11 MONTH SILVER BLING THING

Below is one of the many styles I wear my locks, with one of those fabric elasticated Alice band with the option to fan it out. My favourite style below.....letting it all hang out....lol

Where the bling is at folks.....on the crown area

My temple (right side) although there is growth the hairs sprouting here are still quite fine. So with this in mind I have decided to maintain this style option until density improves.
I retightened last weekend and decided to take a snap shot of what it looked like.

Shocked is the word that came to mind. I had no idea things had changed at the back so drastically. Ah well sh*t happens.

See what I mean folks.......Jeeese!

11 months worth of Silver Bling Things!

RETIGHT AFTER COLOUR

Well people, the photos below show my progress through the retightening process this Saturday gone.

My hair grows mega fast in the crown area and as you know it was exactly a week to the day i coloured my hair. If you click on both pictures you will see the grey sipping through at the roots. And to come to think of it, despite the fact that i spent ages ensuring i covered each and every lock with colour, it would appear i made a bit of a mish mash with it, but you know what, i dont care as i am going through a process.

This picture shows the completed back section. It is now taking a wee while to finish as my hair grows in length.
Three quarters have been completed with just 1 quarter to go, i think this photo shows the grey more, which just confirms my next plan of going lighter......gosh how i wish i could just go for it and let it all hang out. psychologically am just not ready YET!

HAIR UP DATE

Hello people!

Well i did another 4 weekly retight Friday night/Saturday morning. It looks set to be my regular routine now....i have tried doing it during the weekday evenings...you know one half one evening and doing the other half the following evening. The only time i have done this is when am due for a retightening that weekend and i have other stuff planned. It works but i don't really like going out anywhere with half my hair retightened. I know I'm the only one that is aware of this, but hey I KNOW and that is what matters. lol.

Anyway here is a photo i took after my retight on Saturday before i headed off to the mall to get me some much needed Iman foundation stick (Earth 7). Like you really need details huh! If you click on the picture below you will see very fine detail of my handy work. Ignore the grey. I am planning to do a henna thing this weekend....I just couldn't be arsed.

Since my hair has grown a tad, i can actually wear the retight pattern (i.e the back half going back and front halves falling to either sides), and get away with not hennaing so close to a retight.

This way the only place to hide the grey is the center part which more or less ends at the middle of my crown. All i do is get a kohl pencil and blend away.

What do you all think?

MY REVIEW WITH MY CONSULTANT

On Saturday, I paid a visit to my consultant as pre-arrange the last time she retightened my hair. She estimated an hour to check that I was doing my retight correctly.

I carried out my 'self retight' 3 weeks ago so there was a little growth but Marie was still able to see what she needed to see to ensure I was doing it right. No word of a lie, I was in and out of there in less than ten minutes! The best bit was when she said there was no charge! YAY

I left her place on cloud 9 and was once again really proud of my handy work. When I got home, I applied some henna for 3 hours and later did a little retight on some rogue locks in front and one or two at the back whilst watching movies on the box and before I could say JACK ROBINSON I had commenced another retight without even realising it. When I got up to go to bed and check the back, I realised how much I had done. So when I rose in the morning I carried on till the afternoon when I completed yet another retight. Unfortunately because I wasn't planning it, I didn't time it.

So because that unscheduled retight took place the last weekend of the month, I have decided that is when I will schedule all future retights (easy to remember, every 28 to 31 days). This also means I will only have to do 1 4pt rotation per lock which means I will be done sooner rather than later. Well that's the plan anyway...you know how life sometimes gets in the way. ; 0

YAAAY I DID IT, MY 1ST RETIGHT!!!

My son had gone to a 'sleep over' on the Friday night so I was alone and decided to tackle the front right quarter of my hair. I completed it in 3 hours and felt a great sense of achievement.
On Saturday I began right after breakfast and tackled the left front quarter and completed this in 2 hours and 30mins! Now initially I had planned to spread the retight over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but thought 'what else am I doing this weekend I may as well plod on'!
The back I found the easiest simply because I could actually watch the TV and feel my way through.....(the down side is that, I had to get out of the chair to see how much I had left to encourage me to carry on)...... I completed the back right quarter in 2 hours and 17 mins and the last left back quarter only took 1 hour and 36 mins.

