So I've posted how I really wasn't having any progress and since I've just been putting it up in a hat I've had a lot of progress in the back, nothing crazy but something. But they started to Congo so I tried separating and then showered and washed my hair. I lost so much hair. I try not to touch my hair but had somewhere to go today and tried pulling it back and it seems like so much is falling out. My hair is already so thin I'm nervous, as to I don't really remember losing much hair when I showered. Stupid question but nervous about how much is falling out. Is this normal, any insight about how much hair people lose when washing please let me know. Again I feel like if I pull it back more and more keepsComing out, I should have just let them join and not messed with it
updated by @vwpimpin: 01/13/15 10:02:37PM
Losing hair
u lose hundreds a day when i wash i find lots and lots in the drain
--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
Before I started dreading I was losing sooo much hair. I was actually nervous to dread thinking that I wouldn't have enough hair for them to look descent. My hair mostly came out in the shower. Since I have started dreading my hair has become so thick it's crazy. I used to be able to wrap a rubberband around my hair 3 times and now I can barely get it around 1 time, and I'm only in my 10th month. Once they start to tighten your loose hairs will become trapped in the dreads and you will stop losing much hair at all. I think, if possible, you should get out of the habit of pulling it back though. The more you leave your hair down the faster it will progress. Good luck to you and Happy Dreading!!!
I had the same happen to me when I started dreading. What happened was as my hair would knot up, the hair that I normally would shed would get trapped in the knots all over my head. When I showered, the knots would loosen again and I had hair come out in hand-fulls. I think since you're in the "just starting to show signs of dreading" stage, your hair is tightening and coming loose over and over until the hair finds its place and begins to dread. The hair you would normally lose over time is coming out all at once when your knots get loose after showering. That's what I think, at least.
I wouldn't worry! Just keep doing what you're doing. It sounds to me like you have some awesome progress poking just around the corner. :D
Normal daily hair loss is over 120 hairs (127 to be exact) just think about that for a minute, what would 120 hairs look like. Before the dreading process I would always see lots of individual hairs going down the drain. The thing with dreads is they begin to trap those hairs more & more as they mature. I was at the point you are now a few months ago. I was losing not individual strands but chunks of hair when I showered. I also worried briefly then I remembered these were hairs I would have lost anyways. In the three days from wash to wash I would have lost nearly 400 hairs, did the chunk look like 400 or even 200 hairs? Hardly, more like 40 hairs so when I looked at the grand total I was up by well over 300 hairs. After that I didn't worry. Now I don't see the chunks coming out, just a few liberated strains roped together that will slowly come out after a few washings little by little. My hair is getting heavier too so I know I'm retaining a lot more hairs now that they have started to mature into proper dreads. Just look at the pictures of my dreads from the eight months to ten months, the difference is very dramatic even more so if you look at the six month baby dreads I had before.
Don't worry so much about pulling them back, I do it all the time for work, exercise & sports. I use mostly long wool head wraps & wool tams, other's here say the wool's texture is the best as it helps them dread up faster, plus the ones I use feel great. Whatever you use as long as there is not a lot of tension (read: discomfort) just let them down when you finish & they'll be fine. If your tired of all the matting that happens in the back get a round bolster pillow & drape your hair on the other side of it so your not matting it down into congos with the back of your skull every night. Some people put them up in wool tube at night as well as use the round bolster pillows, I don't. My dreads are too confined during the day so I let them run free at night, but if I did I would use the long merino wool head wraps from from Buff that I use normally at all other times ( http://www.buffwear.com/buff-headwear/wool-buff ). I've tried a bunch they are the best.
If your starting to see dreads pay a closer attention to how you wash. When you shower start at the scalp & wash the individual dreads from base to tips don't just mash them all up together. I usually start with a "primer" wash. Basically I take a small amount of Tea Tree Liquid Locking Up Shampoo and I apply it to the scalp. It's getting harder to reach the scalp with my fingertips on the first wash so I just use the palms of my hands in a gentle, slow but firm circular fashion. I scrub my face & let it soak in a bit. I then rinse it out and repeat with a larger portion of one of the scented Liquid Locking Up Shampoos (Nag Champa is my favorite but it's the strongest, Patchouli has nice earthy scent & Drangon's Blood is almost citrusy but it's the least strongest of the three). I repeat at the scalp then I gently begin wringing and palm rolling the suds from base to tip. I let the shampoo soak in a good five minutes just basking in that great scent while I scrub the rest of my body, I then rinse starting at the scalp, slowly & gently wring each dread from base to tip. The this take time? Yes, but we only wash them twice a week or every third day so it's not like an everyday ritual.On the other 5 days a week I simply use a shower cap. Plus the Nag Champa scent reminds me of the temples I visited in India and it helps to relax & release all the tension that inevitably builds up in my body from my high pressure job at the hospital. Besides these are our dreads, aren't they worth it to take a little extra time? When you dry them again don't just mash them up in ball, start at the base and slowly work toward the tips gently wringing each individually in the towel. I've seen a lot better separation & definition washing this way.
Good look bro & keep us posted
