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.

Matter of Trust

Y'all know I am always picking up some news of the weird.

I just saw this on the 5:30 news. It's kinda neat and kinda gross at the same time.

Want to know what to do with your old hair? Send it to Matter of Trust. It's a charity that figured out how to create mats made of human hair (the founder affectionately calls them dreadlocks) to soak up oil spills.

After the mats soak up the oil, worms and fungus (mushrooms) can break them down into simpler harmless biodegradable compounds that can be effectively used as fertilizer.

I want to know what he was smoking when he came up with that idea. (Or maybe he was munching on some 'shrooms!)

Beat that Sham-Wow!

Rollasole

Sometimes you hear about a really good idea and you think: I wish I'd thought of that.

Now I know some of y'all go clubbing in 4 inch heels.

And by the end of the night, your feet really, really hurt.

And going barefoot is not an option.

What if you could buy comfy ballet shoes on the spot for about the cost of a cocktail?

Rollasoles are a really ingenius solution. They are rolled up slippers dispensed from a vending machine at the club. They come in a cute little bag that you can put your more uncomfortable stillettos in.

Matt the inventor had sympathy for his girlfriend's aching feet. He knew she wasn't the only woman out there suffering in the name of fashion. They have taken off in England and I hear they are on their way to the US later this summer.

In the meantime, I'm ordering a pair from rollasole.com to keep in my purse - not just for partying, either.

I'm 4'11 and I wear 4 inch heels daily to luncheons and business meetings. Depending on where I've been and what I've been doing and how long I've been wearing them - I have issues at the end of the day.

There have been times I wanted to do my grocery shopping or stop by the mall, but thought to myself: not in these shoes!

Sometimes I carry flip-flops or flat sandals in my car, but not always. And sometimes I'm riding with a friend. In either case, those shoes are bulky and inflexible. They do not fit neatly in a purse. Compact and discreet portability is a huge plus!

But again, as an entrepreneur - Kudos to Matt for creating a product that meets a need. It's priced right and he has a great idea for product placement.

In da club - Awesome! You go, boy!

Apparently he even has plans to make them available at weddings and events.

How many women leave for a wedding in horrid pointy shoes with full knowledge that the shoes will come off well before the reception is over? And even when you dance the night away uninhibited by heels - how much protest do you get from your feet when you go to stuff them back in the shoes for the walk to the car or bus or the train?

Even the walk from the car to the house can be agony if you have to put the shoes back on.

I'm very interested to see what becomes of this product and idea.

Precious Jill

I rarely write reviews of any type, but I am and have always been a fan of Jill Scott. I have loved her music and songwriting from the beginning and was very impressed with her acting skills in Why Did I Get Married?

So when I saw that she was to star as Precious Romotswe, of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, I was intrigued. I had heard of the series, but had never made any attempts to read any of the books.

Some have criticized the books and the HBO series as being too light-hearted and simplistic, but I for one have enjoyed the first two installments. Don't we have enough gritty realism in our own lives?

I used to watch Murder She Wrote with my grandmother and Monk with my sister. How real are they? Not very. It is nice to have an African woman featured as a detective - and most of her mysteries are not murders. I like that no one has to die. Sometimes people do, but not every time, and to me that is refreshing.

I like the humor. I like the way she uses common sense to solve the mysteries, but she is still naive about some things as well. I like that. To me, that is real. Even smart, capable people have gaps in their knowledge and experience that make them vulnerable. The lack of foresight that all of us have accounts for so many of our mistakes, but if we are able to think and act quickly, we mostly avert disaster.

I love the portrayal of Africans. We see different types of hair and dress and grooming, some traditional and some Western. I love Jill's wardrobe and the fact that her full-figure is celebrated and Precious is proud of it, but there is realism in the fact that some people criticize her for it. Some of the men call her 'fat and fabulous', while a jealous wife calls her a 'fat tart'. Isn't that just how life is?

After watching the first two episodes, I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.

My Other Blog

Please check out my other, other, other blog - Showhomes in the Upstate.

I know y'all are like what is she smokin'?/she is trippin' for real....if she thinks she's going to maintain another blog....

