Neglect Method Newbie -- Baking Soda Wash Questions

I wash whenever i feel, u dont need schedules. PLain BS whenever u want
updated by @jack-roth: 07/03/15 07:52:53AM

Hehe Marcus I only advised that because that area would be very sensitive to PH imbalances (no homo).I also have very oily hair and I have the same texture hair as yours at that length (I'll upload pics some time of last year).

I don't want to be negative but you will probably have a frustrating road ahead of you until your hair gets longer...I took natural dreading very seriously and did everything I could when I first started out to let my hair dread. Wool tams all the time, even in the heat of the summer, and even in my sleep. Sea salt sprays whenever I could. Spacing washing. Trying dozens of variations of washes, shampoos, etc. You'll see knotting but the worst part is when you wash your hair because you lose a lot of sectioning. As your hair gets longer you'll notice it'll knot up more and more over time but it was very difficult after a while.

If you've seen eyeheartchrist's page on youtube (he's the man!!), he started with his hair shorter but he also did a lot of palm rubbing to create the knotting -> then he kinda went "neglect". And his hair was longer than yours when he started. Some people can get dreading with short hair but that's with fairly textured and curly hair (SE for example). I know eyeheartchrist used burt's bee's and prell and alternated. Prell is a clarifying shampoo so it cleans very well and helps you space out your washing - it can also be too harsh on some people, and can cause dandruff depending (it has alcohol in it). It tends to take a while to rinse in my water... Nowadays I alternate between burt's bees and normal shampoos until I start again, and the burt's bees (non-residue) gives me lots of texture.

I was on campus and talked to a white guy with badass dreads and from what I can tell he used a starter method like most people, but they ended up looking neglect which was awesome. He recommended baby shampoo, which is definitely what I'm gonna use when I start up again (probably burt's bees baby shampoo).

Your journey reminds me of the beginning of mine, cause I've grown my hair out from a fade for a whole year specifically to grow dreads (never had long hair in my life), and haven't had a single haircut =D. I started out with backcombing at 4-5 inches and then it all fell out even though I did it pretty aggressively. Then I went natural for 3 months til I gave up when I had a ton of dandruff buildup and I was forced to scrub it which ruined all the progress, and went back to normal shampoos. And I've had like 6 different girlfriends since then and they all couldn't tell I didn't cut my hair, they loved it. It's sweet seeing how I'm supposed to look naturally, cause haircuts remove a lot of thickness I want in my journey, and not combing at first was a good way to add texture to my hair style. At first I thought my hair was dreading, eh, it was just sectioning because that's just long hair... Of course when I combed it all out I did have a ton of knots. I have the same hair texture but as it got longer it's wavy and I wake up with sectioning every day just using normal shampoo, having to comb it... Knotting gets sooo much faster with longer hair - a sea salt rinse for me now will cause instant sectioning all over. It's actually a cool experience to see the stages of your hair as it grows even if you don't dread it til way later.

After all, if you grow your hair out long enough it'll only take 2 weeks to see results that you might only see after 5-6 months from now. It's good getting familiar with the mechanics of proper scalp and hair care now though, like freezing rinses, scalp care, clarifying shampoos, how the hair knots and sections, how your hair products affect your scalp, etc. I don't mean to steer you away from your journey but it's not uncommon for some people to not see knotting with neglect even after a year of trying, depending on their hair - for those people it takes a starter method which isn't shameful.

Oh, and I would probably stay away from Lavendar oil and Peppermint oil - they've been linked to gynecomastia and reduced testosterone/increased estrogen if you google it. I'm sure gyno is not very but I wouldn't risk getting it on my skin anyways. Be easy on the rosemary oil though, some people are sensitive to it so try it on some skin before hand.

Good luck man. I'm sure your dreads are gonna look sick in time, and the journey's the best part. Everything's worth a try. Nobody would have been able to talk me out of trying neglect for 3 months until I decided on my own.

I wanna add this too. Given, I have an oil scalp in general. But when I started out with shorter hair and waited 3 days to wash, my hair would be fully saturated in oil by that time, making it more slippery for knotting and also harder to clean without affecting progress. Now with the amount of hair on my head vs. my scalp, I could wait at least 7 days before my hair is equally as saturated in oil. I still only wash every 3 days and it's not even usually necessary, when it was absolutely necessary in the beginning. When I start dreading I'll probably wash my hair only every 5 days or so, and considering longer hair knots faster, and I'll have 5 days at a time of uninterrupted/unaffected knotting that is much less likely to come undone in washes, as opposed to 2 steps forward 1 step back approach when I started. Like, when I would wash my hair when it was shorter, usually knots were more likely to come undone during washing and it was almost like a comb to my hair. Now knots are inevitable and much more appear after washing - I have to hand comb after words or I end up with large curlies/sections. The only time knots disappear in my washes now is when I use normal shampoo *and* finger comb during washing.

The whole idea though, is it takes knots to make knots, and once the initial knotting (from neglect or starter methods) is there, it becomes exponential. Hence how eyeheartchrist for example (my favorite dreads of all time next to KnottySleeves, Rawsum, Ian, SE, JackRoth etc), had dreading at such short length with caucasian hair, because the initial knotting from the palm rubbing caused a knotty explosion lol. Hell, lots of people with long hair start over because they didn't separate often enough (use eyeheartchrist's videos on youtube as a guide for sectioning). It's just a lot easier to create and keep the initial knotting when it's longer.

Sorry for rambling but I kinda feel like I owe it to the forum since I was really active here (name was ChewinChange) and I should share.

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it! I'm just going to continue washing every 3 days until something happens lol. That way I go in with no expectations!

Any time! Exactly bro it was still 100% worth the effort even when it didn't work out. I'll be adding more pictures from how neglect went with my hair type so you can get an idea of the sectioning

Oh I almost forgot. There's also reports online that tea tree oils can also cause gynecomastia and testosterone imbalances. Most of those are for kids in puberty, and they linked them to body washes/shampoos. Not sure if it's the same on adults but I'm not really into taking that risk...