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My dreads are one week old now! They're going through some changes, they're starting to get tighter, a couple small loops and bumps are forming here and there. my scalp is punishing me right now, so itchy and dry...I've only been washing with water, haven't had time to buy the shampoo i need but hopefully i can in a couple days. I plan on jumping in the pool again in the next couple days and then seeing what happens, I have a lot of loose hair, it's really annoying! hopefully they'll just get sucked in though..and soon. lol.

I've made it to the end of week one! I was planning on taking daily pictures, but life catches you up!
My kids and I have been having fun! Playing outside, visiting their grandparents, bbqs!
I'm just really happy, starting to feel like my old self! :P

I have been wearing my hair up a lot, but have been changing the style everyday to keep it from getting too much together all the time. Every night I sleep with it down. Hope this will help from keeping too much getting dreaded together, but I also figure I have a while before that's an issue.

So all of my conditioner has become dedicated to untangling doll hair! Works wonderfully and this way it doesn't go to waste! Yay!

Well, I just wanted to through up a quick little progress report and blog entry! I will try to post pictures later today!!

I'm Destiny. This is my 3rd time around with dreads. The first time i did them completely natural. I brushed them out because my "family" did not support me and I had the words "hair" and "marriage" in the same sentence which is ridiculous. It's been a few weeks since I've left my awful marriage that used to be incredibly abusive. I have all this new found freedom to do what I want, I don't know why I didn't do it sooner...I'm liberated.

With that being said, of course the first thing I decided to do as a free woman, was to get my dreads back. I did the twist and rip this time, I'm not patient enough for full natural. I'm very excited about this life journey I'm about to embark on, I'm looking forward to the people I'll meet and the places I'll go. Talk to me!

Destiny

So, in the early summer of 2012 I had done t&r dreads. My hair was about to my chin and I thought I would be in for the long haul. Then I found this community and thought to myself that I had started my journey off on the wrong foot by going with twist and rip.

After having my dreads for 6 months, I made the decision to brush them out and look for a job. I got a job in April of 2013. I worked there for over a year until I made the decision to quit that job, because of health issues. No job is worth my health or my family's happiness!

Now I seem to have come full circle and I miss my dreads. This time I will be starting my journey off the way I need to. I have decided to go freeform/neglect this time. Figure I am going to properly track my journey this time around as well!!
So as of June 2nd, 2014, my journey begins!

So I had my second set of dreads for a little over 5 months. I've been battling with depression for years, always getting better then worse then better. Always a ride. I had a huge burst of depression and nothing would help. So I decided to brush out all my hair. I got a hair cut, only about 1 inch taken off and added some layers and still completely unhappy. Almost a month later I've slowly realized my hair wasn't making me depressed any more than anything else. So I'm off to a new start. Set 3. Off to a better journey to be even happier with myself.

Hello All,

It has been quite a while since I have came here. My life has been very busy and creative. Some ups and downs and that is life. I have been making these fabric beads that are made from recycled fabrics and many different thread colors. I thought I would share this for those who enjoy adorning their dreadlocks. And for those who do not want to color their hair but want color on them. I have also made a series of videos on how to make them as well.

I still walk through the world with people looking at me like I am an alien and I still get the rude comments. All of this makes me stronger and more convinced that being an individual and expressing myself how I want to is my prime reason for being on this earth. I hope that you all feel free to just be your self. And get outside and enjoy mother nature.

I also have some videos on how to make paper beads. I am so pro recycling. So please feel free to check out my youtube page. You can find me on youtube under the name Trina Sandress. I also have some videos based on question people have asked me about how to care for their dreadlocks.

