Forum Activity for @blessed-earth-mama

My babies are dreading at the root!

General Talk

I may get flamed for this.... BUT I did root rub or clockwise rublast time around and I am doing it here and there again. It is not obsessively done or roughly done. And I can say for a fact it DOES help. Again my 4 yr old dreads are proof of that. If you do it gentle there is not much difference then say wearing a tam or something that rubs on them.

I have been keeping it to myself that I am doing this again because I am sure it is pretty looked down on here. But from past experience when I DIDN'T do it for too long my dreads would start to grow out too much and lose some of their nice round shape that they had. Considering your hair keeps growing you are not continuelly putting strain on the same spot of hair. The parts that were at your roots will obviously move and you well be rubbing a new growth. It is not damage causing at all if you are gentle anyway.

I bet if you try just for an experiment with that one dread it would help a little. AllI do is grab (gently, more like a pinch with my fingers)the dread about an inch or 2 from the scalp and rub gently in a circular motion in one direction for a few seconds (not even a min) and then go in the opposite direction with the same thing. The thicker the dread the more receptive it will be to this. The thicker dreads respond really well to it and I suspect it is why I am feeling like mine are starting to dread already. That one you have there looks like the perfect size for it as well!

My babies are dreading at the root!

General Talk

Whip I think we have similar hair. It is one of the reasons I started this journey again. I was so sick and tired of being in pain from brushing out tangles. I finally said to myself why am I fighting this!? And spongy is a good way of putting it Tied up in knots! I can feel that going on in a lot of my dreads. Mostly the bigger ones seem to be doing it more/quicker. But it is not really visible especially on camera because there is still so much loose hair/fuzz on the outside of the dreads.

My babies are dreading at the root!

General Talk

Yay! I swear mine are starting at 1 month! :O Maybe I am crazy but a LOT of them feel like it andsince I have done this before I think I know! I could be wrong of course since it WAS 9 years ago I did this before but I am excited too!!! I also used wax in the beginning last time and am not this time and I swear things are going so much quicker!!!

Hello everyone! I'm new here and just wanted to meet everyone. c:

Introduce Yourself

Welcome! Nice to meet another backcomb/TNR combo method dread! That is how I have started my dreads both times now and hopefully it will be as good to me this time as it was to me last time!

Swimming Pools

General Questions

I never go in pools anyway but this little convo is some good knowledge! I have no urge to go in one anytime soon now either. lol

herroo! c: new to dreadies about 3 weeks in! feel free to add meee

Introduce Yourself

Oh yea wash your babies!!!! I have bad dandruff I am still fighting but if I didn't wash my head I would go crazy! The first time I had dreads I thought you weren't supposed to wash for awhile in the begining too but that is wong! Getting them clean helps them lock up quicker!! Whenyour hairis greasy it is hard for them to dread.

Please don't crochet. You may think it makes them look neater but it really hurts your dreads. They will get neater with time and be so much healthier if you never do that. You can see in my pictures when my dreads were 4 yrs old they were really nice. It takes awhile though, you have to be patient.

Now I can almost always tell if a person has crocheted dreads even if they say they don't you can kinda tell.... And I don't think crocheted dreads ever look smooth. They look "neat" but they always look rough to me like sandpaper or something. Now maybe after years of not doing it they would get smoother but I don't know. Best to never go there and keep your babies strong and they will be so nice in time!

You can use beads now though just make sure you move them around a little bit or check on them because they could get stuck in your dread as it is forming.

I have no experience with wraps though sorry!

Mosquitos! :)

General Questions

Hmm I like your suggestion SE! Gives me a reason to have more campfires! They are one of my favorite things in the world! Just had my first one in over 2 years a week or 2 ago though. We have to have a firepit on our property or else fires are not allowed and we werent able to get one till then! But I stood over the fire in the direction of the smoke so my baby dreadies could soak up the smell! xD Campfire smoke is one of my favorite smells in the world as well. When I had my first locks I would stand in it all the time then too!

As far as dirt though our dirt in our yard is pretty gross so I doubt I will be putting that on our skin. It is also why all my gardening is in raised beds. The people here before us were disgusting. The longer we are are herethe more garbage surfaces out of the ground! What is wrong with people!? I swear I think they used one corner of the yard as a dump! :/

And no scents here except the occasional essential oils. I wash with unscented dr bronners and the dreadlock shampoo or BS/ACV. Deodorant only smells like patchouli, if I wear it. xD And if I ever use a moisturizer it is coconut oil but I don't do that very often...

I have not been very good with sugars in the past but have been gluten free for about a month and that cuts out alot of the bad things. Everything we eat is made from scratch/organic for the most part. Although I do make sweet things sometimes (from raw sugars or rapadura or coconut sugar)it certainly probably isnt as bad as the typical american diet!

Mosquitos! :)

General Questions

Just curious what everyones tried and true methods for keeping away mosquitos are. Specific essential oil mixes etc! It is colder today but they have already been out and I am looking to find the best solutions I can. Only natural stuff please there will be no deet etc around these parts! :D

updated by @blessed-earth-mama: 01/13/15 09:22:33PM

What exactly are these?

General Questions

Wow that poor head and hair! D:

Why is the community here so against maintained locs?

Dreading Methods

Wow! What a bunch of craziness this thread has turned into! I think some main differences I see are, that most of the people here have dreads as more then just a hairstyle. It IS a journey and if your just doingit to be "Cool" and have a "hairstyle" then why the hell would you care if you completely ruin your dreads!? I am not a judgemental person but geez! These people complaining obviously still live in the world of needing to make themselves appear the way they think others want them to look.

Seriously?! You only live once, be you and forget what the world thinks! LEARN something from your dreads and stop molding yourselves to societies ideals! Most of society thinks dreads are weird, gross, etc anyway, it doesn't matter if you maintain them or not.

And BTW!! If you actually TAKE THE DREAD JOURNEY and wait for them to mature on thier on own they will! Look at my first set of dreads. They were messy for awhile but in their forth year they were awesome IMO. With NONE of this maintaining harmful crap!

If you think real dreads make you look like a hobo then you should not have dreads IMO. Yeah everyone can do what they wish and I don't normally care even if people have their dreads as just a hairstyle. But if youcome into a place like this being so rude, you might as well put yourself back out in the mainstream world and have fun living your life how others tell you should.

I can tell pretty much every time I see crocheted dreads now even if someone says they have not done it. And I am NOT bashing anyone here who has them. <3 <3 But I would not want them to be so gosh darn "normal"! It is like creating another form of straight hair! ALTHOUGH mine WERE pretty neat and theywere smooth without all the maintaining. When I see crocheted dreads they NEVER look smooth to me. Just uniform in size. I'll take my natural, fluffy, smooth dreads anyday over that scratchy crocheted look!

Just to be clear though I am not full on natural like a lot of people here. But I LOVE the method. I DID both times now do a backcomb/TNR method JUST to start them. SO I am not as "pure" as some but for my life this is the best method for me. And it has nothing to do with pleasing others. Again I don't care how/why others do what they do but if you come on here being rude and/or asking why everyone here thinks they way they do you are going to get replies back!