Forum Activity for @tied-up-in-knots

Crisis! Missing my hair...

Dreadlocks Journey Emotional Support

Yes! Own the dirty hippie label! I'm actually somewhat famous in my small city for being a barefoot hippy woman. I refer to myself as a dirty hippie all the time. I even introduce myself to some people as such. I enjoy it. If anyone says it in a derogatory way I just laugh and thank them. Its not worth worrying about.The people who truly care about you will adjust. One of my friends hates my barefootedness. Hates it. But she loves me so she makes me natural foot scrubs as gifts and calls me a dirty hippie with a smile. She also continues to go out in public with me even though she finds me mildly embarrassing. Because she's my friend and I am more than my bare feet or my dreads or my hairy armpits. Anyone who can't see past the superficial aspects of who I am isn't worthy of my awesomeness.Anyone who can't see past your dreads isn't worthy of You. Remember that. No one who loves you will let your hair change their opinions or their behaviour towards you.

new mobile site front page

General Talk

The only issue on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S2, stock browser) appears to be the dreaducation link. The link itself is fine, the text just runs out of the grey space in portrait mode. Looks fine in landscape though.

All of the links work for me.

Wording sounds good as well.

Beads!!!!!!

Dread Maintenance

Apparently I like to keep my doodads in my hair until they get permanently stuck in my dreads. I just don't keep in anything that is longer than half an inch.

Baby Dread Question!

Dread Maintenance

Twisting speeds up balding/traction alopecia but not dreading. Just make sure to separate your dreads by pulling them apart when they tangle.Wash your hair today if you'd like. Or go swimming first and then wash your hair. Wash when your hair needs to be washed. Swim when you want to. Just make sure your dreads get to dry out each day.

good or bad idea?

Introduce Yourself

Yes indeed. That's the best you could possibly do for them. Just listen to your hair. It will tell you what it needs.

Check out the dreaducation sections for more info on cleaning and keeping dreads happy. There are various different ways to keep them clean, you just have to find what works for you and your dreads.

I personally use the Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar rinses. When I feel the need I add various oils to the rinses to keep my hair and scalp healthy. My most common are tea tree and rosemary. I use coconut oil very sparingly on the odd occasion my hair gets very dried out.

good or bad idea?

Introduce Yourself

I vote for letting them do what they do. You already know what twisting does.

Let the new healthy growth come in. Are your dreads for life? Then 4 years isn't much in the grand scheme of things really. Much better to let the rest of your dread journey be healthy and strong rather than continue harming your hair and facing the same problem over and over.

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Backcombing for a different reason

Dreading Methods

Your method is fine. I think it's a shame you are worried about looking like a girl though. What's so wrong with girls that you can't handle looking like one? :P

Don't know about the soap. Do you know what is in it?

What do you mean by strict and precise? The sections (at the root) are precise and uniform or are the actual dreadlocks just smoother?

A few possibilities there. They are lying about not going to a salon and they actually used a starter method (if their sections are very precise this is very likely). Or they forced those sections as their hair knotted up...which I can't imagine is easy and seems illogical for someone going neglect.

If it's just their dreads though it could be their hair type or the age of their dreads.

Very nappy hair often looks more uniform faster than straight hair. Straight hair looks a lot wilder because it is slippier and can fly away and be generally crazy. But once our hair is locked up new growth will grow out in a much smoother manner. You can see this in pictures posted on here where people have really long, cylindrical locks with funky paddles/medallions/zigzags/whatnot hanging off the end. The funky bits on the end are from the initial locking process and the ropes are new growth. Your friends may have cut their crazy bits off for aesthetic reasons and that could be why they look more "professional".

Washing dreads...

Dread Maintenance

Wow. I really shouldn't post from my phone! The first line should say something like "I can't say whether it really speeds things up or not..."

Washing dreads...

Dread Maintenance

I can't say whether or really does things up or not but I did bs/acv rinses every single day for the first month or so. Sometimes twice a day. Mostly because it felt nice. It seemed to work for my hair. I always had to separate like crazy afterwards. I still have to separate like crazy after washing but I only wash every few days now that my dreads are actually maturing and blunting. They're taking a lot longer to dry these days.For information I did a mix of twist amd rip with loose hair mixed in to form naturals. I started seeing natty dreads forming within a couple weeks. I only used my jug to rinse my hair though, never the shower until they were more solid. Well, I used the jug but I also like to rinse mermaid style in the tub just swishing my hair around. Its fun. I recommend it.What are you using to wash? That has more effect than how often you wash. Most shampoos are no good. Also how are you washing? How and what are way more important than when in my opinion!

The back of my head is a nest

Help! Save My Dreads

Well unless you want a giant pillow dread on the back of your head I would suggest doing something.

Im just not sure exactly what. It depends on how bad it really is. With pictures it can be hard to tell.

Whatever you do you're gonna need help.

Does any of it feel like individual dreads or is it just one big mat? If you can feel individual dreads you may only need to do some intense separation surgery using olive oil or coconut oil to grease up the connecting hairs, pulling what can be pulled and using scissors, carefully cutting away the connections that can't be pulled.

If it's just one giant mat then you're going to have to either put a LOT of effort into combing it out (again using the oil) or cut it off and start fresh.

And once you've got it figured out and everything is back on track...SEPARATE! :D

Good luck.