You can find my art creations at www.darkmoondoll.etsy.com

If any of you have any questions about their dreadlocks please let me know and I can turn it into a video. P1400625.JPG P1400633.JPG

Hello everyone! This is my first time contributing to the site, though I've been on here browsing for close to six months now. Today was the end of my first month of letting my hair naturally dread, and I'm here to share some pictures of my progress thus far

But, I'd like to share a little background first (just skip this if you don't care.) I'm currently 21 years old, two months away from being 22, and I have struggled with my self image for a long while. For about three years I my hairstyle was quite simple: long bangs that went past my chin with the rest of my head either shaven or with very short hair. I loved my hair and I felt like it was the most important, defining thing about myself. Unfortunately though both sides of my family have either very thin hair or are completely bald, and I started experiencing quite a bit of hair loss on top of my head, and on the crown of my head.So two years ago I started letting all of my hair grow out because i was afraid that if I didn't try sporting long hair now, then I'd never have the chance in my life.

I've been very unhappy with my appearance during this time, and have had very poor self esteem due to it. I was constantly trying new products that helped with hair loss, and and constantly finger combing my hair as a nervous habit. Throughout this time I've been trying my hardest to find a style that would look good and cover up my thinning hair. Eventually I decided to research dreadlocks having no idea what the process would be while simultaneously thinking I could easily make them due to how curly my hair was. I watched tons of videos of crocheting, TNR, and backcombing until I discovered this wonderful site. Seeing pictures of natural/neglect dreadlocks completely opened up my eyes!

I wasn't quite ready for the commitment when I first found this site, but last month i finally decided to make my choice. I stopped using products completely, started washing my hair with the baking soda deep cleanse with acv rinse, and mostly stopped touching my hair. I have been separating very cautiously, but I'm not 100% sure how to do it properly. My hair keeps trying to form giant clumps!

It's only been a month, but I've noticed that I haven't been too worried about how I look for the past week and a half

Day 1:

1 week:

2 weeks:

3 weeks:

1 month:

And here's a picture of what seems to be my first dread lock actually forming!

-Icky

So its been about four weeks since I ditched my hairbrush so about a month i guess. It really so far has been a great experience and Ive been loving the freedom that has come with it. Also I am done with school for the summer which has improved my mood a lot and has allowed me more time to focus on cultivating my character and working out my anger and patience issues. Anyway, heres a picture that for some reason is upside down and Im not sure how to right it:

Tomorrow I plan on uploading some pictures of more of the details and stuff since most of the knotting is kind of hidden under my top layer of hair. I think for a while I was sectioning it too often and no new knots were forming nor were there signs of any change. However, this past week I decided to pretty much leave it completely alone besides washing it and things did start to get pretty crazy on the bottom. I did do some sectioning yesterday though after I washed it. Let me see umm... oh I had been doing the whole no-poo thing for awhile, but recently I found a no-poo ball recipe and it is positively fabulous I love how comfortable it leaves my scalp and how it makes shower prep even simpler than it already was. Idk how well it would work for somebody with more mature dreads but for me and my mostly regular hair its pretty great, anyway heres a link if anybody wants to check it out: http://perplexingparent.blogspot.com/2013/02/no-poo-balls-homemade-shampoo.html The only thing i do differently is I dissolve it in about a cup or so of water and use it like that instead of rubbing it in. Also I think I ought to mention that that blog post was the reason I began to consider doing freeform natural dreads. I had never before heard anything negative about conventional dreading methods or anything positive about doing natural dreads so it got me thinking and led me to research it which eventually led me here

In other news, my hair has gotten to the point where my parents want me to put it up whenever we go to church and stuff which is fine. I still haven't had any good chances to tell any of my relatives about my hair, but i have told quite a few of my friends about it as opportunities have presented themselves and so far I have not received any negative responses. So um yeah i think that is about it.

Hey all,

I'm finding that Boulder County is most likely hard water. I have washed my hair 3x with Dr Bronner's (although once was in Moab, Utah), & have not had issues with filmy hair or residue (but I am only on 1.5 weeks). My sister (who is NOT dreading her hair) uses it & has no problem.

I have heard a lot about BS/ACV. What is the ratio, how do ppl like this? I have also been seeing links to Dreadlock Shampoo.com? Any ideas out there??

Right side always looks so short...

Front/top part starting to look like I wanted...

Bottom part is a bit harder to do, so still a bit darker... but Lookit!! I FINALLY managed to section off the bottom/neck part into good dreads!! YAY!