separating natural locks

no mirror? just do it by feel then? i sometimes do that now when i'm in bed. i usually feel around for sections but it's hard to tell whats what when its basically loose hair.

Dorothy said:

are you separating in front of a mirror? if so, i suggest stopping.

every time i separated, it was unconscious. id find my hands moving over the newly formed locs that were pulling on each other and my scalp. and this didnt happen often, even in the beginning. but i dont got a zillion dreads either...

your hair and body will tell you when and where to separate. trust your gut.

updated by @heather: 07/18/15 02:40:57PM

okay. i'll try that. thanks dorothy!

Dorothy said:

no mirror! thats one of the reasons i started dreading. i hated spending precious moments of my life looking into one so that i may be 'presentable'. yup, do it all by feel lady. if you stop fussin with your hair and let it rat up and do its thing, youll start to feel locs forming in their own sections. when you got those going, you just help the hair-made sections along by separating them from other sections. if you cant feel a loc (formed or forming), dont separate.

when i first started in september i thought that my hair texture would knot up quickly but i've taken really good care of my hair over the years which doesn't help when you want it to knot on purpose. it's really soft. i was getting frustrated with the lack of progress a couple of weeks ago which is the reason for the backcombed ones. they are doing some crazy things though. i'm not messing with it anymore. now i just want to prevent it all from becoming one massive dread.

Dorothy said:

your hair is very beautiful. looks curly too. your curls and waves will work wonders if you let em. no more backcombing!! ive got tons of loose baby hairs and curls that will probably never dread. dont worry so much about them.

Heather said:

okay. i'll try that. thanks dorothy!

Dorothy said:

no mirror! thats one of the reasons i started dreading. i hated spending precious moments of my life looking into one so that i may be 'presentable'. yup, do it all by feel lady. if you stop fussin with your hair and let it rat up and do its thing, youll start to feel locs forming in their own sections. when you got those going, you just help the hair-made sections along by separating them from other sections. if you cant feel a loc (formed or forming), dont separate.

what do you wash with and how often?

Dorothy said:

its going to take a lot of neglect for that to happen. and it wont. dont worry, be happy!!!

well, if your coming out to cali then your definitely going to need something to wash with because the water here will leave more build up in your hair than any shampoo would. i think the whole build up thing is a little over hyped anyway. maybe a natural shampoo bar or even a dr.bronners bar? at least they're easy to travel with.

Dorothy said:

i wash my hair 1-3 times a week, just water in the shower. the occasional acv/baking soda rinse. but lately ive been trying to soak my dreads once a week with essential oils and vinegar and plain old hot water to really get em clean. they re so thick that i gotta soak and squeeze and repeat process to get inside em. but i only got a month to get them the healthiest i can before i travel. otherwise, id prally be doin a soak 1 every mo. i like bronners but am super paranoid about soap buildup.

Heather said

what do you wash with and how often?s

Dorothy said:

its going to take a lot of neglect for that to happen. and it wont. dont worry, be happy!!!

maybe you could separate your dreads to make them not so thick and easier to rinse? i know knottysleeves did some to hers recently. just a thought.

Heather said:

well, if your coming out to cali then your definitely going to need something to wash with because the water here will leave more build up in your hair than any shampoo would. i think the whole build up thing is a little over hyped anyway. maybe a natural shampoo bar or even a dr.bronners bar? at least they're easy to travel with.

Dorothy said:

i wash my hair 1-3 times a week, just water in the shower. the occasional acv/baking soda rinse. but lately ive been trying to soak my dreads once a week with essential oils and vinegar and plain old hot water to really get em clean. they re so thick that i gotta soak and squeeze and repeat process to get inside em. but i only got a month to get them the healthiest i can before i travel. otherwise, id prally be doin a soak 1 every mo. i like bronners but am super paranoid about soap buildup.

Heather said

what do you wash with and how often?s

Dorothy said:

its going to take a lot of neglect for that to happen. and it wont. dont worry, be happy!!!

Totally all about the journey And great advice about not separating in the mirror, Dorothy! I'm gonna give that a try

Heather said:

i was doing the separating after my showers too. i think i'm probably doing it too often since i have more loose hair than sectioned hair. t&r doesn't work in my hair. i did a couple in my hair a few months ago and they fell out in a matter of hours. stupid soft hair its all about the journey, right? lol:)

meg said:

I do my best to only separate after a shower, when my hair has had a chance to dry a teeny bit. The hair is weaker when it's wet, so it makes it easier to separate (gently, of course!). I've also still got a lot of loose hair from separating. I've been taking some of it and doing a little t&r to keep things in order.

I'm a month and three weeks in, though. You're a lot farther along than me! :P