Nicole's Dreadlock Timeline: Recovery From Crochet, Going Natural

I got my Dreadlocks June 8th, 2010. I had them crocheted, only to find this website 4 days later. This is a timeline of my Dreadlocks . Recovering from crochet and going natural. They were only crocheted the initial time. I'm really hoping doing this timeline will help me resist the urge to take them all out and start over. I see a difference already, in the first week. I think.
This is Day 1. June 8th, 2010

2nd week, day 8. June 15th, 2010

Well, they are all finally out! 3 days and 7 hours later. Not fun. Anyways, my hair is now pretty much a tangly mess. We had to leave 3 of the crochet dreads in and 10 at about an inch because of the knotting. I was just losing way too much hair. :/
We did some separation after it dried, I slept on it and it knotted up again. And got all loopy. I'm hoping this is all normal or I may be starting from scratch with no hair :/

Ok. This is going totally natural. All the crochet are out.

Day 12

Day 20

ONE MONTH!! 30 DAYS!

44 Days. Tons of loopies andknots on the bottom layer and top, all in the back.

Day 52. Are all those knots underneath normal???

66 Days

Day 77

Day 93

Day 190ish (I'm losing track. lol...)

Day 333. Almost A YEAR!!!

updated by @nicole: 02/14/15 06:16:17AM

they are sooo extremely thin from being crochetted so tight but in the 2nd weeek they look lil less thin so u may get enough loosening up to be ok just gonna take time


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I had her do really small sections though too. They are about 1" x 1". Plus, my hair is really fine and thin..

Ok, so I decided to just take them all out. Debating on whether or not to add to this timeline or make a new one....

add to this 1and 1X1 inch thick not thin.. well with anything but crochet that is crochet makes them very very thin compared to the section size thats why they look sparse with huge gaps betweenreal dreads look much more full with no wide gaps between even if the average section size is way thinner


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

The wide sections is exactly the way mine looked when I had them crocheted. It has been a week since I had them done and they have loosened up and the sections are not even close to as obvious. If you have threads in , take them out. I found that sped up the process. I also took SE advice and just washed when I needed to rather than waiting the two weeks that I was told. After I washed them with some cold water and small amount of lavender oil they are much softer and flow more naturally.This is just my own experience and it has certainly been a positive since finding this site. Hopefully that will make you feel a little better if you change your mind about taking them out

shes already fully commited and has taken many out if not most already


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

That's awesome It will be an amazing journey for sure. soaringeagle said:

shes already fully commited and has taken many out if not most already

Yep . We have just 17 to go . The hair at the roots is very very knotted so for the ones that just wont comb through easily, Im going to leave and let those be a starting point.The way I see it: although the crochet is a pain to get out, if I hadnt done the crochet, SE and Island Mamma wouldnt have read about it on my blog and posted comments, and I wouldnt have found this site.Fate. This was meant to be a part of my journey. A very important part soaringeagle said:

shes already fully commited and has taken many out if not most already

haha u belonged here it was our pleasure to track u down and drag u in Nicole said:

Yep . We have just 17 to go . The hair at the roots is very very knotted so for the ones that just wont comb through easily, Im going to leave and let those be a starting point.

The way I see it: although the crochet is a pain to get out, if I hadnt done the crochet, SE and Island Mamma wouldnt have read about it on my blog and posted comments, and I wouldnt have found this site.

Fate. This was meant to be a part of my journey. A very important part

soaringeagle said:

shes already fully commited and has taken many out if not most already

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1