Forum Activity for @australe

Grrrr... stinky stinky

Help! Save My Dreads

Back story:
My dreads are a little over two years old. I started them with T&R followed by neglect. I wash twice a week with BS and an ACV rinse, usually I add a few drops of Lavender EO and sometimes Rosemary EO to the rinse. Followed by rubbing a light amount of coconut oil onto my ends to control the frizzies and make my natural curls come out on the ends. I've only got 2 dreads that are over 1' wide, the rest are pretty much all 3/4" and less.

The last two weeks its been rainy and crappy on my hair washing days. It was okay for the first week, now when my hair gets wet it smells musty. I'm totally not interested in combing my dreads out because I love them. I've upped my ACV ratio and added tea tree into my rinse. Also I've been spraying my hair with happy hands (LINK: http://jadeandpearl.com/happy-hands-alcohol-free-hand-sanitizer/#.U359vfldV8E ). I didn't wash yesterday because it was another rainy day but I had to wash this morning instead. It was fine as I was in AC today but I got caught in a hellish rain storm walking to my car which soaked my dreads and they smell. I don't think they smell to other people but I can smell it and its totally NOT okay. What more can I do? I've got to get this under control.

Please help me save my lovely dreadies

updated by @australe: 01/13/15 10:04:06PM

CLOTH DIAPERS!!

Alternative Lifestyles and Subcultures

I found that I really liked sunbabys and alvababys the best of the diapers I tried with my son. They are cheaper as well... You can get them for around $5-$6 a piece and easily resell them for $4 a piece when you are done.

Where to get beads? What kind to get?

Dread Accessories

The way I see it.... I've got several beads in my hair, put them there not long after I started my dreadlocks and once my hair started locking up the only way these beads are coming out is if we break them. I'm personally glad I didn't go super cheap. $10 for a bead sounds like a lot, but when its going to be with you for as long as your dreads are with you is it really that much?
I got my glass from FlameTouchedGlass on Etsy, she had the most reasonably priced beads for the quality at the time I bought them. I see her prices have gone up a bit, but it costs a LOT of money to do some of this glass work.

Lets play "Name that Dread!"

General Talk

Okay yep... so silly... anyway.
I started my dreads back in Feb and they've been coming along really well... lately though this creature is forming on the back of my head. It was just a normal dread like all the other dreads, a little loopy here and there. The root area however was really fluffy, so much so it was irritating me. I don't have any more beads and with it being on the back of my head am unable to do a short hair wrap.
Screw it I said to myself one night. I looped a hair tie around it about 6 times and tamed the fluffiness at the root. A wash later and it feels better, hmmm... I'll leave the hair tie in for a bit longer... Washed my hair this morning and WOW! What happened!? Its not bad but my innocent little dready who was like all the other innocent little dreadys has turned into a MONSTER. Its awesome, I love it. Crazy looped back on itself twice and its in the process of sucking the end in, its also now like half the length of the rest of them. I feel like at this point its shown me it has personality and also deserves a name, seeing as how its the first one to REALLY stand out from the others.

So my silly question is, have you named some of your dreads? If so what names have you chosen for them and why?

updated by @australe: 01/13/15 09:37:22PM

I give up...

Member Journals and Timelines

I started reading this with mild disappointment that someone was giving up... then nodded as a read about the gel and other whatnot you were trying to use... I'm happy to say that when I came to the end of your post I had a smile on my face. You hit the nail on the head. Its about letting go, giving up the fight of trying to make your hair conform to some ideal and just letting your hair be itself, and at the same time learning to let yourself be... well... yourself
Thank you
and
Blessed Be

Essential Oils & Pregnancy

Dread Products

I think is a great idea for a thread, but I'm also don't completely agree with this list or just putting them down without an explaination of WHY they should be avoided. Some of them can be avoided for a very specific reason and when used in smaller quantities are perfectly harmless. And also NO essential oils should ever be used undiluted by anyone, much less a pregnant woman. I know specifically there were a couple things on that list that our local herbalist does use and everything she carries is safe for pregnant and nursing mothers.
The main thing is to be thoughtful of what your putting into your body, everyone has their own sensitivities because we are all different I look forward to seeing how this turns out. I kn

wax vs. no wax

Dread Products

See I backcombed his so well that they weren't fluffy at the beginning at all... there's really no way to tell when his actually started locking up besides the fact that at some point he got some crazy loops and whatnot
He hasn't removed the wax from his dreads... and like I said, he knows about it... but its his hair his choice.

soaring eagle said:

track how much faster yours dread wax free too

has he removed wax yet from his?

Australe said:

updated by @australe: 07/22/15 01:41:12PM

wax vs. no wax

Dread Products

almost 3 years ago my husband started his dread journey... and boy was it a learning experience. We ended up in a situation that he wasn't allowed to wash his hair because "Dirty hair dreads" it didn't last long because the ONE thing I required is he couldn't stink, and after two weeks oh it stunk SO bad... So we took the twists out and washed and washed and washed to get all the gel and junk out of his hair... started doing some research online and fell into DHHQ's whole bullshit deal... Fortunately I did a really good job backcombing his hair (it took me 3 solid weeks to do his shoulder length hair) and we only used wax on them once, he really didn't need it after that. And I know about the whole wax never going away, but its his hair so its his choice. Now 3 years into it his hair looks awesome...
A few weeks ago we started mine, and now that we have a child there was no way I could expect him to sit there like I had done for him for three weeks killing his hands. So I feel that experience has been a great teacher for us. I decided to do mine T&R followed by neglect and a bit of locking gel from dreadlockshampoo.com after washings to tame the frizzies. So far I've been really really happy with my hair and am totally glad that we are smarter about dreads now than we were then

Thoughts on bone and antler dread beads?

Dread Accessories

Well I'm up home right now and will probly be taking a couple home with me... I'm looking forward to being able to play with carving them. Especially since now I have been putting some beads in my hair now and doing some small wraps. Its just to decorate your hair I'll def be posting how it works out for me, aye or nay.

Thoughts on bone and antler dread beads?

Dread Accessories

Thats really horrible SE...

When I was still living in PA, whenever I hit a deer (which I ended up hitting 1 or two deer a year up there, SOOOO not on purpose!) the whole damn thing came home with me and we ate it. I remember one time hitting a deer and while I was waiting for dad to come with his truck I had like 3 people stop and asked me if we were keeping it... Not too many people up there want to see an animal go to waste

soaring eagle said:

in pa someone hit my pet fox..and collected her tail

i was furious i called every taxidermist around to see if any had done anything with it i was picturing herr beautiful tail hanging from a rear view mirror

but they wouldnt tell me anything

isnt it sick to collect body parts as trophies?