An Autumn Wonder Night

The first album I ever owned was Songs In The Key of Life. It was a double album that came with a book containing the lyrics to each song. I spent hours upon hours listening to that album, memorizing every lyric.

Songs in the Key of Life, was released on Motown on September 28, 1976.
Steview Wonder won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal and Album of the Year. The album also topped Billboard's Pop Albums and Black Albums charts for a record breaking 14 weeks out its 44 week in the Top 40 alone, and was one of the first albums by a solo artist to debut at #1 in its first week of sales (Elton John released two albums in 1975 that entered the chart at #1). It has surpassed a total of 10 million units in the U.S. alone.[1]Songs in the Key of Life is widely considered to be one of the greatest albums in popular music history:[2] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On December 9, 2007, I had to pleasure of experiencing Stevie Wonder live in concert. It was amazing! There's so much I could say about Mr. Wonder. His talent, his gift, his humanitarism and I could go on. I took pictures before the concert but, they didn't come out well, neither did the pictures that I took at the concert but here's one anyway.

Introducing Rebel Lock

Ok, so I have this one lock that is growing faster than every other lock on my head. At first, it wasn't that noticeable but now it is. My consultant mentioned it this week at my recent retightening appt. She says it's a common occurrence. I've contemplated trimming it. I don't think I will though. Not just yet. I can hide it sometimes by tucking it up into my other locks. It kind of just gets lost in there. However, sometimes no matter what I do it manages to find a way to stand out in the crowd. Does anyone else out there have a "rebel" lock?

Freshly shampooed hair


What I've learned during this first year:

- My hair loves water
- I've always had "good" hair
- Washing thick kinky hair can be enjoyable and so easy
- Creating my own hair tonics is interesting and inexpensive
- More and more people are embracing natural afro-textured hair
- Locking my hair has been liberating
- I LOVE MY SISTERLOCKS!!!

One Year Anniversary!!!

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TEN MONTHS!!! In these photos, I've been Sisterlocked for 10 months. Wearing my hair in a "braid out" is my favorite style at this point. It's so easy to do. I just braid my hair in about 12 big plaits after a I wash it or spritz it well with my distilled water & essential oil mixture. Then let it air dry completely (usually overnight)before taking the braids out. My hair isn't fully locked but it is settled and keeps the pattern so I don't have to braid and band when washing. This is the most carefree hair I've ever had.

Packaging is everything! A friend of mine gave me box of chocolates and they were so beautiful, I didn't want to eat them. Well, I couldn't hold out any longer so I decided to take a picture to remember them by. They tasted so lovely!


I also finally broke down and bought some new eye shadow. I don't wear eye shadow much so I had the same eye shadow for at least 5 years. I know there's some rule against that but hey, I kept it in a cool dry place and I didn't share it with anyone else.

This little beauty is called eye cake. Aren't the colors delicious and they go so well with brown skin tones. This should last me a decade!

This is the longest I've ever gone without a retightening. My last retightening was 8 weeks ago! Due to vacations, travel, work etc.. I had to push my retightening appointment out 8 weeks. My consultant was so relaxed about the whole thing and I don't have a problem with seeing my roots so I agreed. I haven't had any issues with slippage and bunching. I also regularly finger comb my hair in an effort to avoid stray hairs joining in with neighbor locks.

So what have I done during these past 8 weeks? Well, I went swimming once. I worked out 5 days a week. I shampooed 4 times. I've done braid outs and soft-spike sets. I also reached my 9 month locversary.

For the last 2 days, I've been wearing a French roll with bangs in the front and back (is there a special name for bangs in the back?). Please don't tell me I have a mullet.

I am definitely ready for my retightening. Now I remember how when I used to wear braids and I hated when I had enough new growth to lift the braids so they appeared to be "floating" above my scalp. With Sisterlocks, 6 weeks between retightenings works well for me.

At 9 months my hair is changing. One day, when I was playing with my locks, I realized how different they feel. They are no longer soft and squishy feeling. They are becoming more compact and solid. They also look fuzzier than before.

Huntington Beach California
At the end of June, my DH and I took a short trip to California. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Resort in H. B. It was absolutely beautiful. There was a bridge that we walked over from the resort that led right to the beach. It was a comfortable 76 degrees during our stay.
We ate breakfast outside and enjoyed the scenery.
Then we headed to the beach and looked out over the Pacific and got our feet wet. The water was way to cold for me. We just enjoyed walking along the beach watching the brave ones splashing around in the surf.

On a hair note, I really am enjoying the freedom of Sisterlocks tm. I did a braid-out before my trip and it lasted until I went swimming in the heated pool which was another testimony to the freedom I am experiencing will locked hair. While in the pool, I got a few compliments and questions about my hair by other A-A women. All the classics (well not the press-n-curl) were represented in the pool, weaves, relaxers and extensions. I was happy to just see Sistas in the water even if some of them refused to get their hair wet. Hopefully, I've encouraged a few to convert!

I added a picture (upper righthand corner of this post) to show my hair at dinner a few hours after I got out of the pool and shampooed. That's me free-styling on the right!