For real though, I'm doing a lot better.

I was seriously remiss on the Internet marketing front last year, but this year I'm going to do better. I'm off to a great start. I have been posting to the new business blog weekly. Yes! Weekly.

Many of you have asked about my business via facebook and through my personal e-mail. I have not had time to reply to everyone individually, but business is actually going very well this year.

I would love for all of my readers who have followed my Sisterlocks story to subscribe to my Showhomes blog, and please feel free to leave your comments there as well.

Walk It Out

I'm very excited. I have begun my first week of training for the marathon. I am not sure what goal I will be able to reach. When I was younger and healthier, I could always whip my body into good shape in a matter of 4 - 5 weeks. As I have gotten older and experienced some considerable health challenges, I have realized that I can no longer take that ability for granted.

I would love, love, love to run the full marathon. But I don't want to set my sights that high and find myself discouraged to the point of giving up, so I am going into this with the intention of completing the half marathon as a walker - which will still be a considerable achievement for me.

Racing to Save Lives

Many of you know that I lost my sister Michelle to a blood cancer in May of 2005. I learned about Team in Training through Phil and Amy P. of Biggest Loser fame. (They live here in Greenville.)

I have a plan to get fit by summer and think this is an excellent way to make sure I stick with it!

I'm training to participate in an endurance event as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

You may do so by following the link to My Fundraising Page.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress.

Thanks for your support!

Natasha Little

Sisterlocks Gathering

Blessed Gem Lady and I were talking last week and we decided that it was way past time for another Sisterlocks gathering. The last one was in March! We are so overdue for one.

We decided to have it on Saturday, February 28th at 12:30 p.m. We know that's about 2 months away, but that gives us all a chance to put it on our calendars, book a babysitter and save our pennies (if necessary).

It will be held at the Crown Point Family Restaurant, 2815 Sardis Rd North, Charlotte, NC 28227.

The invitation is open to all who have attended in the past and anyone within driving distance who reads this post and would like to attend. If you have locks (of any kind), want locks, are considering locks or going natural, you are welcome to join us. The only thing we ask is that you RSVP to me through my blog or by e-mailing me at the address to the right. We need to have an accurate count to make our reservations at the restaurant.

It seems we've done it again...

We all know that sometimes another blogger will write a post that expresses the very same thing we were thinking about in almost the very same way.

Sunsail has just done a post about whether or not she needs grooming.

Ha-ha! She posted very good pictures and her locks look exactly like mine do right now at 20 months. So now I don't have to.

Or, rather, don't have to feel guilty about not posting them because we all know I'm slack about the pictures. I wasn't about to illustrate my point, just describe it.

I have the same fuzzy-wuzzies.

I look at my hair overall and the fuzzies don't bother me at all. I think it looks fine and neat enough.

It's a little unruly, but I freestyle 95% of the time and I didn't start locks to be buttoned-down and conventional. I'm not expecting perfection and total conformity from my locks.

I knew I wouldn't have the smooth, silky, rope-y (is that a word?) locks I see on other people. But ... having said all that, when I look at them individually or run my hand down the length of them, I feel like something needs to be done.

I feel like I am due for a grooming.

I've had the odd bunchy mini-fro that will sprout from a lock.

Until recently they have been few and far between and always near the ends. I've been trimming those with scissors at will, but in the last month it's like they have suddenly gotten totally out of control.

I have more than I can keep up with and they are appearing anywhere along the length of my locks - near the scalp and in the middle.

As all my readers know, my consultant moved away six moths ago. It has been ok because I started self-tightening a year ago.

But now I am missing her.

I was just thinking earlier to-day that I must be due for a grooming and who can I go to?

There are two reasons I don't want to do it myself.

1) The very first time I tried self-grooming I lopped off about 4 inches of the end of one of my favorite locks - not even the one I was trying to groom. So every time I take scissors to my hair I have a tiny scary flashback, but I take a deep breath and go at it anyway.

So far I have not done that again.

2) There are just so many that need it. I will undoubtedly miss some and I want to be done with it all at once.

I enjoy retightening my hair at random and over a period of days, but I do not feel the same way about grooming. I am going to need to find a consultant!