Blogs

Why does a 44 year old women decide to dread her hair? Is it because my entire adult life has been to serve others? I work full time, I'm a wife for 20 years, I'm the mother of 2 children, I'm the daughter of 2 older parents, the sister of a brother incarcerated, the friend who is always there to help. When is is my time? Am I selfish to want my time? Am I thoughtless to how my parents would feel about this? Am I the comedian at work who everyone likes to tease about "her mid-life crisis"? Am I the "cool mom" on the block that all the other mothers mock when I'm not around? Why does a 44 year old women decide to dread her hair?

hi all, new to hear and feel the love already

hears my story so fa. i giv into quick "results" nd crocheted my hair for th first 2 months or so. nd they never truly lockd up, and needed to be rammed with the darn needle every few days.this gave temporary tightness nd permanent broken hairs.

i came to me senses and got rid of the damaging hook, and over the last 5-6 months I've been letting them grow and change however dey wish.

me dreads have thickend, thinned, tightened and loosend all on they own. its beautiful to see them taking own form and grow so quickly.

me worry is that the months and yrs to come, will the crochet damage com back to haunt me?

has anybody who crocheted in the past, and them let nature take over had any dramas ?

any insights, info or tips would be so great.

One Love, From Australia

CJ :D

I come from a artistic family. Both my parents love anything and everything related to art, drawing, painting, crafts, woodworking, morbid, body painting, etc. So is it any wonder thatI would also catch the artitsic bug, no not really. I've played around with art and I'm pretty decent at it, Did the whole drama and Chior thing in high school. Finished Beauty School, loving everything I've ever done. I've cut and styled my own hair, Played with color, and overdramatized make-up. Did the whole goth, scene looks they've all been fun and apart of me. Expressing me without having to let the shy, bashful, petite, lil ole me have to say anything about who I was as a person. If I ever got bored there was always something new to try. Of course there are those annoying people that judge and belittle anyone that wants to be themselves who are incapable of thinking outside of the box. Thinking back I now realize I was just trying to find myself, the make-up and the hair colors not only were an outlet but a mask to pretend that I was outgoing. Since high school I've wanted dreads. A book my bestie let me borrow had the lead characterwith dreads. Of course at the time there wasn't too much information out there for dreads so it got put on hold. Finally deciding to go for it I started my baby dreads. First time I tried I was constantly fussing with my locks and little procress was ever made. Having to take my dreads out because my husband had been laid off, and needing an income was the hardest thing. Immediatly after I posted a picture of having taken my locks out and a comment was posted on my Facebook, that I looked normal, even prettier. Of course this upset me to no end. THis last october I decided to have a second go at it. Instead of the constant palmrolling, and the struggle to speed up the timely process of dreads I've found I'm more at peace and fully enjoying my "bambinos" locks as I call them. As my husband and I were discussing the other day I finally feel as though I've begun to understand and feel comfortable being myslef. I feel sexy and outgoing with my locks. There's no moreofthat need to constantly dye my hair because of boredom. I don't need color and make-up to speak for me. I'm comfortable in my own, very natural skin. Instead of bold clothes, earthtone colors and natural fabrics are my fancy. It took a while and a lot of explaning to friends and family on the lifestlye, but they've been my backbone when I've doubted and several times almost brought a comb to my locks. Yes there are those glances of OMG Watch out for the hippie, or the ignorant people that believe dreads are for hobos. I smile back and hold my head high. I have dreads! Their sexy and completely me!

My hair finally realised its not going to be combed...anddecidedto knot up after a wash! good progress so far I'd say... the next good sign will be the formation and maturity of locks.

It's sure been an interesting couple of weeks! I had to move back home because my hours got cut and I couldn't paymy bills anymore. Now that I'm back to living with my ultra conservative small town family, it's like I'm an outcast! all because I've got tattoos and piercings and of course dreads. Every day it's "I wish you'd just cut those things off" and "You look like you got hit by a car" or "oh God, take that thing out of your nose, its disgusting." And the guys I've dated seem to be freaked out by these things too. So I'm just taking a break from dating for now.

