This puppy's got jokes

Where are all the Black Locked People at?

Over the years while I have maintained the Locked Hair Blog Exchange, I've often checked out my stat counter map of visitors. For the longest I couldn't understand why the visitors weren't more evenly distributed across the nation. Finally today I figured it all out. The first picture below shows the visitors from America, Europe and Africa.  You can see clearly that the East Coast and Europe are heavy with visitors.

 

When you get a closeup of the US, you'll have a better glimpse of the breakdown.  I kept saying, "Do no people of color have locks in other regions of the US?"  

Then, I googled African American population in the United States and this is what I came up with.



Well, I guess it all makes sense now. I am sure in the states where the population of African Americans is sparse, they may be some locked brothers and sisters, but the East Coast and South/South East Coastal states dominate.  When I visited the DC-Maryland area in 2007 it was a love fest seeing all the locked brothers and sisters.  The more we blog about it, vlog and document it pictorially, the more ubiquitous it will become. 

Celebrating 6 yrs Sisterlocked!

I just wanted to make my last post of 2009!  I celebrated 6 yrs Sisterlocked 11-28-09, Thanksgiving weekend.  It's been such a blessing learning so much about myself, my hair and my fellow locked friends around the world.  You've made this journey a special one.  Here's a picture of Jen and I with our extended Houston brother and sister Tim and Jackie. We brought in 2010 with them and had a blast! The other pics are of my god daughter, Kalee and her grandmother, Mrs. Butler on Christmas. She's 88 years young and is "yet holdin' on". We love them so much! True gifts from God.  Happy New Year!

HTT - Hair to There and that girl is 39

To think that I've been so busy as to not mention my 39th birthday, which was on the 9th of this month is just plain sad! I went to work that day and my students sang happy birthday to me in every class. Some made me hand made cards and brought me gifts. They are just too sweet!!! We'll I'm well on my way and all is chugging right along this school year. Sixth graders are a unique age group. They are coming into finding their identity and enjoying freedoms middle school provides. They also remind me of how I'm getting older. I consider them my kids because I'm old enough to be their mothers. I think in some ways they think of me as such. Some even tell me that some of the stuff I say is what their mom would say. The mantra is, love your students and they will love you back. I concur. Thank you Dr. Michael Wesch and especially your wife Sarah.

OAN, Jen's got her own updates, she's hopefully posting on her blog soon, but I wanted to post a few pics and discuss this Hair To There or aka, HTT. I must admit, I was used to having other peoples HTT for years, but to have my own has got me really thinking what is this all about. Next month will make 6 yrs of me having Sisterlocks and it has been an amazing 6yrs.




But as my locks grow longer and longer, I can't imagine how ladies who have longer Sisterlocks even manage. I'm curious about those who think having HTT is what this journey is all about. I must admit, I NEVER in a million years would have thought my hair could grow this long, EVER! But, in the same breath, I truly miss having a length that could be shampooed, rolled and styled a lot faster and would last a lot longer. I don't know. I'm curious to hear from those who are on the quest to having their locks grown down their backs. I'll post more later.

Checking in- Back to school teaching Middle School Math

I'm teaching at the same school, Carver Academy. This time I'm teaching only 6th grade math. My children are adorable and most work hard and are eager to please and learn. I decided about two weeks ago to shampoo, condition and bantu my locks. The kids noticed quickly, my new "do". It was so cute, when most of the compliments came from my little AA boys. "Miss E, you look pretty today
...I like your hair...you look really nice today." The girls gave compliments as well, all colors, but to think that adding a little curl made all that whoopla was interesting. The curls came out tight and are still squiggling around now. Jen's promising to help me finish retightening my hair this weekend, so I'm looking forward to another shampoo and set. Maybe this time, I'll try soft spike curls or a braidout. I used setting lotion and stayed under the dryer. I know when I do that after bantuing that the style will last well into two weeks like it has. If I use no setting lotion, I'm lucky if I make it a week. My locks are getting soooo long. It's hard to believe that in 8 weeks, I'll be celebrating 6 years with my Sisterlocks. Amazing! I'll update more after my birthday.

Now this is what I'm talkin' 'bout - The Truth, London Style

Tell it Chi!


510

Felicia's 3 yr Lockversary

If you remember my girl, Felicia's lockversary, it was 3 years ago today. Check out what 3 years did for her!!! She came down from San Antonio in February and Jen and I captured some snapshots. In the fotki collage, you will also see her locks from June of 2008 at her 2yr mark. She retightens her own hair since there are no consultants in San Antonio. You go girl! Enjoy!

