There are certain blog I religiously visit, especially when they post often. They usually find some amazing stuff on the web, and they gladly share it. One of my followers Naturally UniQue Sisterlocks had a post about Rasta Crochet Hat that she purchase, and I fell in love with those hats that she was rocking on her post. So I went ahead and purchase 2 myself. Today I wore one of my crochet hat, even though I was thinking of using them when I have a bad hair day, but since they are extremely cute, I decided to wear them when ever I have the urge to be different. I did receive compliments on them. Below are the pictures.

Information about the Nilda's Knick Knacks
eBay Store: ebay.com/Nidas-Knick-Knacks
Size: Small to X Large
Price: $9.99 to 15.99

Back View	Both of Them =)

I found out what my sisterlocks pattern was the other day. While I was getting my sisterlocks retighten, I went ahead and ask my consultant what my sisterlocks pattern was, and I found out it was "double 3 pattern". Finding out my sisterlocks pattern is "double 3 pattern" is a bit of a surprise since the common pattern that I have found on the web is "4 pattern" or "reverse 4 pattern", and so I assume my pattern was "4 pattern". Anyway she stated that "double 3 pattern" is for fuller locks, I'm really glad that she took in my original request from the very beginning to have fuller locks.

Sisterlocks 3 Pattern Bullet Points

• Fuller Volume Locks
• Used for fine hair
• Commonly used for medium to long curl pattern
  

This is just baby step in the direction of learning how to retighten my own hair. I will still continue to use my consultant, since I really could care less about retighten my hair, I just want to play on the side of caution, just in case something happen, and I can't find anyone to retighten my hair. I was wondering for the ladies and gentlemen that are subscribe to my blog what are your interlocking pattern?

Far Away Look
Close Up Look - Ends Are Still Open
Close Up at Parts - 17 Retighten Session

Note: You can click on any of the images to enlarge. All image are copyright by me. Please ask for permission if you want to use any of my pictures.

When I saw one of her client, I was sold right always. Her client had the most beautiful small snow white sisterlocks I ever seen. She also had the size that I wanted. So I asked her, who was her sisterlocks consultant? She told me her consultant name was Karen, and she gave me her number. Once I had the number, I called Karen immediately, and asked her if she can fit another client. She told me yes and the rest was history.

Below is the picture of her sisterlocks which are the same size as me. Her sisterlocks give me inspiration, and motivation, on how my sisterlocks will eventually turn out. Enjoy =).

This how her sisterlocks look on a average day. No curlers, braidout, etc.


Note: You can click on any of the images to enlarge. All image are copyright by me. Please ask for permission if you want to use any of my pictures.

For the most part I still love my Sisterlocks. I'm just not feeling the three colors I currently have on my locks. I tried to love it, but I don't and I'm regretting not dying my hair straight black like I originally wanted to. So when my 2 year anniversary comes up, I will be dying my hair straight black.

Any of you ladies know a thing or two about hair coloring? I have a question for you. If I dye my hair straight black in the future, will my bleach ends continue to be a different color?

Loving My Sisterlocks Here
Loving My Stickies ( Hair Growth After Lock Thinning & Lost)

Not Feeling the Three Tones Colors
I know most of my friends and family don't want to go straight black, but the three colors are bugging the heck out of me. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a graphic designer, and seeing all those colors with no exact patterns is tacky to me. In the end this turn out to be another lesson learned.


Note: You can click on any of the images to enlarge. All image are copyright by me. Please ask for permission if you want to use any of my pictures.

This post going is to be short and sweet. Please don't do or apply ANY thing while your hair is wet, especially if you just wash your sisterlocks or dreadlock. The warnings are out there about the danger of that but I hear suggestion that goes against those warning.

It seems the more length you have, the more creative people are getting with their locks, which is great! Just don't apply any additional tension while the hair is wet. Your sisterlocks or dreadlocks just need to be lightly damp for any curls or braid out to be successful. Braiding your hair, and adding curling to your hair while it is wet, will not only introduce issues like mildew (since the hair is taking longer to dry), but your locks can end up rotting as well (rare but not uncommon). Never mind the tension you are adding to your lock that will lead to thinning locks and locks breaks in general. If you want to add curl or do a braid out after you have wash your hair, let the hair dry a little (until it is slightly damp) and then add whatever curls or braids you want. Never and I mean never add tension while the hair is dripping wet. Tension comes from braiding, curls, and even twists. If you want to make your curls last longer, then add a settling lotion before your routine. I don't use settling lotion, and I could care less if my curls last more than two days.

And finally, don't add extremely heat on wet locks or hair in general. Extremely heat comes from flat iron or plates, and blow driers. The picture on the right is what you are doing to your hair when you apply extreme heat to wet hair. The hair staff forms what I consider blister or what is common know on the internet as "Bubble Hair." I have read that lock sometime takes a long time to dry, currently my sisterlocks does not take a long time to dry, but I know it may be a problem with very thick locks or even longer lock, but I will still urge you to use caution whenever applying any heat to your locks.

