Forum Activity for @hayley

tam hats and sleeping

Introduce Yourself

@ diego, i think my tam helped, but i've noticed i've had to separate every day as well, several times a day like you. i could figure out if i was just paranoid or what. but i'm glad to know now that someone else is experiencing the same problem and i don't think we even have the same hair type. yeah i was noticing that mine were on their way to congos once they got through the first couple of months. i didn't like my sectioning. so i took them out and i'm going to redo them because i do want thinner dreads

@ robyn,

have you worn your tam at night since you typed that saturday? have you noticed it helped or not? how are you btw?

tam hats and sleeping

Introduce Yourself

i think it really did help. because my dreads started swallowing up hairs around them and getting really tight. but then i found out that your dreads will be as big as the section you made and my sections were way to big and i don't want congos or really fat dreadlocks yet. but yeah, i think the tam really helped them so i'm going to continue to wear it at night or whenever. except for at work ; - ;

Robyn said:

I have never tried sleeping with a tam on but some people have experienced progress by wearing a tam at night. It's whatever you want to do.

tam hats and sleeping

Introduce Yourself

i love wearing my tam. i really wish i could wear it to work, but they won't let me. i do like sleeping in it, its almost automatic for me.

melanie rose said:

I usually sleep in one (very loose) and the back of my head has shown lots of progress. That could also be because I sleep on my back.. I dunno, personal preference I guess. Don't bother yourself with it, but if it comes natural as it does for me, go for it. Definitely wont hinder anything :]

tam hats and sleeping

Introduce Yourself

my sections really started locking up and then i found out that your dread will be as big as the section you made, and mine were well on their way to becoming congos. i know mine are only 15 days old, but they were really changing. as much as i want to leave them alone, i have already had to separate a few sections. and then i found out i was twisting and ripping wrong. but when my friend gets back from rome i'm going to have her help meseparatethe dreads i already have. i want thinner dreadlocks and like i said, mine were about to start becoming huge. i was really excited though, they were swallowing a lot of loose hairs and changing fast. but i've just had this gut feeling that i wasn't happy with what they were going to turn into.

and thank you for all of your advice the past few days

the Barrellady said:

Hey there. It is not necessary to wear any hat or tam to bed. The sections want to be wild and move around while you sleep. This knots the hair more, the tossing around. I noticed you did T&R but have since just gradually started to leave them alone. What have you been doing since you made the sections?

All you need to do is keep your hair clean and separate any sections trying to join together,that's it, pretty easy. Those sections you made are not dreads but the blueprints to them. They will drastically change over the next year. They will loosen, zig & zag and loop and shrink. They will need to loosen in order to do this, so please do not re-twist any or you will go back to square one each time. You will be excited by the changes. Washing & letting the hair move is the quickest way for it to dread.

It good you can crochet yourself all different color tams, some days you'll want to wear one when you go out, on those very messy days that we all have sometimes.

Peace

tam hats and sleeping

Introduce Yourself

i have read a lot about tam hats, pillow covers, etc. and i crocheted a tam hat about a week ago. but i still want to know if its ok for me to sleep in it with dreadlocks that are 15 days old. i mean i've been wearing it at night and i think its helping. but if its actually hindering the process, then i want to know so that i can stop wearing it. i twist & ripped and have since just gradually started to leave them alone.

updated by @hayley: 01/13/15 09:49:08PM

patchy hair?

General Questions

i will dreaducate him c:

oh i didn't think that it really could have caused traction alopecia. i just thought he was trying to mess with me. i mean he does give me a hard time and jokes around a lot so i didn't know if he was being serious or not. but i'll definitely tell him about all of that.

thank you both!

patchy hair?

General Questions

okay so today was the first day that people at worked noticed i started dreadlocking my hair. i wore my tam until my manager asked me to take it off right before we opened. and i was like "okay but i'm going to let you know that i have started dreadlocking my hair." and i haven't really seen that particular manager in awhile and i started dreading two weeks ago. no one cares what i do with my hair at work..as in..they can't tell me i can't color it or dreadlock it, but they still probably have their own personal opinions that i could really care less about.

ANYWAY

he said "you're dreadlocking your hair? i knew people that did that in college and now they have like patchy hair and even the women do..especially the ones that had thinner hair." and i snorted because i thought of Soaring Eagle and how he's had dreads for 21 years and his hair is the bomb. and then my manager was like "its not even funny." and i said "you know, i think i'll be okay."

and i think he was lying? or like made it up? i'm personally not worried about my hair becoming patchy when i'm older and i don't think its even really going to happen because i plan on having dreadlocks for the rest of my life and its what my hair wants to do and i just think he was trying to mess with me.

unless it is a real thing and i was just curious..if anyone knew.

also, i just wanted to share that my manager was trying to make fun of me and failed.

updated by @hayley: 01/13/15 09:48:59PM

wearing baby dreads in a ponytail??

Dread Maintenance

icompletelyunderstand that

but the back of my head turned back to normal straight hair that looked like it got brushed every day because the ponytail i was wearing was too tight. so ire-sectionedthe back of my head. but i did a good job of leaving them alone today :D

and this girl at work was like "oh i had dreads for two years and i have a dread kit at my house and you could definitely use more backcombing." bc my dreadlocks are starting too loosen up and they're pretty loose at the roots, some of them. and i said "oh...no..i don't want to back comb." and it was almost like she was trying to convince me to start over on my hair. and i really don't want to because i saw what soaring eagle said to someone else about twist and rip/dreadlocks in general and that if you keep starting over, you'll never make progress. so i really just want to let my hair do what it wants to do.

and today was kind of a weird day at work bc it was the first time i haven't had my hair up, but i just want to let my hair breathe, you know? and i don't want to keep stressing about what my sections look like because they are loosening up and taking in loose hairs around them and i'm just really happy with them and yeah my hair looks pretty shitty right now but i want to learn patience, etc. with this.

oh, yeah i bought a huge pack of daily vitamins and theres a lot of biotin in them, i'm just trying to get in the habit of taking the vitamins everyday. and i think most of my hair is 8 inches long now. i tried to wait a few months to let my hair grow out and let me tell you, i was excited every day to start my dreadlocks and tried to wait as long as possible and eventually i was like "fuck this" and started sectioning my hair for twist and rip at the beginning of this month hahaha
the Barrellady said:

Hayley Sweetie, you should not re-twist hair. It may cause weakening of the strands, and never do them tight. When you do the twist & rip method, they are not dreads, but a blueprint to where you want your sections to be. Those T&R sections need to loosen up in order to do their journey to becoming mature dreads. The process is they will loosen, some even fall out (not the hair but the T&R), the sections will loop, shrink, zig, zag and do any other crazy things they decide to do. By the time they are finished, they will be the thickness of the section at the scalp. So right now your sections lower down are skinnier than where it meets the scalp. That will change, but you have to allow it to change. Re-twisting just keeps putting you back to the beginning with that section.

Biotin can be found at your local drug store in the vitamin section, it is $cheap, it promotes hair growth, just take for 3 months. Hair under 6 inches is harder to dreads, takes longer.

hayley bethune said:

my dreads will be 2 weeks old on thursday. but i had to completely redo the lower back of my head because i wore my hair in a ponytail at work. my hair is pretty short. and i was mostly just selfconsciousabout wearing it down at work. my dreads on the back of my head completely came out and returned to normal straight hair. and while i know to just leave them alone, last night i twist and ripped the straight, undreaded hair. so now i have dreads that are growing a week a part.

wearing baby dreads in a ponytail??

Dread Maintenance

my dreads will be 2 weeks old on thursday. but i had to completely redo the lower back of my head because i wore my hair in a ponytail at work. my hair is pretty short. and i was mostly just selfconsciousabout wearing it down at work. my dreads on the back of my head completely came out and returned to normal straight hair. and while i know to just leave them alone, last night i twist and ripped the straight, undreaded hair. so now i have dreads that are growing a week a part.

Sectioning and Flat Roots - 2 week old dreads

Dreading Methods

i didn't have a mirror to see the back of my head at my boyfriends apartment when i started dreading my hair two weeks ago. i just sat on the couch on my day off from work and just felt around on my head to make the dreads. so i have random sectioning and while i am having days of utter chaos going on on my head, i think i'm a lot happier with just letting my dreads do their thing and just separate them sometimes.