I drive my beloved "hippie mobile" and sometimes people see it and say things like "take a bath, you hippie!" or "get a job, you bum!" I have 2 jobs. I guess I'm just sick of the judgement!

Sometimes I just with I had more people like me to hang out with

But without darkness, there would be no light, So I'm just trying to keep my head up and move past the stares the the judgmental comments.

Someday I know things will get better

Hello everyone! I have not started dreading yet but I am about to and have wanted to for at least two years!!

I just have some questions....

1. Soo to start them.. I was going to back comb and use a crochet hook but then i heard crochet hooks are really bad.. so should i just back comb and palm roll and use sea salt? any suggestions??

2. When I have loose hairs and roots what should I do?

3. How often/with what should i wash them?

any other advice would be greatly appreciated!!:D

Most of my dreads are quite stiff, and a couple of them have hard spots. I assumed the worst: WAX. So I combed out one of the thin-ish, only half-way dreaded ones out, expecting to see the horrors of waxy remains...but no. There was literally nothing there. So I dunno why they're stiff or anything. Anyway, I decided to comb a couple more out, mostly the ones in the front/middle, because...the ones in the middle are basically forced into sections that don't feel right, and I get the feeling the roots will never tighten in those ones, because they're just too...unnatural, I guess. Plus, the past few weeks I've had the urge to start again using the neglect method, but I love my progress too much. So now I've found a good middle ground, and I'm excited to see the transformation from normal hair to dreads

On a related note, if anyone reading this is early into the dreading process and wants to comb them out and start over, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO IT NOW, DO NOT WAIT. Combing out 8-month old dreads...it took me two hours to comb out each dread, and I have blisters all over my hand. And a headache. I still have one left to comb out, but there are tears in my eyes over the thought of doing that again :\ ah well.

hello to you all, I started my dreads in june 3 2012, i have done them naturally no lock pepper, no twising, no back coming, it prob took till december for them all to form actually locks, I do wash them at first about 3 times a week, then 2 times an now only once a week, i like to keep em clean, iv also noticed using a natrual bar soap is the best for keepin them clean. I wear my hair up alot at first an I really think that helped to form them...i wish everyone the best of luck on their locks..... im tryin to get apick up soon...

Hi Everyone I've been growing my dreads 3 years now...Now that I have gotton out of the dread hair fashion (meaning mantainedlocs).I am now enjoying allowing them and watching them do there on thing.

I always wanted very thick locs>>well they would have been if I would have learned more before I started having them interlocked and twisted. I know free form, I just left them alone, not completely but no more interlocking and twisting. I was wondering thou, I have a few Locs that have decided to have babies meaning limbs..One of them actually split in 2. To me its so pretty, but is this normal..and what is normal???lol I feel as thou it's spiritual..

Mina

Hey all,

I used to have dreads about 2 years ago. I kept them for around 5 months, went to a salon to have them done and the girl used the backcombing method and that was it. I hadn't done much research at the time, so the only thing I did in those 8 months to maintain them was go to the beach and "wash" them in salt water. This is what they looked like after 5 months. I ended up combing them out (which took 16 hours), but it goes to show you how loose they were.

I'm wanting them again, but this time for the long-haul and I'm wondering what the best method would be for my coarse/very thick/very curly hair. This time I won't be going to a salon. I would like to do them on my own. I moved to Colorado Springs and don't know anyone who would be able to help me, so I would like to do them with a method that requires no help from others. Also, I have a baby so I won't be able to dedicate several hours at a time. I'm thinking I'm going to have to do them one at a time (even if it takes months). I'm just not sure the "neglect/natural" method would be the right way for me since I never brush my curls out and in all this time, no dreads have appeared. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!