After some serious digging, I was able to locate one picture of my first go around at dreads. The picture is a little limited in quality and detail but I think you can see what I’m describing here. I have some of my college friends digging around too and if I come up with any other photos I’ll post them up.
A little background: some 10+ years ago I decided to finally take the plunge into the dreadlock adventure. After some research online and sifting through some very limited information, I stumbled upon a website: dreadheadHQ. All the lovely photos of people sporting what I thought at the time were beautiful dreads along with resounding testimonials was enough to convince me. I purchased their dread kit equipped with wax, locking powder, a hook, shampoo and locking accelerator. All the essentials one needs to achieve the dreads like the ones pictured on the site... or so I thought.
I’ll save some of the juicer details for a blog or something. But here are the pertinent facts:
I had roughly 27 back combed lumps. I was absolutely disappointed with the finished product and spent countless hours palm rolling, dread balling, and pulling in every loose hair I found with that stupid hook. I was obsessed with “making them perfect” and also with blunting the tips. I used up almost the whole container of wax that came with the kit. And as you can see in the picture the end result was 27 heavy, hard, head candles. After 18 months of hating what I saw looking back at me in the mirror, I brushed them out. It took me a measly 4 hours. My hair had NOT dreaded at all!
[side note: the crap that was inside my dreads was disgusting! A matted slury of wax, dread powder, and anything that came in contact with those sticky lumps.]
A decade or more later I’m ready to try again. This time I’m doing it (almost) the way nature intended. I’m 10 weeks into it now and I’m already seeing more progress than I did after 18 months. I’m absolutely thrilled and proud of my babies. I’m loving the visual proof of progress I see every day. I’m no longer hung up on trying to control the situation. I’m not obsessing over the loose hairs, the fuzzies, or the paintbrush like tips. Hell, I twisted and ripped but couldn’t do anything about the last couple inches so I just left them loose. I’m absolutely in love with my lumps, bumps, and loops. Something I never experienced the first time.
The sad thing is I never even realized the errors of my ways until about 4 months ago when I decided I was ready to try again. I started to doing research and found this community. I was still skeptical though! Do nothing??? That‘s ridiculous! But I knew one thing: I was never going to use wax! The installation process took about a month. During that time, as I watched my hungry babies swallow up any loose hair they could find, it clicked. Holy crap. They were right. Hair wants to be dreads. If I had just stopped brushing and conditioning my hair this would have happened without any influence from me.
So here we are. Taking the amazing journey towards dreadlocks as naturally as I can. I love and appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of what I see happening. Every lump and loop is like an expression of my own personality. Not to mention, they are soft and light and flow in the breeze. I know I’ve made the right choice.
