Forum Activity for @the-barrellady

Bs/avc wash.

Dread Maintenance

I have hard water and it does not affect the baking soda (BS) wash. Mix 1/2 cup BS to 5 cups water, wet hair and pour onto scalp...leave it on for 10 minutes. (20 minutes if needed for deep cleanse). ...rinse well....You have very oily hair it sounds like, so you may not need the apple cider vinegar (ACV) rinse. The natural oils you are quickly producing are balancing your hairs PH. If you find you hair getting a little dry feeling, then try the ACV once a week. How you use this is 1 capful of ACV to 5 cups water. Pour over head after rinsing out the BS well, rinse off right away for your scalp type. (Others with non oily hair would leave it on for up to a minute. )

With this method you don't have to scrub the scalp as it naturally exfoliates the skin, but you can scrub if you want to.

Peace

Crochet to natural

Dreading Methods

Yep, your journey will be longer to get mature dreads, but you still can. Never crochet again, do no maintenance except for washing and separating any sections trying to join together.

The first year, they won't look like dreads, they will be fuzzy from the broken hairs, but in time those hairs will get sucked into the dread. They will loop and zig zag while on their journey, at times they will look messy. This is the patience part. With time, and inner strength, you will be rewarded with beautiful mature dreads (might take you 2 years due to crochet), but it will be worth it. If you want your dreads for years to come, or for life, then let them be, find your inner strength and put up with the crazy things it will do to get there for you. Never give in and change what they are doing, it will all be a natural process they need to go through.. We are all glad that you found this site now...I think it is the best one on the web...

Hang in there and enjoy the ride. .....Peace

Oh yeah, don't you just love Soaring Eagles dreads! All natural baby, all natural!

Debating on if I should get dreads or not..?

General Talk

Forgot to mention: natural dreads do not harm the hair in any way, so if you take them out, you will still have your natural hair.

Twist & rip method dreads have a little damage done to them, but not much, you should twist loosely.

Backcombed dreads have damage done to the hairs, it puts little breaks in the strands when forcing them up in the direction of the scalp. If you may take them out one day, I do not recommend this method.

Never crochet for instant dreads, hundreds if not thousands of broken hairs everywhere. You will never get your healthy natural hair back with this method. Never put in hook in your hair.

Peace

Debating on if I should get dreads or not..?

General Talk

Hi there, well, your profile pic is certainly not you. I would maybe change it because African American hair requires somewhat different maintenance and you may get the wrong info for your Caucasian hair.

First off, let me say that I too also admired dreads for longer than I can remember. Wish I started a gazillion years ago, but at the age of 49 I did start. Don't me be, if you love them, go for it. If you go the natural route then you can always take them out if they are really not for you. Yep, you can take them out with lots of conditioner and a few days of time. So there is turning back, no problem there. Chicks love dreads (if your into girls, sorry, don't know), they are like carrying a puppy, such an attraction. So that is a bonus right there.

You can rock them, I saw your pic, go for it, you have nothing to loose. Just go the natural way so that you can take them out if you change your mind.

Peace

Just wondering..

General Questions

As long as your hair dries completely each time, then there is no problem. Just never go to bed with wet hair or the mold will set in. Rinse the ocean water out of your hair when finished, you don't want the salt sitting in your dreads drying them out.... BTW, hair dreads super fast from being in the salty ocean water, lucky you! (you won't need to mix your own sea salt sprays or use the Hymalian sea salt spray)

Mikhail Ceballo said:

Thanks to all of you for clearing that up. Especially Barrellady, thanks for taking the time to write such a good explanation. With all that said do you guys think i would have anything to worry about if I'm in the ocean every day? Im still healing from my accident but I'm typically a beach bum, especially if theres waves, ill be out surfing every day. I know lots of people are worried about mold, should i be worried about that if I'm in the ocean every day?

Just wondering..

General Questions

Drying time varies. Depends on the thickness of the dreads, and the length. Fat congos can take 24 hours or more to dry. Dreads with blunted tips take longer to dry because they no longer have a drip line of loose hairs at the bottom. I can't even imagine how long it takes for Soaring Eagle's dread to dry.

Mine take about 5 hours, I also use a micro fiber towel to soak out the excess of water. Although dreads may appear to be dry, when given a squeeze dampness can be felt within. The sun would play a roll in drying time, the wind too.

So on the head, even though you have the same amount of hairs, with dreads they are matted into coils, if you will, and these are tons of strands of hairs, much thicker that a strand, so the dampness stays within them for hours.

It is not necessary to always wet it, especially if showering every day, just tie it back or hold it up when rinsing off.

I will be washing mine once a week when they start to grow again and become fully mature. Right now they shrunk to my shoulders from being almost waist length, so I can shower without getting them wet easily. Let's go back to your why question, Why do they take so long? Well, my hair was to my waist almost, now shoulder length, so all that hair is still there, just tightly bunched up in dreads, so the bunches of hair absorb the water like a sponge and the wetness stays longer because, well, the water is kinda trapped in there.

I still wash my hair every 3 days.

Peace

Dread Count

General Talk

If I counted right, I have 63 awesome dreads, give or take.

My scalp/

Introduce Yourself

You actually pour the mixture onto your scalp. Here is the recipe: Mix 1/2 cup baking soda with 5 cups water and pour DIRECTLY onto your scalp.... Let it sit for 10-20 minutes...then rinse it out well. Next you will mix 1 capful of apple cider vinegar to 5 cups water...pour on head and rinse within one minute. For the first time, I suggest a deep cleanse, so leave the BS on for 20 minutes.

There are a couple of ways to remove wax. The first one is for Wax B Gone:

http://www.dreadlockssite.com/page/dread-wax-removal-is-finally

Read the answer by Baba Fats to this post: this is for using Dawn Dish Soap for wax removal

http://www.dreadlockssite.com/forum/topics/wax-removal-7

My scalp/

Introduce Yourself

Looks like you have scalp buildup. But did you get out the wax and gels used when you started? For the scalp, use baking soda /ACV rinse to exfoliate the scalp. Here is a link for that.

http://www.dreadlockssite.com/forum/topics/super-clean-dreads-safe-for

You have a mix of African American/Mexican textured hair, so hopefully another member with the same texture will help you out some more.

Peace

Hello and a few questions.

Introduce Yourself

Try to only have your hair tied when necessary. In the beginning it should be loose and not restricted so that it can go through the process of dreading.

As to the length shrinkage: The sections will slowly loop, zig zag & knot, this will cause the hair to creep up shorter becoming the thickness of the section where it meets the scalp. It is recommended that sections be no larger than 2.5cm (1 inch). 2.5cm or smaller is ideal for drying time and stress scalp, anything larger takes too long to dry, up to 24 hours and heavier dreads put strain on the root systems. So back to shrinkage...the sections that naturally form will not be the thickness of where it meets the scalp, but as they mature they will become that thickness by shrinking up due to the knotting process. It is like tying a string...start with a long one....keep tying knots....see how short it has become!

Hair will naturally section itself, you will see it happen in a few days. If any are larger than the 2.5 cm, just divide them.