My first set of Sisterlocks were 3 years old and I had never styled them. They were getting longer, but boredom set in and I decided to I wanted a change to my look.
I had an undercut, which involved shaving off about a third of my Sisterlocks, leaving the sides, front and middle long.
The new look was daring, fresh and new, and (luckily) I had the head shape for it. Soon after the second shaving of the undercut section, I took down the remainder of the Sisterlocks.
I soon realised I had made a terrible mistake.
Here are the 3 reasons that led me, after a year of being loose natural, I decided to go for my second set of Sisterlocks.
The Maintenance
I was fed up of all the maintenance that loose natural hair demands. The wash day routine – pre-poo, the right shampoo, the right conditioner, the deep conditioner, the heat cap, the finger detangling, the detangling lotion.
My bedroom and bathroom were filling up with all sorts of hair lotions and potions and apart from the cost – in the constant quest for products that would be just right (or deliver miracles).
And I was tired. Tired of all the time I was spending on my hair and tired of how I was becoming so wrapped up in the business of natural hair.
My loose natural hair had become an obsession.
The Breakage
As someone who does a lot of sport, I’ve always been a regular washer and the weekly washing routine and manipulation started to take its toll.
My hair was already in a weakened state from the takedown process (I had individually combed out my Sisterlocks) – and the longer hair was dry, thin and badly ravaged.
The constant manipulation caused a lot of breakage and every time I washed my hair and then spent 3 hours twisting it each week, the shed hair looked like it had been pulled out in handfuls. Nothing I did seemed to help. Even the undercut that was growing out, started to shed, and I was worried that I’d have no hair left.
I Missed My Sisterlocks!
As I batted each week and each month with all those tapered thin ends of hair, it felt to me as though I was losing more hair than I was growing or retaining, and I started to think about that full head of Sisterlocks that I had taken for granted and casually tossed away.
I missed that full head of hair but most of all I missed the easy wash days, and a life that was hair maintenance free. With my loose natural hair, there was no way I could just get up and go, and if it was wash day, there would be no getting up to go out anywhere.
With less hair, my head felt bigger, and I couldn’t just put it in a bun and go.
It took me a while, but I eventually came to conclusion that I was fighting a losing battle with my loose natural hair, and that I was not happy with the way my hair looked.
So I went for it – I contacted my consultant and booked in my second establishment.
I’m loving this new journey and this set of Sisterlocks is here to stay!
