I started natural/patience/neglect in summer of 2012 – here it is 2016 and I am still not fully knotted yet. I have to laugh. But still going and this year I finally have enough knots to lose track of the count and have to separate daily to keep things under control.

I had difficulty figuring out how to manage the water here... it's a well and it's just weird water. I figured out with my hair texture (2B/2C wavy, brown/red/blonde, style-resistant) to NEVER use clay of any kind. It absolutely kills my hair–sucks the life out of it– and I had to cut a bunch of fried locks off at the mid-point back a couple of years ago which really sucked... and then I tried a different recipe this spring with much less clay and it happened again. I'm still finding massive tree-like split ends this week (winter) so I might lose my ends again in the coming year. And for shampoos unfortunately Vickie's bars leave a bad residue with my water so I had to stop using them on my head. So for washing these days I use Vital Goods shampoo bars (occasionally liquid) every 2-5 days with diluted ACV rinse and 1-2x per month BS with diluted ACV rinse to clarify because the shampoos still leave something behind. If I do BS too often my hair gets brittle but this occasional use seems to be a good compromise. And at least once per month I try to just soak and scrub everything good with plain warm water and no other cleaning agents, to give the hair and scalp a chemical rest.

I'm sorry there are no photos available right now – I just wanted to jump on here and record the progress before another month or year went by!

If anyone is having trouble with things taking "too long" I'm happy to answer any questions I can... Or just to offer some friendly support. I am happy that I didn't do much to try and speed things up, because it's really become a special journey to me. I've matured and I have been able to take a lot of time to reflect on the symbolism this holds for me, practice letting go of expectations, etc.

Cheers and have a happy new year

A million reasons I haven't been here, but I am still going with my locking process and although it's been slow, they are coming along.

I'm looking forward to the new site, and the possibility of a functional mobile interface.

Missing you all and looking forward to meeting the new members when time is free again

<3

Just checking in, because I haven't been able to look at this site in an age Missing the community. My knots are coming along slowly, but surely -- I think I have about 10-20 knotting up now (maybe more?), and a few are noticeable, but the only person commenting so far is my mother-in-law, haha She asked if it was a braid, and I told her it was "an experiment" Not satisfied with that answer, she asked if she could touch it, and I said it was knots. I'm sure she'll ask me about my knots every time she sees me now

I'll put some photos up eventually, but there's still not much to see from a distance. I have 3 in the front/center, but most of the others are hidden in the back underneath. Not bad for 18 months! haha.

I'm honestly glad they are taking so long sometimes I think last year would not have been a good time for a head full of knots. This year will be stellar.

I don't want to detract from the site's donation campaign - if you're not already aware, soaring eagle is in need of funds to make sure we beat the competition and stay strong as a community.That said, I have a campaign of my own - please consider helping fund Jack's eye surgery, which is booked for Monday morning. Thank you for any help you can provide! http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jack-s-eye-surgery

Just wanted to check in with an update - I have not been spending as much free time on the computer, and the phone app pretty much sucks for replies, so I've just been reading everyone's posts here and there.I'm right at 11 months neglect, and finally decided to listen to my hair and let the locks get fatter. I was thinking of what "I wanted", which was thinner and easier to dry, but my hair really has other ideas. Plus that dream a while back where I had these super fat ropes....Anyway, as much as I can, I'm letting some sections wind up together where they want to, and it's making faster progress. I really am not comfortable with the thought of larger locks (normal to some is large to me), so it's taking a lot of reminding myself not to pull every section apart from its neighbor... What a great reflection of my tendency to analyze or as my husband calls it - pick things apart So, all is well; and time marches on. I'll see if I can get some proper photos for the 1 year mark coming up!

I dreamt last night that I had locks as fat as half dollars... I could see myself, as if looking in a mirror. I recall having to find a large enough band to hold them back from my face. They were much fatter than what I'd had in mind... But it felt good to have some glimpse of a possible future

Went for a nice long walk in the woods this morning, and went off the trail to look at something... Well, i forgot that my hair was down, and in my haste to get up the hill, got a chunk of it caught in a holly tree. The force of my step was so great that there was nothing I could do to stop the tree from ripping out a small section of hair (ouch).

When I went back down the hill, i stopped to see if there was evidence of my error on the tree, but none was to be found... I went home and noticed about 1/4 of a baby lock hanging down from a knot! And here I was questioning the general knottiness of the hairs... But it was such a good knot, I just cut off the excess 12" or so that was hanging down (the part that had ripped from my scalp!), and left the rest in there as a reminder to be more careful next time I go on walkabout

I just had one of those moments... I just erased "Get a Haircut" off of my repeating to-do list, and had a little celebration. I have always hated getting haircuts, not only because no style fits me, but also because they wanted to still try and style my hair, no matter how much I said "no". They would try and put crap in it, too. They would also ALWAYS cut it shorter than I asked. Like I can't see the length of hair hitting the floor?No more salons, and no more salon attitude and ignorance. Yay!