Dying my hair.....PURPLE!

I love love love how this came out! I have to get rid of it by the time my wedding comes around since I'm choosing to please my mother, It didn't come out quite like Nef's, but I'm alright with that.

I used fuschia and purple from Ion's semi permanent collection, sorta feathered and blended the two so I had two colors throughout. I liked doing it this way so as my hair grows I won't have a harsh line.

Cant wait to try another color!

How I took out my Locs

As I type this I still thoroughly miss them. I fill this hole in my heart with marley twists, which is great but it's not permanent. Any whosies, on to the tutorial!

T O O L S :
Hot water in a mug
hair tie
An abundant amount of cheap conditioner
Dental tool
Netflix

Each loc took about an hour, and I had a little over 100 locs so I literally spent the whole summer taking them out, 2-4 a day.

1. I found it easiest to put all of my hair into a high pony tail and pull out one loc from the back at a time.
2. To the best of your ability, dip the loc into the mug of hot water and hold it for at least 10 seconds. The heat opens up the loc to receive the conditioner and eases the detangling process.
3. using a quarter-size dollop of conditioner, squeeze it into the loc so it's super saturated.
4. Using the dental tool, gently pick away from the bottom up. Your hair will separate and the process will amaze you because if you're like me, you thought this was impossible.
5. once completed, I combed and twisted it out of the way.

MORE TIPS

Each week I washed my hair, keeping my loose hair separate. I kept the loose hair in twists neatly tucked away in a bun or a ponytail. I worked at a camp full time 6 days a week and at a pharmacy for 14-20 hrs a week, so I was quite the busy lady. Just know it's possible!

I went to a salon the moment I was done because I didn't know if my hair was damaged, if I would have to cut it all off or what. I got my hair professionally washed and trimmed by a salon who knows natural hair. To my surprise, only about an inch was trimmed off! *happy dance*

This process can be done at any stage of locked hair because at the end of the day, locs are just beautifully organized knotted hair. Good luck!

Ice Bucket HACK

I was nominated...I thought I escaped this....but here I go. I switched it up and opted for the hack and donated five bucks to each cause. For more info, check out icebuckethack.com :)

TTFN!

Adventure Time: Sister Tries Sushi

Have you ever been so excited to share a new experience with someone but also feared their potential hatred for said experience? Welp, I feel like ever sushi lover has felt that when convincing someone skeptical to try it out.

Years ago we would go to sushi places with friends and I kid you not, she would bring a tupperware of chicken and just order a miso soup. I of course would try to coax her with the fact that i really don't like seafood and sushi doesn't taste like other fish.

Turns out she really likes it. Yay!

But that's not all we did that day. She was officially our first overnight guest in the new apartment. We had a busy night planned helping a friend in Greenwich film his music video. Before we headed over I had errands to run and I was itching to check out the farmer's market up the road. It was super cute; I'm pretty excited to have one so close by!

It's on the smaller side, but it had all the essentials and was very affordable. I had already done enough grocery shopping for the week, but I wanted to see what was there since i never really been to a farmer's market.

What was really great is that it's right next to the community garden. The gate was closed but at some point I definitely want to find out more about it and see if I can participate.

Lastly, the Sugar bakery truck was there! They won  Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. I can taste why. I got a chocolate salted caramel cupcake and my sister got a peanut butter snickers cupcake. She wasn't as impressed but she also doesn't care for sweets. Let me tell you, these little things are heaven.

TTFN

Why did I start locs....and then comb them out 9 months later?

Real talk. My hair has grown to be very important to me. At the time that I was contemplating locs, my hair was already past my shoulders (when reasonably straightened), thick, and mostly healthy. However, detangling my tresses was a beast. I've always loved box braids and my mini twists and knew without a doubt I would love to have them for as long as I can; so to me that meant locs.

I was hesitant to go to a salon because finding a reputable salon in CT experienced with natural hair via google searching is quite near impossible. I also couldn't get a clear answer as to how much it would cost me. I saw estimates on forums ranging from $80 to $300+. Not knowing any salons to call and ask, and knowing the longer and thicker your hair is the more money you spend, I had my sister and good friend help me install them. 

I loved them. I'm not gonna lie, they were awesome. I didn't mind the process of retwisting although there were a few times that I really didn't want to. I went to a salon twice within my nine months of having locs--once was through word of mouth in a sketchy cash only establishment, and the 2nd time was a prize I won at a natural hair event. 

6 months in they were definitely maturing. i never had a problem with how they looked, and they were finally really locking. With all the positives why would I go through the painstakingly long process of combing them out?

Right around 7 months, my scalp would not stop itching. My scalp felt slightly irritated ever since month 3 or 4, but it was nothing I couldn't tolerate. I washed my hair every other week, just like I did with loose hair, and did a few rinses in between wash days since I work in a slightly dustier than average place (clay does that). I would make sure to never go to bed with damp hair, have been using simple products I knew I wasn't allergic to, and only retwisted once every 3 to 4 weeks. I've tried a few different remedies to try and alleviate it but nothing worked. My scalp just felt terrible. and was only getting worse.

After hours of searching I finally found contact information for two salons that I thought might help me redo them. One offered extensions (cutting off my current locs and then installing fake ones) and the other said that it is possible to take them out but it's a very long process so they don't offer the service. They were nice enough to offer a free consultation and let me know all the tools and teach me how to do it. I am forever grateful to them even though I was never able to follow through and meet them due to my hectic schedule. I then found a super helpful youtube video and started the process July 4th. As of today I still have about ten locs left.

I'll explain how I did it in another post, but yeah. That's my loc story. Sad to see them go but I'm happy to have my fro (almost) back. It's actually a little bit longer than when I started so I'm hoping after a trim it wont be too much shorter. I might be insane for not just cutting them off and being done with it but I really didn't want short hair for my wedding. Such a simple reason for the madness, I know. 

TTFN!