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Zipcode: 45220
Country: US
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Past the 2 month mark
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.
Hi ChildrenAtMidnight. The process is slow in the first few months, and it sure does look messy, but the reward are beautiful healthy dreadlocks. So to have all that happen in the first year is worth it to have dreads for the rest of your life. Try to make sure your sections stay at one inch or less where the section meets the scalp or you will have fat dreads (congos) that require much care when it comes to drying. Keep up on the separating, in some areas you may have to do it almost daily for awhile, it just takes a minute to go through the sections to see if any are joining onto another. Sleeping habits and tying them up have a lot to do with where the hair starts joining / matting. You don't want to disturb any knotting happening, but you don't want them to join up by the scalp either. Baking soda does strip out colour, so if you use henna, you might want to switch to a dread shampoo. You still will see hair growth right now, the shrinkage will be happening in the next few months, so don't think your hair stopped growing, it will just be shrinking. The messier stages are coming soon, grin and bear it and enjoy all the craziness with it. It's quite fascinating to watch how the hair really does turn into dreads. Post pics of your craziest shape on this posting: http://www.dreadlockssite.com/forum/topics/weirdest-shaped-dread-competition?page=6&commentId=3754945%3AComment%3A1684846&x=1#3754945Comment1684846 Go check out some of the pics right now, they are really cool.
As for yarn, maybe use wool pieces as regular yarn will leave little colourful lint balls stuck in your hair, wool strands don't leave that at all. Show us all the cool colours you use too. Have fun with it all, if you are having a bad day, share it with us, it helps to do that....peace