Hello I'm Paige :)

thanks! that's what really pushed me to go natural, how it still grows while knotting. i haven't brushed my hair since yesterday and most of my right and half of my left has separated itself into little sections. so it's gonna be fast

Heather said:

my hair is just now starting to shrink at 16 month neglect. nice thing about going natural is that your hair keeps growing while knotting from the bottom up. when i stated my hair was just past my shoulders and now even with shrinkage its at my waist. now my journey has been incredibly slow so it might be different for you if yours knots up fast. don't worry too much though. your going to look beautiful no matter what:)

updated by @paige: 07/03/15 07:43:10AM

Thanks for the tips! I'll shake it out tomorrow. today was nice and windy! so i was happy they got blown around

Angel Frye said:

I dont' know, Heather. Mine shrank up 2 inches on the sides and THREE around the nape of my neck last month and that was at month #2. Now all my hair is evening out and longer. I don't look so out of wack, thankfully. But I'll bet you that if I brushed my hair out it'd be down to my collar bone and when I started locking up three months ago my hair was just past my chin! My hair is growing like a weed. Er. weedsssss. Plural. Definitely feels heavier on my head.

I can tell anyone out there who has layers cut into their hair definitively--- give up seeing those layers after you've committed to the dread journey. Seriously. (Neglect or backcombing, doesn't matter) Because they're going to merge together and disappear forever unless you cut them back in after your locks are solid and mature. It's been a crazy thing to watch on my own head. I thought for sure certain locks I saw in the first month would keep and.. nope. hell no. They merged with others and gave me and my wishes the middle finger. So I guess the best newbie advice I could give, Paige, is this: get used to waking up with a different head of hair every day. LOL It's a riot.

Congratulations. Your babies look beautiful. Love them and keep them happy and clean and they will mature into beautiful strong locks.

Oh, also: give your locks a morning "shake" to brush them out. It'll wake you up and after your done shaking everything will be nicely settled. And I highly recommend driving with the window down. Dreads love the wind!

If you braid your hairs that are left into small briads, they will eventually start to dread on their own and it won't cost you any length. It may take up to a year for them to completely transform into dreads if your hair is straight and oily, but they will be a lot more uniform and you can choose the size. I think it will look a lot better to have half braids and half dreads than what is likely to happen if you just let the hair try to dread it'self. My hair is also straight and oily, so I also know that the oil will destroy the rubber bands after a while, but you can replace them, or use thin soft wire after they have started to set. You will still have to rip the braid/dreads to keep them separated, but you will have beautiful dreads when you are done.

interesting about the braids, however, now that i've started the neglect method, i'm too interested to see where it goes!