Super long stray hairs
Dread Maintenance
@poopiepants Bet that left some pretty potent residue!
updated by @panther: 11/14/18 10:54:27AM
@poopiepants Bet that left some pretty potent residue!
@soaring-eagle, Yup, sure does and it`s so unnecessary. That`s the most important thing I`ve learned from dreads to date ... to give up the notion that I can control everything. The less I interfere with the process, the better. My dreads are much more relaxed now, and so am I!
@poopiepants "I've had a few now that started in the hair in front of my face but ended up at the back of my head 😂" wow, I´d love to see a timeline of that! Mine haven`t moved around much yet, but I get the impression they`re curious; they`re always getting into stuff. Like today, I was soaking my orchids and one of them kept dipping itself into the orchid water, as if it were trying to figure out what I was doing. Later that day I was cooking and was mixing olive oil and some other stuff in a bowl, and the same dread kept sticking itself in the olive oil. I can`t go out for a walk without them bringing back leaves, twigs and once even a blackberry. The worst thing they`ve started doing is flipping cigarette butts out of other people`s ashtrays, I mean, that`s really gross walking around with cigarette butts in your hair. I don`t want to tie them back all the time, but there are limits. I wonder if other people`s dreads do that?
Aren`t they just? I`m enjoying the freeform ones much more than the TNR; I think if you start off with any form of control, even a mild one like TNR, you feel the need to go on controlling them. Fat hope; dreads have a mind of their own!
I have loads of loose strands and being curious tried a few different things with them at the start (NOT crochet!). I tried the tapestry needle once and hated it. I tried loosely winding the loose strand around the nearest dread, I think one out of about seven took the hint, the others just came undone again. One slightly thicker one I loosely braided; it stayed together but still looks braided and I don`t like the effect. A few I loosely TnRd; again, only one stayed together, the others came undone. For the last four months I`ve just left them alone and they are forming free-form dreads on their own, like this (love that little knot on the end of the third one!).
This process seems to have it`s own intelligence, even if we aren`t always intelligent enough to comprehend it!
Depending on where the long loose strands are, you could try a half-updo while driving. Or a tam.
Good luck!
@poopiepants:Â Yeah it can be annoying, but it's part of the process. It's essentially a miscarriage
That`s interesting, one of mine opted out that way too, and a miscarriage is exactly how I saw it also! This one.
The attaching hairs just grew thinner and thinner, and then it got caught on a zip . RIP, little dreadlet.
@tashtash Great work! Looks like he`s thriving, and he obviously adores you!
Great name! How did you feed him? What do you call when you call him? (Love cats, can´t have one where I live; a number of people in this house have cats that are shut up all day. I can`t do that. Cats must be free to come and go as they wish. So I love other people`s cats, and watch cat videos on YouTube when it gets really bad).
What`s his name?
@panther do you have any techniques for how you wash/scrub/rinse your hair?
PS, the "newcomers" are all loose strands which escaped from the original TNR or ones I overlooked at the beginning. I just let them do their own thing and most of them were very like yours to start with; now the dreading is beginning to creep up the shaft of the strand. I`ve attached some photos for you, and also a link to a lady whose dreads looked very like yours to start with and are now awesome. I really wouldn`t give up if I were you, though I understand your frustration. I think they look great - they have so much character and are utterly unique to you! Everyone`s (natural) dreads are different.
https://www.dreadlockssite.com/naturelover/gallery/all-natural/all
@panther do you have any techniques for how you wash/scrub/rinse your hair?
Well, first I just stand under the shower and let them get really soggy, which takes 5-10 minutes. Then I put a little shampoo in my left hand, mix it with a little water, dabble the fingers of my right hand in it and massage it into my scalp. I flip my hair to the left and massage right scalp and vice versa, then flip it forwards and massage back of neck scalp area. I then rinse it through with the same "flipping", squeezing the shampoo through to the tips, rinse it for at least five minutes and squeeze the water out of it with my hands. I wrap a towel around and and press more water out gently, then just let it dry on its own. I don`t scrub at all and really just use the tendency of water to run downwards + scalp massage. I get the impression that it`s the water that makes them dread more than anything else; I don`t know about anyone else`s dreads, but mine really seem to love water! Loose strands I just leave alone now, they dread themselves and seem to start at the place where the majority are currently dreading. At the beginning it was more in the middle, now it can be more towards the ends or the roots. Hope this helps!