Wednesday, June 24, 2009

How I Fell Off

I was reading this blog post by my Real Life-Off Line friend 9th Hour Poet. (We have known each other since before either of us had blogs or locks.)

She was talking about her good intentions for her blog and how she fell off once life got hectic and the locks got less new.

Amen, sister!

I especially fell off on taking pictures. It started when I began self-tightening.

It was my routine to take pictures before my retightening sessions, but once I started DIY, that went out the window. Then I tried to update every 4 - 6 weeks, but that was kind of discouraging because I could really only see the changes (in growth and maturity/texture) when I compared shots that were at least 12 weeks apart.

So I started taking pictures 3 - 4 months apart. Then it was 6 months and, well, then I just stopped taking progess shots entirely.

I spent the first 18 months in disbelief that my locks weren't longer. I am now 27 months locked and my Sisterlocks have just reached the length that my straight hair was when I started locking 2 years ago. If I was doing this only for length, I would be sorely disappointed right about now.

And I did have my moments. My hair grows fast. I literally retighten 20 - 30 locks one or 2 rotations every day. I have 3/4 to 1 inch of new growth every month. But due to shrinkage and other factors my growth has not turned into length.

I have watched people who started locks with 3 or 4 inches of hair aand theirs appears to be only 1 - 2 inches shorter than mine and I started locks with 7 - 10 inches of hair.

I was like: what gives?

My general dissatisfaction plus my genuine busy-ness resulted in a steep fall off on the blog posts.

I must clarify that I was not dissatisfied with my decision to lock or my naturalness. I maintain that it has been one of the best decisions ever!

I was generally dissatisfied with life for a few months, but that is another story that will probably never be told here because I try to keep it positive and keep it moving.

3 comments:

Amina said...

Don't feel bad, I've fallen off too, and mostly because my hair hasn't really changed much in the past 4 months. It's the same length it's been pretty much all of the time. I suppose I'll post soon.

blackrussian said...

I'm SO overdue now though. My locks are significantly longer than they were the last time I posted pictures and they have changed.

But clearly I know the feeling. I went through a period of months where I looked in the mirror every day and saw absolutely no difference in length or texture or anything.

And they were an awkward sort of style. I just wasn't feeling it. But then one day it was all better.

I read your post about henna and I was thinking of trying it. Seemed like a lot of work though and I'm really afraid it will come out too red.

I know you can wash it out, but who has the time? I don't.

Thanks for stopping by!

9th Hr Poet said...

That's the stage I'm in: I keep looking in the mirror and wondering if my hair decided not to grow anymore. Then, I pull on a strand, and it reaches the bottom of my chin! Ah, wonderful shrinkage.

Ready for the convention?