Too much to do...

As I type, I am under the dryer.

Have you ever had the humbling experience of realizing your life was missing something you didn't even know existed? I have had that feeling twice in the past 48 hours. The most recent was when I sat down and started setting my hair on these new longer Soft Spikes. Ahhh. That's what I needed all along. I am blasting my hair with more heat than I usually do because, as is becoming usual for me, I am running late. I have way too much to do today.

It is the 200th Bicentennial Anniversary of the New York Archdiocese and St. Patrick's Cathedral is having a special African American mass. Since I've never been to St. Patrick's Cathedral, I really want to go for this occasion. People of African descent were involved in the founding of the diocese. In fact, the only lay person (non-religious) buried inside the church, under the altar, is the Venerable Pierre Toussaint. He contributed the money to build the first St. Patrick's Church.

Being from New Orleans, I give no more thought to being Catholic than I do being black. It's just an inextricable part of my upbringing. And I didn't realize until I left home for college that so many people were unaware of the role of African Americans in the Catholic Church. I don't agree with many of the edicts of the church , but its liturgy is completely ingrained in who I am. I am one of those black people who goes to visit a black protestant church and does NOT want to turn to my neighbor and tell them whatever the preacher said we should repeat--smile. But I digress, and some black catholic churches do that too. Anyway, to commemorate the occasion, the Office of Black Ministry has commissioned a special cloth from Nigeria that we are all being asked to wear and choirs from all over the country will be performing in the special service. But somehow, I've gone all week thinking the service was at 3. Uh, no. It is at 2. So I woke up very early this morning, went to the market, stopped at Rite Aid and rushed back here to wash my hair, set it and sit under the dryer. I intended to do all this yesterday...

And that brings me to the other time I realized my life was missing something. I found myself in Bed, Bath and Beyond last night. I usually steer clear because the place is a real money pit. But I was desperate for a mop and a few other things to organize my mess rather than throw it out. My shopping list said mop, pants hanger. That's it. Two hours later...I had a mop, a pants hanger....and a purse hanger, 3 laundry bins (on clearance), an apothecary jar (I've been meaning to start a terrarium), a gazillion tea light candles, hooks that stick on the wall so I can hang my new mop, a new rubber broom that is the answer for picking up cat fur, and some Yankee Candle tart warmers (I have a fetish for Yankee Candle...another time). Oh I got this little thingy that claims to keep tomatoes fresh after you cut them. Oh and I forget, I got ANOTHER pitcher with a plunger in it. Sigh. I love those...

I was standing in the bathroom section looking at a boutique set that was half price. Contemplating whether I should buy a tissue holder and waste basket for my tiny bathroom-- who knows where I would put it. I turned around and saw this amazing stainless steel container. You can hide your toothbrush and paste inside it. It looks like a miniature cocktail shaker. Wow! I realized I NEEDED one of those. So I stood and held it for more minutes than was necessary. Sigh. And then I put it back.

So after mass, I'm headed back uptown to go to Mr. Slish's Superbowl party. It's in Harlem at Revival. It's nearby and better than sitting around the apartment in my flannel teddy bear pajamas.

And I am excited to say...in the time it took me to sit here and ramble onto the keyboard I think my hair may have dried! This is thrilling. Absolutely thrilling. So I have to give the new longer Soft Spikes an unequivocal rave. As my hair got longer, it took longer to dry on the original size. Because I can wrap the length of my hair without overlapping, it has dried super-fast. It probably doesn't hurt that I have the 'Purple People Heater" on full blast-- which I usually never do and would recommend. But I'm in a hurry today, so just this once.

I'll post after pics on my other blog after I find someone to take my picture.

**update** I missed the service. Sigh. I couldn't get out of here. My apartment looked like a tossed salad. So I did another New York thing-- I went on craigslist and hired someone to do all the stuff I can't. But I just felt funny about leaving a stranger in my apartment. So, even though I could have gone and come back from church by the time she finished, I decided to stay until she was done

Coming soon...

Our favorite Soft Spikes has just gotten better! I just received new, longer Soft Spikes. And because I didn't want Brunsli to scoop me, I figured I'd better hurry up and post about it before she got to her camera.

Wrap-A-Loc Results...II

Ok...You all wanted a review and a comparison. Friday I had somewhere to go and I didn't think the whole "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" look was what I wanted to go with...So I separated the coils. It is now Sunday and they are still quite nice. I have been wearing a sleep cap at night.

