Forum Activity for @shanti

Visited a loctician....

Dreading Methods

Luckily she only worked one patch of my hair into a lock, but I didn't let her go any further and I made her undo the twist (although now that lock of hair seems to have gotten stressed out and hangs down an inch lower than the other strands).Thanks for all the support, I'm feeling more confident about this mop of curls I call my hair. One thing I do wanna ask is... when will I know when to separate dreads? The ripping guide said to do it often in the early stages but I don't know if I'm actually undoing would-be locks as opposed to separating them
updated by @shanti: 07/16/15 10:04:58AM

Visited a loctician....

Dreading Methods

Yeah, I figured as much.... after that experience I am that much more committed to the natural method, so I guess in a way it did me some good soaringeagle said:

no salon or loctitions worth going to
the methods shes describing are for adfrican hair and the 1st 1 is alot like a weave adding fake hair

why the hell would u mess up your natural locks after just 2 weeks....huge mistake..be partient

Visited a loctician....

Dreading Methods

Hey fam, so I decided to visit a local loctician to see if she could help me a little bit with my natural locking process which has been going on for about three weeks. She works out of her home and is a very charismatic individual (she's been working on locs for 12 years). When I got to her place she was a little surprised because she was expecting African hair (I'm Indian, with wavy hair). She basically outlined two methods for me which I had never heard of:

1) Use kinky hair imported from Mecca to facilitate the shaping of my locks, along with what I think is a double-strand twist method. I would need to come back every month for maintenance and shampooing.

2) Something called "kinetics" where she would use aloe vera and perform circular motions in my hair to get it to kink up, and after a few months it would be ready for locking.


Now I know I'm probably not the sharpest tool in the shed, but has anybody ever heard of these methods? She seems really knowledgable but I just can't help but a feel a little... odd...
updated by @shanti: 02/14/15 09:05:29AM

Hey all

Introduce Yourself

Vinny said:

"Yeah it's that easy, especially for someone with your hair type. You're the kind of cat who cant run his fingers through his hair without finding a tangle in their some where, a lot of people in the dread community may even refer to you people as "lucky bastards".

True that, my friend. I used to hate it when I was younger that my hair became a tangled mess no matter what, but now I'm feeling a lot happier about it! Thank you all for the kind welcome. Yesterday I went out and bought a bar of Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree soap. I did some reading of other posts, but I'm still not sure what is the correct method to shampoo the hair at this stage. I lather the bar in my hands and apply it with my fingers to the scalp? I'm concerned I might break up the tangles...I took a photo showing what my hair looks like on Day 1 of the journey:

Hey all

Introduce Yourself

Hey all, I wanted to introduce myself. Over the past two years I've had many significant changes in my life, but I think the easiest way to explain it is I finally found the courage to cut ties with my 'old' self. I quit my desk job and am now a (struggling) musician. I meditate daily and strive to be fundamentally content; most importantly I don't let others' perceptions of me bring me down.

I think I am finally ready to grow dreads.

After a lot of research I was ready to got to a salon that specializes in backcombing in Los Angeles (Taka Hair Salon), but after discovering and reading many of the posts on this forum, I'm not so sure about that method anymore. I want to try natural dreading but I'm afraid I still don't understand the process (as simple as it seems). My indian and middle eastern heritage has given me thick, naturally wavy hair that grows out in curls if I don't hold it down with a hairband or bandana, and makes me look like the boss from Dilbert Is natural dreading really just as simple as shampooing with residue-free shampoo and then air drying? Is it ok to wear bandanas/beanies during initial months or will that stifle the natural locking? What about conditioners, as my hair is also unfortunately very naturally dry.

Thanks for reading!

updated by @shanti: 01/13/15 08:31:34PM