The "Constantly Changing" Law of Locks

This last photo indicates to me that it is indeed overdrying caused by baking soda. You know how I know?

Look at the circled areas on the photo:

Now even if the bottom one is simply the another dot/star showing through from your shirt, the other three are definitely not. I know what those thicker areas are on the hair shaft- breakage waiting to happen. I guarantee that if you go through the tips of your hair you'll find lots of them. If you grab the very tip of the hair with your finger nails and pull it'll snap off right at the thicker dot area.

That's exactly what i had going on until I started using shampoo bars with good moisturizers. There's quite a few soapers who make them. Mosalu on Etsy is one of my personal faves. I've never tried the brand sponsored here on this site but heard very good things about it. Take a look at the ingredients of the dreadlockshampoo bars. Those are the ingredients you need in your dreadlocks! Nothing fake. For the love of all that is holy, do not ever try to use 'glycerin soap' on your locks. It's 'melt and pour.' Cheap. Drying. And really really really bad for your locks. There are more soapers selling those now, though, and it's truly sad. They don't know what they're doing to people's hair. So you gotta read ingredients.

After you've used good shampoo bars for a while you' noticed these areas of your hair getting better. They'll break off, yes, because that's the only thing for them to do once it's gotten that bad, but you wont see a whole lot more of them starting up. Your hair will heal and man oh man will it feel completely different than it does when you're only using baking soda!!!!!!!!!

The one that's staring to 'thin the middle' it looks to me like all the knots are being pushed down to the end of your lock. That can happen sometimes. I've got a few of those myself. But the rest of the lock up to the top is strong so as long as the hair is well taken care of and not dried out anymore you should be fine.

I've never tried it, but I have heard that jojoba oil is most like our skin and hair structure so it is easily absorbed. Taye's idea might be worth checking out. Just bear in mind though that when you put oil on your hair you're going to be more inclined to shampoo that area of your hair with more soap to get suds and be a little more rough with it in general, feeling like you have to get it all off for your hair to be clean. Then you put more oil on after your hair is dry. Then you shampoo it off. Then you put more on. Do you see where I'm going with this? It's a cycle I found myself in not too long before I quit and started locking up. The constant stress was wearing my hair down. But if you're sparing with the oil(UNLIKE I was!) and are mindful when you wash not to be too rough then you will much more than likely have great results.

updated by @angel-frye: 07/22/15 07:42:13AM

Thank you for the detailed response!

Im going to keep the post updated about my experience with the bars. Ive only washed twice with em, so its way to early to tell if they make a difference for sure or not.

How do you use the bars? Cut off a little and let it dissolve in a pitcher and pour it over the head? or scrub the bar on the locks to lather em up?

Yer welcome! And nope. .. well, you actually, you CAN melt them down but it makes for far less usage of the soap. It's easier to just do the following:

1. Thoroughly wet all your hair and scalp.
2. Wet the bar. Now part your hair from front to back all the way down, gripping the bar(you'll find out how to hold it best from practice) rub it down the part you made, all the way from front to back.
3. Now move and rearrange your hair so that that part is now about a half an inch over to the left or right.
4. Soap up the part. Keep going. I usually find I have to rewet one side of my head after the other is soaped up appropriately.
5. After I get the roots all soaped up I slightly damped my hair all over and then rub the soap through all the length of the locks.
6. With fingertips, rub the scalp all over and get hair all frothy and lathered. Add a bit of water if you need to. If the soap is too thick and there's not enough water you wont get enough lather to properly move the suds all around.
7. Rinse.
8. If you didn't get big bubbles, it's because there's still oils and dirt there. Rewash your hair same way as the first time.

There ya go! That's how you use a bar shampoo, KafkaX

Awesome! Thanks Angel

So after using the bars for 3 months, I can say this is not solving my problem.

Locks are still breaking off, ends are coming undone, and shafts are continue to weaken...I dont understand what could be causing this?...

People with natural dreads: Did you encounter your locks changing this much? Ive lost some serious growth and am still continuing to.

3 months ago:

Now:

Spirals and loops are gone and I lost about 2 inches in length...Is this normal???

updated by @kafkax: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM

Yeah some people have suggested it was the BS frying my hair, which is why I switched to the bars.

The problem persists. =/

yes i lost 8 inches or more off dozens while using baking soda now that i use dreadlockshampoo they are absolutely stronger not 1 more broke

im not sure what your saying kaflax

2 inch lost can be shrinkage

if a 1/2 inch broke off the ends that could be wear and tewar i see lil white spotsthat are incomplete breakage possibly left over from combing days

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I have a hard time believing its shrinking because my locks are going on 3 years old...You can clearly see the loops and knots that all came undone and shed in the two pictures over the course of the past 3 months.

Should I add anything to my regimen? Sea salt sprays maybe? I have a hard time believing my locks are not moisturized enough because these bars are really nourishing.

Just wish I knew what was causing it. Its like they arent locked tight enough or something. I can literally pull the hair at the ends apart. Its barely hanging in there.

its possible they were kinda fried yea the bars are amazing but maybe you need an aditional treatment

something like jojoba and aloe and vitamin e all mixed together

pour it on let it soak deep root to tip

then when you rinse just do a quick 1/2 runce of the scalp not a thourough rince so most of it flows away from the roots to the tips but doesnt rinse out entirely so keeps helping till the next wash

if u blow dry .. reduce the heat to warm or cool

and maybe just to attack it from every angle take biotin

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Kaf, you said "Just wish I knew what was causing it. Its like they arent locked tight enough or something. I can literally pull the hair at the ends apart. Its barely hanging in there."

And then SE suggested moisturizing treatments.

I think we need to clarify exactly what the issue is here first. I'm a little confused. You say that the ends aren't locked tight enough but if you do an even more intensive treatment to moisturize then the ends really will come apart. It won't be the end of the world, but too much moisture will loosen locks. It'll tighten back up again but that will mean that the lock will change shape again. They'll be back in that adolescent stage.

That picture made it look like the whole lock was loosening up but chunks of it were chopped off. Is that the exact same lock as you took in that original pic? If it is then it seems as though the bar soap is simply loosening the lock and it's literally rearranging itself to adjust to the new 'normal' for what you're washing your hair with. Your locks may be three years old but if you change any part of your washing routine then your locks will respond in kind. This is probably just an adjustment period and your hair shedding all the old broken pieces from using baking soda.