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hi! my name is ashley. my dreads are currently 1 month old. i could not be more happier with my decision to start growing! i started with the backcombing method. took me 14 hours. woo what a journey that was 
. i was looking around for tips on dread maintenance and came across this lovely site and here i am!
I'm about 2 weeks into this journey. It feels like my dreads are already starting to take form. It's an exciting feeling when I wake up and all of my hair is happily clumped into baby dreads.
I'm up to 39 dreads so far. I have a feeling this may increase though due to the fact that some of my larger dreads seem to want to separate. I've been helping them do so and figure it's best for my hair to decide what he wants to do.
I'll be heading to Florida on Thursday for vacation. I can't wait to soak in the ocean and let my dreads get ahold of some natural salt water.
As for the negatives, my scalp seems to itch still. The baking soda shampoo I created helped for a day at most and then my scalp was back at it again with the itching. I'm going to keep experimenting and of course, washing them every three days rather than every week to see if this helps.
First off I should explain a bit about why I chose to have my dreads formed. I have struggled with almost an obsessive/compulsive nature about my appearance for years, to the point where it impacts how I go about my day. I had a routine in the morning that would take exactly an hour and forty five minutes on a good day. Now, this was not simply out of vanity. I would literally feel that something was off if I did something out of order, or if something looked different than how I usually put myself together. I usually accept change pretty well, however when it came to my appearance (more so how I felt I should look, rather than how I felt others would see me) I was very hard pressed to do things differently without feeling extraordinarily off.
That being said, I chose dreads to try and break me from these habits. Not only that, but also to try and help save my hair (which I am also convinced is in the process of thinning) from all of the harsh chemicals caused by over the counter boxed dyes, and cheap shampoo. Oh, and I forgot to mention part of my routine involved washing my hair every single day in order to maintain the same shape..every..single..day. I slowly weaned myself down to just conditioning every day and washing every three days, however this is still not really the best situation for thinning hair.
I chose to have them formed at loctician locally that specializes in natural hair and "locs" specifically. It came recommended by a friend of a friend, whom I had met, and had seen what the end results looked like. For me, I had to have them formed at a salon. If I hadn't made a drastic change all at once I probably would have taken them out long before I was able to see them even in adolescence. I had done plenty of research on all of the methods, dos/donts, and anything I could find to see what would work for me in the long term. I really wish I could have had the fortitude to go through with neglect, but that just wasn't an option.
So now here we are, and I just had my dreads formed not but 24 hours ago with the backcomb method with a light amount of crochet (and absolutely no wax or products). It is definitely tough to see myself entirely different from my day to day (especially with all the new dread fuzz, and the fact that of course they're far from perfect). However, I am still looking to the future and the hopes that one day they will look as glorious as I imagine.
Now for the questions. I know with the crochet method there is a lot of maintenance involved in upkeep. Is that to say that one cannot start off with one method, and then continue with multiple methods? I would like to at some point work with different methods to achieve different styles to add a little more character to my dreads. I would appreciate any tips and information, as I'm sure it will be needed in the months to come before they become more mature.
Any who, that's that, and I am now a part of something bigger than myself.
Hello fellow dreadies, yogis, and friends;
I recently got a job at an amazing Yoga studio. I new before I got the job that I wanted to start my Yoga practice more seriously, in hopes to start my teacher training in the next few months. I always new I loved yoga. However, when I took a Yoga class, it was at my college and something about it didn't hit home the way this studio does. I work the FD as of right now, and have met so many amazing people. So many CONSCIOUS people. Who aren't just doing Yoga to become fit but to find oneness with their body and their surroundings.
The studio I work for was founded on the idea of healing for cancer, wellness, and mindfulness. There is a Tea house inside of it that serves organic teas, vegan smoothies, and fresh juices.
I was so surprised I got the phone call back for this job because I literally manifested this into my life practically instantly. I was starting to get so fed up with the unhealthy American, fast food, lifestyle. The unconscious lifestyle most people are living by sitting on their bums watching T.V., stressing over bills and the future.
What I found at the studio, was a confirmation, that I'm on the right track, and that I need to be doing what I'm doing. Not only that, but it reinforces my goal to help people; my ability to love people; my desire to understand and feel compassion for others who are in a place of suffering.
We all have the power to heal. And we all gain something from others.
I realized that mindfulness over ones body, mind, and diet only makes one stronger! And allows one to think clearly, and function OPTIMALLY.
Yoga is my "drug".
It almost brings tears to my eyes when I see seniors coming to yoga classes on oxygen tanks because it shows a persons dedication, hard work and devotion to wellness, and mindfulness with themselves.
All amounting to a better life.
