Forum Activity for @australe

Here starts the journey! Mums with dreads.....

Dreads in the Family

My grandparents saw mine for the first time. My dreads are a little over a month into them now, gram just kinda wrinkled her nose a little and said they looked dirty. Of course she also said some other pretty classically lame comments to me about babywearing and breastfeeding too. I take her with a handful of salt most the time and still love her anyway The rest of my family was fine with it, if they thought anything they kept it to themselves. I like them and thats what counts anyway!

Its amazing how it feels to finally be able to let go of having to worry about taming this crazy freaking hair I was born with everyday! And I can't believe the progress I've been having in just over a month

Kaytee Elizabeth said:

i couldnt agree more!! =) i havent had anyone disapprove yet, but Im getting together with my gma and aunts this weekend, so we will see!

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?

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

It does make me sad about poaching and wasting most of the animal... I saw a lot of bad stuff growing up that people did to animals with Dad being in the game commission. Hunters that would kill 20 deer and only take the hind quarters out of them, leaving the rest of the meat and the carcass to rot...
I do however feel that there is a difference between irresponsible poaching and poaching out of necessity though. I worked with a guy several years ago at a veneer mill, we made 7.75 an hour. We basically were treated like slaves and the area I'm from is so depressed your glad you have a job paying that much even, so you keep your head down and work through it... however a woman that we worked with had a HUGE problem with this man going out every once in awhile on his own land and killing a deer to feed his family. I've never seen anyone go to the extents to use as much of the animal as possible. When you've got a family to feed and a job that pays crap you do what you have to do to survive.

Looking into some of legality issues of dealing with antlers I can see why there is nothing on Etsy...
In PA its actually illegal to sell, buy or barter for shed antlers, DE has restrictions on importing cervid(deer) parts... This is interesting and may mean that I need to do some more research before considering selling on any kind of a level...

soaring eagle said:

i feel the same way i often wonder how hunters would feel if they were hunted

(and secretly wish i could hunt them at least the poachers of endangered animals)

Thoughts on bone and antler dread beads?

Dread Accessories

This was enlightening, and I am glad that everyone is sharing their feelings on the subject with me. Thats why I asked about it so that other's COULD let me know their view points, and I understand that this is a really controversial topic that I've brought up. I would NEVER consider killing an animal for the sole purpose of getting bone or antler to carve, and think about it, if someone is killing for a trophy, they aren't going to give me the antlers to cut up and carve. What I'd be able to get my hands on would be either naturally shed antlers, or those from an animal that was killed for food. And though I know that there are some people out there that have no business having a weapon in their hands, most of the people that are close to me are very good hunters and also would use as much of the animal as possible. And the way I'm looking at it its just one more purpose for that animal to be used for. Who knows, I may start playing around with it and decide its not for me... but I may and really end up enjoying myself with it Again everyone thank you for your thoughts and feelings on this topic, they are appreciated and respected.

Naked Naturalist said:

being native american my family has always killed for their food. people that hunt nowadays. i just dunno. it takes them five arrows before they cant kill it. this is veryyy cruel. im more of an animal protector. i believe they were here to teach us. we should protect them and care for them. i do find killing animals as quite distasteful as in "controlling population". i find that disturbing. i believe in natural selection, i guess?now if it were food purpose, im a little more lenient with that. my culture. they use every part of the animal, heart, brain, skull. this is not problem. sort of why i respect india. because most from there are vegetarian. not that i hate on meat eaters but ive seen so many animals brutally murdered that eating meat is not my specialty anymore. however, back on the subject. i find that these beads would be rather interesting. i would wear them! as long as you werent just going out killing animals for the bone. if you just found the bone, or it was from an animal you humanly killed for the meat and decided to use the bone for a purpose. i would thank you for that. im sure the animal would too. it would be good to know that its body was being used for something other than the pleasure of human consumption. peace and love<3

Thoughts on bone and antler dread beads?

Dread Accessories

Thank you Jenzi... thats exactly how I feel. I was also raised with hunting being a very important part of getting food for winter time, there were times we probly wouldn't of HAD food had it not been for us hunting and having some close friends to the family donate part of their kills to us. My father was a Pennsylvania Game Commissioner for 20 years before he retired from it. Its a touchy topic for some people so I tend to tread lightly. After talking to a friend of mine up home he knows a guy with a deer farm so I would be able to get my hands on naturally shed antlers if it came down to that.

Jenzi Zillig said:

I'm a big animal person and it took me a long time to realize that deer hunting is better for the deer as it controls population issues that saves them from inbreeding anddiseases running rampant. I come from a big hunting family and the animals are only killed when using the meat for food, we never mount or "trophy" the animal. what is left my father returns to the land for scavenger animals, continuing the cycle of life.I understand your hesitance to use bone because of the sensitivity of others but if it's what YOU want go for it. I think it's a lovely homage to an animal that gave its life for food, thus sustaining the life of others.

(for those bothered by this, my family is also very involved in different advocacies for humane treatment for animals, and my father not only hunts but has even orange collared a doe he saw on his land that adopted THREE fawns in addition to her own due to poachers hunting out of season, we do NOT support poaching or "anytime hunting". And if his deer are large and there is more meat than we need he donates itto Hunters for Hunger and the meat is sent to families in need. just wanted to clarify )

Thoughts on bone and antler dread beads?

Dread Accessories

yep most definitely... I've seen something about using a hydrogen peroxide and water mixture to bleach the antlers... and would probly do a bit of boiling as well... I'm pretty sure the antlers I've got coming to me are from kills for food... but considered that that might be distasteful to some people. I also know that I can get my hands on naturally shed antlers as well for those who have problems with hunting (even if the hunting is to put food on the table)

Thoughts on bone and antler dread beads?

Dread Accessories

So I've decided to try my hand at making up some antler dread beads out of deer antler... Does anyone know any reason why I shouldn't? And also I'm curious but for some reason Etsy doesn't have ANY antler or bone dread beads, this is weird to me.

updated by @australe: 02/03/18 10:36:44PM

All my awful dandruff has GONE!!!

Dread Maintenance

I'm hoping that over a period of time once my scalp adjusts to using BS/ACV that my dandruff will get better, the peppermint and rosemary has definitely helped with my itchy problems though... I think for the time being I should stay away from the jojoba oil since my dreads are only about 2 weeks old now. Thanks for the info though!!