She's Baaaack!

Wow! It's been a LONG time. I really have no excuse except that life gets crazy sometimes and you just lose track of time. Either way, I'm back and boy do I have pictures! So here's what I'm going to do...

PICTURES GALORE!!!

This was the length when I first got to Japan.

My alter ego. (Mutsuko Fujii)

I curled my hair quite a bit while I was over there. It was (and is) a good look.

Kimono photo shoot in Japan. And yes, that bun is real. ;-)

(That bun was done by one of my Japanese girlfriends. I was pleasantly surprised with her expertise.)

Back in the States!

New York during the summer. (This is one of my old stand-by hair styles).

While in Chicago a couple months ago.

Me and this fish have the same forehead, lol.

Rocking a cute up-do.

This is a very recent picture of me. I love how it shows off my natural highlights.

So that's where we are today. Can't say that every day is perfect, but I can say that I am pretty happy with my hair most of the time. Unfortunately, I have had to cut (sometimes rip) a few tips off because of dryness and some strands being too thin midway through the lock. Sometimes locks were being held together by 3 or 4 strands of hair. It's a terrible feeling to have to do that, but it had to be done. I would say that I've done that about 6 or 7 times over the past couple of months since I've been back from Japan. The only reason I can think of for why that happened was because maybe I didn't take care of my hair like I should have during certain stages in my life and so it's easy to see that years later. For the most part, though, my hair is forgiving and there are more and more things that I can do with it now that I've gotten some length. It's been 3 years now (come January 17th it will be 4 years) and I'm not going to lie . . . occasionally I think about taking these locks down. But everyone advises against it and to be honest, I don't think I'd be ready to deal with "free range" hair again. So I'm going to ride this lock thing on out - as long as I possibly can. And when/if the time ever comes to chop'em off, I plan on growing out a fro and then lopping off the locks at the tip. I'm not about all that bald stuff. I have patience, lol.

So I've experimented with a bunch of different looks, but I mainly find myself wearing my hair in a ponytail most days. I try to keep my hair covered throughout the day and that helps to seal in moisture as well as protect it from lent (which my hair is a lent magnet). I don't retwist as often as I used to and have found styles that help me to go without twisting for a while. For example, I like to wash my hair, condition, moisturize, put plaits all over my head and then blow them dry. After this, I wrap a satin scarf around my head and go to bed. The next day when I take out the plaits, my hair is soft and wavy. It looks pretty-much like the style that I had in the last picture. Simple and a little - I dunno - "free spirit" looking, lol. But hey! I love it. And it works for me. That's one of the things that I find about locks. You really have to find what works for you and once you do, you will truly be as beautiful as you feel.

Either way, I am loving my locks and loving my life. I hope you are doing the same!

Naturally Me

Where she been?

In order to find a chopstick for my hair . . . I moved to Japan. If you're interested in learning about my experiences, please feel free to follow me over at . . .

www.blackgirlnjapan.blogspot.com

I will return to posting on this blog in April/June of 2011. Although, occasionally I'll try to post some pictures of myself my hair here, whenever I get a chance. Hope you enjoy!


Muah!
XOXO

Quick and To The Point

I just tore a lock off. Yes, you heard me right. I actually tore a lock from my own head . . . on purpose. Seems a lock was hanging by a thread. I've come across it several times, but always imagined that I would repair it by twisting it with another lock. Long story short . . . that didn't happen and now there is a lock sitting in the trash can.

*Sigh* First time for everything, I guess.

For Real Hair Store Lady? For Real?

I have been on the hunt for about 3 months now. What am I looking for, you ask? A freaking hair-pin. That's right! A hair pin. You know, the long (often decorative) stick that holds up your hair.

Yeah, that. Now not only did I find out they no longer exist in any shape or form, but apparently (according to a "hair store" owner) they are no longer even cool or relevant. Personally, I don't agree. I was wearing one while she snarkily laughed that nobody wears them anymore.