When I was younger, I didn't have to worry about what I ate or gaining weight. I ate whatever I wanted, and didn't even have to worry about gaining weight or losing my flat stomach. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I continue the process of eating whatever I wanted, but little did I know that when you are pregnant your metabolism slows down. So my final weight in was 225 pounds at my 9 month check up. I was not a happy camper with that weight, and I hoped that it was mostly just baby fat.

After I had my daughter, the only weight that came off was 30 pounds. This was very upsetting to me, since I thought the weight would have come off after delivery. Well it didn't, I started thinking of ways to go back to my 155 pound pre pregnancy weight. I'm 5'8 so 155 pound is a healthy weight for me. So below is what I did to finally reach my goal after 5 years. Yes it took five years, off and on, to reach my healthily weight goal. So don't worry about having an overnight success like the celebrities. They have nannies and money, and we average folk don't.

Calories
The most important thing that helped me is knowing the amount of calories I needed to cut off, in order to lose the weight healthy and effectively. I went and download an app to calculate my calories intake etc, but there are ton of calories calculator out there, that will show you the amount of calories base off of age, height, and activities.

Planning
Planning my meals HELPED a lot. I have the iPhone and I download an app called "Lose it!” I plan my meals for the whole day (Monday thru Friday). I pack my lunch for work the night before, and when I came home, I ate what I put on my food log (Lose It!). The key is having a food log to keep you on track. The food log tells you the amount of calories (if you plan it correctly) that you are taking for that whole day. That why planning my meals work so well. If I went over my calories intake, I would just adjust it with a different food item. Another thing I did that help with my planing was cooking my foods on Sunday for my work week.

GYM
In the beginning I went to the GYM at least 3 times a day. Now I go 2 times a week to maintain my weight. When I do go to the GYM, I always make sure I do cardio & WEIGHTS. Very important for me. Cardio will make you lose the weight, but Weight lifting will keep you from gaining the weight. For example, if you decided to have dinners with friend once every other week, that may not be an issue for weight gaining at all (just try to keep it healthy with your food selection). The reason that will not be an issue is your increase muscle mass, which will still be burning a whole lot more calories than anything. For example, muscle requires more energy and fuel. That fuel comes from the food you eat every day. So if you continue to gain muscle mass, eating unhealthy for a day, will not cause you the gain the weight as fast as having no muscle mass. So weight lifting is a MUST if you want to maintain your healthy weight loss. Also keep in mind that muscle weight more than fat, so if you want to see your progress, look at how your clothes fit. Muscle is lender then fat so you may weigh the same but your arms, thighs may be slimmer. Just keep on doing the weight living and cardio, and you should reach your goal.

Fact Check: It very hard for females to get what I consider a "body builder muscles". In order to get that, you will need to take additional supplements as well as keep a very strict diet in order to get that 6 pack or "body builder muscles". There a lot of miss information about that, and ladies tend to stick with just cardio, because they are afraid to gain "man" muscle. Trust when I said, that will NOT happen; no matter how many bench press you are doing. LOL.

Note: If you go to the gym a particular day, you will have to increase your calories intake, because of the extra calories you be burning at the GYM. The app "Lose It" was great with that. It allows me to add my activities which made me see she how much extra calories I can add for that particular day.

Food & Drinks
We all know we need to eat healthy in order to lose weight. What made me so successful, was knowing what meal plans works for me. I did have a cheat day. Sunday through Friday was my healthy food days. Saturday was my day to eat whatever I wanted. Sometime I was lucky and didn't have a craving on that day but most of the time that was my cheat day. I will list an example of what my food was in one day below, but the concept of weight loss is simple. You need to eat more green vegetables, fruits, and a little less protein. The protein that are best are fish, and chicken (without the skin). What I usually like to do (since I love vegetables anyways) I pile on the vegetable that I like, and then add a side of chicken or fish (concept of eating protein is thinking of it as a side*). I usually get full off the huge amount of vegetables and small intake of protein.

I didn't completely get rid of crabs. Getting rid of carbs will make you fall off. Especially for us Caribbean folks. If and when I decided to do the carbs, I NEVER eat it after 6:00 pm. So if you want a little rice for lunch, that is fine, just know the amount of rice you taking in. Rule of thumb 1 cup of rice is a portion. Then pile on the vegetables and add a small side of protein. Also if you can, try to switch to brown rice, I couldn't because I hated it, but I was able to switch to whole wheat pasta.

My finally plan was eating three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and having snack in between. Nuts, Fruits, and even the 100 calories packs were my snack of choice. Skipping meal was not an option because if you skip meals, you slow down your metabolism. My final advice on this section is this. GET RID of the sweet drinks. If you can't completely get rid of it, do substitution. For example: For juice, try Crystal Light, and for soda do diets only.

Example of my food for the day.

1 egg with toast (Morning)
Hand full of Almonds (Snack)
Chicken Breast with ton of vegetables (Lunch)
Eddy's Fruit Strawberry Bar (snack)
Fish & Vegetable ( Dinner)


*Please Note: If you do decided to do weight lifting, what helps with the muscle soreness is eating more protein, so the side concept will not apply if you do weight training.

I hope this helps you fulfill your fitness goals, because having a healthy body will enable you to have healthy sisterlocks, and please note that this is my experience, and what I did to get healthy again.