Forum Activity for @baba-fats

Help and advice please for new dreads I'm sooooo confused!!!!

Dread Maintenance

I see what you mean, now. Don't worry about that. That will fill itself in. What I'm a little worried about is the size f your sections. Are you aware that they are pretty big? like 2 inches x 2 inches? That is probably what's cause that gap. And when your locks mature and grow in, they will be HUGE? It'll be a slight hassle with their drying time later on. If you want to keep them that big, PM me for some info on how to care for phatties like that. I've only got 14 locks, so I can help you with that

Help and advice please for new dreads I'm sooooo confused!!!!

Dread Maintenance

Pics? That's awsome. See how much freer your hair and whole head feels when you take the bands off. it's like cutting off shackles. You feel like your whole head isn't constricted anymore. I had bands on mine for a little while when I first started. It was the most liberating feeling to take them off and leave them off.

The frizz will die down as they dry. And it'll get sucked into the locks making them thicker and puffier.

Good luck. Maybe make a timeline on the journal/timeline forum

Help and advice please for new dreads I'm sooooo confused!!!!

Dread Maintenance

Wash them early. They won't look that bad. And if you let them dry in the sun, they will dry faster and look better sooner. if you wash in the evening, it will take hours before you can go to sleep. That means if you get tired and want to sleep, you will always have the nagging feeling in the back of your mind reminding you that if you go to sleep now, you might cause mold. I usually wash in the early afternoon if I didn't get a chance to first thing. Plus, taking a shower in the morning can help wake you up. Cooler water does help locks knot faster. I usually do my normal wash and rinse with warm water, but do a second rinse with cold water last.

Just make sure you wring out as much water as you can, and you wont look that goofy. Don't worry about it.

As for the bald spot. It depends. How big are your sections. Your's look kind of big. I wouldn't congo any together to fix it. It should fix itself over time. I've got the stereotypical bald spot forming on the top of my head. Periodically I notice it, but after a while of not messing with it trying to cover it up, my hair matted around it and you wouldn't be ab;e to see it unless I pulled hair back and pointed it out. You should be fine. Just don't poke at it trying to fix it

Help and advice please for new dreads I'm sooooo confused!!!!

Dread Maintenance

I didn't notice the ones at the roots. Take them out too. If you really wanted to leave any bands in, use them only at the tips. The ones at the roots are the ones that stand the most chance of getting sucked in and rotting

Help and advice please for new dreads I'm sooooo confused!!!!

Dread Maintenance

Take the bands out. They hurt more than help.

And after you wash them, you can wring the excess water out with a towel, but you should let them hand loose to dry. Air drying them is always better. the only time I'd recommend a blow dryer is in winter, when you have somewhere to go really soon, or if you have super fat locks. Other than that, You should not put them up in a towel for more than 5 minutes. Just let them hang. Go outside or something and let them dry in the sun. That's the best way to be sure they are totally dry. As babies, they should dry pretty quickly. As they mature, they take longer to dry.

And don't rub your head with a towel. Just use it to squeeze extra water out. Rubbing causes knots to come undone.

Help and advice please for new dreads I'm sooooo confused!!!!

Dread Maintenance

Just letting you know, so you wont be surprised, the first bunch of washed will cause your hair to untangle a lot. That is natural. Dreadlocks are a one step forward two steps back process, until they are mature. They look awesome before you wash them. You might feel like you did something wrong because all the effort you went through to knot them comes undone after you wash them. Don't worry. They will knot themselves up again as the mature. Don't re back comb them or anything. It'll just make you feel like they are taking forever to knot because they keep coming undone. Most methods to start them just set up the blueprints for where you want the sections to be.

Sea salt might help a little bit, with keeping them locked, but don't expect to com eout of the shower and have them looking just like they did today.

And for the sea salt. You want a 3.5% mix of salt to water. That's about what ocean water is. Any more could dry out your scalp and make you super itchy.

Good luck. Let us know how it is. And if you get a chance, I do want to see what your locks look like. try and post a pic

Help and advice please for new dreads I'm sooooo confused!!!!

Dread Maintenance

For some reason, the link to the pic isn't working.

The BS wash is really just the simplest method. I haven't tried it yet because for me it's easy to find soap made specifically for locks. If you ca't find Dr. Bronners or it costs too much to ship soap for dreadlockshampoo.com to you, go with the BS wash. It's really easy and doesn't need any scrubbing. Wash way more than once a month, too. You should be washing ever 2-3 days in the beginning. Liquid soaps are better for baby locks. Once they mature, you could, if you want to, switch to a bar, but it's notnecessary.

Sorry to hear that you crochet them first. Just stop doing it and let your hair fix itself. It will take some time, but if you only did it the once, to start, it'll be ok. It's when people use that method over and over again for long periods that they risk locks falling out. Don't worry. They'll be ok. Crochet hooks just tighten your locks too much and can cause baldness around your roots. If you let them be from now on, they will grow out and your new root growth with thicken up and be fine. The dreaducation link at the top of the page has a ton of really good info on what you should and should do.

Maintenance is not necessary. If you let them go naturally, they will be beautiful. And if you don't mess with them, then you can tell any employer that you are letting your hair lock up naturally and that it's a spiritual process. You can't be forced to cut them for a job. If you keep them maintained then it's a harder arguement, because them it looks like you are treating them like a hairstyle that you are not serious about.

Welcome. We're all hear to answer questions like this. Don't be shy

9 months neglect/wool rub

Member Journals and Timelines

Thanks. Eagle. It always bothers me when people call things "gay" as a derogatory term. I was actually thinking about not responding because of it, but I figured I would put in my 2 cents

9 months neglect/wool rub

Member Journals and Timelines

looking good. sorry to hear about your other sets. I'm glad your scalp problem is solved

New dreadie w/ a couple of questions

Introduce Yourself

Don't do it. Crocheting at all is bad for your locks. It breaks hairs and makes the lock weaker. If you have longer locks and crochet the root, you are puttingunnecessaryweight on broken hairs. You risk more chance of them falling out.

Plus, crocheting only looks good for about a day. Once you wash, you end up with more and more loose hairs sticking out of your lock. The more the crochet to fix those hairs the more you create.

It'll take a long time for your locks to recover from what you've already done, but it's worth it to have stronger and more long lasting locks in the end