DIY Braidlock Retightening

So... It's been two months since my last post. I've had these locks for exactly 65 days and I am loving every second of this journey. I originally intended to maintain them myself from the get-go, but as the first month passed and retightening time came around I found myself very nervous about possibly messing up the beautiful grid that took SO LONG to install. I decided that it would be best for me to go have Saabira retighten my hair the first time and I'm glad I did. She did a wonderful job. That being said, this past weekend, I decided to give it a go on my own. I have been fixing a lot of slippage throughout the last month and feel like I have a good handle on how the four-point process goes. This past Friday I decided to start my DIY journey. I have been taking my time and not really working on my hair every day for hours at a time- but as I write this, I'm halfway through! My arms and neck are killing me but seeing the progression of how things are turning out- coupled with some serious moral support from Saabira is pushing me through. I feel so accomplished and I know I'll feel even better once it's all done! Also, I'm working out 5 to 6 days a week getting my beach body together. Locks + working out + clean eating are making me one very happy nappy hippie! Photo time...

Hi! I'm the Nappy Urban Hippie!

Hey!

You can call me Alex :)

This is my first blog EVER so bear with me...

This is a chronicle of my journey with my brand new braidlocks!!

First thing's first though... A little backstory...

The decision to finally lock my hair has been a loooong time coming. Basically, I have had some sort of chemical relaxer in my hair since the age of three. This decision was made for me (unbeknownst to my mother) through a collaboration between my Japanese grandmother and her neighbors one summer afternoon. I'm sure that the neighbors had the best intentions, thinking that a relaxer would help my grandmother better manage my unruly curls and naps. However, as a result of that fateful afternoon, I then spent the next 23 years a junkie to "creamy crack".

In November of 2011, I decided to transition from my then tex-laxed state to natural-- until my roots started to grow out...

 

I simply could not deal.

The extent of my "styling" was limited to straightening and/or curling with my flat iron. I was at a loss. I could barely make a neat braid, no hope for cornrows and these ladies on YouTube were showing off with their tutorials of a two-strand what???

My roots were on "10" and the rest of my hair was limp, overprocessed and lifeless - a strong "2" at best. It felt gross. I spent much of my time perusing every natural hair blog and forum I could find. I was desperate for a solution. Then the idea came...

A solution at 2 a.m.??

I knew better...

Raise your hand if you know what happens next.

Scissor happy!! I cut the sides and the back off and left a little "schuzz" on the top - a la Rihanna - or so I thought. The picture above this one was taken on 12/19. This picture was taken 12/28.

I LOVED this because I had no choice... for about two weeks... and then...

Drumroll please...

I decided I absolutely could not take it anymore and went to a barbershop with a girlfriend of mine and told the guy to CUT IT OFF. This was 1/23/12. So there I was, bald as Brynner, with my friend looking at me sideways, and I LOVED MY HAIR!!

Since then, I have experimented with a TON of different products  - both store bought and home-made. Real product-junkie here!! I have tried every method, every comb and even attempted to follow a few YouTube tutorials over the past year to NO avail (I will spare you the photos)! I have come to accept I'm not naturally gifted with styling my hair. Not only that, I don't have the desire to "do" it. The longer my hair got the more frustrated I became and my go to style was the "puff" during the later months.

In all the meanwhile, and admittedly for several years prior to my BC, I had secretly been coveting my friend Saabira's lovely sisterlocks. Some of you may know her. If you know who she is and you have seen her hair then you know exactly why I was feeling like that... I also was bartending at a Jamaican night club at the time and had been seeing all these lovely heads of locks come and go. Taunting me!! During the late summer/early fall I made the decision to lock my hair, and since Saabira had DIY'ed her locks to absolute perfection, there was no one else that I wanted to do my hair except for her!!

Luckily for me, she was then on her way to becoming a SL consultant and she told me that after she took her class she would do my hair. I could've done a backflip! I wanted SL's, but she informed me that she would not be able to teach me the retigtening method so I could also DIY my hair, so I opted for braidlocks instead...

So on 1/2/13 (almost my one year nappi-versary!) she began installing the braids. Approximately thirty-six hours (spread out over five days) later, with plenty of conversation, laughter and crocheting (I made her a hat!) -- my braidlocks were DONE!! and now I look like this... 

So far I feel like this is the BEST decision I have ever made as far as my hair is concerned. I am really going to enjoy this journey. I will post my installation photos next time. I'll also keep you updated on my first DIY retigtening using my brand-spanking-new nappyloc tool!

Stay nappy,

Alex