18 Days

The next update will be on the 1 month mark: Feb 13

UPDATE:
Okay, I know that I promised to stay away from here until Feb 13th; but I couldn't help but come back to give an update. I washed my hair today but without the stocking cap I've been using for the past three weeks. I wanted to see what would happen if I was just a bit more aggressive with washing. It turned out fabulous, I must say! I lathered up and attacked my scalp with my beloved Druide peppermint, palmarosa and sage shampoo (which is actually a body wash/ shower gel; but who the hell cares if it works extremely well for hair too?). I ended up shampooing three times... I even stood under the shower for extended periods of time for rinsing. And all of my twists stayed intact. Well... all except for ONE. Haha! I was excited to shake them around when they were soaking wet. They're drying and shrinking now; and I'm so glad that I've found a shampoo that doesn't strip them of moisture and make them crunchy (yeah, ew). I experienced that with the Suave shampoo. It made my hair squeaky clean... literally. When I ran my hands over my hair it would squeak. Later it would dry out to a texture simillar to crunchy dry grass. This even happened when I diluted the Suave shampoo! Yeah, I don't know why the online Locing Community has such an obsession with Suave products. So it looks like I'm going to stick with all-natural vegan products for my hair. Later on, when my hair's dry, I'll put a little shea butter on my scalp to feed some vitamin and protein gooness to my hair.

I'm now down to two products included in my hair care regimen: Druide peppermint, palmarosa, and sage shampoo & raw shea butter. I immediately ceased to use the Soft and Beautiful 3 N1 botanical oil as soon as I found out that one of its components, mineral oil, is just a derrivative of petroleum (a no-no since it clogs the pores of the scalp and coats the hair with its greasiness. Maybe I'll use it very sparingly when I want a little bit of fragrance... because it does smell great. Unless I can find something that's organic and offers a long-lasting fragrance....

I'm not sure if I'll ever need the stocking cap again for shampooing since tonight's experiment. It'll stay in my bathroom drawer for now. I'm so amazed that after just 18 days, my twists (dare I call them locs now?) are allowing some more force to be applied to them when I'm in the shower. I guess I can even use a shower cap less often now. This makes me wonder if my hair simply has the nature to lock quickly... hmm...

Ok for realz this time... I'll be back on Feb 13th. Unless I have some groundbreaking news to share

Tuesday wash

I really enjoyed using the 100% vegan and organic Druide Refreshing shower gel as a shampoo. The peppermint and spearmint made my scalp tingle and the sage left a fragrance that I can still smell hours later. I think I'll be sticking with this shampoo forever...
I had a little bit of unraveling so I've resolved to re-twisting the ones that unraveled and then braided the tips to keep them from coming loose again in the future. Like I said a couple weeks ago... i want as little maintenance as possible. I love how my twists get puffy and stand up on their own after I wash them. And it seems that the Druide shampoo has given me the best results when it comes to increasing the size of my twists. I might just have to say goodbye to my Infusium 23 Shampoo. Or at least save it for a rainy day when I can't afford the Druide shampoo.

I wore my hair out without a hat today and I loved it. And the smell of sage made the experience of it all the more pleasant and invigorating. I only did this in the apartment today because my hair was air drying. There's no way I'm going out in the freezing cold without a hat on. Nuh-uh. I've developed the habit of wearing a hat indoors as well because it deters me from touching my hair. I'm such a fidgety person when i'm doing work, or at my computer.

New Shampoo

So I found this lovely product in my local pharmacy. The front of the bottle reads:

DRUIDE
Nature and Traditions

Shower Gel
Body & Hair

Peppermint, Palmarosa and Clary Sage


100% Vegan
Certified Organic

And most importantly, it was MADE IN CANADA! Can't wait to try this. The fragrance of organic peppermint and sage, together, is so strong. I love it! I'd also like to get around to trying the rest of the DRUIDE product line.

Check out www.druide.ca

Headgear

This is what a Canadian feminist loc'er looks likeThis is now my new favourite hat.
It's warm and protects my hair from the cold.
So there.

