are some doubts normal in the beginning??

hey guys, im randi and i just started my journey less than a week ago. i was THIS close to buying the 'jonny clean' dread kit until i found this site. thank god!! ha i had never heard of the twist and rip method until i came here so i decided to try it b/c i didn't think i would have the patience for neglect! well i think it turned out pretty great but i've been having doubts creep in every once in a while.

First off, I only have 20 dreads, which seems like a small amount and makes me wonder if it makes me look like i don't have much hair! i had thin hair to begin with, so it was probably to be expected...but still I just wonder if anybody else out there has the same issue..

Second, i'm having a hard time getting the courage up to wear my hair down in public..usually i wear it pulled back which i absolutely love the look of.. but wonder when the time will come when i'm confident enough to just let it down and go!

I think that about sums it up...i know it's a journey and i'm so excited to be a part of something so liberating and beautiful.. any input would be appreciated!

updated by @randi2: 01/13/15 08:57:27PM

ofcourse your gonna have some umm 20 dreads are going to be fat dreads when mature

they will look great tho

well the 1st sday u go out with em down you'll feel liberated so..do it tomorow

if u tie em back alot seperate alot more often

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

normally you can tell how think your dreads are by the section size. Dreads will mature to be as thick as the section size. So a 1 inch section will mature to a 1 inch thick dread. My hair is also thin.Because my hair is thin straight and fine...it will never be quite as thick as the sections. If your sections are bigger than an inch, you might wanna resection. It is alot easier to do now.than it will be to do in the future. I split one of my dreads recently into 2 dreads. It was painful. I won't ever do that again. If your hair is as thin as mine, I recommend 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch sections.

i agree maybe 1 or 22 that are an inch but keep em varied from 1/2 inch to inch


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I'm at just about 5 months and just now starting to get comfy with wearing them down and boy does it feel great! I love the low maintenance tho i actually take better care of my hair now than i did before, i always had it in a bun cause it was so frizzy and thick which cause it to knot up into one big dread, and break my hair all the time, now i just get up and if they're a mess well that's okay :P I had many days where I was like "wtf am i doing?" but now each day it gets better and i love it more and more especially now that I have started playing with beads, wraps,and all kindsa other decorations! I wore a hat, and bandana a lot to keep them looking tidy now i only do that when they're getting in my face or i'm trying to cook or eat >.< enjoy the journey, but like everyone else said kinda watch and see if some of your sections don't try to resection themselves smaller, if so help em out they'll thicken with time but 20 is kind of a smaller number meaning thicker in the end, i started out with about 26 and have split at least 3 into two and i seem to be getting more as my sections are defining themselves more i'd say i have about 35ish now (not counting too tired and lazy so just a rough guesstimate)

I started out with 20, and a ton of loose hair in the back that I have neglected... all the ones I t&r just were too big, I am only a little over 4 months in and also have really fine/thin hair. A couple weeks ago I noticed that most of the t&r babies wanted to separate into 2 or 3, they were starting to split themselves and dread into a fork looking chunk of hair with the 2 or 3 ends near my head , so I just went with those natural sections and ripped them the rest of the way down to the tips. I think I have closer to 40-45 now, and they are progressing WAY faster now. If you do decide to re section, it's def better to do it now, as I had to basically comb out some in order to split them all the way down. Either way I'm sure they will look beautiful though!

I didn't have a lot when I first TnR'd, but the back came undone and now I've got like twice as many forming on there own haha

thanks for all the input! well, i didn't think they were that thick, especially compared to some i've seen..i just chalked up the low number to the fact that my hair is so thin.. but now i'm starting to worry! ha maybe i will try to resection a few bigger ones. a few do look like they're forking in two directions so maybe i'll start there! but they're varying in size, from small to bigger.. as far as wearing my hair down, i actually did today when i took my daughter to the park and it felt great!

i should have just went natural then i wouldn't be worrying about all this!