As I said before, I really like the Wrap-A-Loc results. It did take longer than soft spikes. Which makes sense because they are much, much, much smaller. On the website, there are people wearing the tool itself as a style. I would only do this over the weekend, not to work or anything. But that's just me...I slept with them in and they weren't terribly uncomfortable. If you don't like sleeping with anything bothering your head, it might be annoying.

The most obvious difference between soft spike rollers and the wrap-a-loc tool is the size of the curl. As the pictures show...you can get a very good set on either product. It been awhile since I used the soft spikes but if I remember correctly the curls gently fell over the course of a few days. If you separated the coils or as they relaxed, you be left with a very wavy, loose curl.

As the pictures show, the wrap-locs left me with coils about the diameter of a pencil. When I separated them, I was left with distinct spirals. They were so tight I wanted to sing Donna Summer songs for a minute. I tied them back for awhile. Yesterday-Saturday- they were very pretty. That's when I took the pictures above. I remembered my five-head and pulled a few forward.

The option of wearing wrap-a-locs as a style may be appealing to some. You can't go anywhere with a head full of soft spikes.

I was able to teach myself how to properly use the wrap-a-loc tool. Even though I had the wrong size--see earlier post--they were very forgiving and I got an excellent set. The size description on the site helps you choose the right size. Don't be like me and second guess it. The only thing that confused me was the wording...that it would take up half the length of my hair. I interpreted that to mean that the tool should be half the length of my hair. If I would have gone solely with the length suggestion, I would have been less confused.

As I said before, I think using a hair dryer had a LOT to do with my good outcome. I never used a dryer with the soft spikes...I didn't have one...and it took forever to dry. I couldn't guess how long it would have taken my hair to airdry on the wrap-a-locs.

Not for nothing, I have been setting my hair on some kind of rollers since I was 12. And because I'm type A, it always looked like someone else had done it for me. I am an excellent hair setter! I say that not just to brag, but as a disclaimer. Both soft spikes and wrap-a-locs can be time-consuming, but the wrap-a-locs didn't take an unreasonable amount of time to use. It would have gone much quicker if I wasn't forcing my hair onto 'too small' rollers. If I could go back I would have gotten one set of medium--for the front-- and three or four long. The instructions for traditional locks are to use one tool per lock, for Sisterlocks I used about four each but I wasn't obsessive about it...some may have had more.

For hold, with both products, I would use a maximum hold mousse or diluted Lottabody in a spray bottle.

Soft-Spikes v. Wrap-A-Loc

Just for contrast, I've dug up some pics of me with Soft Spikes sets for comparison. You can't say I don't go the extra mile for my Sisterlock family...
These are both dated. One I took in Virginia and the other was last winter...
It is definitely a matter of scale. And we'll see how long the curls go...

Postponed...

It's just too hot for makeup. Seriously.

I put an invisible hairnet on yesterday evening to try to preserve my curls. You can see though with the weight of my hair and sleeping on it and lots of humidity, the curls are dropping even in the net.

So after the tease, my fun event was postponed. I can keep a secret so I'll just wait until it happens to describe it.

Instead Robi and I are in here sweating in out because I refuse to buy an AC...I know. Don't say it. I'm going to look up some kitty hotels...the next time there's a heat wave, I'm going to let her get out the heat at least overnight. I feel like a chump watching her slink around in that fur coat.
I read an article about women who use cat fur to knit sweaters. Weird and gross. But I have brushed what must be several ounces of fur off my poor, old, hot kitty. I wish she'd let me give her a shower or something. I figure the least I can do is suffer with her...trust me that's exactly what I'm doing.

So last night I went to Wingate Field in Brooklyn to see the first free concert of the summer. J and I have gone for the past few years. It's always a good time. Nothing but laughs. People are generally in a good mood. And you can't beat the price. Last night's bill...MC Hammer, MC Lyte, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. I thought Hammer and Lyte tried to add way too much "new" material. I mean really...it's a Old School thing. I was disappointed with Lyte's set. There must have been some static backstage because she cut her performance short and left the stage. She only did partial verses of some of her songs and kept having the audience recite her lyrics instead of doing it herself. Now I know we are a call-and-response people (heehee) but I want to hear Lyte perform, not the audience. She didn't do I Cram to Understand You...I was steamed. I could have done karaoke at home.

The best was Doug E. Fresh. He is just a really good performer. And even though he also went with the call-and-response thing a little longer than I 'd like and played a few too many of other people's records, all was forgiven when Slick Rick came out to join him. When we left, Doug E. was still going. I have a job though and I am very protective of my sleep now that I'm getting some.

