how to know if the dread process is working

I'm a Noob, and as of right now I'm only on day 5 of my natural dreads. I was just curious on ways to know if your hair is dreading? I started the process by washing with Nutrigena non-residue shampoo and also the baking soda conditioner and washed them the same way yesterday on day 4 the same way. I know its a slow and awesome process but I always feel like I'm messing up the process by shampooing or drying them in a way that messes them up. Luckily I haven't continued the habit of combing/running my fingers through my hair...usually the only time I mess with it is taking on and off my beanie and the occasional itch haha besides what I've mentioned above.

updated by @jacob-doherty: 01/13/15 09:32:58PM

I think you're doing fine... You have the best hair for the process with all those curls! Just don't think about it so much. Wash it when it feels dirty to you. Other than that, Just let it do what it's going to do. Some days it will be knotty as heck, then other days it might seem to be coming undone. It just seems to go thru its phases. I used to over think way too much, too. I even almost combed them out! But you have found a great resource in this website. Lots of invaluable information. Oh, and think about doing the baking soda wash/apple cider vinegar rinse. Since I started doing that, I really started making progress. But still, it's all about time

Stop using the Nutrigena shampoo. Notnecessaryat all. Just use the BS wash followed by the ACV rinse. With both of these, you don't have to touch your head at all. Just pour, wait, rinse.

How are you drying them?

And don't wear a beanie. They are too tight and restrict movement, which slows down the process considerably, and will make your locks grow it flatter. Not that flat locks don't look cool, but it'll force it to happen instead of it happening on it's own

also how r ya drting them? best to jst shake it out and ket the air or sun do the drying instead of rubbing with a towel

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Hi Jacob and welcome to the dreadie-life!

Anyhoo, here is a little reiteration with some redirection:

The Nutrogena Anti-Residue should only be used to remove gunky buildup, like a clarifying shampoo, it should not be used as a regular shampoo.

There are various alternatives that are great for keeping the scalp clean such as the BS/ACV (baking soda/acv otherwise known as "no poo") which you can find a recipe for in the dreaducation pages, Dr. Bronners, and the dreadlock shampoos from Bucks County Soap (these are the most popular but, by far, not the only available.) With the first 2 it's good to add essential oils for certain effects.

When you wash, only wash the scalp with the fingertips (no need to lather the entire head up or scrub at the hair itself) and the water will rinse the shampoo through your hair, in turn, cleaning it without disrupting the process. With the BS/ACV option, you don't have to do any rubbing because it's a "no-touch" way of cleaning.

With drying, gently squeeze excess water and/or flip the hair about while still in the shower. I even use a towel to squeeze and soak up the water since my hair holds a lot of excess but no rubbing.

The first sign of progress will be your hair starting to form it's own sections. Over time, these sections will start to get fuzzy and then knot up in places. Once this starts, it's your job to pull the sections apart so that they don't get out of control and start to dread together. The all-natural process could take months to years to dread, depending on your hair type.

As for the beanie, it's going to be too tight to allow your hair to move to form knots. IF you do want to keep your hair covered or out of your face, replace the beanie with a tam. Tams are essentially saggy beanies. They are big enough to allow the hair some movement when worn.

I'm mostly just patting my hair down, not trying to undo progress. I figured my hair isn't locking at all yet so I wouldn't have to worry about mildew anyway right now. My beanies r just 100% acrylic and are to big for my head and act almost as a tam (very loose, low thread count, almost wool like), but if its bad for the process I'll get a tam next time I can. Thanks for all the great info everyone.