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I am amazed at where my life is right now. I absolutely adore my dreads, although I keep them hidden under a scarf while in a hospital setting (mostly about germs). I am a volunteer birthworker (doula), volunteer hospice worker, and volunteer with the medical reserve corps. I graduate with my oldest son in May of this year! I will be an RN and he will have an associates degree in liberal arts and has been selected by an ivy league school to continue in their environmental science degree! They are giving him 1300 a year in scholarships! I am very proud of him! He will also be turning 18 later on this year! Kudos little dude! lol!

On another note, I spent three hours teaching hula hoop dancing to students and staff at the college yesterday! I am amazed at how much happiness is missing out of peoples lives. Lets all do something to change that!

Photo%20on%202014-03-04%20at%2021.59.jpg is this a good length to start dreading naturally? and how long would it take for it start forming dreads? i know longer hair dreads faster and shorter takes longer.

I live in the bay area. All I'll say publicly. I'm tired of having to act like someone I'm not just to stay out of harm's way. Lately, I've been discovering my true self, and people aren't liking it. I get dreadlocks, and all the sudden people tell me I'm not hard if I can't handle all day every day smoking. I'm happy with my relationship with pot. Isn't that what it was cultivated for? Happiness? Sometimes I'd rather fight than deal with the mental crap. That can be a lot worse. Hell, I've punched stuff and messed up my hands pretty bad. I'd hurt myself before anyone else. Why can't people just realize that I don't want to deal with their crap? Obviously, they don't care. I'm halfway ready to tell my last two friends I got to shove it. One of them accused me of stealing family heirlooms and his uncle(ex drill seargent at pendleton) pinned me against a van and made it very clear I was no longer welcome there. I move outta state and with nothing fun to do, I got into a little trouble. While in a dorm, I wrote my friend 3 letters. He wrote back once. I stopped. Still, I forgave him. I get out at 18, back to California, get a car, and a lot of friends. Nope. No friends really. Because I totaled my car, and no friends around. I turn 21, start drinking. I show up on my friend's porch after 8 years, and his family breaks down saying they know I didn't steal anything. I forgave them. 5 or so years later, his grandma dies. While cleaning out her room, we find the jewelry that had been missing for 13 years. It was emotional for everyone on so many levels. I go through years of pain, yet I'm told I shouldn't bring up the past. Bygones I'm told. How are you supposed to work through shit when you don't work through it? It still hurts me to this day. My friend still says he never accused me, but I remember in these exact words, "You stole my cd, and $500 worth of shit from my grandma." Well, as much as that hurts, I'm still his friend, because it would be wrong to not let bygones be bygones, when that is all I wish he would do. He thinks "sorry" eases 16 years of pain. But, as Ghandi says, You must be the change you want to see in the world."

I just had to leave another friends house because he was trying to get me to pop a soma. I didn't even know what that shit was, so I start looking it up. Meth. Sedative. Savagery. Unpredictable. He wouldn't give up. I started reading this info to him, and he pops one and 5 minutes later he's playing with a knife, kicks his shoes off at the wall, starts slurring his words, and was too gone to care that I was leaving. This is what got me thinking about wanting to leave my town. So many people I've met are now dead or in jail, or probably somewhere fucked up, homeless, I've read papers, and found shit out, and I just want to get out of Babylon. I'm honestly considering moving down south to get away. There's a hippy chick there, but I know we wouldn't be permanent. That's why I don't go down there. I don't want to be here either. I did some soul searching in Arizona, and found nothing. Mentally, just all around fucked. I have a lot of pride in not asking others for opinions, and I like to act strong, but I don't know how much more I can take. Yeah, and get this, I'm on medication, (tried 6 months without it, wound up in psych ward), so going without those meds is not an option. I'm at a crossroads right now, and really thinking about a new life. Wherever I go, come my dreads

Hello everyone (: I started growing my natural dreads about 6 days ago and I'm at this awkward stage of weird and random looking hair! Would it be bad for me to out my hair up in a bun when I sleep? I find it helps give my hair a natural wave in the morning. Or could this prevent the, from knotting properly ? So excited to enjoy this spiritual journey!

