Timeline 0-7 months straight fine hair
Member Journals and Timelines
My how my dreads have changed. Pics are small but you can see them larger on my profile in timeline album. Enjoy~
updated by @tatyananashi: 01/13/15 08:52:30PM
My how my dreads have changed. Pics are small but you can see them larger on my profile in timeline album. Enjoy~
I would try to avoid scratching them. Sometimes you can irritate your scalp more and get scabs or something. I (prior to locking) had a compulsive habbit to pick around my widows peak on my head because of one lump I got one time, and it took forever to heal because it scabbed up and when I pulled my hair back it would irritate it and it just perpetuated the issue when I touched or messed with it. You don't want open sores or cuts on your scalp, it sucks and takes forever to heal,because of all the hair in the area pulling and messing with it.
Now if I get a big flake that is like already loose and just hanging out in my hair I find a way to pull it out, because that's annoying.
Jared Drury said:
Speaking of dandruff/ lumps.... is it better to scratch and pick them off or to just let them be and fall off on their own when washing? I think I have loosened a few knots by tring to pick out dead skin, I guess it would be better to let it wash out on its own. WHat do you think?
i didn't go to a salon she was reccomended by me to a friend. you sure they need to be undone? seem's a bit drastic? surely they will work themselves out?
acv is apple cider vinegar.
The way I personally do it is I have an empty bottle that is supposed to be for travel shampoo (you can get them in the miniature stuff section at stores where they sell "airline sized" small toiletries. I don't know if UK has the same flight rules that US does, but here you can't have more than 3.4 oz liquid containers when you fly in your carry on, so most stores now have a section of miniature stuff. The bottle I have holds 3.4 ounces, and I just put about 1 tablespoon of baking soda in the bottle, add COLD water, andshake it up so it all dissolves. I add cold water so that when I am putting it on my head I know where I've put it so I get full coverage of my scalp and dreads. It has a little hole opening like a regular shampoo bottle, and after getting my hair wet with warm water in the shower I start from the middle front to the back in a line on the middle of my head, then do one side, then the other. Because of the cold I know which dreads I've covered and which I haven't. Once it's all on there I let it sit for a bit without rinsing and I rinse out the shampoo bottle and put in about 1/4 of the bottle of apple cider vinegar. Again I mix it with cold water and shake it up. (be sure to rinse the bottle in between so no BS reacts to ACV). I set it aside in the tub and massage my BS hair and scalp for a bit then rinse it fully under the now warm shower water. Once fully rinsed I do the same thing I did with BS to my scalp but with the ACV solution. Some people don't like the smell of vinegarbut diluted it really isn't noticable. I also let the acv sort of soak in like I do with the BS and while I'm waiting I prepare tea tree oil solution if I'm going to do it this wash (I wash with bs/acv once a week and follow with tea tree oil once a month). Rinse the bottle first (from the acv that was just in it) and put just 1 drop of tea tree oil (it is quite strong, so one drop is plenty). Fill the rest of the bottle with water and shake to mix. I set it aside and massage my head again before rinsing the ACV out (I do the massages because 1, it feels good and gets the circulation in my head going, most hair people recommend massaging your scalp when shampooing, so I treat this as the same, and 2 because it helps the dreads to tangle up, I think. Some people if you scrub too much or too early (before dreads are formed) you might pull some tangles out, but if you check my profile and pics you'll see I am not worried about losing anything LOL. I rinse out the vinegar mixture from my hair, and follow with the tea tree oil if I'm doing it that shower, and let that sit while I wash the rest of myself. Once I'm done washing I do a final rinse of my hair (and everything else of course) and I'm done.
I feel that using bs/acv is why my hair dreaded so fast. when my hair was still tangling and my dreads were still babies I just would do a bucket style pour and rinse, like most people do, but I was using far more bs/acv for that concoction, and I prefer this method because I know I get full coverage even on the back dreads whick with the bucket style pour I felt weren't getting as clean. Plus I love massaging my hair, and I can feel each dread when I do this to make sure I've removed all beads (sometimes I miss one and find it mid shower).
This is just my method, everyone does it differently. Just rememeber to rinse between each solution and to do a final rinse: BS can be drying, ACV balances that, and tea tree oil is very strong and if you use too much (believe me one drop is potent enough) then you may get over drying from tea tree oil (I never havebut some people are more sensetive to tto than others)
In my previous post "they" were my sister and brother in law, should have specified, and about lumps, I used to get lumps (like painful, almost scab like) prior to dreading. I think it is because of all the pulling back I did on my hair to keep it out of my face. Now that my locks kind of keep back out of my eyes I barely ever pull them back or cover them up or tie them or anything, and I don't get this lump/scab/irritation that I got before locks. Do you pull your dreads back?
I only use baking soda and acv when I wash, and I don't get dandruff at all. I did notice some flaking when I went to Spokane Washington to see my new nephew, and I think it's because for about a month I only used water, nothing else (I didn't want to trouble them for bs/acv, which they didn't have any of and I didn't bring with me). It was only a few flakes in the front and when I washed with bs/acv again when I got home they were gone. The BS really helps diminish oils and dissolve that extra skin flakes and the acv helps balance the ph of the scalp and hair. I do sometimes follow it with a tea tree oil rinse (one drop of tea tree oil as it is very potent, in a container of water, diluted and cold).
Back in the day when I had waxlocks (regret, it was my first set and I cut them but they were waxed so I am glad I didn't keep em, and that I did these dreads right this time) I used different dread soaps and even Neutrogena T Gel. I still had flakes all the time, except for right after I washed. With BS/ACVI never have flakes, and it took a month of water only before I got noticeable flakes, and just a few.