Actually it wasn't a hair pin that I was wearing. It was a pen pen, of the black ink variety LOL. Since then, I have found other stick like objects to pin my hair up with.

If you look closely, in this picture you'll see that I am holding my hair up with a makeup brush, lol.

Can anyone say desperate?

I think I'm just going to buy some chopsticks when I get a chance. And if you're curious about how and why I need a hair pin to create this updo, here's what I do (and then why I do it) . . .

- I gather a bunch of hair from the back of my head and hold it up (according to where I want it to be.)

- Next, I take a ponytail holder and stretch it across that portion of hair that I am still holding up.

- Finally, I take a stick and push it all the way through the hair so that it is looped on both sides by the ponytail holder.

Voila! Your hair is being held up by stick and string. I find this style easy and convenient to do because my hair is too thick for the plastic hair claws that I used to use. Also, I use way too many bobby pins trying to keep this full head of hair on top of my head. This is just quick, easy and low maintenance.

So there it is!

My Hair Looks Long, Son!

So I decided to straighten my hair today and it came out looking a whole lot longer than I knew possible. Wow! To tell you the truth, I didn't even know you could straighten locs in the first place. But a little olive oil, a blow dryer and Voila!

I really wish there was some rhyme or reason to the way Blogger allows you to upload pictures, but whatever! Here's the back of the head.

I'm not going to lie to you. I'm obsessed with length. I can't wait for my hair to be gracing my backside. But that is not to say that I'm not enjoying the journey. At any given point, I can say that the length I had always worked for me. (That's a disclaimer for anyone who thinks that locs wouldn't work with their face.)

I really just post pictures because I know that personally, I love looking at other people's pictures so I'm assuming there's someone out there that's just like me oggling my loc photos. So "hi" to the lurkers, lol. Hope you enjoyed!

2 Years . . . Isn't This the Part Where My Hair is Supposed to Start Growing Super Fast?

First of all . . . sorry, sorry sorry for not posting for the past couple months. But I just had to post today. Wanna know why? (I hope the title didn't give it away, lol) It's my 2 year loc anniversary. Yaaaayyyy!!! Last year, my boyfriend took me out to dinner to celebrate. But this year, I was coincidentally invited to dinner at a friend's home so that'll be my treat for hitting the 2 year mark. Don't want to write too much. Just want to show you some pictures so here we go . . .

2 years ago on this day . . .

Me today . . . (well actually a couple days ago)

Me right before doing a retwist 2 years ago . . .

Me doing a retwist earlier this year . . .

Me in March 2008

Me in March 2009

Up-do early April 2008

Up-do April 2009

Serious face (lol) and up-do circa April 2008

Serious face and up-do circa May 2009

Note how the up-do technique has changed. Now I put my hair into a ponytail at the back of my head, and then incorporate it into ponytails going up. When I'm out of hair, I tuck where I can and voila! Maybe I'll do a video tutorial at some point, but it's pretty easy.

Photo shoot wearing a bun ponytail circa May 2008 (I still looove this picture)

The bun in 2009 (Still going skrong)

8/13/09

My hair in November 2008

My hair in Dec 2009

Yeah the picture's a little dark, but note the amount of growth.

Bathroom glamour shot 2008

Bathroom glamour shot 2009

Sexay!

Random pic 2008

Random pic 2009

I'm starting to notice how I make the same faces in my pictures, lol.

Circa Oct 2008

Picture taken just now . . .

(Again, a little length evident. Hmm, what's that on the computer screen?)

Braided style circa November 2008

Braided style 2009

(I'll see if I can find a close-up pic later. But this was another braiding masterpiece from my sister)

Typical style Jan 2009

Typical style Jan 2010

All right! Hope you enjoyed my little anniversary post. The comparison pics show how much progress I've made in a 2 year period. (Can you believe it? 2 years!!!) I've enjoyed every second of this journey and I'm happy to continue on this adventure. I posted some more random pics from the year. Enjoy them and stay encouraged!

7/16/10

12/22/09

7/16/09

Jan 2010

7/14/09

4/23/10