Forum Activity for @btw990

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I think it'd be really cool to travel to some of the other states, in particular I think Arizona and Louisiana would be pretty cool. But I don't think I could live anywhere else. I think I'm just wired for Jersey. Though I still can't understand the whole "Jersey pride" thing. I mean it's home, but it's really not that special lol.

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I've seen those before I think on tv actually, had no idea there were any in such close proximity lol. Yeah I think that was one of the effects of interlocking. It's so bad, I knew there was something weird about it when my loctician had done it to mine a couple years ago.

NJ really is a shitty state, I just couldn't imagine not living here though, if that makes sense. I tried living in Florida and Virginia for a bit but I just couldn't deal. I guess cause I just feel at home here, even though most of my family lives in VA now lol. There's waaay too much traffic there imo.

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@peaceful-passer I can relate. Most of the time that I see a dreadhead they're usually the "neat" looking styled dreads. I was actually in Shoprite a few days ago though and there was a guy with natural dreads down his back. Only two other times I can recall seeing natural dreads were at the aquarium in Camden and Guitar Center in Fredericksburg VA. They were all quite admirable lol.

@soaring-eagle one of the biggest indicators of unnecessary maintenance to me is the few strands of hair that band around the dread, sort of like the band that worms have in the middle. Don't know if that's from crocheting or interlocking but I always notice those.

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I couldn't imagine having my styled dreads still, just knowing what a huge difference it is from going natural. My roots were constantly getting tighter and skinnier after showering and several areas would get sore here and there, particularly one I had right in the center up top cause it had hair going in all directions, so it would tighten and rotate to a different side every day. For a while after I found out about DLS, I thought my dreads would be fine and eventually repair themselves, as in the broken hairs would get sucked in and hidden. I didn't realize the damage was so much worse, like to the point my dreads weren't un-tightening, probably because of the wax, ugh. For months I had actually been contemplating combing out and starting fresh and healthy but I kept kidding myself that I was just happy to have dreads. People would compliment them here and there saying I had nice dreads, but just cause they were dreads didn't mean they were nice. I thought they looked like shit lol. Especially cause of my thinning cowlick. Starting over also made me have to re-dreaducate myself, because there really is a huge difference between natural and styled dreads. Now it's really easy for me to point out when someone has one or the other.
updated by @btw990: 11/04/17 05:37:00PM

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@peaceful-passer Thank You!

@frankster I was thinking the same thing. The first one that started forming which is that blonde chunk in back seems like it will be a blunted end, but I'm not sure, it seems to be changing shape a little. I don't really want the blunted ends for the water factor but, I'm letting this be totally natural so what happens happens 😃

@soaring-eagle it seems like the part down the middle is already practically nonexistant! 👍
updated by @btw990: 11/04/17 09:18:34AM

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Ah I didn't catch that last time you mentioned it, I'll shoot her a message later when I get the chance.

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One week update

My hair's becoming nice and sectioned out all around, moreso in the back and my left side because I sleep most on my left since I usually eat before bed. But all around things are going well; I think the very front is all that hasn't sectioned itself yet.

So I realized that my cowlick area isn't balding, just that it's become super thin. Definitely from my previous set but I also found myself leaning that part of my head on the palm of my left hand the other night in bed watching Nightmare on Elm Street. I never thought of it prior, but I actually do that pretty often. I suppose that could also make the roots there thin and the hair lay flat? I'm being careful not to lean there now but I'm hoping over time it will rethicken.

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That's actually been working out better for me. As for washing, should I stick with every three days or would two be fine here and there you think? It seems like they get the most action during washes but I don't want to overdo it. Just wash whenever I feel I need to?

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Yeah I'm definitely making sure to keep my eye on it. The ones that started forming I'm paying most attention to but as the rest of it mats I'm gonna make sure nothing gets too big. In particular I see the parting down the middle from the last set but I'm just pushing each side back towards the middle here and there to correct it.

As for sections I've been pulling away anything that makes it exceed an inch on the sides and even a little smaller on top. I'd rather them be smaller sections that I can congo than too big and unruly, don't want all that skin showing again lol.

Allowing it to be more random and not being ocd about what should go where is helping a lot, especially as far as with old sections trying to get back together.

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So this is going to be my timeline for my current, natural set of locks. In August 2015 I started out with a styled set, with crochets, needles, everything needed to have a nice set of shredlocks lol. I was thrilled because my hair is naturally a mess; having it dreaded or shaved off is the only way to keep things neat. So for a while I had the styled dread mindset, like to have an imperfection or a loose hair was a huge burden and I would obsess over the idea of getting them "fixed" or maintenanced. I even decided to try wax a few times, going against the better advice I'd come across saying never to use it. On top of that, my sections were done horribly, almost entirely symmetrical and "neat". The sides weren't entirely horrible, but the top was, with huge sections that made it look almost like a spider on my scalp. I had these two bald looking spots that always bothered me if I started to think about it, but I'd brush it off all the time thinking one day it wouldn't even be visible, but it was always just as obvious as it had ever been. So a week and a half ago I inquired on here about what I should do about it, and ultimately I decided to just comb everything out and restart going natural. It took about 6 days to comb everything out, with roughly 42-43 dreads. Seeing some of the crap that came out of my dreads made me really excited to be starting over. Aside from whatever wax was still in them even after using Wax B Gone and washing with Dawn dozens of times, there was a good bit of dirt and other nasty crap from when I was a landscaper. Gross. The Wax B Gone works great btw, it was just hard for me to get everything since I used so much wax and my dreads were so tight. Anyway...

I got the last dread combed out this past Friday. I used a detangling brush afterward just to get rid of any remaining loose, dead hairs, then clarified and washed it afterward to get things started again. Because of my hair texture, I'm already seeing progress and how much different and healthier it is to just go natural. At this point I wouldn't recommend any other way. I know I'm still in just the beginning stages, but comparing this to my first set, I know I'm gonna be way happier with the results this time around, especially not worrying about how they look all the time.

The first pic is from my original set, and you can clearly see the sectioning was horrible...sad to think I walked around for 2 years with my head like that.
The other 4 pictures are of my hair now, or at least from this past Saturday after my first washing Friday night. You can see a dread already forming on the behind picture with some of the blonde hairs. There's a few other smaller baby dreads that have started to form, but not as obvious as that one. I'll keep this updated every here and there with pics to compare progression.

updated by @btw990: 01/22/20 09:33:16AM