No. You're not in an alternate universe.
Yes, this is still Claire. I was not stolen and replaced by an alien entity.
Yes, I learned how to install Sisterlocks, which I myself have worn the past couple of years and will continue to wear for the rest of my life.
Last week I drove down to San Diego to Sisterlock Headquarters for the four day class. Driving down I wondered if perhaps I'd done something stupid and was wasting a chunk of my money on the class. Happily, the class was AWESOME! Everyone in the class rocked their own Sisterlocks. Generally speaking, all of our locks were different, as everyone's hair has different properties. Some of my classmates had locked into tiny little curls in only a few weeks. One classmate Angela - everyone thought we were sisters because we share the same sort of freckles - had hair with a long curl like me, but her individual hairs were twice the thickness of mine, like comparing my whimpy dandelion stem hair to Angela's robust oak tree hair. Our hair resists locking so took longer to do so than anyone else in the class. Loved my classmates! Only like 3 of us are from California, the others came to the class from Oregon, Washingon, Colorado and Tennesse.
Our teacher was Dr. Joann Cornwell. She, with her sisters, invented Sisterlocks. She doesn't often teach classes so we were all pretty tickled. She taught us everything about 'Sisterlocks'. There was a moment in the class when were were practicing how to make the locks when I had an epifiany, "I've done this before, a zillion times!" I hadn't of course, but what I have done is hand spin, weave, knit, sew, crochet and do every sort of fiber art one can imagine, so for me, locking hair for me was immediately do-able and easy. Damn! Felt like my whole life has been leading up to hair locking. I think it was on day two of classes we were each given our own manikin head for practice. We were encouraged to name them, so with little fanfare, I named mine "Headwig".
GAK! I was rather intimidated by my manikin, not really having combed anyone else's hair unless you count pets. But soon I was locking away, just like everyone else in class.
In the photo below, Linda got her hair locks analysed by the class. Everyone took a turn with their hair being at the center of attention. When it was my turn I found out - no surprise - some portions of my hair - the rear bits - still haven't totally locked after 2 years; my hair is uber smooth with too uncooperative curls. Why was I not surprised? Oh well! Happily most of my hair is locked now and I adore it. I've NEVER loved my hair the way I love it now.
We even had a day when a young man in his twenties, Norman, came to class so we could all have a shot at 'tightening' his 'Brotherlocks'. Brotherlocks have differences from Sisterlocks. I totally loved getting my hands on locks with a breathing person beneath them. It was a great class and the last day we all got a full line of the Sisterlocks hair care products for freebee, even getting a Sisterlock's bag to carry them in. When I get a chance I'll post a photo of all the stuff we got as part of the class. Class is over and tomorrow morning I'll be up dawn, headed north to Sacramento. The time I spent here in San Diego learning all about Sisterlocks was time well spent.
