Summer Hols, Life and Sisterlocks@ 3 years 2mths

It has been a while, I started this and two other posts long ago but life got in the way, I surprised even myself that the summer break is here and I have written zilch!
I have been extremely tired,  I wasn't ill as is common among the UK school teachers at the end of any school year, but I slept like I was recovering from a severe bout of flu or something! I could do nothing for the first 3 to 5 days ... SUDDENLY the SUN came out, as tired as I was, I left the building as much as I could. Sunshine around here (England) is less common than gold dust ... kmt.

July 30th marked another great year in this life of mine and I have so much gratitude and love for the GOD who I serve who has kept me for so many years, through so many struggles, and headed a multitude of Victories! GOD is GREAT! (this was originally scribed a day before but I didn't complete it!)

Here are some random shots of my recent lock journey ... braid outs are more frequent and one day I even tried pipe cleaners, took a while to put in, but the results were ok.

SUMMER HOLIDAY LOCS.

So here we are one month since schools been out, I spent time away with the family which was fantastic,
Oddly enough though I struggled with my Loc Loving regime. I thought I was prepared but I couldn't exactly bring a vast selection of my fave products so settled for three of the best.  I had not planned for my middle son to shove me in the pool, a head full of chlorine I did not expect!  I added insult to injury by using the Sauna regularly without conditioner, my Locs did not like this, not at all! Sigh ...

Sigh! 

During the maintenace struggle I realised mainly that my Locs are in a growth phase, it was taking me longer to wash it properly and I needed a lot more spritzing to keep it moisturised. not complaining though!

I tried only rinsing my hair in water as opposed to a full wash, thinking that this would be better than applying product too frequently, however, as I frequented the pool/sauna quite a few times I had to make sure I washed out the chlorine.

Dehydrated.

As a result of the Sauna ( I think?) my Locs were dehydrated beyond the norm, even when I used my best product, Kiehls Amino Acid shampoo and Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Moisture Mist. I was thinking that the water may have been different, as in hard/soft, but when I checked that out I found that the water there, was the same as London ... very hard!

Honey Washed. Nearly there ...

To get it back I washed vigourously using Free Trade Honey by LUSH (new) hoping for a moisture boost and a return to the texture I am familiar with, I then mixed/diluted conditioner with water, LUSH American Cream conditioner, applied as a leave-in then melted down some pure coconut oil and applied it as a hot oil treatment. Phew! It was some hard work!!!

I have been using a variety of different products some of which I found affordable and good value for money, I plan to cover those in a later post.

Now thats better!

Today I just want to share pics ...

Images of Locs revived from dehydration and anything else that I may have done!

Hot Coconut Oil revived.

Longer Locs can require a lot more care time and attention. I am not complaining, just something I am learning. I wracked my brain to recall the best conditioning shampoo, and oddly enough the best result was from a NEW product I got from LUSH a week before I went away, It has Honey as its top ingredient and is quite expensive, but it worked! British weather is extreme, we get sunshine but the dry type, without wind or moisture. I am not used to hot sunny weather, neither are my locs, so when it happens its a whole new ball game. Climates matter when cultivating locks, like water types. That's why product results vary across the country even the world. I have tried lots of recommendations from across the water, the best referral was Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Moisture Mist which I have stuck with for the 3 years. I will try to update about my recent product finds asap ... :)