I suppose this is the beginning of my time line.
I started a dread (just one) right around New Years. I call him Carl. He did very well, so I added a couple more over the next few weeks. I was testing methods. No, that's not it.. I was testing variations. All were twist & rip. But I'd seen & heard about several different ways to do t&r, so I wanted to test a few of my faves & see how my hair reacted. Ultimately, I went with this method:
It's the first one I tried. Accidentally, you might say. I'd wanted dreads for years, but I was afraid they would hold me back in the "conventional" world. I'd tried keeping a few dreads in my normal hair before, but it didn't work out (probably because they were back-combed. And they wanted to eat all of my regular hair). Well, one night I was researching & hoping & dreaming that one day I'd have the balls to take the plunge... when i came across that video up there. Without thinking, I began to do it to my hair. The way some girls inadvertently twirl their hair when nervous, I guess. I realized what I was doing about halfway through & just decided to finish it. That's how Carl was born.
I decided to try keeping a few dreads hidden in my rat's nest. So I added 2 or 3 more. None of them worked out quite as well as the first.
THEN, [dun-dun-DUUUNN] my parents bought a restaurant. And needed my help. So I had bargaining power. And a boss who had never felt right about stifling my self-expression. >)
So I did it. All of it. and it was glorious.
I'll prove it. There are photos.
I didn't get anal about sectioning, just kinda grabbed as I went along. I wanted them to look a bit more natural, so my sections are all different sizes. I'm hoping for 1"x1" dreadies (on average) in a few years.
Oh, and about a month prior to doing my whole head, I started washing with natural bar soap and I shunned conditioner. For the sake of my test dreads. I stopped combing about 2 weeks beforehand so that I'd get a bit of natural sectioning goin on. Right before dreading I did the [baking soda] deep cleanse that SE recommended.
About 2 weeks after doing all of my hair, I re-sectioned about 6 of the dreads on the back of my head. They were parted kinda funny & I was afraid it'd look like I had bald spots when they were more mature. So my sister helped me straighten em out. But other than that, they've been doing their own thing. I usually rip the roots apart after showering if its too bad, but I've missed quite a few so there's some joining going on already. Some are joined for 3-4 inches (which I was quite surprised by). They seem to be maturing super fast, and I'm crazy about em. They're not behaving at all like I expected, but I absolutely love it. They're super loopy and my curls make it hard to tell it's even dreaded at first glance... Can't wait for the next stage.
The 1st pic is day 1. (Carl is the one w/ the little bead)
The 2nd pic is about 6 weeks in.
The third pic is at nearly 3 months.
There are several more pictures of my progress on my page. Feel free to check em out. 
I'm just enjoying the ride.
updated by @ricochet-rylie: 01/13/15 09:00:14PM
