dreads on a boat

Hey guys!

Have an exciting adventure I am about to begin. I work in the summers on a fishing boat in alaska, but this is my first year heading out there with my baby dreads. I am 6 months in, and i am loving them more than and more each day, and i am wondering if I should be concerned about them this summer. Now, so you all know. They boat life is busy, and there is no showering. Last summer, it was 90 days. We came back 3 times, but the longest time out there was 7 weeks, and this summer it could be longer than that.

My concern is two fold.

The first is the salt. What is the good and the bad for the salty air and water in my dreads? My initial plan for that is to bring my own tub of water (which I can fill each day) and just be diligent at finding time to wash the salt out every other day.

The second is that there is so much fish/seaweed/scales and the works flyin around all day long, that I don't want it to get inside the dreads, so I am going to make sure I am wearing a a hat and keepin my locks tucked up good and fish free. The problem is that (if I manage to keep the fish out of my hair) I still have my hair crammed in a hat for 16-20 hours a day. Last summer, by the end of it, my non-dreaded hair was so knotted and matted that it took 1 week, 4 showers, a good 14 hours of my own work, three friends and a momma to help get my hair free again.

Long story short, I want to keep these beauties healthy. Any advice, thoughts or experience are much appreciated!!

Thanks everybody!

Johnie

updated by @johnie-kraning: 01/13/15 10:02:26PM

note: when i gotto the end i had to scroll up to add this..i hope i wasnt offending you by any of this

i grew up sailing, racing sailboats (if you could call moving slower then a walking pace racing) with 5 people crammed into a 24 foot boat (and only 4 small "beds' ) and no escape when u dont get along ..and the longest trips we took were a couple weeks..and that was without the fish factor too and the dangers of fishing in alaska

i just did a quick google search alaskan fishing is concidered the most dangerous job on earth.. more dangerous then bomb disposal more dangerous then coal mining..more dangerous then alegator wrestling

ok i hope what follows isnt offencive

well 1 the moneys great doing that but theres a reason the moneys great..its an extremely dangerous job that alot of people die doing

so your dreads health and safety should be a secondary concern

the sea salt will help it get tighter more dreaded but dry it out too

im not sure wich is worse the fish stench or the knotting up into the shape of a hat..me being a vegatarian for 30+ years i couldnt imagine a worse hell then that (25 years ago i almost got a job in a dog food factory it was so disgusting and when i mentioned how horible the stench was they replied "just wait till thursday thats fish day thats when it really gets disgusting" the idea of fish guts stick in my dreads would make me shave my head.. then pour gas over my head and light it on fire trying to steralize it

ok maybe that was a tad extreme but u get my meaning months at a time trapped in a boat with smelly men covered in fish guts that dont shower.... my only hope would be that i could puke enough to drown out the dead fish smell with a slightly better pike smell

and i havent even mentioned the fact that its contributing to the near apocolyptic depletion of sea life thats already gotten far beyond the scary level

ok im not being very supportive i guess haha but am speaking my mind ..i reallu would not concider that an adventure

especialy sinde u did it once already it seems yea would be cool to sail around alaska see some whales and walruses.. but not to slaighter them..and once wiould be enough

ok i should try to get back on the subject of dreads here but im afraid my minds stuck imagining the stench the hundreds of thousands of lives ended the piles of guts everywhere (well maybe u just load em in the hold and dont gutt and clean them?) but still that horible stench..

i know you asked about dreads but the thought of that smell in my hair ..it even just in the air..its too traumatizing to contemplate..

and to have no escape?

i can suggest a much greater adventure to have this summer..one far safer more amazing and enjoyavble.. one that smells alot better

did i answer any of the dread questions yet?

i know my nausea sent me on an epic rant...

if i was forced at gunpoint to make that trip and spend a week on the boat....well im trying hard to imaginme what id do abouit my dreads..and since i have beard dreads too sealing them in plastic for a week would mean i couldnt breathe (wich might be a blessing concidering how bad it would stink) ..

but since i cant seal my head in plastic and live id probably have to shave my head

but the more i think about it the more i think id just jump overboard sometime in the 1st day

if you did fall overboard how long can u survive in such cold water?

i assume your not vegatarian so maube the stench doesnt bother you nor the ethical issues with killio=ng hundreds of thousands of living things.. but what about the depletion of the seas?

we have several deep sea divers on here all have posted a few times thoer concerns with the vanishing sea life and what that means to all life on the planet

all the over fishing of the oceans driving us towards a premature extinction quickly

i think i better end this rant now or i can go on typing all night about this

hope none of that offended you

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

just food for thought

the risk of death in that job is 26 times higher then the national average..the worlds deadliest job..

thats not an adventure its high risk russian roulette

we'd like to see you come back alive..dreads and all

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

haha no no, i am not offended at all! i expect this reaction from time to time.

first off, if i did it for the money, id be a fool.
as for the fishing itself. I am definitely a believer in a circle of life with a carnivorous aspect, but I believe it is a circle of life, and the reason that I fish for food and not for sport. one of my biggest problems with parts of alaska is the half of the population that are the reason for the word "game" in the term fish and game. i know that you are passionate about this, and i completely respect that and wouldnt even want you to ever change that perspective. however, if you are interested just for knowledges sake, you might look into the differences between farmed fish and the efforts that people with your perspective as well as mine have made to combat the senseless slaughtering and devastation of nature. that being said, you and i still wont likely agree, and thats ok

and i appreciate your concerns about the risk as well!

sailing must have been incredible. i can't imagine the magic that must have been to grow up like that. so cool!!

I had never been on a boat like that til last summer. had never seen nature in its fullness like that. had never lived so simply and worked so purely. so for me, it really is an adventure.

so back to my little dreadies. haha!
is there a style of wrapping/weaving/placing in a hat that might help minimize the tangle? if i changed up the way i store them and make sure i work them each night and pull them apart and all that?
what about blow dryers? i always let my hair dry in the sun, but on the boat its fairly cold and often raining. are blow dryers bad for dreads??

thanks SE!

instead go to the rainbow gathering you will be deep in the wilderness helping the environment instead of harming it ..far safer and way more enjoyable

but if u must (and survive) yea pulling them apart more and blow dryers are fine just try not to use high heat and if u gotta use high heat cause your freezing your ass off move it around alot quickly as to not caise heat damage

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1