Forum Activity for @baba-fats

Itchy Scalp

Dreads Hair and Scalp Health

Get a small spray bottle. I use a 6oz bottle. Add about 20 drops of peppermint oil, a good squirt of jojoba oil, and fill the rest with water. Shake well, and go nuts. Peppermint oil have a very nice cooling property which helpalleviate itchies. You can add other oils to it for scent, but the peppermint is the one you really want. And ALWAYS use wither jojoba or sweet almond oil, too. Both of those are applicator oils. Most essential oils are pretty caustic to your skin if you use the in high concentrations. An applicator oil will help keep you from burning yourself with the EO's.

What are you washing with now?

Lazy Crocheter

Dread Maintenance

If you stop messing with your scalp for long enough, you can heal it. But it can get to a point that it's hard to heal, or nearly impossible. But that would be a few years down the line of regularly "maintaining" you hair.

As your locks combine, just pull them apart. But only if they start to combing up the body of the lock. If they are congoed together within 1/2 inch of the root, don't bother. You don't need to separate them all the way to the scalp. If, when you separate 2, they seem to be still connected, but can't be pulled apart, leave them for a later date. I have a video on my page that shows how to go about separating locks

Lazy Crocheter

Dread Maintenance

Yes, continuing to crochet will cause baldness. Some see it sooner than others. But it will happen. Over tightening your roots in any way, be it interlocking, twisting, crocheting, or felting, causes a condition called traction alopecia, which leads directly to baldness.

If you can see your scalp in between your sections, that's a sure sign that the condition is setting in.

Lazy Crocheter

Dread Maintenance

It doesn't seem to by happening because it can't right now. Crocheting, just once, delays progress by about 6 months. Doing it over and over can delay progress by years.

Your hair seems to not be locking itself because over the months that you haven't crocheted, your hair is actually starting to try and heal itself. It'll get looser and frizzier for a while. But once it's healed, it will start to knot up and tangle again.

Crocheting, in order to "fix" a problem that doesn't exist, is only delaying theinevitable.

If you stop crocheting for another 6 months, you'll see it start to come together and become true healthy locks

Lazy Crocheter

Dread Maintenance

Literally, nothing. Just wash, and continue to not brush. They will tighten by themselves. if they didn't, I'd have 5 inches of locked hair and 3-4 feet of straight hair. Eagle would have 4-5 inches of locked hair and 20 feet of straight hair.

But that's not what happens. If you leave your roots alone, that frizziness and loose hair snags onto new growth and tangles it up into knots. These new knots add to your locks and keep adding over the years.

Lazy Crocheter

Dread Maintenance

Let them tighten themselves. Crocheting, no matter how gently its done, still does huge amounts of damage. But the damage is on the inside of the lock, so you can't see it just from looking at them on the outside.

Dreadlocks tighten and knot as they grow. If you continuously try to force the roots to tighten, they will thin out and become weaker and weaker. Eventually they can get so thin and broken that they snap under their own weight

Opinions on the "Just 4 Dreads Locking Up Shampoo"

Dreads Hair and Scalp Health

Almost any natural food store, Whole Foods, some at Trader Joe's, or http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ has the biggest selection at an incredible price

Opinions on the "Just 4 Dreads Locking Up Shampoo"

Dreads Hair and Scalp Health

Liquid is also gentler on baby locks. You don't have to scrub with the bar. You can massage the soap in with your finger tips. That allows for better control over how you massage your head.

I have a few new babies that are a little weak on top of my head. So right now I'm using the BS/ACV wash. But as soon as they get more mature and stronger, I'll switch back to the bars. I love how light and clean my hair feels after using those soaps. Much better than the BS/ACV wash. But I can't afford to spend money on soap right now

This pain in the @#$% lock is about to drive me crazy- help!?

Dread Maintenance

I've had a few like that over the years. How tight is it rooted to your scalp? Is there some straight hair between where the locking starts and where your scalp is? That could be an issue. If you try and loosen up the root, you may feel some relief. That's just 1 more reason roots should never be taught against your scalp.

Stiff hair

General Questions

It seems a bit odd that they'd be that stiff after just 1 wash. But if you have a soap that doesn't rinse out in your water type, it can happen fairly quickly. Also if you don't rinse out enough, it will happen. I had stiff hair even before I grew locks, just because I used to use a lot of gel and gunk to keep my mohawk up. If I didn't rinse out well, my hair could be stiff for days afterwards.