ALL IN ALL THE WHOLE RETIGHT TOOK ME 9 HOURS AND 40 MINS!!! (The grand plan is to beat this time as time goes by...I know this will vary from time to time as my hair gets longer)

PARTS OF MY BODY THAT ACHED A LITTLE:

1 My neck
2 My shoulders
3 Well............ there is no 3!

I can tell you people I feel a great sense of achievement and I am very proud of myself! Yaay me....the best part????? I saved £50!!
I am scheduled to see my consultant in 3 weeks time for a review...am guessing she will cast her professional eye over my handy work.....cant wait!

THE HUMAN PSYCHE

The human psyche is a funny old thing! From my last post you will know that I am virtually on my own now regarding the re-tight thing.

All of a sudden I have decided that am going to see how long I can go without washing my hair for up to a month (and only using anti-bacteria gel as often as i please). Challenging for me because i have always washed once a week and since getting installed i have left it up to 10 days. Now i am convinced I can hold out for up to a month at a time. Why I hear you ask.........because I will be self maintaining from now on!! Why add stress to my first re tight?? How about colour???? Yep that too.......am going to be such a good girl......he he he.......well a girl can try can't she?? (though this Wednesday will make it 2 weeks since i last coloured and already my hair styles are slowly limiting as I try and hide the greys :..( )

As my consultant Marie put it......(in similar words anyway) we need to take the security blanket away....its the only way to go solo........The girl is not wrong! My lovely blanket is gone and I am following her advise to the letter. Total madness? Not really I suppose...it makes perfect sense while Marie still re-tightened my hair I could shrug my shoulders and think.....Marie will sort me out....now I just think....Don't need the stress on my 1st solo re-tight

4TH AND LAST RETIGHT WITH CONSULTANT

Below is the parting I will have to make in order to organise my self re tightening in 5 weeks time. Marie very kindly countered my locks horizontally and vertically to the centre of my head , using my centre part and my ears as starting points. This will enable me to achieve my 4 bunches which I will tackle a bunch at a time. (YIKES!!)

My re-tight took 4 hours as supposed to the normal 2.5 hours owing to the fact that I coloured my hair with henna and there was some slippage. (I must admit I kind of over did it a little....coloured a total of 4 times!!!!! YES I MUST HAVE BEEN OFF MY ROCKER!!!)

Hey but I knew there was a chance it was going to happen. I took a calculated risk and it paid off. It cost me an extra £10.00...on the face of it, it was well worth every penny because Marie wants me to have a crack at starting to 'self maintain'.

The plan is that in 5 weeks time I will attempt (and succeed) in re tightening myself and then 2 weeks later I will see her for a review (which cost considerably less at £15.00 for the hour) to see how I get on. Yay me.

I forgot to mention a little while back that Marie noticed that I had been doing some re tightening here and there and she confirmed that I was doing it right. Yay me again! However am to keep and eye on ending the correct position etc etc. (Mental note, take phone of the hook or let it go to voice mail....oh yes AND CONCENTRATE WOMAN ON WHAT YOU'RE DOING).

Back view 1st day of installation. Back view 25 weeks later.

25 weeks later 1st day of installation

5 MONTHS & 3RD RETIGHT

Can anyone guess what I used as a head band in this picture???
Just to distract you for a moment, check out my picture in the background my traditional locks were about 2.5 years old. The artist made my face a little chubby....it was done in Paris by the Notre Dame in 2001.

2ND RETIGHTENING

As usual the session went well and the following is what I discovered:

1) The sessions took 4 hours an hour more than the last session.

2) This is because, I had new growth where I had none previously which meant incorporating the new growth with my existing locks.

3) My hair felt different from when I had it retightened the first time.

4) It felt thicker and fuller to the touch.

5) I can visibly see the new growth and even new baby hairs!

6) Plus Marie is happy with my progress!

7) Enough said after #6!!!

1ST RETIGHTENING

My re tightening experience went like the breeze.

Marie had anticipated over 4 hours simply because of the extremely tiny locks I have lurking about 2 inches above the nap of my neck! Only God knows what's going on there. ..... Anyway the good news is that it's growing and I also appeared to have gained an extra lock....Yaaaaaay!

Three and a half hours later I was on my way home! No pics folks, because not much as changed other than the grey on my head ain't as bad as I had anticipated.......Don't get me wrong, I have plenty! Anyway with the blonde thing going on, am wearing it well!!

I will post photos at the two month mark! The difference should be more apparent then.

As usual, thank you for reading folks!!