Kaya's Hair Growth Update - No, I'm not Growing My Locs Back

I cut my 4 year old locs off on October 29, 2005. That makes it...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...about nine months since the chop, 10 at the end of this month. The most common question I've been getting lately is, "so, are you growing your locs back now?" No, I'm not. Not yet anyway.

I do prefer to wear my hair in double strand twists, all the time. I rarely take them out. I kept my last set in for 2 months (May to July), and I plan to keep this set just as long.

Exavia Love did my last set, which were medium sized senegalese twists. This involves twisting each strand of hair separately, while twisting them together. This creates awesome definition in your twists, and she taught me the technique in a hair class I took with her a few months ago. She also did scalloped parts, which looked cool. The twists stood straight up, and I got a lot of compliments...and a few people called me pinhead, which I didn't mind at all.

A few weeks into the pinhead 'do. Taken sometime in May.

Throughout the two months I wore this first set of double strand twists, I rinsed them with water periodically, combed them out individually and retwisted. I never sat and did the whole head at once, just did sections when I had time. I spritzed with my Herbal Hair Cocktail, as well as Greg Juice to soften and moisturize, and combed each section through with a rat tail comb. I do prefer a fine toothed comb for small sections of hair - but only if I am doing a small section, otherwise I get tired and frustrated and don't use the gentle tip-to-root method I should.

I also varied my style by gradually making the twists smaller and smaller. I split each twist into two twists, then each of those twists into two twists. I did this every other week or so. The final style with this set was unraveling sections randomly, so I had a coily and chunky fro. By that time, my hair needed a good thorough shampoo, and so I finally conceded to remove all of my twists and handle that.

I did my second set of two strand twists some time in July, and I am still wearing them now.

It. took. me. six. hours! I am so out of practice after having my locs for years.

Without thinking it through, I rinsed them several times without combing and retwisting. Now, my hair is what they call "good hair for locing." Indeed it is. By the time I went to comb out each twist, I had a tangled mess on my hands. It took me about three days to get through my whole head, but I finally did it. I did the front first, so I could wear it outside without looking like I had half a head done - which technically I did, but I don't think anyone could tell. Or at least that's what I would like to believe.

So, I used my herbal hair cocktail alone this time (note to self: need more Greg Juice) to get my hair damp. I used New Bein's Hair Milk to massage into the ends, a little bit for each section. My ends are very damaged because I decided to dye my hair with NaturTint back in December. I heard it was good, ammonia free, etc, but it did tingle, aka burn, which I didn't like at all. When I washed it out, my hair felt so bad (something like a 20 year old shag rug, in an area with a lot of foot traffic) I was afraid I was going to have handfuls of hair coming out. When I went to bed, I honestly wondered if my hair would be on my pillow when I woke up. I don't know if it was the product or my application, or both.

Anyway, I now have about a half inch of dry, brittle auburn hair on the ends, but I must admit I do like the two toned effect. My two strands look like gummy worms. I will have to trim them off eventually, though the hair milk and Greg Juice do soften them. So finally, I made it through my whole head, twisting and twisting, and twisting. I clipped off sections so I could remember which ones I did already. The ones I did felt much different than the ones I didn't (which were all tangled up), but the clips made it easier.

Finished twists, some sections clipped down.

The next day, I sprayed my herbal cocktail in, and used my fingers to "style," aka push and pull my twists all over the place. I like 'em spiky. If you want more spike, you can use bobby pins to pin certain areas up. Less spike, well, don't push and pull them all over. You can also use bobby pins to pin them down after spritzing and let them dry for a more demure look, which I also like sometimes.

The spiky gummy worm 'do. Taken August 15.

This will be my everyday style for awhile.