Two weeks neglect! Everything has at least a tangle in it-and every piece of hair has found it's own section to nuzzle into. The bottom half of my hair is all one giant mass every morning. I have to separate at least once a day or it gets to the point I have to rip too much.

Ordered my Dreadlocks Shampoo and it should be delivered Tuesday. I can't wait to see what it does for my hair!

I only wear my hair up in a bun on weekends when my mom is around. I haven't broken the dready news to her yet. Hoping to get pretty far along before she notices!

My daughter starts 5th grade on Wednesday! How is it possible that I have an *almost* 11 year old?! I still feel like a kid myself, although I don't imagine that will ever change.

So, here's picture updates!

This, of course, is my favorite picture...it's all dready and tangly! This is before I separated it.

Other than as a hat, what have you used your tam for?

Last night my dog pulled a day old baby bunny from it's nest and we couldn't get it back in. I wrapped it up in my wool tam with a fleece glove and a hand warmer. It spent the night snuggled into my boobage while I fed it every 3 hours or so.

This morning I managed to locate the nest again and clear it enough to put her back in-luckily there were other baby buns in there for it to snuggle with! I've lived in this area for almost 10 years and have never seen a rabbit nest, but this was just at the foot of a tree, right out in the open. I'm hoping they stay safe!

I'm not usually one to interfere with wildlife and stuff. My cats regularly catch birds, bunnies, mice and gophers. Most of the time they're injured and we can't do anything, but something about this tiny baby wouldn't let me give up. She was so warm and snuggly-not one sign of weakness. How could I just let her go?

As for dreads, it's day 7 and damn if my arms aren't tired from separating! For the last three days I've been separating twice a day. WHAT? Twice a day? Yeah. Otherwise I've got one giant tangled mess. I separate my hair down the middle and pin one side up. Then I section the other piece by piece, tucking the already separated bits into another clip. All together it takes me about 30 minutes.

I plan on buying some bar soap from dreadlockshampoo.com at the end of next week when I get my disability check. I have really hard well water, so I'm glad it's no residue for all types of water! If you've used it, let me know what you like better-the liquid or bar form. And what's your favorite scent? I lean towards the citrusy types.

Washed again last night. It felt like my hair was really soft afterwards but this morning I woke up to more knots! I had to separate my entire head this morning because everything was matting into one big hunk.

My arms are so tired from separating but it makes me feel good to know there's been so much progress. I feel like I'm less "piece-y" today and more knotty, if that makes sense.

Here's some pictures just after separation.

No signs of slowing down!

Washed again last night. Let it air dry and went to bed with it just a bit damp. Woke up this morning and already had to separate the back of my head to prevent a beaver tail! What is going on here?!

Thinking about three days without conditioning or brushing. If it's THAT easy for my hair to dread, why wouldn't I let it? It obviously wants to!

I can't quite hide the plan anymore. My hair has outted itself a big earlier than I planned. I love it SO much.

One year. I figure it will be about one year into dreading that I'll really start seeing maturing dreadlocks. This is something I need to keep reminding myself of when I become impatient.

One year. What else can happen over the span of a year? So much!

Along with my One Year Dreadlock Journey, I've decided that it's reasonable to challenge myself to make other positive changes to my life, like weight loss.

So here it is. One year of not worrying about my hair. One year of loving myself and making positive changes to my body. I can do this!

Starting weight? Approximately 265ish. Size 22 pants. Size 2x top.

Goal weight one year from now? Well, weight I really don't care about. Pant size goal? 12 Top size? No idea...as long as my booty fits in a size 12 pant I'll be a far healthier person.

Ways of reaching my goal? I recently acquired a treadmill so walking will be done frequently, along with a subscription exercise plan. I also will be focusing on a plant based diet.

My daughter is 10. She's thin and fit now even though we eat horribly. I don't want her to struggle with her weight like I always have. It's time to start being an example for her, a time to show her how important it is to take care of and respect your body.

It's time!

A few years ago I decided that I desperately wanted dreadlocks. I've always gotten bored with my hair quickly. From my natural brown I would dye red, platinum, black, purple, fire engine red...every color you could imagine until it just wasn't enough and I'd eventually shave it all off.

First I tried crocheting it and adding my own extensions. I worked my ass off making those extensions. Crochet hooks getting stuck in my finger, my thigh! Those suckers are hard to remove, especially because I was on the floor trying not to pass out. Yeah, I faint at little things.

Those looked awful, sticking out straight all over my head. So I combed them out and then tried twist and rip. Those were better but I just couldn't leave well enough alone. I started dying them and they turned a funky red from henna. They started maturing, pulling in, especially in the back. I started to feel really ugly. It was an awful feeling, but I was also dealing with deep depression at the same time and I think it was the wrong state of mind to start with.

So after about 6 months I combed them out and went about my life.

But the idea of dreads called to me constantly. Honestly, I always wanted a big mass of African American type wild kinky curls, but I am the whitest white girl you've ever seen, with fine hair. It would never happen. And then someone mentioned dreads again. YES! DREADLOCKS! It's time.

My one concern is that I have a 10 year old daughter who is reaching that point in school where kids can be incredibly cruel. We live in a fairly conservative area where my purple hair is already a shock for her primary schoolmates. So far all the kids have only complimented my hair. I know things change in middle school though. I fear embarrassing her, but she's always been pretty secure in her momma's funkiness and she knows I'd never intentionally make her life more difficult. Luckily, I guess, I don't have to worry about a job situation because I'm a disabled veteran.

Last night I decided to get started. I didn't have any dreadlock shampoo so I used my normal Black Magic face and body soap by One Hand Washes The Other. You can find her amazing soap on Etsy. Once you try it, you'll never want to use anything else! I doubt it has residue depositing properties, but here are the ingredients. You guys know more about it than me and can give me some feedback:

-Tea Tree Oil
-Peppermint Essential Oil
-Grapefruit Essential Oil
-French Green Clay
-Calendula
-Vitamin E
-Activated Charcoal (bamboo)
-Glycerin

So I scrubbed my hair with it and rinsed...and scrubbed again. I usually use a super conditioning shampoo and then spend at least 10 minutes deep conditioning. My hair has been bleached and dyed so it has a rough texture if I don't. Instead, I just dried it and went to bed.

Woke up this morning to a beautiful mess!! Light curls separating all over my head. Body and frizziness everywhere! I'm hoping this immediate sectioning bodes well for quick locking and maturing, but of course there's no way of knowing until it starts to happen.

Here we go! I'll keep you updated on progress and hopefully we'll get some changes quickly!

A picture of my normal conditioned hair (and hey, check out the pendant...I made it!)

And here is what I woke up with this morning: