Hello dready, beautiful people! I just joined (and donated to) this wonderful online community. I am very glad I found this place on the internet. I also just put my brush and comb aside this past Sunday, June 8th, and have been letting my hair do as it will.
I don't want to spend much time discussing how/what I do with my hair, especially since i just started this wonderful journey of the locs. I did want to share, and possibly discuss, with people here my experience of beginning this process of learning to love myself for who I am. Because that's what I've realized it's about, for me at least.
In these few three days since I have let my hair behave how it wants (still cleaning it w/natural things of course), I have reflected on a lot about why I am doing this. In the short time that I have started this process, I have felt my mindset undergo some pretty significant shifts. It has been interesting for me to see these happen in retrospect. It began when I got dreads in '08 (the dreaded dreadheadhq method...good thing I chopped em off, i guess), and I cut them within a year of having them cuz I was moody. Long story short, I couldn't get "my dreadlocks" out of my mind since then, and I have missed them since.
I began especially missing them recently, and was considering having my girlyfriend backcomb my hair this summer (i'm wiser to wax and such these days). I had a date in mind, but i felt i could hardly wait. It's like I could feel phantom dreads on my head! I want them there, but they haven't manifested yet!
I then came across this lovely website through one of soaring eagle's youtube vids, and suddenly it clicked: put the brush down. That easy! I realized that I wanted dreadlocks so much that I could easily face looking like a wild person for however-long. Which leads me to here. Over the three days that I've let my hair go wild, I was caught up in the idea that I was "going to have dreadlocks." I have been obsessing with how they "should" look by now, or how they "might" look a week, a month, ten months from now. "Am I using the right soap?" "Am I doing this right?" etc. etc. (you know the drill, I'm sure)
I have recently also quit the ol' nicotine (cigs, snuff, inc.), quit smoking weed several weeks ago, am going to graduate from community college after many many years, and have generally been developing a more confident, healthy, loving self. Amidst all of these changes, my "dreads" have decided to emerge. As I was sitting in meditation today, I realized that the process I've been going through with my hair is an apt reflection of how I'm really trying to be in harmony with myself. I "wanted my dreads back" not just for the sake of having a hairstyle, but because I always feel so happy and radiant thinking about myself with dreads. Therefore, I am happy with this process of growing into harmony with my hair and all aspects of my being.
Thank you all <3
updated by @cody-harder: 01/13/15 10:04:18PM