When you realize everything you feel and think is in your control, you can live your dreams.
When you aren't feeling good, catching colds, mood swings, ANYTHING that isn't feeling good,
can be cured through Yoga.
It's for everyone, anytime, anywhere.
Just remember to Breathe...Hear that Breathe; the essential function to your staying alive;
And be one with it.
Namaste
Well first off just let me say how relaxing and fun this is just from the beginning, nothing hurt, my hair feels good not damaged and I see progress. On the 9th or 10th (pretty sure the 9th, my Husbands thinks so too but who know for sure) I was having an awful time trying to find the brush so I went on threw with starting the process 
I had been wanting them for forever (had a bad set 10 years ago) and been looking into exactly how I wanted to do it for the last few weeks and I felt ready.
My hair loves to tangle and seperate into little groups on it's own so I was pretty sure my hair would do really well and I think it is. I have 3 baby dreads on the back on of my neck and pieces really sticking together, they are small but I would prefer mostly smaller dreads with a few bigger ones in the back. It just feels like things are going right this time.
My husband is so supportive and makes sure the back doesn't get too stuck together and is hand carving me some beads and also trying to make a swirly chinese dragon but it'd be long time before I'd be able to wear to anyways. He is using cherry wood and I hope that is okay. We will get him some carving and wood burning suppiles soon.
I have the products I am currently using and pics up in my profile. I ordered the dreadlock shampoo and sea salt spray though too and I can't wait to try it out. I think I might buy some embroidery string tomorrow to make some criss cross wraps just for fun.
I'm gonna update with pictures and a blog posts pretty often since I really enjoyed reading and seeing other peoples dread journey. Thanks for reading
Hello to all my dreadhead friends here on dreadlockssite!
I'm making this blog post because there are a lot of protests going on Brazil, especially here on So Paulo against the increase of bus fare. The increase of 0.10 dollar cents is a lot for us, because most of us receives just an minimum wage of something like $300.
Now the worker who receives the minimum wage have to pay at least 20% of its wage just to go to work and go back to home 5 days a week, and this is really an absurd, because everything is expensive here, with a minimum wage is nearly impossible to rent a house here to live alone [except if you go to the slums/favella's where are governed by criminal organizations].
Now the poor have to skip one meal of the day just to pay the fare to go to work! The local media are calling us as "vandals" and "rioters". The fare increased and the public transportation is still poor like never before, there are no improvements, nothing is right here!
Last thursday we have an big protest on the center of So Paulo, and police were firing rubber bullets and tear gas bombs without being attacked. There was an time that me and my friend wanted to go home, we tried to talk to police, but they threw 2 tear gas grenades on us, i almost fell out on the ground with lack of oxygen... On Monday the protests will continue and we expect at least 10.000 of people on the streets.
So to all my friends, i don't know how the press on your countries are telling about what is happening here on Brazil... but... if you can share on twitter/facebook or other networks this video, it will be very helpful, please spread the truth, because we will have an fifa world cup here soon, and the government is trying to sell an fake image of Brazil to the foreign people that will come here to watch the games
Here is the video [the audio is on english]:
I have been thinking about dreadlocks for quite some time now. Recently, I have been taking breaks from brushing my hair, just tying it up. However, once the back becomes too matted, I break down, put massive amounts of conditioner in it, and spend the hour-plus combing it out.
I had dreads for a little while in college...not entirely on purpose. I just didn't brush my hair for a summer, and basically lived at the beach and didn't care too much. In looking back at pictures, it really looked pretty cool! But my hair was a lot shorter then (shoulder length pre-dreads).
Anyway, I went online to get information on dreadlocks and found TONS of sites that advertised for salons that "dread" and all of the products that are available for "dreading" your hair. But, truth be told, any of the photos from these sites seemed a little off . There was something about the dreads that didn't look quite right, and I thought to myself, "If my hair/head is going to look like that, I am not interested." They seemed sort of fake... well, they just weren't what I was picturing and didn't look anything like what my hair looked like back when I let my hair go.
Then, I came across a youtube video about Natural Free Form Dreadlocks and it pointed me to this site: dreadlockssite.com. THANK YOU!!!! This is exactly what I was looking for!
I have the summer off. I am committed to not brushing my hair for the next 90 days to see how it goes. I have read the entire section on Dreaducation, and I am real excited to start this journey. (I have a wedding to go to in August, but I figure I can just put my hair up if it is too much of a mess at that point.) I still have a lot of questions though...
1) What should I do to prevent the "matting" that goes on in the back of my head? I have been finger-combing my hair, but should I be?
2) My hair has REALLY bad split ends. Should I get it trimmed?
3) My hair is quite long (almost to my waist). Is it too long?