Sara, I just came to therealization a few days ago too that my hair IS going to shrink. When I first decided to dread it I was completely naive thinking that it was just going to magically turn into dreads without knotting and it would stay close to the same length it was. For some reason, my mind had me believing that. Which would be difficult since knotting is how it works. ; )I am beyond the freaking out stage and into the oh well, I want dreads no matter what and if it shrinks short then so be it. If you want dreads for the rest of your life, it doesn't matter if it shrinks because you have a lifetime for it to grow after it matures. That's what I have come to realize. Plus, if you look at the peoples hair that had alot of shrinkage, they also have a head full of awesome thick wild dreads too, that will be very strong. Believe me, I still hope inside that they don't shrink to my ears, but even if I had a crystal ball that could tell me they would shrink to my ears, I would still let them keep dreading. I guess it comes down to how bad you want them. We are all in it together though and that should help.
: )