Blogs

Washed again last night. Let it air dry and went to bed with it just a bit damp. Woke up this morning and already had to separate the back of my head to prevent a beaver tail! What is going on here?!

Thinking about three days without conditioning or brushing. If it's THAT easy for my hair to dread, why wouldn't I let it? It obviously wants to!

I can't quite hide the plan anymore. My hair has outted itself a big earlier than I planned. I love it SO much.

One year. I figure it will be about one year into dreading that I'll really start seeing maturing dreadlocks. This is something I need to keep reminding myself of when I become impatient.

One year. What else can happen over the span of a year? So much!

Along with my One Year Dreadlock Journey, I've decided that it's reasonable to challenge myself to make other positive changes to my life, like weight loss.

So here it is. One year of not worrying about my hair. One year of loving myself and making positive changes to my body. I can do this!

Starting weight? Approximately 265ish. Size 22 pants. Size 2x top.

Goal weight one year from now? Well, weight I really don't care about. Pant size goal? 12 Top size? No idea...as long as my booty fits in a size 12 pant I'll be a far healthier person.

Ways of reaching my goal? I recently acquired a treadmill so walking will be done frequently, along with a subscription exercise plan. I also will be focusing on a plant based diet.

My daughter is 10. She's thin and fit now even though we eat horribly. I don't want her to struggle with her weight like I always have. It's time to start being an example for her, a time to show her how important it is to take care of and respect your body.

It's time!

A few years ago I decided that I desperately wanted dreadlocks. I've always gotten bored with my hair quickly. From my natural brown I would dye red, platinum, black, purple, fire engine red...every color you could imagine until it just wasn't enough and I'd eventually shave it all off.

First I tried crocheting it and adding my own extensions. I worked my ass off making those extensions. Crochet hooks getting stuck in my finger, my thigh! Those suckers are hard to remove, especially because I was on the floor trying not to pass out. Yeah, I faint at little things.

Those looked awful, sticking out straight all over my head. So I combed them out and then tried twist and rip. Those were better but I just couldn't leave well enough alone. I started dying them and they turned a funky red from henna. They started maturing, pulling in, especially in the back. I started to feel really ugly. It was an awful feeling, but I was also dealing with deep depression at the same time and I think it was the wrong state of mind to start with.

So after about 6 months I combed them out and went about my life.

But the idea of dreads called to me constantly. Honestly, I always wanted a big mass of African American type wild kinky curls, but I am the whitest white girl you've ever seen, with fine hair. It would never happen. And then someone mentioned dreads again. YES! DREADLOCKS! It's time.

My one concern is that I have a 10 year old daughter who is reaching that point in school where kids can be incredibly cruel. We live in a fairly conservative area where my purple hair is already a shock for her primary schoolmates. So far all the kids have only complimented my hair. I know things change in middle school though. I fear embarrassing her, but she's always been pretty secure in her momma's funkiness and she knows I'd never intentionally make her life more difficult. Luckily, I guess, I don't have to worry about a job situation because I'm a disabled veteran.

Last night I decided to get started. I didn't have any dreadlock shampoo so I used my normal Black Magic face and body soap by One Hand Washes The Other. You can find her amazing soap on Etsy. Once you try it, you'll never want to use anything else! I doubt it has residue depositing properties, but here are the ingredients. You guys know more about it than me and can give me some feedback:

-Tea Tree Oil
-Peppermint Essential Oil
-Grapefruit Essential Oil
-French Green Clay
-Calendula
-Vitamin E
-Activated Charcoal (bamboo)
-Glycerin

So I scrubbed my hair with it and rinsed...and scrubbed again. I usually use a super conditioning shampoo and then spend at least 10 minutes deep conditioning. My hair has been bleached and dyed so it has a rough texture if I don't. Instead, I just dried it and went to bed.

Woke up this morning to a beautiful mess!! Light curls separating all over my head. Body and frizziness everywhere! I'm hoping this immediate sectioning bodes well for quick locking and maturing, but of course there's no way of knowing until it starts to happen.

Here we go! I'll keep you updated on progress and hopefully we'll get some changes quickly!

A picture of my normal conditioned hair (and hey, check out the pendant...I made it!)

And here is what I woke up with this morning:

Only using sea salt spray every few days - threw a couple beads on that i made some break but i just let it ride out - what do you guys thing? i started with twist n rip n they came undone within the first week now im just going natural as i spritually develop

so just about 4 months now no combing - wash with vickis locking shampoo which i love now. now living in key west and going to be doing alot of diving - loving the journey so far....

Well, it's been a while since I was on here. I ended up combing out my dreads a year and a half ago after 17.5 months of having them. I had trouble with the ends not locking up (5 to 8 inches smooth silky hair at ends). In the end I'm glad I did. I now have strong healthy long hair that's down to my lower back. But I miss the feeling of my babies. I'm toying with the idea of letting my hair dread again, but I don't think I want it all to dread this time. Not sure if I can let my hair naturally dread on the bottom while maintaining my straight hair on top. However I do it, I will need to keep them looking good and professional for my job, but I don't want to cause damage to my hair in case I need to comb them out. Guess we shall see!

i just bought a little bottle of tea tree oil can someone tell me how i apply it into my hair for dandruff

i just started dreading my hair 7 days ago(neglect method) and i was wondering if i can have my hair in a pony tail or will it affect the process ??

Today is one months since I have had dreadlocks - to be honest even though I have short hair and my locks are really crazy I must say that I am really enjoying this dread journey. I have been adding sea salt and lemon juice to my hair to help it lock faster and I am now washing my hair every four days. - My scalp is adjusting and improving a lot! -My dreads are already starting to tighten which is AMAZING! and I am just really blessed to be able to watch this progress. I also am not using wax.

A couple things I am looking forward to is:

1. My hair in the back to grow so that I can dread it.
2. My dreads to get longer so that I might be able to add some extensions
3. Watching them mature!

I guess that is about it. I will keep you all updated :D

i have attempted to dread my hair a couple times now. i didnt feel comfortable with the length of my hair at the time.. i feel like its at a decent size now, its down to my shoulders and i started the neglect method on tuesday(so 3 days since ive conditioned or combed) im pretty confident that ill make it through this time and actually go through with letting my hair dread (:

I may get some flack from Soaring Eagle for this, but one month into my new dreads which I started with a mixture of TNR and a little backcombing I was extremely frustrated with how my hair was dreading up. I was losing a lot of length in some areas, and not in others, and I could tell where I had used more backcombing and where I had done more tnr. I was getting a lot of big loops which were driving me crazy!!!! A few of them I liked, but for the most part I was struggling to love my hair. I also couldn't go out with my hair down because it seemed like such a mess.

So... after much deliberation, I finally decided to comb them out & redo them with TNR only. A few years ago I helped a friend of mine comb out her dreads which she had had for YEARS. I didn't think such a thing was possible, but thanks to that experience I realized that if she could comb out 5+ year dreads, then I could manage 1 month dreads For the past few days I have been doing them one at a time, and I am happy to say that I love my hair again!!! I redid the spacing in a couple of places, which I am happy about, and I will probably leave a few of the loopy ones in for fun.

I lost a bit of length (and probably weight!) due to combing the loose hairs out and some inevitable breakage at the ends, BUT I feel like my hair is manageable now and that it will dread a bit more evenly.

If I were to do it again? I'd be interested in taking the completely natural journey, but would NOT mix methods again ever.