What we could see of the salon was very nice, but we were told that there was only one person who does loc styling and apparently she is all booked up for the next few weeks. We were able to get in at the end of the month though. We'll see. Their prices for the styling is only $15, which I think is very reasonable.

After hanging out in Cleveland for a few hours, we came home and stopped to get some frozen yogurt. On our way out the door, we walked past a woman and her daughters, one of which was a teenager and one was younger, probably like four or five. They all had natural hair, the mother and the daughter has TWA's. Now, usually, I compliment other naturals on their hair. Almost always. But this time I was in a hurry and I just blew past them.

Liv waited until we were almost home to tell me that she'd overheard the teenage daughter say to her mother, "Look at their hair." Then the mother responded, "That's probably perm. Think, baby."

At first I was confused. Did she really think that our hair was relaxed? I mean, it's pretty obvious... Once I thought about it though, I realized she must have thought we had relaxers, but had gotten fake locs or something. Tripping. Because as far as I know loc extensions or fake locs are expensive and there is no way I would spend that type of money on three heads. 

Her comment did make me wonder, why did she immediately jump to that conclusion? That not only was our hair not real, but that we weren't even natural?

Jeez. 

I wish I had heard her because I would have immediately corrected her. Not to be rude, but to inform. In a few years, her hair could look just as fake as ours, lol.Click 

The 2nd annual Cleveland Natural Hair Expo was  held today at a Hilton in downtown Cleveland. It was packed up in there! So crowded, I feel safe in saying that next year, they can go head and secure a larger venue. The people will come. And that way, there'll be more room for vendors and classes and entertainment. Most importantly, there will be more room to walk around. I was only there for an hour and by the time I left, it was so crowded that we were bumping into folks left and right. I had to hold Liv's hand on the way out so I wouldn't lose her.

Aziza Yasmine of AIIZ Naturals held a class in a smaller room, but there were too many people inside for us to really see her or hear what she was saying. Too bad, I would have loved to meet her!

We visited every table at the expo at least once, including the Huntington Bank table, lol. The one person who I was dying to meet (I had her book tucked in my purse so I could get an autograph), but did not see was M. Michele George, author of The Knotty Truth. I feel really bad about missing her!

These pics are from September, the last time I did a henna treatment on all three of us. That was a weekend project for sure!I like to henna at least once every three months, but it's been a long time since I've done all three of us at once. Not sure if I will do that again... I loved the conditioning properties of henna when I was loose and I feel as though the henna still benefits our hair now. I don't really henna for the color change, since we'll only get highlights on our dark hair. Liv's hair is lighter than Bri's or mine, so she'll get more of a red tone than we will.

I sifted the henna with a pair of old pantyhose and added it to the Mehandi henna. I probably had close to 300g total. In the past I have added a few tablespoons of paprika or rose petal powder...but I didn't this time. 
I mix my henna powder with 1 bottle of lemon juice (I'm pretty sure it was 16oz) and enough water to make it the consistency of yogurt. 
I covered the bowl, and let it sit on the counter until the next day. Right before using it, I like to add about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of honey. I don't measure, I just squirt it in the bowl until it's the right consistency.

The girls had had enough after four hours (and so had I), so we washed it out in the bathtub. Rinsing, rinsing, rinsing until the locs are relatively clean. Then I use Suave Naturals conditioner (2 bottles for the four of us) a few times and rinse the hair more.  I've come to realize that the water will never come completely clean, and we just have to wash the hair over the next few days to get residual henna out.
And that's that. Whew. 

My 10 year anniversary was January 18, 2012! I can't believe it's been that long. I remember the day I cut all my hair off, I was soooo excited. Ten years later, I'm still excited. 

Over the years, my blog has been through several incarnations. Bear with me through this transition - I have big plans for my second decade of nappiness!