For Aya

Now this post with pics is especially for Aya because she had the blues a few weeks ago. Some of her locks are shorter than others and this was cause for concern.

I posted a comment saying that I have several locks that are much shorter than all the rest, but I don't think anyone would notice unless I pointed them out and I am sure the same is true of hers. We notice such details ourselves, but other people tend to focus on the larger picture.

Notice the picture of me, above. My locks appear to be the same size and length, right?

Ok, now check these out!

The first few locks on either side of my center part reach my lips, then three locks over I have this one that is barely long enough to reach my eyebrow.

Then, next to that one, I have this one that's even shorter. It's barely 2 inches long!

And because that guy is short, I wake up some mornings and he's sticking straight out like my index finger here. He just wants to stand up and be counted. I hear a little voice in my head saying: I am! Somebody! (Then I find a bobby and pin him into submission. A few hours of that and he's usually less assertive.)

Next to my lock with the Napoleon complex I have this one. It's long enough, but if you look at it closely you can tell that the last 3 inches or so are really straight. I'm pretty certain that hair won't ever lock and as the hair closer to the root gets thicker, the difference in texture will become even more evident. It looks almost like a relaxed end. I could cut it now, but it's right next to the other one and I don't feel like dealing with two delinquents so close together. When I wear my hair forward, you can't tell it's straight like that, and when I pin it back the length comes in handy.

And, finally, I have all these little pockets of new growth; hair that has grown in since my locks were started. You can see that it is short and fine and straight, so it doesn't like to stay in the locks to which it has been assigned. It slips out. If I didn't have those guys, I could probably go another two weeks between retightenings, but they start to act up at week 5, grabbing on to other locks, trying to marry and obscure my parts.

So....there you have it, now you know my secrets.

My Sisterlocks experience has been such smooth sailing until now. I haven't had any issues with my locks that have caused me great concern and sometimes I wonder if it seems like I am painting too pretty a picture. I wonder if anyone reading thinks: "She's got to be having some problems; she's just not telling us!" I do feel like my locks are fairly close to perfect. There are so many problems other people had that I worried might happen to me, but so far, so good. However, as you can see, my locks are not without imperfections, and issues that need to be addressed, but it's all part of the process.