Lice...ugh

It was incredibly hard to face this blog. Particularly because it's so obvious how deliriously happy I was with my sisterlocks. And then the lice came. Ugh. My two young sons caught it from a child at their childcare. It's a small group of children watched by a wonderful mom who has been doing it for years.  It can happen to anyone. And it happened to me. Just so happens black people don't usually get it because the oils and pomades we put in our hair and also possibly because of curly texture of our hair. Although I hear there are lice in Africa who have adapted to our texture and habits just fine. Anyhow, they love a clean, non-oily scalp with a lot of hair. Early in my sisterlocks, I hadn't washed my hair much, but after that 6-week period, I was washing it every week, sometimes twice a week. When I learned that I would have to lose my sisterlocks, I was crushed. I initially thought I was going to have to lose my sisterlocks and my hair.That was really hard. But because my hair hadn't fully locked, I was able to take it down. Took me about as long to take down as it was to put in. My hair was in remarkably good shape. I didn't know what to expect. So, I hired a nitpicker to remove the lice eggs. That wasn't cheap, but if you're interested and in the NY/NJ area go to licebeaters.com. They put me on an olive oil treatment, but I've added mayonnaise because my hair is so thick the olive oil doesn't completely do the trick. I'll be on this for another two weeks. I'll get my hair sisterlocked in December. You can never get an appointment right away. If anyone is interested in all the gritty details, feel free to email me at davis_sjd@yahoo.com.  I'll be back blogging again in a few months.

Sea Breeze & Itchy Scalp

I had an uncontrollable itchy scalp this week. Not just an itch here or there, but like an "I can't sleep because my scalp itches so much" itchy scalp. Dying for relief, I turned to the lockitup board, which suggested Sea Breeze. It was midnight but I was back at the 24-hour Walgreens to get Sea Breeze only to be disappointed initially. It didn't work. So I braided and banded and washed my hair. Still itchy. Washed it again. Still itchy. Took the braids out. AHHHH! Relief. Yes, I did what I wasn't supposed to do. I washed my hair without the braids and bands figuring my scalp wasn't getting clean enough or I had too much shampoo product not rinsed out. I still felt a slight itch, and that's when the Sea Breeze did the trick. I actually mixed three parts Sea Breeze, one part water into a tiny water bottle. Perhaps I should have just stuck with pure Sea Breeze. During the week the itch came back less fervently, and a little spritz here and there worked. But I do wonder if it would have worked better without diluting it. My hair didn't unravel...I am close to month four and I have had some slippage due to the scratching, but the washing doesn't seem too bad. This morning, I woke up with the burning itch again. Went right up and washed without the bands. Followed by Sea Breeze. I won't make a habit of washing without banding, but when you need relief you'll do anything.

On a side note, I've heard Witch Hazel is good for itching too. Will try that.

Curls

There's nothing more frustrating than that "in-between" stage. Growing out one style and transitioning into another. With my sisterlocks, I started out with a rather unflattering cut...should have cut it into a style before locking. And now, with my hair growing about an inch, it just seems to "hang" around my face. With that, I decided it was time to try curls. I previously tried the braid-out style, but it didn't work out too well. My hair is just too tightly coiled. Too much twisting and curling. So, this time I decided to curl it with Wrap, Snap, and Go! curlers (http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/wrapsnapgo.html). Mainly because I had this curl epiphany at 10 p.m. and Walgreens was the only store open with curlers. By the way, at Walgreens the curlers are only $9.99. That "As Seen On TV" Web site has the same package for $19.99. Of course, because I have so much hair, I ended up buying two packages. But I got 24 rollers for that $20 price. That said, they are a bit overpriced in general. I'm sure I could have gone to the beauty supply store and gotten the same type of rollers for $3.99, know what I mean? But when you have that urge, it's hard to stop. I digress. I think it turned out okay. Not loving it, but it's better than what I had.