how natural dreads have changed much more than my hair

i started my journey about five months ago, and i didn't really know a lot about the natural process in the beginning. but oh boy, has it been a great five months! my hair has so much personality, and other people are finally noticing that i have baby dreads and even complimenting on them! i'm always surprised and excited to get approached my strangers about my hair, mostly because it still seems so messy to me. but i love it anyhow =)

well, my intentions for this post are to try to explain how the natural process has affected other areas of my life. the most obvious change so far are the products i use. not only am i using all natural, plant-based products on my hair, but i'm also using natural products on the rest of me too! i use dr. bronner's on my hair and my body. i also use baking soda to wash my hair, and also to boost the power of my natural deodorant. i am just utterly in love with natural black soap from ghana; i use it on my face and i'll never ever use anything else. mountain rose herbs has great face creams. the combination of those two things on my face has absolutely done wonders for my skin! also, all the scents i use are natural and plant-based. if i could find my camera i'd show you a picture of all these things! i'm never going to go back to using chemical-loaded wal mart products again. they just don't feel right.

the process has also changed my spiritually as well. i've been a buddhist for several years now, but it seems to me that my awareness has increased significantly in the past few months. i've read that dreadlocks are like antennae--they're an extension of your nervous system coming from your spine and right out of your brain--and i think that is absolutely true. as a pisces, i rely on my intuition and i even get the feeling that i might have a heightened sixth sense. i've had several prophetic dreams since starting my dreads and much more deja vu than normal. because of my increased awareness, i'm able to respond to almost any situation in a calm, controlled manner. (this aspect is really hard for me to put into words, it's not very concrete.)

all in all, i'm very glad i decided to go natural. i love seeing the pictures and posts on this website. i love all the kind, encouraging words. i'm very grateful to SE and everyone else for their advice and guidance.

love love love!!! happy journeys!!!

brittany =)

updated by @baby-britt: 02/14/15 06:33:44AM

its so true

just made me think about that post "is it true if you have dreads you shouldnt eat meat" and although its not a rule or anything just the hightened awareness and the more naturalness is likely to lead you that way anyway

i loved this post

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

"as a pisces, i rely on my intuition and i even get the feeling that i might have a heightened sixth sense. i've had several prophetic dreams since starting my dreads and much more deja vu than normal."

that makes two of us right on awesome post :D

thank you SE =) learned a lot from you these past few months.

pisces power!!! ~~~~~

I love this and also find it so true for me as well.It has completely changed the way I look at so many aspects of my life.Thank you for the beautiful post

i was going to write another paragraph about food but i decided against it. weird that you said something. i was a vegetarian for 3 years but i started eating meat again like 2 years ago. i limit my meat intake now. i might not go completely veg again, but seems like since i started dreading i'm more aware of things like artificial flavoring and preservatives... "food chemicals" in general. i wanna get a juicer reeeeeeal bad >.<

are you a vegetarian?

soaring eagle said:

its so true

just made me think about that post "is it true if you have dreads you shouldnt eat meat" and although its not a rule or anything just the hightened awareness and the more naturalness is likely to lead you that way anyway

i loved this post

<3

Suz said:

I love this and also find it so true for me as well.

It has completely changed the way I look at so many aspects of my life.

Thank you for the beautiful post

beautifully said, apryl.

about black soap: i first saw it in an african store in a local mall, you know the ones with bob marley shirts, crazy outfits, incense, jewelry, and all that jazz. it was in an unmarked plastic tub, so i asked the guy in the shop what it was. he told me it was black soap, made in ghana, and that they use it for acne, psoriasis, eczema, etc. and also that it was safe on hair too. i decided to buy it. it looks literally like a hunk of crap, and smells sort of stale until you get it wet.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/what-is-black-soap.php

that website offers a good description of it. just make sure when you're buying it that it's not in bar form, it should look like a weird hunk of brown stuff. sometimes it's wrapped in white butcher paper.

Apryl said:

While I did not go natural/neglect - no wax either, just a comb for a few hours, and THEN 2 years now of the natural path - originally, I've been working for years to embody this way of life, as you described, at any opportunity. I was using the baking soda concoction to shampoo with, but honestly, when I switched back to Bronner's temporarily, I realized that it made my hair fuller, and softer. So I'm back on the manufactured soaps...Which is odd when you take into account that Dr. Bronner's is wonderfully different than any soap falling under the title of ''manufactured,'' in myriad ways.

About that black soap...Several places carry Dr. B's, but my favorite place tobuy itis our local Golden Carrot [health foods shop], where I might have seen some of this black soap...Could you tell us more about exactly what that is, and if Iencounter some under a different brand name, what should the label tell me, so I know I've got the right stuff? It is less expensive, so I might like to move onto that for awhile.

I'm aLeo, myself, andyou folks may have noticed the civil unrest happening inthe U.S. currently,a movement for some social justice. I won't delve too far into the politics, but what I seeis that we aretreading closer to the Aquarian age, where a new enlightenment will grace our communities, and we will begin to work with one another for the good of all. Growing these dreads, I have learned their likeness to the roots of the Earth, and the more I witness this product, that product, to make your hairresemblewhat can be found in magazines,when I really get to thinking what a difference my own hair-care regimen has become [manyproducts to no products], I retreat further fromthese chemical, mass-marketed soaps you mentioned,along with a great manyother parts of society, nearly everything, and I no longer trust them. I do what I can, and yes, I believe I can certainlypick up on thissong with nature you sing.

Hey there is a website that sells the best african black soap its called the Gourmet Rose. You get one pound for I think 9.99. I swear by the stuff 100 % natural and you can even wash your dreads with it

bout 4 months in I stopped eating meat and fish