I love my hair now! I love how it looks, I love how it changes all the time, I love that it has begun to dread entirely on its own. I have done nothing to it. Most of my sectionsnow aremostly loopy and crazy, some flat some round. But I have got probably 4 or 5 sections that are perfectly dreaded from the top to about half way down. And again, I have done nothing but let them be (:

Now that you can see my sections a lot better, more people have started to ask me "So uhh... What's going on with your hair?" And that has mostly started within thelast month or so. (Keep in mind, I still have a ways to go before they are mature.) But the minute I tell people I havent brushed my hair since June, they laugh. Not to be rude I don't think at all, but most people think I'm kidding. And once they realize that I am totally serious they ask why and I tell them that it is dreading. Almost everyone has said "well those dont look like dreads" or "dont you have to put wax in to do that?" or "why does it look like that?" or something like that.
This is exciting in a sense that people are starting to notice that something is happening. But in another way it is very frustrating.I have to explain to people all of the time that the way they usually see dreads, the perfectly round, thick, all the same length...Those are not natural and are not real, nor are they what dreads were intended to be. That you don't need anything but to throw away your hair brush. And even still, most people dont understand that this could take years for my hair to look anything like what they are used to seeing.They think its instant or something.
My hair is still very fine and silky. It will take a long time for it to totally knot up and hold. I still have some loose hairs on the sides by my ears and underneath of all of my hair. And then I have some parts of my hair that look totally dreaded. I guess most folks dont realize that this is a process. That any hair type can dread, it's just a matter of time and patience.

Hair care lately has been switched from Bronners to baking soda/water mixture that I keep in an old bronners botter. Basically cover the bottom of the bottle with baking soda, a good layer. Then fill up about 3/4 with water, shake it up real good and thats all I do. Wash with that once or twice a week, depending on how my hair feels and looks. I still have my bangs which arebrushed whenever they need it. Sometimes I straighten them. But other than that, everything else has been left alone.Hopefully I will get some more recent photos of my hair up here soon.

Loving the journey so far. So glad I took the advice I got from this site to just stop brushing. I dont think that I would love my hair as much as I do had I gone about this any other way. (:

I got my first compliment on my hair tuesday night. This guy that works at a tattoo shop down the street from where I work was in the store.. And as I am cleaning his dvds he says "hey, I really like your hair. thats cool." and I kind of hesitated. Most people give me funny looks and ask others that I work with why I don't brush my hair. But it was cool to hear someone say they liked it. Since I absolutely love it. I even think my boyfriend is starting to like it a little more. Which is nice. (:

My hair is still beautiful. I put in three new beads [[to help with sectioning a little bit], there is one I am worried the bead is too big for the chunk of hair. I might lose that one, but that's alright.

I am coming up on 5 months since my first backcombed dread...

It is fairly solid, still some loose hairs, and it has a big loop and a small loop.

Around 3 months since my second backcombed dread...

Becoming more solid and thick around the bottom half, top half is thinner and slightly solid. Lots of loose hairs, no loops yet.

About 3 months since I stopped brushing my hair [[picture coming soon].

It is very wavy, frizzy, wild, and crazy. I'm loving every minute of it.A few more sections are starting to really tangle up around the lower half of the "dread". The underneath of my hair is still very smooth and with hardly any knots.

I was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania over the weekend for my mom's birthday. I saw a girl with the most amazing dreadlocks selling flowers at a street market. I never saw a girl with dreads in real life before this moment. Actually, the only people I have seen in life with dreads are two African American guys that shop where I work, and I only saw them once or twice. So this was quite neat for me. Ha.

I'm really excited and a little worried at this point. I love seeing my hair change over time on its own, I love seeing it do what it wants to. I also love not having to do anything with it ever. It's just gorgeous. But I am a little worried about my sections. Only some are distinguished. I don't really have anyone to help me section my hair a little better. I'm just worried about congos. But my hair is taking a long time to get tangly, so I guess I probably still have plenty of time before that is a problem.

Thats about it for now. Hopefully I don't forget to take a 3 month picture.

past:

I backcombed my first dread on April 15th, 2011. Stopped brushing my hair around June 8th, 2011. Backcombed my second dread around the end of June. I started using bronners liquid soap, recently got a bar, just thought I should try it. Lately have been using the bar soap from bronners. I was washing my hair everyday at first, it was always so greasy. I slowly cut back on the amount of times I washed my hair a week. I think the longest I have gone was just recently I think it was a week, but I lost track. I love not having to fuss with my hair every day. At first I was worried about how it would look, not brushing it and all. But it has grown on me, I love it more everyday... how wavy and beautiful it is. A lot of people don't like it, but surprisingly it hasn't really bothered me (:

present:

It is getting close to 3 months since I stopped brushing my hair. I think it is pretty well sectioned, without my help at all. I can tell in 2 or 3 "dreads" [that I found] that they are starting to lock up in parts. Seems like just above half way up is where they are starting to lock. I took the bead [or it fell out] out of my oldest dread [dread #1] and it is starting to get cute little loops in it. In dread #2 I have a bead at the base instead of a rubber band, like I have on dread #1. The way my hair isseparating it looks like my dreads will be really small unless I backcomb them, and even then they won't be much bigger. But we will see what happens with them (: It has been interesting so far.

Peoples thoughts:

I didn't realize that most people didn't know that you could do dreads just by not brushing your hair. My aunt seemed really surprised. At first I didn't think she believed me.

Weird.