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I started the Lady Kinnks blog around January 4, 2009. We are officially Eight months old! Thanks for your support! Sometime between the start and now I saw that Carmen’s Blog had listed Lady Kinnk’s on her blog roll! I was sooo excited that someone found my blog and thought it was worthy of linking. Especially a virtuoso like Carmen of Tomoka’s Twists! Also my twitter buddy, Ms. Carmen is a Sisterlocks consultant, and talented artisan. While many of us go through bored fazes with our Natural Hair, Carmen gives pizazz through hair decor. Carmen shares her natural hair story below…
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Hello everyone!
I started my natural journey about three times in my life. The first time was right after I graduated high school. I stopped getting relaxers and allowed my hair to just grow. Without telling my age, I will just say that ‘transition’ as far as we know it, was not a term used. Around my second year of college, I relaxed my hair again, only to hate the stiff styles that were popular during that time. My hair would not stay straight as far as getting do-be wraps, so I kept it in super stiff updos. Sometime in my third year, I decided to go natural again and cut it super short and allowed it to grow through graduation and into my first year of having a full-time job.
During that time, I allowed myself to be told that I should get my hair relaxed since I was not doing anything with it but putting it in a bun or wearing it completely out. People were right and I knew it. I had tried various styles for natural hair and my hair was not having it the same way it would not have a relaxer. My hair has always wanted to be just the way it is, not relaxed, not in two-strand twists, and sometimes I don’t think locks.
Out of frustration of being held to two styles with my hair loose, I started looking into locks.
I knew most ways of starting like comb coils, two-strand twists, and palm-rolling would not work, but as a style alone my hair would unravel before it locked. I tried plaiting my hair as a lock start, but after a three-four days the majority of the plaits came out. After searching hair boards and blogs I found out about Sisterlocks and knew that if they didn’t work then it was back to the drawing board.
I found out about Sisterlocks and wanted them right then. Timing and scheduling were the only issues. 
It was Christmas time and the consultant was on vacation and booked upon her return. When I got them, I knew that I looked a hot mess, but I loved them because I knew if I gave it time they would be beautiful. Fast forward a few months with curiosity building, I wanted to become a trainee. I was also terribly disenchanted at my job and wanted a way out. So, I took the class along with launching my own hair accessories, Tomoka’s Twists. Within a few months both micro businesses were picking up and I quit my full-time job. Since I had a lot of time on my hands, I took the first set down and did my own Sisterlocks. I did the front myself and the back was done by a class-mate before returning to work.
After a year of being in Sisterlocks, my hair is not completely locked and I am not losing sleep over it. I have clients that I’ve started who’s hair has matured faster than mine. I have come to the conclusion that my hair will be whatever it is - and that is beautiful.
If you gotten this far, I sincerely appreciate your time!
~Carmen of Tomoka’s Twists
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Tomorrow Carmen will share more about how she became motivated to quit her day job, and live her dream of creating hair accessories full time. She also answers the question: Was there a correlation in going natural and starting your own business?
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I recently got my hair twisted. The problem is that my hair is kurly and kinky but it is very soft, almost like a baby dolls hair. Therefore, I am nervous that the twist will not lock and that my hair will not puff out/swell. What can I do to assist the process without damaging my hair? How long will it take for my hair to swell? What will happen to my ends, will they puff out too?
Can someone please help me out.
Thanks
Hello Bridgette,
It is hard for me to determine how your hair will look without seeing. Even then, sometimes hair will do as it likes as it locks. Twists will allow the hair to expand more in the being stages of locking. Over time the hair will start to condense as it locks and form a tighter, smoother lock. Palm rolling helps this stage move along faster. Some people also use products specially formulated for locks to hold the twists in place as they lock. If you do choose to use a product, pick something water soluble so it rinses out easily. Products that are too hard to shampoo out can be left in the lock and cause build-up. Also, you don’t want to shampoo out your progress trying to get heavy products out.
The ends of your twists will start to lock first. You may have heard of budding. This is when your hair starts to form a wad of tangles hair at the end.
Since your hair is very soft, it might be worth trying to braid your hair instead of twisting it. Many have found that individual braids hold better than two-strand twists when trying to lock. This method has become a popular choice for starting locks. I have followed a few braid-lockers and they have beautiful locks. For maintenance, braidlocks can interlocked which can be done by yourself or by a loctitian. How-to videos can be found on youtube.
Please stop by the following blog to see how beautiful braidlocks are!
http://microbraidlocks.blogspot.com/
I hope this helps!
Carmen
Carmen, thanks for sharing your story AND your expertise 
Yay - Carmen is great - very inspirational :o)
Hello,
I too got Sisterlocks 2.5 years ago; it took my hair over a year to lock. I can even remember last summer after, I went on vacation to the Bahamas and one of my locks came unraveled, which I thought was weird bc I thought they were locked! Just takes some longer than others…but from what I see your hair looks beautiful, but one thing I noticed…girl, celebrate your age!!! Some people didn’t even wake up today…as of right now, I’m 27 and will have no problems telling people my age at 80 lady!
If you’re going to embrace your natural self, then embrace it all Sista!