Various Sisterlocks Styles

OK, as usual, I'm a little slow with trying out new things and for the longest I'd been saying, "click on the widgets" in fotki. Well, FINALLY tonight I clicked on the widgets and what a pleasant surprise, slideshows like slide, photobucket and flickr!! Since my blog community and my fotki community aren't all together the same folks, I thought I'd share some pics that may have never made it to my blog. This is called the "stack" and is quite easy to do...in seconds as a matter of fact. Just click on the picture and the stack will shuffle. Only problem I saw was that it will show pics randomly and not in order , thus making you think you've seen all the pics or it will lead you back to my fokti page if you click on the small arrow on the top right of the pic. So if you want to just view the pictures of various ways I've styled my Sisterlocks and remain on this blog post, click on the middle of each picture. Here's a tutorial on the fotki widgets, if you're curious. I guess fotki figured they'd better jump on the bandwagon. We love slideshows!!! I hope the pics post big enough. Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Well, well, well. 2009 is already here and no better time than now to update my lock family with my 5 yr update. My locks were born 61 months ago, November 28th 2003. If you would have told me then that the results would be what you see in this post, I would have said, "Naw, my hair could never grow that long." Well, boot my nerves!! I still have a tiny bit of color left from when I got my hair colored two days before Imani Nash-Bey locked it. I'm seriously looking into a Henna Golden Brown color in the near future. I still have a thin crown, but nothing a pony can't easily cover. Boy, how time flies. I've been super lazy over the holidays, and haven't put any videos together. Maybe later. For now, enjoy a few pics of me and my locks. The lock community has been such a blessing not only to me but to hundreds who just needed a little encouragement to take that plunge and get locked up! I just can't imagine any other options.



Below is a video of me and Kalee being silly Christmas. I'll add a collage later. Until then, keep it locked up!!!!

From Willis Family Holiday 2008

My Sisterlocks Slide Show

Here's a slide show from the beginning. There's lots of pics, but they move pretty fast. You can choose to view with music or mute sound. Enjoy!

Retightening: From Spaghetti to Worms

Jen got a picture or two of my hair at almost 54 months (4 1/2 yrs) yesterday after we took Mom out to Cheddar's for Mother's Day dinner. Jen kept saying, "girl your hair is long!!!!" The second picture was really telling when compared to the back view of my hair on day one.

Now I'm half way finished retightening my hair and need to be finishing up the top right now, but I had to blog about one of my student's comments about my hair this morning. I'd spent dang near all day on Friday with this girl along with about 9 others at Six Flags, and I spend approximately 135 minutes a day with her (675 minutes a week with her as well) because she's in my advisory and double booked class. She's Hispanic and has been quite fascinated with my hair; she's touched it, played in it, read the SL Journals, and the whole nine yards.

Well this morning, she comes behind me during our transition period and starts touching my hair. I say nothing of it cause I don't trip. She then proceeds to say, "Miss E's hair looks like spaghetti." I kinda ignore her cause it wasn't necessary to correct her, IMO. A few kids make some nervous snickers, thinking the comment would make me mad. She comes from around me and sits right in front of me and then says, "Miss E's hair looks like worms." Now, not only does she have my attention, but the attention of the whole class. I just stop and look at her. The kids are cutting their eyes between me and the student wondering what I was gonna say. The stare lasted longer than she could manage and then she tucked her head and said, "I'm sorry Miss E."

With the exception of a few "mixed" kids and the Hispanic girls, my hair is probably the longest at my school. We have lots of braids, lace-fronts, weaves, "twig tails", extensions and the like, but my kids and most adults know my hair is real. The other kids looked a little offended cause what she said was uncalled for. I'm sure my hair has gotten called worse things behind closed doors.

But it does lend for some sort of truth. If your locks start to mature, they will begin to look tubular and round, like say spaghetti or indeed worms. So, I guess in the eyes and opinions of locked folks, I imagine you could say she gave me a compliment. Whatever the case, I guess I'm glad she had the comfortableness or blind ignorance to say it to my face. Had she said it elsewhere, she may not have been gently rebuked. Oh well. Here's how my hair was today. I've worn it like this many times before because it's easy to put up and hair is not in my face.

Last Minute Math TAKS Test Help

The 8th graders at my school got their results back from their May 3rd Math test. Over 60% passed, and unfortunately there were those who weren't quite so fortunate. Tears fell as emotions of disappointment covered those who will have to try next month to prove they should pass on to the 9th grade with a re-test.

As for my babies, they are trudging along. We are ALL tired, and I have the bags under my eyes to prove it. I'm guessing things will settle down and get somewhat back to normal for me after next Tuesday, which is the day 6th and 7th graders take their TAKS Math test. The 6th and 7th grade reading test is the following day. Please pray for all children who will be judged by standardized tests across the nation this and next month.

