Omg! That glitter gel! We need to make some kind of dready horror film!
Tazz said:
Hmm. I'm amazed you didn't flip the hell out on the girl I would be so mad. The only thing I fear more is glitter. -_-'
I use Tea Tree Tingle from Trader Joe's. I'm not certain if it's organic, but it is clarifying, which is very, very important, and it isn't tested on animals. It is also VERY affordable. I believe about $4 a bottle - cheap enough for you to try out and not feel cheated if you don't like it.
I am a mom of 5, ranging from 2 to 21. I TOTALLY agree with all of this. I am heavily tattoed and have dreads. My husband is also heavily tattooed with a pretty ridiculous beard. Other parents are always pretty shocked to hear that we have rules and limits, too! (GASP!) I
have been down this road before! Starting very young my older kids were allowed to use their hair, basically the most disposable aspect of your appearance, (shave it off & it grows back!) to express themselves. My daughters had crazy colors and mohawks & blah blah blah... WE just want them to be happy. We drew the line with the holes in the face. We didn't want a 16 year old pin cushion. She did it anyway and they were gross and infected, but she was happy. Ew. Our 9 year old has been dreading for 4 months now and we are keeping that same thing in mind - he can cut them off and his hair will grow back.
If you can have a non-heated conversation, I back up Baba. Explain to them that they make you happy and it's a way to express yourself. also, the thing I'm stressing - IT GROWS BACK AS IF BY MAGIC!!!!! Don't be disrespectful. Take what you can from these conversations.
And, just so you know, my mother hates my dreads and my son's budding, baby dreads. 
Baba Fats said:
Parents always want you to be happy. Unfortunately, sometimes they think they know what will make you happy. You have to find that out for yourself.
Let them know how happy your locks make you. Show them pictures of people with neat clean locks from here. Locks don't always look crazy and messy. They tame themselves and mature to look just fine. By law, you can't be not hired nor fired for your locks.
My parents still hate mine, but they know that I like them, and they make me me. So my mom stopped hassling me about them. Granted it took 6+ years. She still doesn't like them, but she finally stopped telling me about it.
There is a great powerpoint slide someone posted a while ago for showing parents how beautiful and clean locks are.
What exactly do they think is unnatural about Baking soda? There are other natural soaps you can use. But I'd like to know what they think about this. It's not unhealthy. It's natural. And it cleans extremely well
Okay, Emma, I used wax on this set of dreads, (this is my 4th, and final set,) because I had brushed out some dreads a few months prior and had thousands of crazy different hair lengths and tons and tons of breakage. I really felt that wax was my only option. Bad move. They were embarrassing and looked stupid and I literally wore a hat for two years. When I had a problem getting wax out, I ended up basically using the same method you use to get a spilled candle out of carpet, only without direct contact heat and a much lower setting. (Not a clothes iron.) I spent many, many, many free hours watching tv with a blow dryer and rolls of paper towel. I would section my hair off and get it nice and melty with the blow dyer. You can feel the waxy mess. Then I would squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, dab, dab, dab with the paper towel! You can see it, too. This takes FOREVER but I promise you, it WILL work! I am not certain how good or bad for your hair this is, but considering how many people blow dry, flat iron, curl, etc... daily, it can't be horrible, esp compared to wax. My dreads will be 5 in February and they are lovely! I hope this helps. Hang tough, bb!
I am loving this discussion! I brushed out my last set of dreads because I decided the only way to feed my family was to get "normal" and find a "good" job. So, with broken hair and a broken spirit, I never found that job.
5 years later I have beautiful dreads and have accepted that part of having dreads, for me, has been that I will always have to work a bit harder and find my own path, i.e., make my own "good" job. My husband and I are both self employed. I make clothes and jewelry and he has a super long beard, is covered in tattoos, and has a bar.
I am a college graduate and will probably never use my college degree. My husband used to be a fireman! We both stepped back from I guess what is kind of "corporate thinking" and thought about what would make us happy. Who knows. Maybe one day we will actually be quite successful at it, too!
Go with your gut. 
Awesome! My step son had me back comb for ever and I told him to be careful washing them and he went swimming the next day! D'oh! Now he is on 4 months of no brushing and has 5 baby ones.
Oh my gosh! I am so sorry to read this, but this explains a lot for me as well. My situation does not hold a candle to yours, but yours is so illuminating for mine! When I was pregnant with my now 2 y.o. I was using wax and my skin was horrible. It was way worse that it ever was with prior pregnancies or even my skin as a teen. Nothing at all could be done because I was pregnant. The dr just assumed it was due to hormones. After I had my daughter it didn't get any better and I even resorted to costly products, etc...
Now it all makes sense! I was doing freaking wax maintenance every couple of months at the time! My skin eventually cleared up and now that I read your story I can directly connect it to when I was using wax. That is INSANE!
Thank you so much for posting your story and I hope that many people read it and share it. <3
I have found that Turbie Twists are awesome for drying my dreads. Do NOT buy the fake kind. Get the real Turbie Twist brand. I Have quite a few and it usually takes 3 of them to get the majority of the drying done, but after a good squeeze to get all of the water out after I've washed them, the Turbies do a pretty darned good job of sucking the rest out.
