Helllo all!
i began my natural journey a week ago.. and i have been wearing it up in a messy bun about half the time and it seems like that has been helping them separate and start to knot a little. are there any tips or suggestions on ways to wear your hair that helps the progression at all? for example... if its better to just keep it down all the time
The #1 tip is to do absolutely nothing. Idk how old you are but growing up I used to watch Spongebob a lot and there was an episode where Patrick and him were stuck in the forest with a magic conch and no food and they asked the conch what they had to do to escape and it responded to say "nothing," suddenly out of nowhere a food supply plane was crashing out of the sky and dropped all of its cargo into the forest and they had plenty of food to spare. my point without rambling on 
is that it just needs to be washed with no maintenance other than separating, unless you want huge congos. and also leaving it down all the time helps it along way faster than tying it up. peace 
keep it down as much as u can if its up all the time it slows progrsss but also u might end up with a bun dread all your hair in 1 big ol knot ontop of yoiur head
early on especialy the more u wear it up the more seperatijng u gotta do
Definitely keep it down as much as you can. Tying it up in a bun keeps the hairs from moving around as much as they should. When they hang free, they tangle easier.
Wash, wash and wash. The more you clean you hair, the faster it will lock. Obviously don't wash every day. You need to let your hair dry 100% before wetting it again
Lawl!
Yep, basically what they've all said -- leave it alone as much as possible, save for separating (unless you're trying to grow an uberdread, which I don't think you are, haha). However, washing your hair with the right products is key as well. I'm sure you've browsed around the fora and seen all the posts about washing with baking soda / apple cider vinegar, castille soap, etc? The BS/ACV method is by far the easiest and most cost-effective, and it's helped my hair knot more than any of the residue-free soaps I tried before. But if you want to know more about said products, there are lots of people here who have used them before and would be happy to give you a review.
Journeyman Dreads said:
The #1 tip is to do absolutely nothing. Idk how old you are but growing up I used to watch Spongebob a lot and there was an episode where Patrick and him were stuck in the forest with a magic conch and no food and they asked the conch what they had to do to escape and it responded to say "nothing," suddenly out of nowhere a food supply plane was crashing out of the sky and dropped all of its cargo into the forest and they had plenty of food to spare. my point without rambling on
