Forum Activity for @don-j

Some Assembly Required

Dreading Methods

Nicely done, though it makes me want to start over...(natural) I can at least appreciate that I did them myself

Thank you Baba.

What not to use in your hair?

Dread Accessories

Thank you Baba, I edited it for you and Is that wood bead lacquered?

What not to use in your hair?

Dread Accessories

So just thinking, is there anything decorative that I should not put in my hair? If I'm asking, I'm sure someone else is and can benefit from this. I feel this is important to the home craft, as some things can do more damage then its worth.

Questionable:

String or thread. What kind to use, what not to use?

Is soapstone good to use?

Peyote Stitch, stretchy or non?
Peyote Stitch, open gaps?

Full dread Peyote Stitch, has this bin done?

Wood alone can absorb a ton of water in 30 minutes and please try it out... soak your wood beads with water, weigh it out and let us know. I want to see them scales lol. I also see posts regarding residue/oil build up on them and some that have cracked.

Safe with general warning:

**Untreated Wood - Must be removed for washing, replace cracked and dull sharpness

(glass/ceramics and beads) - If not careful may lead yo molding or getting stuck if left to long and braking glass may lead to cuts.

Prove me wrong, but the things I feel are bad for the hair:

Thank you SE!!! GLUE! in any form... hot glue melts.... think before using any glue please.

Steal, silver, copper, brass and clear lacquer. Anything that can be sharp is a given...

Those 4 metals oxidize on there own. The oxidation or tarnish, I feel it can upset your dreads and scalp to irritation or worse.

Most people will say clear lacquer will solve all of that. I feel it can act as a glue and you will have to cut it out. "if the lacquer is not 101% dry or solvents dissolving it slightly"

I'm sure more will come... feel free to add anything I may have missed and answer what you can.

updated by @don-j: 01/13/15 09:33:10PM

Dreads and the Ocean

General Questions

soaring eagle said:

watch out for the octopus that wants to mare with your head

combing out year and a half old natural locks

Dread Maintenance

wish something I could say would help the matter, don't do it? I face the same problem and mentality... I hope you decision works for you and not against you. Saying so, why not tell the potential employer that you would change the hair if that's what it means?

A potential employer told me to take out my lip piercings, like an idiot I did and didn't keep the job more then 6 months.(health issues with the job itself)

DREAD! Just one of them...

Help! Save My Dreads

I can get a good pic of it, but its bad.... Usually if I'm working on something I have my hair wrapped, today I neglected to do so and payed the price.The t-shirt wrapping has saved the dreads in the past because of the cuts and holes on it now.

The problem happened after I fell out of a tree, I snagged my hair and scalp on a branch... Cutting the hair and scalp, not much left to holding the dread to the head. The dread seem to be fine other then that, like a lost child I tried using aloe... and I feel it made it worse and the broken hair seem to slip out of the wrapping. It was my favorite and gave it the name "Phatty" because of its thickness. Bin a bad day for me...

What are my options? should I just hope for the best? going to suck to have that one short dread latter on?

updated by @don-j: 01/13/15 09:33:02PM

I get why people use wax now...

Dread Maintenance

YA like SE said... I came here so see the debate... good job though. I started saying "hi" to the people that cant stop looking...

I remember reading that someone waxed 2 dreads to hold them together after cutting them apart. I would not do either...

how can i get my dreads to thicken up and how can i make the ends neater

Dread Maintenance

Are your dry rolling or have?

Used the sea salt, rinse your head once, then soak with the salt water and roll each once. Let "fully" dry (uses a hair blower medium heat on low fan if it takes longer then 30 minutes to dry)

Then rinse wash like you normally do and keep doing it every week or 2 till you feel its not helping anymore, condition if it feels dry to the point its brittle and Aloe Vera works great for that and loose hairs.

Like they say, blunts aren't the greatest and you still would have the random hair unless you do the c word... dreads are messy... but if you really want... just fold the tip in when rolling with the salt, or rub the tip into the palm, but be forward bumps will happen if you force things. I did both ways and still not fully blunted, but it did what I wanted and what I feel you are looking for.

Source: This site helped a lot and doing it myself, I was dry rolling all the time and it looked similar to that. It is dreading and it will keep knotting but it will be puffy with no water. Water helps the knotting, salt just drys it faster and adds friction. I also T-shirt tie my hair back at night for less rubbing on the pillow and a "dew rag" would work too. Not to tight, it can flatten the dread over time.

I shouldn't really try helping till after a year but its just the same thing people say over and over. Give it time.Looking good, keep it up

Bug's Dreadline (aka plee for moral support) UPDATE 7/10/13: 1 YEAR PIC & VID - pic in first post.

Member Journals and Timelines

My ears are burning...

Just take it one step at a time, your getting it altogether. Hemp works well and covers a lot of problems (will get list one day) but the best thing about it, most don't have allergies or asthma symptoms to it. If a nice sent is what your looking for, lemon zest (coffee filtered) worked really well to cover the stinky oils and lemon juice with the salt was great . Though I didn't know it works like a bleach, just found that out myself and feel it would be softer on hair/scalp then bleach itself...(have done that) Most start dreading with nice healthy hair, if brittle is a fear then just don't use it and the sun will lighten your hair too. I always diluted my lemon juice with mostly salt water and would still use it as I did if I restarted. (I really liked it better then just salt water)

Irritation is common at the start till you stop using salt mix, even if just spraying hair a little tends to get on the scalp and drys it out. Salt was worse then the lemon in my books, but it did help the most. I did quick wash's with just 1/8cup BS/ 3/4 gallon water *(no oil) on any other day if really needed and leaving Wash Wednesday(WW) to do all(with oils). To much of anything is a bad thing too, Just keep it really clean and it will knot in time. I look for happy skin.

I truly wish you luck with your dreads and cant wait to see how they turn out.

essential oils " soaring eagle "

updated by @don-j: 07/23/15 06:36:05PM

Essential Oils & Pregnancy

Dread Products

Most of this if from smells though, the mother is their to filter out most of the harmful things that are absorbed and her liver filters the blood before it and during pregnancy. Most oils that we use are diluted and not stronger then we can handle... We have all done TOO much peppermint and I can see that being a problem, but can't see 1 drop of peppermint to 1 liter of water being that bad...

How I see this being a BIG issue is allergies, you can't filter what you ingest and breath...

Personal example: I have allergies to pork, my mother never did before and once pregnant she started getting sick every time it was cooked. She washospitalized each time. After I was born she's better with it but still keeps it in mind and I get violently sick when around cooking pork or eating it.

Bothers girlfriend did not eat peanuts , drank soy milk once and could not stop... her kid was servilelylactose intolerant and allergic to peanuts. To the point of trial treatments and its still going on...

Any female going through pregnancy should try to be them self and expose them self's to as many things as they can SAFELY as it will help build an immune system. Avoiding everything that has made a person sick will only create a bubble boy...

just my thought, back to looking up oils lmao