My Intro

I've been hanging around here for a couple of weeks and thought I'd finally introduce myself and my dread journey.

My name is Kerry and I live in Jacksonville, FL. I'm a married SAHM with 3 kids and 3 cats. My 2 sons are grown and are in the military and my daughter is 13 and in middle school. The cats are just lazy. We had a dog but she passed recently at the ripe old age of 14 - we are having some grieving time before adopting another.

How & Why Did I Dread? Well, I've wanted to for years (for personal & spiritual reasons) but my husband seriously disliked the idea with all the usual excuses. To make a long story short, we ended up in a dare/argument and I ended up going ahead and doing it. It took him a couple of days to adjust but he swears he likes it now, or maybe its more like "if it makes me happy, he's happy" kind of deal. All 3 kids and my mom like the way my hair looks now, which surprised all of them. My friends have been positive about it as well.

Yes, I started off with the old sectioning with bands, wax, & backcombing, but it's pretty much all gone by now, and am continuing "naturally." I have very wavy hair and many of my dreads look like rickrack (zig zags) because of it. Between the frizzy halo, some straight hair refusing to join in, and the insistence of some dreads wanting to grow together daily, I did have a few minor freak outs until I found this site and started checking out all the pictures and reading the threads - thank goodness its all normal.

I would like to thank Soaring Eagle and his band of ninjas for this site, it has really helped me out and educated me. You all have the best collection of pictures of Caucasian dreaded hair I've seen. So many pics elsewhere of dreads are professionally done and way too perfect to make one feel good about it.

updated by @kerry-loco: 01/13/15 09:52:29PM

well thnx but how did u gert the wax out how sure are u its all out?

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Hi Kerry, glad you decided to follow you heart and start dreading, never too late, only when you are dead, then it would be I should have but never did. So yeah, how did you get the wax out, it does take more than one try as wax is very stubborn and can stay in for years and years and years and years...you get the idea.

The crazy look is normal, it is one year of a very wild ride, but well worth it in the end. You will find that a few members post on here when they are having a bad day, a what have I done to my hair day, an I look wild and crazy now day....we help each other, so if you have one of these days, come on here for a hug, we'll get you through it....Enjoy your journey to freedom and inner growth....Peace

Sorry I haven't replied sooner. I started washing the wax out the same day I put it in because the smell was killing me. I used a combo of Dawn, baking soda, cider vinegar, etc., multiple times. I wouldn't say its 100% gone, but it feels like its almost all gone, and my husband agrees (he couldn't stand the feel or the smell either). One way I can tell is that my hair dries a lot faster now, compared to when there was wax, which is a relief.

One unexpected benefit of this journey is that it has encouraged my daughter to take better care of her hair. We no longer have to nag her to comb her hair daily. LOL