My locks are starting to really form near the scalp. The ends are still pretty stringy but they're slowly starting to clump together. I feel like it's becoming an endless battle to prevent them from trying to congo but I seem to be winning thus far.

I have one issue that still continues to bother me. Dandruff. I have tried all sorts of things to get rid of it. Now, this has been an ongoing thing even before I decided to lock my hair. It juts seems to be getting worse and some of the flakes are getting caught in the locked parts of my hair which looks pretty gross. I've been trying to pluck it out but it's pretty difficult.

I also bought some Dr Bronners today. Figured I'd give it a try and see what I think.

I've been at this for over 2 months now and haven't given up. I've gotten to the point where I feel apathetic about my hair at times. It almost bothers me but at the same time, I'm kind of glad. I expected that once the joy of doing something new with my hair wore off, I'd be wanting to chop at it again. Instead, I've just become accustom to it. I think I'm happier not having to worry about what my hair looks like all the time. I've found different, easy ways to keep it moderately tame for work and if I feel up to it, I decorate it with scarves and different colours of yarn. It's just really easy.

I'm starting to reach the point where most of my hair is looping up and beginning to congo. Mostly the back, of course. The roots are trying to merge into a giant blob but I've been maintaining it every week or so.

My hair is continuing to grow as well. Surprisingly enough, it's past my shoulders. I guess, I figured the growth would slow down once things started clumping up. Maybe it'll take more time? I guess, I'll find out.

Also forgot to add that I attempted to redye my hair with henna. Due to some apartment related things, I don't think I left it in long enough or maybe the baking soda is ripping it out faster than the chemical dyes. Either way, I may do it again since it's great for moisturizing my hair when it's feeling unhappy.

Fun things are happening after a month or so of dreading. I'm starting to get the loops and stringy hair and several of my dread babies are starting to form. The bottoms are starting to come loose on most of them however they are still holding their form.

Pretty sure some shrinkage is starting to happen too since several dreads are starting to kink up. It feels awesome.

The only issue I'm seeing is that several of my dreads feel really thin towards the roots. I'm guessing it's because they're just not fully dreaded up near the scalp whereas the rest is fluffy and frizzy, making them feel fuller near the middle and bottom.

I'm really pleased with the progress so far. I honestly didn't think they'd be forming this quickly but I'm 100 percent okay with it.

Back from Florida and missing it horribly. My hair seems to agree as well. The ocean water felt amazing on my scalp and my dreads seem to be much happier after.

I've been washing my hair more often with the bs mix and started using the acv rinse as well. My hair has never been this happy. The dreads are getting frizzier with each wash and are clumping up well. The also seem to be much softer. I have noticed that some are trying to split in two again so I've been assisting them.

Other than that, everything seems to be working out well.

And for those who are curious, this is what I used for my bs mixture:

• 3/4 cup of baking soda
• 15-20 drops of tea tree oil
• a small cap full of lavender oil (it didn't have a dropper end)
• a couple squirts of lemon juice

I put this all in my blender, filled it the rest of the way up with water, blended, and then dumped it on my head and let it sit for 20 minutes. Followed that up with a acv and water mixture. Rinse rinse rinse with super cold water (miserable but worth it) and instant happy dreads. :D

I'm about 2 weeks into this journey. It feels like my dreads are already starting to take form. It's an exciting feeling when I wake up and all of my hair is happily clumped into baby dreads.

I'm up to 39 dreads so far. I have a feeling this may increase though due to the fact that some of my larger dreads seem to want to separate. I've been helping them do so and figure it's best for my hair to decide what he wants to do.

I'll be heading to Florida on Thursday for vacation. I can't wait to soak in the ocean and let my dreads get ahold of some natural salt water.

As for the negatives, my scalp seems to itch still. The baking soda shampoo I created helped for a day at most and then my scalp was back at it again with the itching. I'm going to keep experimenting and of course, washing them every three days rather than every week to see if this helps.

So I'm up to about 25 dreads now. I've been casually adding them in with the t&r method whenever my hair has started to clump together in the back.

Tonight, I'll be giving the baking soda wash a try for the first time. Prior to this, I've just been using theneutrogena anti-residue shampoo to get all the extra crap out of my hair. I'm pretty excited to give this a try, as is my scalp.