Hi! It’s been 2 years – yes, 2 whole years since I had these Sisterlocks installed. How time flies! It really has.
But before I continue, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to the Sisterlocks community. It’s a very kind community that encourages all of us; it’s supportive and positive – and I’m very happy to be a part of it. Thank you!
Now back to the 2-year update. And if you’d rather see and hear me tell you about my 24-month milestone, check out the 2-years of Sisterlocks video here.
Then and now
These babies were installed in December 2018 and my hair had two lengths at the time of the establishment. The front, sides and middle were about 6 inches long and the back was about 4 inches long.
I’d had Sisterlocks before and about 2 years into that first Sisterlocks journey I shaved the back into an undercut – and I later took the rest of the Sisterlocks out; hence the different lengths.
Shrinkage
If you’re considering Sisterlocks, the one thing to know is that whatever length you have, your hair will shrink once the Sisterlocks are in – but over time, you will eventually ‘gain back’ the length you had as the locs compact and grow.
So it’s something to bear in mind as I’ve heard stories about some who get their hair cut before getting their Sisterlocks to reduce the cost of the installation.
I can tell you, if I’d had the length – I doubt I would have cut it! But if you are considering cutting your hair, weigh the loss of length against the shrinkage you will experience – that will further reduce the length you have.
Damaged hair
This is my second set of Sisterlocks and when I took down the first set of Sisterlocks, I unpicked the front, middle and sides. The back was already short as it had been shaved into an undercut.
My hair is fine and the front, sides and middle were damaged from the takedown process. My hair was shedding a lot because it was in a weakened state.
It’s normal to shed around 50 to 100 strands of hair per day but I am sure that my hair, before I got these locs installed two years ago, was shedding more than that! It was hair that was mostly not coming out from the root, so that confirmed my thoughts that my hair was weak and damaged due to the takedown process.
Although this is a 2-year celebration, it’s also one that recognises that we’re all at different stages and what we do before the Sisterlocks are established, can impact on what the Sisterlocks will look like.
Freshly retightened
I have just had my hair retightened.
Apart from during lockdown (excluding the self-retighten), this is the longest time I’ve gone between retightenings. And I had a lot of regrowth. My last reti was 12th September and this reti was done on 12 December – so that is 13 weeks in total between the two retis.
It’s been a busy time for me and I didn’t have the time to go to London for my retightening. But I think my locs haven’t suffered unduly because of that long gap. Somewhere during the 13 weeks – around the mid-point, I re-tightened my hairline – just to make sure those tiny and thin locs weren’t left hanging by a thread.
How many Sisterlocks do I have?
I don’t know how many locs I have as I’ve never counted them.
It has been said that around 400 is the loc count for Sisterlocks, but I personally don’t think that loc count matters.
Sisterlocks care routine at this 2-year point
As well as the journey of the locs themselves, this has been a regime journey too, and I’m settling into a regime that works for me.
My Sisterlocks hair care regime:
As you know, if you’ve watched any of my videos/read any of my blog posts, I am big on DIYs, because I enjoy making things and I want to avoid as much as possible all the harsh chemicals and additives that are found in many beauty supply store brands.
I do high-intensity workouts a few times a week, and if I could, I would wash my locs every other day but with Sisterlocks that just isn’t possible. So the next best thing is to wash them every 3 weeks. I tried a DIY shampoo, but this month I switched to a sulphate-free, paraben-free and silicon-free shop-bought shampoo to cleanse (because I use oils) – I have only used it once so far but I like it and may cover shampoos in a future blog post and video.
Right after each workout (to minimise washing and to deal with the sweaty scalp and hair) I refresh my locs by spraying generously with a DIY fenugreek tea spritz. I did try a DIY amla, henna brahmi tea spritz for about a month, but it was too heavy. Sometimes I spray with the peppermint essential oil and water mix (see my sports blog post), but I prefer my fenugreek tea spritz – which I’ve been using for a couple of months.
I don’t braid and band; I stopped doing that after a year, partly because it was too much for my ends, and partly because I didn’t want to spend the time doing it.
I oil once a week with my DIY amla oil (which I’m testing to see how it works on grey hairs), and it’s great for hair strengthening, scalp health, stimulating growth and preventing dandruff and other dry scalp conditions.
I don’t style my hair, or tie it up or clip it up – I think it’s too short and don’t want to put any stress on it or my edges. I will have to decide what to do as it grows longer – the front is getting in my eyes now, so I will have to do something soon to keep it out of my eyes during my workouts!
My night-time routine is a satin bonnet but if it’s hot or if I’ve washed my hair late in the day, I sleep with a satin scarf wrapped around my pillowcase so that my hair can air dry.
That’s my Sisterlock care regime that works for me. But the thing about a regime is that it shouldn’t be regimented, if it doesn’t work it can be updated or changed at any time.
Thoughts on the Sisterlocks journey so far…
My Sisterlocks are doing well, and I am loving this journey and I am a lot more appreciative of them this time around.
The budding at the ends is more noticeable and means that the locs are more establised and more stable. I should leave those buds alone because that is the start of the locking process. I’m not always good at remembering this and the temptation is strong to just hook one of those ends under my nails and pull, but I’m trying not to do that any more, I really am!
So that’s my 2-year Sisterlockaversary – 2 years Sisterlocked!
As this is the last post of the year, I would like to wish you all a blessed end to 2020 and wish you all the best for the coming months and the year ahead. It’s been a year of change and many challenges, but here’s to a better time and I look forward to seeing you here on the blog again in 2021.
