I have just got to say that i started off with SO many bad habits. I made my locs with twist and rip and made so many mistakes with them. if i can figure out how to do that timeline here right now ill show you. trust me, the story has a happy ending
Here is what they looked like immediately after i made them. Knew nothing of what to do to them, and honestly, that's how it should have stayed, then they woudlnt have went through what they did
they are minutes old here
Then i waxed the one and only time. Realized without help that that was just not helping them lock and i have always HATED the feel of grease and stuff in my hair. see how nasty and matted they look?
heres where it finally started to dry up and wash out
then i started crocheting, big mistake. its harmful in general but much more for twist and rip as i learned. for so long i wondered why my locs were made in nearly 40 sections and yet they were as thin as if id made 100. but i was tightening them and didnt know it.
this was about a month in and about two and a half weeks or so into the crocheting
then i blunted the tips here which i intend to do again but not til theyre mature. in the meantime im lovin the look they have
Now here's where i combined a few of them thinking that would solve the thickness issue.
bout a month and a week or month and a half in
Here's what they looked like after they were fully combined down to 29 now
Here's where i made a big mistake. in another effort to thicken them, knowing i couldnt spare anymore to combine, i shortened them using a crochet hook. basically bunching them up, pulling them into themselves then tightening them from the side.
Lucky for me some of the length came back when i washed them
Now here's the happy ending, well not really the end, ill be posting more along the timeline as they mature. they just now turned a full two months. but here is where i have finally stopped putting in endless effort on blunting the tips and stopped harming them by crocheting the bodies. i absolutely love how they look here. so much more healthy
these were taken just now as im first making this timeline. i have come a long way and learned so much in the short two months ive had these locs
they look amazing and i cannot wait until they fatten up, they are gonna get so thick with these so few sections, and that was exactly what i wanted, nice fat ones. anyway ill be adding more as they mature by the month. in the meantime here's a few of the tams and things i have for them which i love
these were all crocheted by my brother throughout my dreading process
second one, rasta colored, haha i love it
theres my camo dread band (keep in mind these were made when i was still crochething them)
and last but not least my newest beanie.
thanks for all the advice everyone. cant wait to show you the (natural) progress of my locs. absolutely loving their healthy look
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ok nearly 3 month update. you may notice they look like crap now. thatd be because the crocheting has finally wore off and so ive pretty much undone all the damage i did to the dreading process.
its a good thing though. im so excited to see how they dread on their own. i pulled at em very gently and a bunch of the hairs just slipped apart. which tells me their solidity was only due to the weaving of the crochet hook. so i took that apart as much as possible. they look about the same as they did when i first started, which from what ive seen from other timelines, is very approrpriate for the small amount of time theyve been in.
also you may notice, i have a ....drumroll.....CONGO!!! haha
also happen to have more dreads. nearly all the ones i combined intentionally before have separated, with a little help but they were already coming apart. im up to 39. so now ill be able to congo as they get longer. the one congo i already have was from one that didnt quite separate all the way down. but i love it haha.
ok so we're at a lil over 3 and a half months now, i have more than ever and they look better than ever. i wish id never made the mistakes ive made and they could be even better by now
first i wanna show off my new dread wraps haha
now here's how my dreads look now, along with the new method i learned to tie them back more effectively (may seem simple but i hadnt thought of it haha. id been tyin them at the bottom back)
i absolutely love how much fuller they look. also (as i said in another discussion) i am keeping the tips loose. watch the timeline for the next change, all good ones from now on
ok so i am long overdue for an update. it's been a year and 1 month now. over the few months after my last update i undid alot of the dreads and some i re-twist and ripped, others i left loose to form naturally. i cant figure out how to post pics the way i used to on here though. seems to have changed. now you can only attatch them it looks like. anyone know how or if you can still post them the way i did the others? i wanna be able to post more than 3
updated by @ethon-obrien: 02/14/15 03:08:32PM