Forum Activity for @i-and-i

Any Reggae players on here??

Alternative Lifestyles and Subcultures

Greetings and love brother!

guitar and as of a few years ago reggae are a huge part of my life, and im stoked to hear theres fellow reggae musicians on here!

i use to play strictly metal and classic rock for several years, and reggae is so different in the core of what it is that it can be super hard to approach as a musician, and i totally feel your pain! i went from being able to shred ozzy osbourne to barely being able to finish a basic song without messing up because its such a different expression of the guitar, its a melodic drum extension instead of a more standalone separate instrument like western music. 

Heres some videos that helped me IMMENSELY in figuring out the different techniques. if you have any more questions after watching them, feel free to ask!

Blessings and prosperity!

Namaste

Estimated Freeform Timeline (curly hair)

Member Journals and Timelines

Greetings everyone!

Today is roughly my 6 month free forming anniversary, and I'm a relatively new member so I figured what better time to start documenting my journey!(:

A brief explanation of my dread journey, I use to be a very different person then I am today. After an intense life changing experience that brought me completely into my heart space and showed me how great of a capacity we humans have to love, however, I could no longer be that person, and have decided not to cut my hair as an outward symbol of the inward change.

Dreading was an obvious choice for me, since my hair is so thick and curly it would be unmanageable if not dreaded, and is virtually impossible to comb anyways.

I may have hindered some of the dreading process by wearing cotton headbands, so I plan to lessen that practice from this point forward, and end it all together once my hair is long enough. My main reason for this was to keep from accidentally burning my hair while holding a sacrament of herbs, but I think I'm near the end of needing to do this.

I had a lot of tight curls that were already sort of separated when I started, and they seem to be dreading in on themselves slowly over time, some have congo'd with other curls, and in 2 places small baby dreads have began to Congo, one fully and one only half way up the dreads. I have roughly 15 areas that are knotted into a section solidly enough that I would call them an "official dread", with many areas still eagerly awaiting their time to shine ^_^

Anyways, here they are! I guess I'll start calling March 12th my dreadiversary and make today the official six month mark, I'll be back in December for a 9 month check in!(:

Peace love and prosperity all!
Namaste

updated by @i-and-i: 01/22/20 09:33:16AM

Combatting mold in wet climates?

Dread Maintenance

Update:

I got some of Vicki's shampoo and Rot Knot and started using it about a week ago, and I'm ECSTATICALLY impressed! My dread rot had over a month to sit and build in my hair and i was starting to get scared i'd have to cut my hair, but i've used a little less the half of the bottle of rot knot over 3 wash periods spread out over a week, and the mold is almost completely non existent! i still get an ever so slight hint of the smell when wet (more then likely my imagination), but ill use the rot knot one more time on a wash day for good measure and then start using it every month.

I was curious as to what method i should use with the rot knot in future instances, though. it didn't have directions, so i used it like shampoo the first time and it did very little, so the second time i wet my hair down (so the rot knot could settle into my super dense hair better), squeezed my dreads as i applied it to help it soak into the center of them and then let it sit for 10 minutes before rinsing, and this method seemed to work a lot more efficiently. What methods seem to work for others who have tried it, and is there anything in my method that seems flawed or potentially dangerous to dreads? 

Again, THANK YOU Vicki and soaring eagle for saving my dreads from mold! most dreadies I meet in my area have that musty smell even when theyre dreads are dry due to our never ending Pacific northwest rain, and now that i know theres an effective way to make dreads in our area healthy, ill be doing my best to spread the message!

Peace, Love and Prosperity all!

Namaste

P.S. has anyone tried Vicki's dreadlock gel? ive never put products in dreads, but i'm curious as to its validity as "residue free" and whether it will help or hinder the freeforming process. any info on it would be greatly appreciated!

Combatting mold in wet climates?

Dread Maintenance

Awesome, thank you so much! 

also, what's my best bet at telling when they are completely dry, especially when blow drying?

Combatting mold in wet climates?

Dread Maintenance

Peace and love, everyone!

So I've been free forming for 6 months thanks to this site, and decided to make an account to address a couple questions I have about mold and mildew in dreads.
I wash with the baking soda and ACV method on here, using rosemary, tea tree and lavender and chamomile tea, and since my hair was still in the beginning steps of dreading, I use to let my hair get wet in the shower every day when I showered. I also went to bed within an hour or two of washing my hair a couple times, and often wore headbands immediately after washing, and have since noticed some the mildew smell associated with dread mold starting to appear when y hair is wet.
I have since stopped all of these bad habits, I wear a shower cap on off days, blow dry my hair after I wash it, wash it in the morning instead of at night, and don't wear anything on my head until it's mostly dry (or temporarily for a quick smoke sessions so I don't light it on fire).
I plan to buy the dread rot shampoo stuff in a week or so, and will let you guys know how that works, but for starters, is there anything else I should be doing to prevent mold? I have neve touched wax, just to get that out of the way.

Also, I live in Washington and it rains all but 2 months out of the year. Is there anything I can do to prevent mold with all that moisture? I'll probably start using the dread rot product once a month if it seems to work for me, but is there anything else I might do? I want them to be as clean and healthy as possible, and mold is a HUGE downer to me.

I attached some pictures of my dreads, in case anyone needs reference. There's a few that are pretty well matured, but the rest are baby dreads or curls just now dreading.

Blessings and prosperity!