Patience timeline - one year without brushing.

I stopped brushing my hair on 18 January 2013. Here it is 2 days later as I didn't take a before photo

and by 10 days it was already getting enthusiastic and I had amazing tangling at the back...

lots and lots of separating needed as the whole back of my hair wanted to be one great felted mat. Here are some of the tangles at 17 days

When I took some photos in sunshine at 19 days I suddenly realised that I had beautiful hair - for the first time ever I was really happy with how it looked

by 1 month stuff was really happening

and I had about a dozen babies like these

and another dozen or so like this one

here's one from 7.5 weeks. I love feeling so much texture in there

and this is at 8 weeks, before separating, taken to show how much shrinkage is going on already. The patch of frizz in the dark bit here needs separating at least once a day...

Two months today!

From the start I was wondering about my very straight parting which didn't want to shift but in the last week or two it's been tentatively partying I've also decided to grow out my fringe and see if I like the whole lot dreaded - big step as I've always worn a fringe but I could always cut it again if I don't - so this photo is tracking the start of progress with fringe and parting

And a couple of photos comparing the uneven progress between each side - left

and right

So far I have no idea why the advice is to stop looking in the mirror - there's no way I'd want to miss a moment of this process - it's a wonderful amazing thing!

This morning as I separated I counted 80 sections which have anything from a tiny patch sticking together up to being a proper baby dread. Some are teeny and some that are shrinking seem quite fat in comparison but I'm happy to welcome all sizes - it'll be fun to see how they end up There's also still some loose hair underneath on the rightwondering what everyone else is up to and whether it ought to join in!

I haven't updated in ages so here's a photo from 16 weeks

And one from 5 months

It's now nearly 9 months since I stopped brushing my hair so probably time for a few more photos...

This is how I wear my hair when it needs to be vaguely tidy - and this is how long my fringe has got now. It's very annoying and I hope it will start dreading soon...

Just about a year now so time for an update

and an upside-down one

The bits that are growing out fringe are wrapped at the moment mainly because this winter has been so wet that I got fed up with constantly having a sheet of sodden hair plastering my glasses. There is some dreading starting above the wraps now which is a useful side-effect! I am still gob-smacked about the amount of shrinkage I've had so I'm hoping the next stage will be growth...

updated by @patience: 02/14/15 04:42:15AM

What a fantastic timeline! I'm slightly jealous as to how well your hair is naturally progressing If I could start mine over I would let it go natural. Your seem to be going perfectly!

Thank you April!

I've been really blown away by how fast everything keeps changing. It's slightly odd that one side is going so much faster than the other but I know it will catch up in the end. Also I'm a littleperturbedby how much shrinkage has already happened - and hoping I will have some length left at the end of this process...

April Brown said:

What a fantastic timeline! I'm slightly jealous as to how well your hair is naturally progressing If I could start mine over I would let it go natural. Your seem to be going perfectly!

looking very lovely, your hair is progressing so quickly. I bet you have a ton of shrinkange in the next few months.

thats awesome. keep it up!

Awesome time line and great progress!

Hmm yeah. Ton of shrinkage. That'll be good. I suppose lol

Cole Morton said:

looking very lovely, your hair is progressing so quickly. I bet you have a ton of shrinkange in the next few months.

Thank you both

KnotLady said:

thats awesome. keep it up!

amethyst777 said:

Awesome time line and great progress!

Keep at it, it's looking GREAT! I myself backcombed my hair first, but that all fell apart in about two months. I am a year in now, and have SUPER hard locks, as well as a lot of loose hair still. I've also noticed that some of mine started super thin like some of yours, and have quadrupled in girth at very least.

I have found that if you wait until your hair is wet, it works best. I usually just grab them close to where they are conjoined, and slowly work my fingers toward my scalp, pulling the hairs that are joining them out carefully as not to break them. If they get too locked up, I just grit my teeth and rip them apart. So, yes on both accounts for me personally.

Maybreeze said:

In the first picture your hair looks exactly like mine (I stopped brushing my hair 8 days ago), so your timeline is very interesting for me. It shows an intriguing process!

How exactly do you separate the sections? Is it just one quick movement of ripping two sections apart, or do you go about it in a more careful way? And do you start the separating at the ends or at the roots? Yep, I'm a total beginner .