I alternate between TJ's Tea Tree shampoo and Dr. Bronner's (peppermint or rose are my favorites!). I only wash once to twice weekly, and tend to be on the oilier side. TJ's definitely helps keep my oily scalp clean and fresh without any itchies the whole week through.
Hi Mama Jme! Sorry for the very delayed reply. I am now on my second set of dreads, nearly a year in, and what I did most differently was to leave them alone! I did wash two to three times per week for the first six months or so, which is how long it took for dreads to start forming. Now I can get by washing only once per week, sometimes twice if I have been swimming or super sweaty. I have done no sea salt sprays, and just put my first beads in my hair this week (I did a lot of beads with my first set, trying to keep my tnr sections; they always all fell out).
Letting my hair just do its thing was the best thing I did differently this time around. Instead of obsessing over whether dreads were forming and what my hair looked like, I let it go and it really has turned out so nicely. I am a very happy dreaddy!
Thank you!
I'd still like to have them, but these ones had gotten so matted and uncomfortable at the roots. It's time to start over.
Whip Thehooper said:
Sad face.
But good luck on your journey.
I've had the itch to change my hair lately, not the mention the physical itch that's been plaguing my scalp for months now. After much thought, I decided it's time to comb my hair out.
To try and pick through it all in one shot seems like way more than I'm willing to take on, so I'm shampooing and conditioning with salon-quality products, then gently combing through just a few inches of hair while letting the conditioner sit. I figure it took almost 10 months to get me this knotted up, why try and reverse it all in just a few hours?
The cool thing about this is that I'm finding that I had a lot more progress than I had thought before trying to comb my hair out. I can't BELIEVE how thick and knotted some of my dreads have gotten -- I have some real, true dreadlocks in my hair and I wasn't even aware of how strong and locked they were. Awesome!
But I'm still going to try and comb them through, hopefully within a week I'll be back to straight hair. I enjoyed watching their progress, but for my hair type, I think that I would probably do things differently the next time.
I'll post some pictures of the progress soon. This new process is kind of exciting: I'm eager to see what my hair will look like as it gets combed through!
Thank you Heather! I did have a bunch of beads in at one time, but let them all fall out. They didn't do much for the matted roots.
I'm just about 10 months in now, started with tnr, then let them do their thing and found that all but the biggest ones I had tnr'd had turned completely into loose hairs with no sign of dreading, so re-tnr'd most of the back of my head. I'm happy I did, the sections are bigger now and seem to be staying in. Originally, I'd done super tiny little sections, but I think with my super fine, straight hair type, I needed to make my sections much bigger in order to keep them.
My biggest issue lately is how quickly my roots get matted. I find that I'm having to separate them at the roots daily, whether or not I wash my hair. I've been considering tying the bases with thread to keep them from matting and congo-ing because it's been a lot more work than I care to spend on it. If I leave the matted hair alone (which I did for a few months), I end up with a gnarly "beaver tail"-like mess; I actually ended up taking a few scissor snips to separate the sections.
Do you tie your bases, or have you ever tried it? I'm interested in hearing from people with fine, super straight, oily hair if possible.
All in all, I'm happy with my hair most of the time, but the matted hair clumps are starting to get annoying and painful. I have times when I don't love my hair, mainly due to the maintenance I've had to do lately.
Thanks for the compliment. =)
Yeah, it's hard knowing that I could totally do the backcomb/crochet thing to get some kind of result now, but I know it's not the result I really want. The natural dreads are so much more beautiful and unique!
Heather said:
best thing to do is get rid of the comb. then you won't be temped to dig it out when your discouraged. i had lots of days when i just wanted to start over but i didn't have a comb so i couldn't follow through and i'm happy i didn't. good luck to you. it will definitely happen.
btw, your really beautiful. what i would give to have eyes like yours:)
Ash T said:Thank you Heather, I really love your hair and it's so cool to see the progress you've made. It's so nice to have found this community to hear other people's experiences in the natural method, keeps me away from flea combs for sure. =)
Heather said:i have very fine, thin, slightly wavy hair. when i started neglect my hair was so soft that it took a good 5 - 6 months to start dreading. t&r and backcombing doesn't hold in my hair either thats why i went neglect. plus i was too worried the first time around about the sections and such. it will happen it just takes longer than most people. i'm 10 months now and things are progressing really well. i have tons of knots and loopies. i still have a bunch of unknotted hair too but i'm okay with it. i'm in it for the long haul and it will happen eventually. everyones hair will knot it just may take longer for some of us:)
Thank you Heather, I really love your hair and it's so cool to see the progress you've made. It's so nice to have found this community to hear other people's experiences in the natural method, keeps me away from flea combs for sure. =)
Heather said:
i have very fine, thin, slightly wavy hair. when i started neglect my hair was so soft that it took a good 5 - 6 months to start dreading. t&r and backcombing doesn't hold in my hair either thats why i went neglect. plus i was too worried the first time around about the sections and such. it will happen it just takes longer than most people. i'm 10 months now and things are progressing really well. i have tons of knots and loopies. i still have a bunch of unknotted hair too but i'm okay with it. i'm in it for the long haul and it will happen eventually. everyones hair will knot it just may take longer for some of us:)
