Too gentle with my hair?

hello fellow dreadies. i started my natural dreadlocks journey in may of last year. my hair was not very long so i expected this to take a very long time. i have been patient but im starting to wonder if im doing something wrong, or worrying about it too much. I started out washing with the wrong stuff being misinformed and having no guidance. I was then told about this website which has been very helpful, (thank you to all who have taken their time to give advice and helpful information to this forum) and since then i tried bs acv for a while. it really started to mess with my skin in sensitive areas so i switched to nag champa lockin up shampoo from dreadlockshampoo.com. now that i have started using that it seems like im stuck and im not really seeing any progress any more. (by the way that is by far the best shampoo i have ever used in my life) when my hair is wet i can clearly see defined sections all over my head but when they dry they just come apart. Im very gentle with my hair, almost to the point when it is stressful because i constantly worry about the seat belt wrecking a section that is tryin to lock up, or worry about my significant other(when i had one ) rubbing her hands on my hair. i guess you could see how that could sort of ruin a moment -_- "hey don't touch the hair, sorry". when i wash with the shampoo i put it in my palm and kind of pat it around my head then carefully massage it into my scalp because im afraid im going to screw up sections or knots that aren't big enough to see yet. I was also wearing a smaller, like very small cotton tam,( well it was marketed as that but was more of a beanie when i received it) and was having to stuff my hair into it (gently) 5 days a week. i thought maybe this restriction of movement of my hair every day could be slowing this process drastically so a friend gave me his old oversized wool tam this past week. My hair is super fine and after almost 9 months of no combing it still looks well kept some how down to the perfect part down the middle of my head.

So with all that being said, I guess my question is - could i be being too gentle with my hair? should i be more care free and not worry about that seat belt or those fingers playing with my sections that are desperately trying to lock? Should i be a little less gentle when i shampoo? Maybe try a different shampoo? And hopefully this new tam giving my hair all the freedom it could as for will help progress compared to being smashed against my head in a tight cap which i think has been the culprit. I just feel like im doing something that is slowing my locks from forming and im starting to get discouraged. Please any helpful info would be greatly appreciated!

thank you

pat

updated by @patrick3: 01/13/15 10:02:05PM

i think the new tams worth trying a monmth and see if u just got it i think very much that maybe why

how long is it now

i know its been 9 months but if 6 or 7 of them were too short...your only really at a few months with hinderence from the beanie

if its oversized pull it over your head then push back maybe try wearing it a couple days

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

thanks SE. the front is a little past my chin all around a little past my shoulders. id say about 9-10 inches now. the hat is massive, i have just been pulling my hair back putting it on and tucking it in the back. feels a lot better now i just have a lot of hat to grow into. So i should try leavin it on from when i sleep etc?

No need and that may hinder the process further. Leave your hair down as often as you can.

I'm not gonna claim to be to knowledgeable with this. But...I am not gentle with my hair at all.

In fact when I first started washing with baking soda/vinegar, it made my head so dry and itchy I felt like I was probably coming out any progress with my fingers.

Now I am past that for the most part, but I am not scared at all to touch my head hair. I just uploaded some pics from today. Not sure when I started mine a year + probably but my hair was really short and didn't do anything for awhile. That was the only time I felt paranoid about messing it up.

Now that I actually have 20-40 super small dreads. I ameven less worried about touching them. The only thing itever seems to do is knock a few hairs out of the dread that were getting drug in from other areas/dreads near bye. even ifby accident I stick my finger inside a loop on one of my dreads I still would have to put in a lot ofeffort to actually fully separate all of the hair.

This has happened once though, my dog kicked my head and his nail basically combed through one of my dreads. This basically did nothing other then create 2 smaller dreads that progressed faster...

I think the more movement/play your hair gets. The more it helps the natural sectioning stay loose and natural. I am all the time shaking my head aroundespecially when drying my hair. And it seems to kind of naturally separate the sections and has kept them really small so far.

By not disturbing your hair at all, I think you will just make your sections really big and uncomfortable to start out. Which shouldn't be an issue for most people, buteven if you were less careful, you couldeventually let your small dreads build up to that.

And about the hair washing thing...Baking soda didn't really work for meeither. I use it sometimes if I really need it. ACV I do like however, also leaves my head & hair feeling nice.

sometimes, and probably not recommended. I will put a small bit of shampoo in to a giant kool aid pitcher of water and fill it up to dillude the shampoo down a lot and wash with that.

I am not recommending you do this also, but just pointing out its something I do that has yet to hinder my dread process much at all from what I can tell...

...Just don't get to superstitious over something that happens naturally...Just imagine the guys who grow crops indoors, and think you need all these insane rituals and special formulas to make a plant grow.

Yeah,every little bit helps, but you and I both know you can still grow just as good a tomato outdoors in no special dirt aside from what's in your back yard.