two Ethiopian daughters and their hair was adorable. When I asked how they had it done, the answer was Sisterlocks! It sounded vaguely familiar and I rushed to do my research.

Sisterlocks is a patented technique of “locking” the hair into small tendrils. “Sisterlocks allows the hair's natural interlocking process to unfold, they are true ‘locks'. This means that they are not meant to be undone.” It is quite time-consuming and costly to put in, but then only needs to be tightened every 6-8 weeks. In the interim, hair is much easier to style, manage, and maintain. It also encourages faster growth and looks marvelous! Both Naomi and Mom are very excited.

Stay tuned for pics of getting started . . .

In the meantime, here are some photos of pre-Sisterlocks hair over the past 9 months.

Braids:









Extensions:



Puffy Buns:





Loose: