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"Hello my beautiful locked friends."
My name is Keagen, and I am 17 years old from a small town in Pennsylvania. I joined this site a month or two ago, and hadn't wrote anything, so I figured it was time to change that! I love the individuality of everyone on this site, and I think that every single one of you are so unique and the energy you guys radiate is so beautiful! ~ I am going to start taking my time to blog more on this site about multiple topics, and some of which may not include dreads, but important issues such as environmental, spiritual, musical, economic, etc. I cannot wait to get to know all of you more, and it's a huge honor to be apart of this community that grows more and more each day! Have a wonderful day everyone, and don't forget to be happy. ~
Below, I linked my YouTube channel, feel free to check it out, and subscribe to join me on my journey! ~
Click here to check out my channel. ~
Much Love,
Keagen
Okay, well I am embarking on my dready journey. I was debating doing the twist & rip method, but after a lot of research (& reading on this site especially), I have decided to go natural/neglect. My hair is course & wavy/curly. Just at my chest now... wondering how much I should expect it to shrink up with dreads.
I have 2 month old TnR dreads and I only use pure water on them. but they are starting to feel really gross.. what should I do besides an acv/bs rinse?
So I wasn't planning on posting anymore picture or anything until my two week mark but I thought I would go ahead and share this 
I've successfully not brushed my hair for ten days and basically I have been giving it almost zero attention besides washings, I hadn't even been sifting through it to see if I was getting any knots. However, last night I was putting my hair into a ponytail when I found these :DDD
They are near the nape of my neck and are pretty well tangled. At first they were both clumped together as one but I didn't think I wanted a dread quite that big so I pulled them apart. Hahah I don't think it had really dawned on me that its actually happening I'm actually growing dreadlocks its not just some sort of fantasy. I'm pretty ecstatic about it all. The only thing I wish was different was my family's attitude about it. My brother looks at me like I'm an alien or something and my mom is being really chill about it but I can tell it makes her uncomfortable. My dad teases me, but I think he is the most accepting of it, and the teasing doesn't really bother me since the fact that I don't brush my hair is not something a feel insecure about. Although they aren't really supporting me they have treated it better than I had expected they would. Hahah I think I'm most worried about how my grandparents will treat it since I know they have negative opinions about them and many built up misconceptions that I will have to address. My hope is that the people around me will see that dreads aren't necessarily a result of rebellion and a sign of bad character, but that they can be a very positive thing that can even improve character. Most adults I know find me to a be a nice, respectable young lady and I want to show them that my hair won't really change that since being a nice, respectable young lady has a lot more to do with character than looks. Hahah well anyway I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend
Yesterday I arranged to pick up some of my stuff from my ex today. Its already been four months since we broke up.
Initially I thought I was doing great! I hardly thought about her, didnt feel much sadness when I did, so I surmised that todays meetup would be fine.
I chose comfortable clothes, forwent my tam, and brought my dog along.
As the time to the meetup slowly drew closer, I found that my heart was pounding and I was short of breath. I went to the meetup place ten minutes earlier than the stated time, and waited.
Annnd waited,
I decided to give her a call and realised that I still know her number by heart.
She had conveniently forgotten about meeting up.
At that point, I simply felt utterly defeated.
I hadnt been able to let go yet.
I was putting way too much thought into dressing down, having way too much nerves before the meetup, bringing Sammy along to have an excuse to leave, and I still cant even forget her phone number.
Moving on, it seems, will take a lot more time than I had expected.
When I told my best friend about wanting to start dreadlocks, she warned me about the risk of cultural appropriation and showed me this mess of a war that was circulating on tumblr.
http://fanufactured.tumblr.com/post/73727601600/rootworkn-museumartblog-rootworkn
Gawd, that poor girl.
Ok, we all know here that dreadlocks arent exclusively Rasta, so Im not goiong to elaborate on this here.
This cultural appropriation thing really is a surprise for me, before my friend mentioned it, Ive never even heard of the term.
You can call me ignorant, but I hail from a country with mixed ethnic groups and we have a day called racial harmony day to celebrate.
Youll see chinese wearing the sari, malay wearing the qipao, indians wearing the gi and hakama and so on. And the outfits are usually borrowed from our friends from the other ethinic group.
So these kind of thing is really mind boggling for me. How do most cultures come about if theres no cultural appropriation?
Doesnt everything originate from somewhere?
We all learn from each other and if something works, it works, no?
Ultimately, were all one race.
The human race.
Disclaimer: Sorry for bringing in the negativity lately guys, I just feel like this is a safe place to get out what I'm feeling and if advice is offered it's objective and not just my family telling me to deal with it. I really appreciate this community and thank all those who have helped by offering suggestions and the like. Your support/guidance helps more than I can express. <3
As stated in my previous blog, I've been selected to move in with my grandmother following the sudden death of my grandfather. I was weary at first, but gradually became used to the idea and even a little excited at the thought of having my own space upstairs. BUT NO, that would be silly...
My step sister has been with an alcoholic for a few years now, and they have a beautiful 7 month old daughter together. But a week or so ago, the inevitable happened; he came home drunk and started pushing her around. She didn't put up with it and stood her ground, but he did cause her a serious gash on her leg (pushed her over the baby's walker, baby wasn't in it though). She has since moved into the house I'm currently in (my parents/her mom's home) and took no time in asking my grandmother if she could move into the other room upstairs at her place. I wouldn't have had a problem with that if my stepsister was a normal person. Drama (and marijuana) is so essential to her life it's practically another food group. I busted the alcoholic over here at midnight snuggled up with her in the recliner and then on the pullout couch bed in the livingroom. That was a few DAYS after he had been shoving her around their livingroom and caused her physical harm, in front of their child. I have never told someone to "Get the fuck out!" in such a fury before. Instead of telling my stepsister how stupid that was, I tried to empower her and tell her she was smarter, and better than that (in front of his fucking face). So the next night she spent the night at his place (after telling me I had to leave the living room so she could get sleep for work)
I absolutely hate being lied to. I would rather she said she needed a piece so she was gonna go stay at his place (his home is literally right across the street from my parents home). And of course when I confronted her for him being there she said "he was only there to see Layla". It was midnight, she goes to be at 8:30, and he wasn't snuggled up with Layla, he was snuggled up with HER... -_-
Now, my grandmother has told her if she has anything to do with him aside from the baby, she's NOT moving in. So I assumed I was going to have the upstairs to myself again. NOPE: again, she switched on the tears and got her way. But I'm not budging on the issue; if she has any further contact with him aside from their baby, I WILL NOT live in the same house as her. I refuse to watch someone continue to be manipulated by someone who makes them utterly miserable. I've told her his alcoholism and abuse only gets worse from here, and she goes and spends the night with him after a few days?! No. Just...no...
Adding to that, she is going to start working second shift next week, so I KNOW when we officially move in to my grandma's home I'm going to be expected to be her built-in babysitter, and that really pisses me off. I was worried about being a caged bird, now it seems that will surely happen. My niece is great, but I don't want my services abused because I'm also living there. I don't want children, and I don't feel as though I'm stable enough to handle a baby going through separation anxiety. Crying exasperates me quickly.
Any insight is appreciated, thanks for taking the time to read my (growing) frustrations :P
I had been thinking about all the ways I could accessorize my locs and had scoured the internet for it.
There is a spiritual belief that your hair is tantamount to your life experience. Whatever you do, eat, and think, is all recorded into your hair eventually.
Therefore, I really wanted my accessories to really mean something to me, so I made this two days ago.
It's a dreadlock coil created from the random bits of wire I had lying around and of course, one real. X3
Brazil is a place that really changed me. I learnt how to cook here, found my first love, gained so much confidence in so many things and I've learnt to be more truthful to myself.
And of course, I've also made a lot of meaningful friendships here.
It's a big chunk of my life experience, so it needs a place on my head. XD
I can't really hang it yet though, because my locs are way too young right now. But you can take a peek at how it will look like on my head I suppose, haha.
My locs are a veritable rats nest right now, but I can't bring myself to care XD I love how it actually has some personality instead of always just lying neat and flat on my head. (Took out the beads btw, it was just for fun for a day) It's a really neat lesson in trusting the Universe that all will turn out well on the end.
However, in the meantime....
IMMA TARANTULAAAAAA!!!
Hey everyone it's been way too long since I've last updated! If I remember correctly, my last update was about my pregnancy. Let me start by saying our second son Kyeton Mark, was born on January 31, 2013! He's such a joy and brings so much happiness to everyone who meets him. I had a very rough pregnancy and almost lost him several times. During that time I just couldn't handle everything going on and pretty much disappeared from social media in general. The first 7 weeks of his life we almost lost him a few times. Finally we found out through testing that his muscles in his throat were not fully developed and he had severe gastritisand GERD. At 7 weeks old he had his first surgery. He was given a PEG G-Tube. A feeding tube so that he could be fed and thrive since he wasn't able to orally. He has had 2 other minor surgeries since just switching his PEG tube to a G-Button. He is now 15 months old and in great health! He still has to be fed his liquids and most of his nutrients through his feeding tube, but slowly he can eat more solid foods.
Our oldest son Started school (kindergarten) in August of 2013. He's doing great and loves it, so far LOL! He's playing baseball and he does Tae Kwon Do, so we are very busy with all of his activities.
As for me, I removed my dreads at 38 weeks of pregnancy. I didn't want to remove them but since I didn't take much time to really section them out in the beginning, and I wasn't too worried with separatingthem during my pregnancy, they all started to congo. I had a painful mess on my head. It took 2 days but with the help of my mom and husband I was able to comb them out completely. Since then my hair has grown twice the length that it was and it has driven me crazy every day. I missed my dreads so much! so about a month ago I started dreading again. This time I took my time and really sectioned them cleanly. I made them smaller so when they are full mature I will still have fairly small dreads. I have 79 dreads so far and I still have the top portion of my hair left to go. I am doing to the twist and rip method again. I am very excited for this set and I know I will keep these ones going!
Another significant thing to mention; Since April 19, 2013 I have lost over 97 lbs! I started eating clean and organic whole foods, and exercisingand lifting weights almost every day. I fell completely in love with health and fitness and in June of this year will be a certified personal trainer!
I will be posting pictures of everything to get you all up to date visually. Needless to say the last few years of my life have been some of the scariest yet most exciting of my life!!
I hope you are all doing well. I've missed ya'll! Expect to see me around a lot more now!
-Stephani