Forum Activity for @the-barrellady

At night

Dread Maintenance

Hi Natty. Nappy is a good thing. Before you dreaded, didn't you have bed head in the morning. Well, that's good for dreads, speeds up the process. Keep em free baby, keep em free

Oils on dreads + washing

Dread Maintenance

Hi Lenore. You need to keep your sections clean in order for them the loop & knot and dread. If your hair or scalp is oily, they knots will slip out and severely slow down your process. The more you wash, the faster they dread. New dreadies should wash every 2-3 days for the first few months. Use this recipie for no thouch washing: mix 1/2 cup baking soda to 5 cups water, pour on head and leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse it well, then rinse again to make sure it is out. Then you will balance and condition the hair by mixing 1 capful apple cider vinegar to 5 cups water, pour over head and leave on for 1 minute only. Rinse very well. There is no scrubbing with this method and your scalp and hair love it. You can put just a few drop of essential oils in your hair, but just a few in the beginning, or else your knots will slip out. When dreads are mature, then you can use up to 30 drops. For the aroma, I would only use 4 drops right now.

Keep your fingers out of the hair except to separate the sections when needed, as body oils from the fingers will slow down the process also.

The dreaducation page at the top has wonderful tips on washing, essential oils etc...makes great reading. Happy 2nd journey & Cheers

What If I used "coarse" sea salt opposed to the "fine" sea salt?

General Questions

It dissolves quickly, so I would not worry. I think it would take a little longer if mixed with cold water, kind of like sugar dissolving in hot vs cold, so you are fine BeauZay

BeauZay said:

I've never waited for the sea salt to dissolve before I poured over, even when i did the sea salt pour over without the BS. hmm, I guess its works for this long, i suppose its not that bad to NOT let it dissolve? What's the draw back?

What If I used "coarse" sea salt opposed to the "fine" sea salt?

General Questions

I think you mean sea salt. It is okay if it is coarse, just make sure it is dissolved in the water fully before you put in on your head.

Bicarb wash

Introduce Yourself

Apple cider vinegar will condition and balance out the hair. After you wash and rinse well, mix 1-2 capfulls, (depends on your hair length) with 5 cups water, pour on head and leave for 1 minute only and then rinse well. The soaps and shampoos found on dreadlocksshampoo.com work great with hard water. I also have hard water and use the baking soda/ACV for my dreads. Cheers

ACV capsules?

Dread Maintenance

Baba Fats is right, but I wonder something. When people take garlic pills etc, the garlic aroma sometimes comes out when they sweat. Apple Cider Vinegar has a strong aroma of its own, would a person sweat out the smell if they took these! Just something that made me go hmmm.

Maintenance and care for Starter Locs?

General Questions

Washing your hair with a cap is so silly nonsense, I don't know why other sites say to do this. How is the crap that we all create on our scalp going to wash out if we are covering it with a cap? Scalp skin would work it's way into the dreads instead of washing out.
R F said:

Thank you. Soo covering them up when i sleep or for my first wash is a no no?

i've read on other places that ishould wash with a nylon cap until they begin to dread.

updated by @the-barrellady: 07/19/15 02:09:10PM

Maintenance and care for Starter Locs?

General Questions

You should wash every 2-3 days, not 2-3 weeks. I do not have afro hair, I will leave the guidance to someone else to help you, but do not retwist, do not re gel.

Maintenance and care for Starter Locs?

General Questions

Hi there. Is it gel or wax in your hair? Wax is really, really bad, it holds in water which causes mold, it allows lint & dirt to stick into your dreads. If it is wax, I would read the dreaducation page on how to remove it

Why would you want to cover your hair? It needs to move in order to dread. The twist method is only a starter for the sections, to have a true dread it needs to loosen, loop, shrink up to form that mature dread we all want. When you sleep, knots form from all the moving and this is an important part of dreads to form, if it is in a cap this will not happen.

Your dreads need to be washed every 2-3 days in the beginning. A wonderful scrub free way to wash is with baking soda. Mix 1/2 cup BS to 5 cups water, pour on head & let it set for 20 minutes, then rinse well, rinse again. Then for conditioning mix 1 capful of apple cider vinegar to 5 cups water, pour on head and let set for 1 minute only, then rinse well. At no time do you scrub the scalp, you just let everything set. To help with oily issues or dry scalp issues, it is recommended that at the end of your shower you hold your head under as cold water as you can take, this will close the pores on your scalp.

Don't play with your dreads, don't palm roll them, just leave 'em be and they will dread, but ya gotta remove the stuff in them. All you will need to do is wash them and separate any that are trying to join together. I hope this helps you. Cheers

crochet method

Dreading Methods

Namaste' fellow dreadies and welcome. I personally believe in cost free.. ..product free....natural dreads because they will last me a lifetime, but that is how long I will have mine, you may not want them for years.

Some of you start dreads for a style and only want them temporarily at this point in your life, so you don't have the time to wait for natural dreads to form, that is why you have chosen to use the crochet method and maintain them that way.

I won't know that when I read your profile, so please excuse me when I advise you of the dangers of the crochet method, I only have your dreads best interest at heart.

You are a fellow dreadie, a member of this community and I welcome you and your dreads.

updated by @the-barrellady: 01/13/15 09:46:44PM