I'm close to a year (at 50 weeks right now) and it's slow going. Still lots of loose ends, frizzies, and tons of weird knots. I do see progress though. I love the fact that I have let go of a lot of mental hair issues that I have been carrying around with me for decades. LOL

I do bs/acv wash weekly and the rest of the week, if needed, just just plain hot water. I've been taking the biotin supplement for quite a while now, and I think with the combination of both the pill and the washing, my scalp has been healthier than it has been in a very long time. I don't know if the biotin is encouraging hair growth, but it is working on my nails quite nicely and I am grateful for that.

I plan on posting some new pictures at the 52 week mark.

I decided to go blonder!! And... red? For some reason... Actually I had fallen in *love* with pink hair, but i had to bleach my hair over a period of several weeks, so as not to damage it. Oils (coconut and olive especially) help a lot!

Before Backcombing

And after



After two weeks I bleached some more:




And experimented with wool extensions



This was mostly spurred on by the annoying gap by my neck... It was fun, but too much upkeep. I'm not a high maintenance sort of person I shall have to be patient

I wanted dreadlocks in highschool, but I'd probably have cut them off early because at that time it seemed more like a fashion, as opposed to spirituality. I think a lot had to do with my love for herb. In short, dreadlocks looked cool and it was a stoner thing.

Now, it's so much more than that. I started my dreads before I started smoking again, so it's not a stoner thing for me anymore. It's a tattoo on my hair reminding me of spiritual growth.

4 months ago, I started asking around about dreadlocks, and found varying, sometimes contradictory information. I put wax in my hair, peanut-butter, and whatever else I thought would work. 1 month in, no progress, I was introduced to two awesome people. They sat me down and worked on my hair for an hour or so. I was told that the Rastafarians believe as their dreadlocks grow, they are lifted closer to heaven. I am finding that to be true. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to preach, I'm just telling my experience. Thank you for reading I'll get some pictures up soon.

I know these things ordinarily go by the month, but well... me and ordinary don't get together that often


I got a bunch of beads to help guide things along... especially since I have quite a few strays... so they don't fraternize too much... Just have to remember to slide them a bit up or down so as not to create weak spots in the dreads

Gosh darnit... that damn neck part! Never really got it right... This is one of the areas that suffered the most losses at the Great Culling. Now there's kind of a giant gap there... Grrr!

Allrightey.... Back to square one, more or less all unravelled... a few of them did survive ^_^ I should name them something warrior'ey...

And here we go - December 6, 2013!! Under a waxing Aquarius Moon

Yeah, I know.. that's some rough quality there...

Little babies...

Aaaaaallrightey!! ^_^ These shall be the official records of my dreadlock jouney... take three

I started dreading in 2010'ish, this is what i had going on

I only use backcombing. The importance of natural sectioning has become increasingly evident to me, as my locks simply will have their way! They are just not happy if too thin, too thick, or forced into unnatural groups. Not in the long term.. which is what i'm interested in. Best strategy for me by far is to let them form in the sizes and with the 'friends' they want and then take it from there. This means having strays and random smaller locks of undreaded hair, but it's worth my dreads being happy and I kinda like the diversity I like braiding too, so it's nice still being able to do that.

Anyway, I did not know just how important this 'listening to my dreads' was before, and it was just giving me grief, so autumn 2013 the command decision was made to unravel all of this... (pictures taken on decent days.... oh how they can turn )






Oooh my little fabric-flower creations ^_^

.... And start over. Some had gone to neglect, and I just don't like it when I can't get a comb through 'em.. feel like they don't get clean and dry enough... so I chopped off the dead weight, and tried to give it a rest and let some parts grow out a bit before starting over.. couldn't stay away long though.

So - This time I shall keep a log of this great adventure. I'm so grateful to all those out there that bothered to do the same - it's a thrill to watch unfold

Here we go!