If anyone has a loved one who'd like access to a plethora of Math links and videos, then visit my Pass 6-8th Grade TAKS Math Blog.

And as far as Sisterlocks updates on month 53, you can check out my fotki. I did a perm rod set last week that came out kind of interesting. Next time, I'll stay under the dryer longer for my curls to hold longer than a week. I'll be retightening soon! Much blessings.

It's my Anniversary! 4 yrs today!

I remember when I joined Lockitup Yahoo group along with Nappturality less than two weeks after I was Sisterlocked and saw sisters sign off of their posts, "SL'd 48 months" and I was thinking to myself, "Geez, I'm 'no' month!" And alas, the day has come where I sign off, too, with hopefully more to add as the days, weeks, months and years go by, more of what I've been blessed to experience the past four years. I asked Jen a week ago if she had it all to do over what would she have done differently about getting Sisterlocks. Her reply was simply, "I'd have gotten them ten years sooner!" I concur. For anyone who's visited and sorted through my blog or Fotki album over the past couple of years and seen pictures of old, you'd know where I've been and how far I've come. Yes, for those who haven't experienced it yet, it is indeed a journey, but one worth the trip. I have days when I think, "I'll cut em' all off and start over. I know what all the stages feel like and it would be no big deal going through those stages again." I also ponder the day I'll ever color my hair again. Yes, still many things to consider while on this journey.
A word of solace for those who have "thinning crowns". I too, started out with a thin crown and over the years have either overlooked the fear of balding or obsessed over it. It is what it is. It's still thin up top and sometimes it's more obvious than other times. Unfortunately, I can say that if you are having a thinning crown problem, Sisterlocks will not "fix" the problem, but it can definitely help camouflage the situation. My hair began to noticeably thin out on top some time in 1998 when I was religiously wearing individual braids for about 4 years straight, with no breaks. I think it was just too much stress on the top of my hair, not to mention a very stressful job and lifestyle back then. I finally got locked 5 yrs later, so quite a bit more damage without solutions was done. So go figure. Like I said, it is what it is.

I do miss the short and sassy locked days simply because more hair means more to shampoo and deal with. I mean, this mane gets heavy when shampooing in the shower. I also have a harder time holding curls. Not too happy about that. I guess that comes with learning how to manage and take care of a new length of hair. As far as growth is concerned, Jen nor I can go 3 1/2 to 4 weeks without having to retighten, which is a bit of a pain. From year 3 to 4 it seems we have experienced major growth spurts. I don't mind it slowing down, cause I need a break! Locked, my hair spans up to 10-11 inches, the longest my hair has ever been in my life, as stated many times before. It's nothing for me to throw a scrungee on and hit the door! With my busy schedule 1st year teaching, it has been a lifesaver.

So for now, I'll send a heart-felt thank you to all those beautiful, dynamic, strong and resourceful locked women and men who've followed the trip with me so far. I now have soooo many friends and loved ones world-wide, and who'd of thought it all was birthed from me being "sick and tired of being sick and tired of dealing my nappy hair".

I'm considering a 2008 New Years Locked Hair Collage and video in the Locked Hair Blog Exchange. I'd really like to do a special collage of sisters, mothers, and daughters. I think that would be so beautiful since so many women are inspiring their loved ones to return to their natural selves and come home to Sisterlocks! I'll blog more perhaps when school lets out in about 3 weeks. This took longer than I expected tonight and I still have grades to enter in the system. Stay tuned!!!

Blessings...

Month 47-Birthday came and went

I turned 37 Oct. 9th. Announcing it now can give you a clue as to how busy I've been with teaching. Jen and I went to the park two weeks ago and she took some pictures of me. Yesterday she retightened my hair (one of my birthday gifts from her). Enjoy the Slideshow. I'll add more soon.

Keeping it Natural, Not Nappy Headed Article

Say it Pricilla P! My thoughts exactly!

Miss Evans, How much them Sisterlocks Cost?

Picture above is the day I got locked-11/28/03

Every night when I come home, one of my ways of decompressing is visiting Lockitup to see what the ladies and some gentlemen are talking about. One of the topics is the cost of Sisterlocks. Renea did a good job of addressing it in her blog, but since I'm teaching 7th Math this year, I decided to do some quick calculations on my "pre" and "post" Sisterlock fees.