We are going to try and make as many shows as possible. The coup de grace is August 6th when Lauryn Hill herself is supposed to perform. 1) I'm not sure I believe she'll show given some of the reports I 've been reading about her shows 2) Even if she did show, I'm not sure she'll stay on stage...given what I've been reading 3) I am sure it will take forever to get in and I may not be up for going alone...J will be out of town. So we'll see about that one.

Think cool thoughts.

Whatever happened to Baby Jane...

I couldn't decide whether on a style. So I started two-strand twisting, got tired and Soft Spiked the back. This is how my hair looked this morning. Immediately I thought of Bette Davis. I am waayyyy too old to wear my hair like this. Over the course of the day, however, the curls will fall on their own. Probably before I get to work. I have to go to the post office and re-park my car before I head to work, by then my hair will have settled a lot better.
Tonight I 'm going to a concert--Slick Rick, MC Lyte and, wait for it......MC Hammer!--lol. Who would miss that? There are free concerts every summer in Brooklyn at Wingate Field. So I'm going to try and make as many as I can. I set my hair for tomorrow's after-work adventure. Shh. You'll have to wait to hear about that. But I'm sure it will be hilarious. Anyhow, since I have the concert tonight, I couldn't use the Soft Spikes tomorrow. I'll just freshen them up. Hopefully, I have the energy to re-set a couple when the concert is done.
OK. Peace people! Stay out of the heat!

Sisterlock inspiration

So I am fired up about my hair. I few days ago a nice woman with a blog about her sisterlocks wrote me http://mysisterlocks2005.blogspot.com. Her name is LaChanda and she has a host of links to other women's sites about their Sisterlock journey. Especially that of a woman in New York named Leighann http://mysisterlocks.blogspot.com.

LaChanda and Leighann are both absolutely gorgeous and so are their Sisterlocks! LaChanda encouraged me to take the consultant class I've been sneaking up to for the past two years and on Leighann's site I saw these fabulous rollers http://www.softspikecurlers.com. I liked the way Leighann's turned out so much. I ordered my own.


I had just begrudgingly bought some perm rods to replace the ones I've lost. But I was dreading the prospect of using them because my hair is so much longer now. Without a real dryer. I feared wearing perm rods would be a Sisyphean waste of time and energy. But when I saw Leighann in her curl spikes and saw the fabulous result I knew I had to get some.

I ended up talking a long while with the woman who makes and sells the Soft Spikes---I wish I had the moxie to be an entrepreneur! She is white and originated the product for her daughter's Irish dancing recitals. Probably because of Leighann's beautiful photos, she said she's been getting a lot of requests from black women. So you know how I love to talk about hair and especially Sisterlocks. I ended up telling her all about the blogs I found--though I've never met these women. Told her everything I knew about the history of Sisterlocks and Joanne Cornwell. I suggested that she contact them in San Diego and find out about the Homecoming. I told her with a product that works across ethnic hair types, she could be like the woman who invented that ponytail doo-hickey---was it a Topsy-Turvy?--like Dave Chapelle says ree-otch!

So in anticipation of the arrival of my soft spikes, I drenched my hair---I do mean drenched from scalp to tip--with the funky smelling Wonder 8 oil. While I do HATE the smell, I do think I should use it up because I bought it and can't take it back. And rather than letting it turn rancid I figured I'd make good use of it. I read an editorial from Daily Candy about this DC salon that charges an arm and leg to drench your hair with camellia oil that you then leave in 24 hours and figured I could do that myself. So I braided it last night, soaked the scalp, dipped the tips in oil, and stuffed the whole mess into a plastic cap. I covered my pillow with a towel and went to bed. I figure around lunch time I'll wash it out and see my handiwork. I wanted to touch up the color, but that's just me being fastidious. The roots aren't showing that badly and I need to limit the exposure to the color. Maybe to three to four times a year. I would gladly do it every four to six...but I don't want my hair to dry up and fall out. I'm hoping the oil soaking will help with my dry scalp and slow any breakage on the ends. I need to contemplate a trim...but I haven't had a haircut since I got my sisterlocks. I'm going to end up like those women on the Maury show who haven't had a haircut in a decade and look like mops.

In general, my desire to get my hair looking good and the shoe mission yesterday are interconnected. I am trying to getting my inner and outer selves in sync. And since I am doing so much adjusting and re-evaluating and replacing and redefining, it makes sense to me to check on everything and make sure I like it and it's what I want.

I went back and checked on the Sisterlocks consultant schedule. Philly in February is still my first choice...but if not, I'll take it in April in Newark! I'm claiming that as my new skill and I'll let the rest of it figure itself out...