Couldn't wait

So i simply could not wait a week to wash my hair again as my set hair regimen prescribes. I find that after applying shea butter to my scalp, a couple of days later my hair starts to smell funny. It's very soft.... but still i can't deal with the sweaty-musky smell. It's probably because I apply the shea butter late in the week and dirt gets trapped underneath it. I don't think wearing hats all the time is helping either. So I think I may shampoo twice a week, alternating between some diluted clarifying shampoo (Suave Juicy Green Apple y'all) and Infusium 23 Repairologie shampoo.

But yes. I washed my hair and It's feeling much better. The twists are soft and fluffy and starting to frizz up already. I put a stocking cap over my head in order to protect the twists from too much agitation; and that method works very well. I even towel-dried my hair through the stocking cap and it really kept the twists from unraveling. I have a feeling that my hair will lock quickly because i remember having twists in my hair for 3 weeks one time and they were a pain to take out. I look forward to the time when i can shampoo my hair without the stocking cap... and use conditioner!

On the Third Day...

Three-day old twists which will hopefully spawn into fierce locs of dreadful rage... fwahaha! I'm not the most skilled of nappy-headed women. I am slow of hand and wavering in parts. I assume that these will turn out to be rather thick and wild..... I like it.

Hello World!

The purpose of this blog is to document my progress as I embark on the journey of locing my hair by the method of freeforming. I twisted my hair on Tuesday, January 13th, in no specific pattern; and my goal is to allow each twist to grow as it wills to grow into locs. As far as manipulations goes, I plan on only separating the locs. Perhaps when they're longer, I will palmroll them; but at the moment, I'm set on allowing them to take on their own individualistic appearance.

Why I choose to freeform?
1) First of all, I'm a lazy ass and can't be bothered to be retwisting every week. Low maintenance is key in my lifestyle.
2) I can't stand the scalpy, overly-manicured, almost-machine-templated looking locs.
3) Out of a desire for individualism, I want my locs to appear raw, organic, punky and thick.
4) I'm a poor canadian student in her last semester of an Hon. BA. and can't afford a "loctician" who will surely overcharge me for numbers 2 and 3, and give me unneccessary rules to follow, exploiting my lack of knowledge about natural hair for his or her profit.


Products
A lot of people in the online loc community seem to be using a slew of products that just aren't available in Canada (ie. the Jamaican Mango and Lime product line). So I'm making due with the things that are available to me and what I have found to be functional. I'm also not a fan of online shopping because I'm afraid of being manipulated by fraudulent merchants. This is my arsenal:
- shea butter (Shea "All Naturals" 100% Pure Shea Butter - found in the Shoppers Drug Mart "ethnic" hair care aisle.
- Botanical Oils (Soft & beautiful Botanicals 3-N-1 Botanical Oil)
- Shampoo (Infusium 23 Repairologie)
- A spray bottle of good ol' H20

No conditioner will be used until I know my hair is loced. I bought Infusium 23 Moisturologie conditioner and leave-in treatment but I'll be saving them for next month.


The regimen
As I already said, I'm pretty low maintenance; however, this is what I'd like my week to look like.
Monday - morning spritz with water
Tuesday - morning shampoo; evening oil treatment on scalp
Wednesday - water spritz
Thursday - Do-Nothing-to-Hair-Day
Friday - water spritz
Saturday - shea butter on scalp
Sunday - water spritz


For other Canadians out there who are thinking about locing, I should warn you to stay away from any of the African Gold products that you'll find in the ethnic hair care aisle at Shoppers Drug Mart. They're cheap, yes... but contain a lot of junk-fillers like petroleum, alcohols and perfumes and very little of the good stuff. The only products I've purchased from Shoppers Drug mart with which I'm very pleased are the shea butter and botanical oil. They cost a lot more but you get what you pay for, eh? So I'm trying to make them go a long way.

I figured I'd start locing in the winter since the frigid temperatures will force me to keep a hat on most of the time. Why not get most of the major work done in the locing phase now? For the first month, I plan on washing my hair once a week unless my hair starts to smell or feel dirty before that. If there's anything that I obsess about, it's that my hair has to smell clean all the time. After I had done the Big Chop on Sept 12, 2008, I washed my hair almost every other day and loved leaving my apartment with my loose hair smelling freshly shampooed.

My inspiration? This guy right here:











That's all for now folks! Stay tuned!