For those of you who don't know what a braidout is, it's when you braid your hair (normal braids, not cornrows) and then take it down and style the resulting curls with your fingers. This can be done with loose natural hair or locks... the results are very nice either way.

Here's what I did:  After washing my hair (Sisterlocks salon formula shampoo), separating my locks, oiling my scalp (Carol's Daughter's khoret amen oil) and moisturizing my hair (Sisterlocks moisture treatment), I grabbed bunches of locks and braided them -- about 6 or 7 locks per braid. I didn't count the locks for each braid, though... I just grabbed enough to make a good braid. Then I rolled each braid on small (not the tiny ones) sponge rollers.  Yeah I know I'm not supposed to use sponge rollers... but what can I say?  They work for me. :-)

My hair was still wet; and since the braidout didn't last very long the first time I tried it, I made up my own holding gel with water and aloe vera gel. I put this in a spray bottle and sprayed each bunch of locks before braiding them. I was hoping that this would help the braidout last longer.  You be the judge. :-)  Once my hair was dry (it takes a little longer to dry when it's braided and rolled), I took the rollers and braids out the next morning. Here's the final result.

I've got a nice crinkly/curly thang going on.  I like it. I got compliments all week; and a couple of people who hadn't made any comments on my hair at all over this journey (which usually means they don't like it but have the good sense not to say so) now told me they liked this style and asked me how I did it. 

Truthfully I do seem to get more compliments when I style my hair than when I wear it freestyle. I think it's just that whole issue that we black folks have with nappy hair. When I say "us" and "we", I'm speaking of black folks in general... not "you" specifically, so I don't wanna get no e-mails from folks saying "I don't have no issues with nappy hair!". OK?  :-)  

It's a sad truth that most of us don't care for the natural texture of our hair (for reasons that I won't go into here), but when it's styled some of us seem to be able to accept it better because it's a little closer to what we believe our hair should look like. Unfortunately this belief is "straight and styled" even though our hair isn't straight. Makes sense to me... NOT!  Thankfully I'm no longer down with the "straight", but it's always fun to play with styles now and then.

OK... enough preaching from me.  I'm probably preaching to the choir anyway. 

So here's the braidout after a week. Today is Sunday -- my pampering day. Since I stopped relaxing my hair, washing it has become a pleasure rather than the chore it used to be... so this is now a part of my weekly self-pampering. When I went into the bathroom to get started washing my hair, I saw that the water/aloe gel mixture did hold my crinkly curls longer, because my hair still had some crinkle and curl to it after seven days, so I think I'll stick with my water/aloe gel mixture for holding a set. 

I asked my daughter to take some pictures so I could show you the braidout after a week.  Little did I know I would also discover a big surprise when I looked at these pictures. Notice the patch of white-looking stuff in the back of my head?

I never knew I had a patch of gray in the back of my head!  I could see the gray in the front, but that stuff in the back surprised me.  I don't really know why, but when I saw the picture I couldn't figure out what in the world that was in my hair.  It didn't look like scalp... it was too white-looking for that.  Actually it looked like a big ole patch of dandruff (or even worse... tetters... ugh!). So I  asked my daughter about it.  I was going to have her scratch the dandruff up and then shampoo shampoo shampoo!  I was so shocked when she told me it's a patch of gray!  Now the big question is:  Is it time to start playing with haircolor?    It would be alright if it was evenly disbursed over my entire head, but these patches just look ugly to me.  Does gray always come in like that?

Everette's Corn-Rows & Braiding Academy is hosting its second annual Sisterlocks Regional Conference next month here in the Detroit area, so I think I'll talk to the experts there about coloring.  If you're interested in attending the conference, you can get all the information at Everette's website. And if you do come, please step up and introduce yourself.  I'd love to meet you!

If you're interested in Sisterlocks® for yourself, or if you wish to find a Sisterlocks® consultant in your area, check out the Sisterlocks® website or call their home office at (858)560-5116.

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