I had a standing appointment every six weeks when I lived in Houston to see my dear Ms. Linda who braided my hair (I'll add a picture of her beautiful work later). I gladly gave her $100 (not including tip days) and the cost of driving about an hour both ways from Webster (Clear Lake City) to the southwest side off Beltway 8 and Fondron. I would spend the better part of 5-6 hours with her each time, according to what beautiful and creative style we'd come up with. I was her guinea pig. That costed me about $860 a year for almost 3 years (not including gas). The hair, which sometimes was synthetic and sometimes human, totaled about $325 for the year. We're at $1185 so far. Ooops, did I mention I was a "hair care" junkie? I wasn't addicted to creamy crack, but I definitely was addicted to all the supplements. That would run me on average about $250 a year. This includes every "new super hair growth" product, shampoo, cream, oil, etc. We're up to $1435 now. I'll stop there.

When I got Sisterlocked. My initial cost almost 4 years ago (the good ole' price days) was $375 which included my consultation, locking session, locking kit, and follow-up retightening. The locking session only took 8 hours.

The 8.6 times a year retightenings came to roughly $516. I paid a flat rate of $60 at that time, which my dear consultant Imani always got me out of there in less than 2 hours. That's about $890. The deliverance from being a "hair care" junkie saved me a couple of hundred dollars a year, so I'd say I probably spent about $100 on SL products, if that a year. So that comes to about $990 for the 1st year and about $600 for the year after that. You do the Math.

In in the summer of 2005 I took the retightening class from my other dear consultant Gigi, which costs me $125. With the exception of only one visit since then, which costs me about $90 and a trip to Euless, that's about it, with the big pay-outs on Sisterlocks. The SL haircare supplement costs are still about the same, but for the most part, I've been saving money, hand over fist.

Now, that I have a lil' income teaching, I plan on scheduling retightenings again with Gigi, so I can get pampered. I also plan on giving some beauticians here in Waco an opportunity to touch my hair by shampooing, rollings and styling it. I may let them do some cute up-dos or a french roll. We'll see. I just need to get through my first year teacher hazing period. I miss blogging, so that's why I had to post about the question, "Miss Evans, How much them Sisterlocks cost"?

I'll be back later to update on my first days of school. So far, so good!! I gotta get dressed and out the door. Laters! Oh yeah, the students at my school know exactly what my hair is, so much that yesterday this girl was telling me my "dreads" were "tight" and one of my students corrected her and said, "Those are Sisterlocks." She was like, "Sisterlocks?" I just told her to "google it."

DFW Locked Hair Gathering

We had a really nice end of the summer gathering in Ft. Worth, Tx at Pappadeaux's 8/19/07. Bev organized and hosted the event and did a fab job! Jenn Jenn, who has the gift of hospitality, provided the most sweetest loveliest door prize gifts for all attendees. One of Gigi's male customers was in attendance and offered some pleasant conversation. He had traditional locs. As usual we had new attendees whose hair looked fantastic. Some said they already knew who most of us were from our blogs, which was nice.

We also had a few who were interested in getting their hair locked. The greatest benefit of attending a gathering of locked hair folks and you're interested in getting your hair locked is, you have the liberty to touch everyone's locks and get away with it, so to speak. You also get to ask millions of questions and see close-up how no two heads are alike. It's a fascinating experience. We did have a bittersweet moment, because two of the attendees are relocating to the East and West coast. Thank God for internet, blogging, and myspace. We shall remain in touch via the www. I'm posing in a couple of shots with each of them in the photo collage. Not sure who's hosting it next, so you'll have to be on the look out.

Enjoy the pics in my fotki album! Your comments are welcome!

Month 43 Slideshow

I took these pics somewhere between my Mexico and DC trip. No curls, no styles, just free stylin. I think I was taking a break between retightening. There's a little bit of photo editing with HP Premiere.

Retightening before My trip to Mexico

My neice took most of these photos. I think she did a great job!

Myspace "Hair Stories"

I have a myspace, but am not as active on it as Jen is. I did join a group called Natural Hair and found a nice forum with everyone's "hair stories" shared. Now you know we all have one. Most who have begun blogging have theirs somewhere hidden in their blog. Other's have it summed up in their profile. My Nappy Headed post was only the "beginning." I have to break out more pics and scan them to share the whole story. I found the myspace posts interesting to read. There's quite a bit to read, so check them out here if you like.

One of my favorite hair stories was that of Tuere ™'s. Scroll half way down the posts for her story. Isn't she and her locks just gorgeous? For those of you on myspace, drop by her page and show her some love. She's really down to earth and her voice is silky!

My girl Imani (California Consultant) started at group called Sisters In Locks. Check out her group and meet some new locked sisters. It's a fairly new group that could use a few new members.

Now, what's your hair story? Post it in your blog and comment here to let me know where it is in your blog (date) so it can be read by others . If you haven't shared your hair story, go on and do it today!! I've read lots and love hearing everyone tell their own unique story. It reassures me that I wasn't the only one to have hair care drama for decades. (LOL)