Hello everyone! This is my first time contributing to the site, though I've been on here browsing for close to six months now. Today was the end of my first month of letting my hair naturally dread, and I'm here to share some pictures of my progress thus far

But, I'd like to share a little background first (just skip this if you don't care.) I'm currently 21 years old, two months away from being 22, and I have struggled with my self image for a long while. For about three years I my hairstyle was quite simple: long bangs that went past my chin with the rest of my head either shaven or with very short hair. I loved my hair and I felt like it was the most important, defining thing about myself. Unfortunately though both sides of my family have either very thin hair or are completely bald, and I started experiencing quite a bit of hair loss on top of my head, and on the crown of my head.So two years ago I started letting all of my hair grow out because i was afraid that if I didn't try sporting long hair now, then I'd never have the chance in my life.

I've been very unhappy with my appearance during this time, and have had very poor self esteem due to it. I was constantly trying new products that helped with hair loss, and and constantly finger combing my hair as a nervous habit. Throughout this time I've been trying my hardest to find a style that would look good and cover up my thinning hair. Eventually I decided to research dreadlocks having no idea what the process would be while simultaneously thinking I could easily make them due to how curly my hair was. I watched tons of videos of crocheting, TNR, and backcombing until I discovered this wonderful site. Seeing pictures of natural/neglect dreadlocks completely opened up my eyes!

I wasn't quite ready for the commitment when I first found this site, but last month i finally decided to make my choice. I stopped using products completely, started washing my hair with the baking soda deep cleanse with acv rinse, and mostly stopped touching my hair. I have been separating very cautiously, but I'm not 100% sure how to do it properly. My hair keeps trying to form giant clumps!

It's only been a month, but I've noticed that I haven't been too worried about how I look for the past week and a half

Day 1:

1 week:

2 weeks:

3 weeks:

1 month:

And here's a picture of what seems to be my first dread lock actually forming!

-Icky