I used the baking soda and ACV rinse for a year until I bought dread shampoo. Regular shampoos will leave a residue in your hair, and many of them have built in conditioners which will undo knots. If you are purchasing in the near future from Dreadlock Shampoo, then I highly recommend the Himalayan Sea Salt Spray to help lock your hair. I have the Dragons Blood and love it......Peace
The kinks are just the beginning. You will get kinks, loops, zig zags and shrinkage all over. As they shrink they will become the thickness of the scalp area on that section. Some community members have dreads under a year, some take two years. So as Baba Fats said, it is a crapshoot. However long it takes for you, just enjoy the funky ride it will take you on. Peace
Except for neglect:free form dreads, all methods of making sections must loosen up in order to turn into a dread. You turned back the clock by using a hook on your sections to tighten them. Never tighten dreads or retighten or anything, just let them be. That is the dread journey. If you want dreads for life, please do not use a hook on them again.
Read this link on hooks: http://www.dreadlockssite.com/forum/topics/crochet-dreads-recovery-more
Part of growing dreads is the journey itself. Embrace the changes, the funkiness, the crazyness. All of this changes us within, we become a deeper person with inner growth. Sit back, enjoy the ride, and let them be. Peace
You're welcome Sarah. Look at my page and you can see my T&R dreads just over the year mark. And also use the search bar near the top of the page and type in "3 week timeline" or "1 month timeline"..etc. You can check out the process of other peoples journey. But remember, we are all different. People with curly hair usually dread so quickly, so don't let other peoples progress make you judge your own. Yours will be wicked one day. Relaxing and enjoying the journey IS part of the journey...have fun...Peace
Sarah Gogarty said:
Thankyou for the encouragement! I was getting quite disheartened and considering combing them out and starting from scratch. I will also stop looking at all the random timelines and constantly comparing my hair to others.
I'll just relax and enjoy my journey
I'm just so glad I found this site! It's so nice to know that there are others out there kind enough to help and advise. Many thanks.
Well my dear, they look perfectly fine for 3 week old dreads. The T&R that you did are not dreads at all, they are the blueprints of where you wanted your sections to be. The frizziness is normal and will be there for perhaps a months, different for other people. Your sections will loosen, maybe completely fall out, and this needs to happen so that your hair can go on its journey on becoming a dread. Those sections will loop, zig zag and shrink, becoming dreads. I am over a year into my journey and do not have mature dreads yet.
Those sections will turn into the thickness of where the section meets the scalp. (Recommended scalp section is 1 inch or under....unless you want fat boys). So to get to that thickness, they have a lot of action to do.
Believe it or not, but doing T&R actually sets you back a step because they do need to loosen first, with neglect/free form method they are already loose.
Just wash & separate any sections trying to join together. That is all you have to do now. You don't need to worry about how they look, you don't need to worry if your don't look like someone else s at the same timeline, you don't need to worry when it all falls out.....you don't need to worry at all...just sit back and enjoy the ride. That is the great thing about growing dreads, enjoying the amazing process along the way. Take weekly pictures and you will see the changes each week.
Peace
Here is a post comment below from Baba Fats about oily hair. I hope you find it useful. Please keep us up do date on your neck problems and if you found a solution. We are here for you....Peace
Are you adding oils to your BS wash? When you wash with that, are you doing the ACV rinse?
Oily hair means your scalp is too acidic. ACV is an acid. If you are using it, stop. Try washing with JUST BS for a few weeks. The oiliness should go away. Wash like that a few more times. Then VERY GENTLY reintroduce the ACV mix 1 capful of it with 1 gallon of water. Only do this once a week. The other times you wash, don't use any ACV. If you don't get oily after a couple of washes, do the same thing twice a week. If, after another couple of weeks, you still are dry, do it 3 times a week. If you still stay dry after a few washes, you can raise the amount of ACV a little bit 1 wash at a time.
Read more: Hair Gets Greasy After One Day Without Washing - dreadlocks forums http://www.dreadlockssite.com/forum/topics/hair-gets-greasy-after-one-day-without-washing?xg_source=activity#ixzz2OrSQzuPA
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Gee, sorry to hear about your neck pain. Do you really think it is from the dreads? You have not had them long enough to cause weight problems. It is hard to tell from your pic, do you have fat dreads/congos? The heaviness from these may cause stress points on the scalp. If you have any sections over one inch, try separating them into smaller sections, that may help you. Were you ever prone to migraines? If so, then dreads may not be for you. You said your hair gets in the way when you sleep, so perhaps you are positioning your head in an awkward way when you do sleep, so the muscles are getting sore. Try placing all you hair above your head when you sleep, or even try tucking them under you neck and use them as support. Have you been having emotional stress in your life right now?, sometimes this can cause the pain you are experiencing. Oh yeah, when you did the Twist & Rip, did you do them tightly right up to the scalp? This will cause discomfort, as dreads need to have loose roots in order to move around, so if this is your problem, it will correct itself as the hair grows, making the roots looser. Let's see what your answers are so we can help you. We would hate for you to cut them off if there is a solution for you.....Peace
Also look into the Baking Soda (BS), apple cider vinegar (ACV) rinse. This is a fantastic scalp exfoliating wash, you can scrub your scalp with your fingertips if you want, or just let it sit in and not scrub, it still works either ways.
Mix half a cup of BS to 5 cups water, pour on wet scalp and let it sit for 10-20 minutes, then rinse well.....next mix 1-2 capfuls of ACV into 5 cups of water, pour on scalp and rinse off right away or within one minute. The ACV serves as a safe conditioner and also balances the hair PH from using the BS wash. I did this wash for the entire first year and it works like a charm. You can add essential oils into the BS wash for added aroma and repair remedies, like dry scalp etc.
I now use the Dreadlock Shampoo after 1 year of forming my dreads, but still use the BS ACV once every two weeks. For myself, I preferred the shampoo over the dreadlock bar. Will use a bar when my locks are mature.
Peace
You've been dreading and didn't even know it, what a pleasant surprise for you. In regards to separating, if you need to do it daily in the beginning, then go for it. Just keep the sections from joining onto others, eventually you will not need to do it as often. I had to do it daily in the beginning too. Peace
Hi Kimberly, the dreaducation pages have all your answers, but here is the ratio for washing every 2-3 day in the beginning;
mix 1/2 cup of baking soda (BS) to 5 cups of water, pour on wet scalp and let it sit for 10-20 minutes...rinse well...now you must balance the hairs PH from using the BS, so mix 1 capful of apple cider vinegar (ACV) with 5 cups water, pour on head and rinse off right away or within a minute.. This is also a safe conditioner for dreading....You can finish off with a cold rinse, as cold as your head can take.
Sea salt sprays can start right away, helps the locking process, Don't use regular table salt...Peace
