18 Weeks - CAN YOU SAY BRAID AND BAND?

Now mind you I have only been locked since December 29, 2005. I was feeling a little confident on Sunday, and pressed for time, so I decided to wash my hair without braiding and banding. My lock pattern is holding but my hair is not yet locked. Having been a long time microbraid wearer, I have a mesh hair net specefically designed for washing your hair. I put the net on, jumped in the shower and proceeded to wash my hair. I got out, dried off, got dressed for bed and took the net off to my HORROR.

I literally wanted to cry - all six weeks of my new growth had come together as one. I literally had to separate each and every single lock from several surrounding locks. I also have permed ends which had become drawn up into the tightly coiled natural hair at the point where they meet, so I had to pull each and every one of them down and try to smooth them out as best I could. Now mind you I came up with this bright idea because I was pressed for time. I had to sit under the dryer for about 15-20 minutes to dry my hair out a bit and then go back and carefully pull down 7-10 locks at a time and braid them so I could go to bed. I sleep with the Lucy Cap.

Thank God I was seeing my consultant on Monday (yesterday) for a retightening. It took her an extra hour to do my hair because she had to repair some of the locks in the back that I could not see or access very well in my effort to do damage control. Bless her heart, she did an awesome job and I'm back on the block but that was scary! Needless to say, I won't be doing that again anytime soon if ever.

On a positive note, my hair has grown. My consultant was noting that I actually have more locked hair now than I do permed ends which made me very happy.