Forum Activity for @calipark

Did Dr. Bronner's Undo My One Month Neglect Progress?

Dreads Hair and Scalp Health

With your hair at that length, anything other than plain baking soda and water can impede progress. So can wearing tight hats, wind, etc. One important event that influenced me to discontinue my journey was when I was on a date with a girl that had the passenger window in her car wide open. I lost a lot of progress and only on one side of my head. It sucked.

I had that same experience with my hair at that length. It was very nervewracking! I'd experiment with shampoos (thanks to BS mud) and see weeks of progress just disappear.

Take it easy and don't worry about it too much - it will take a long time. There's really no room for disappointment with dreads.

Oh and Dr. Bronnar's was horrible for me with my water type. Just horrible. It didn't matter what I diluted it with...

The unfortunate part about using Baking Soda with my water type, was that I inevitably got residue like Maxx and resorted to high pressure rinses to rinse it out. Of course that destroyed my progress yet again, cause my hair wasn't long enough. That's why I'm using Prell Classic now.

GL bro hang in there.

Baking Soda White Mud Problem--Starting a New Shampoo?

Dread Maintenance

I know lemon juice can lighten your hair in the sun. But I'm not sure if that's the same. I think most non-residue shampoos can work just fine depending on hair type, if you wear wool, how well you rinse, and if you used starter methods.Most people with mature dreadlocks can condition their locks, which helps the hair bend more and knot up easier. Like, when I was using baking soda, it started to dry my hair out like hay and it wouldn't knot easier cause it was stiffer. But you need a good amount of knots to risk using something that conditions.I've also read about people using Baby Shampoo which I might switch to. I know a blonde caucasian guy here in Denver that has amazing dreads halfway down his back and all he used was Baby Shampoo. I've also heard of people using Nature's Gate, or Neutregena non-residue, but they usually had more textured hair.Good luck finding one that works for you. Baking soda works very well for causing knotting during the wash, so if you can alternate with another shampoo without getting mud, that may be optimal. I had plenty of issues with white mud and so did a good percentage of people on this forum a year ago. Minus SE and others.

"Why I Have Dreadlocks" Campaign Update

Dreadlock Picture Gallery

This is a great movement and I'm happy that this community is growing and gaining more and more recognition. Much love.

Starting my dreads

Dreading Methods

Use a baking soda wash or a non-residue shampoo like Prell Classic (don't use it too much, it can be drying and cause dandruff because it's a clarifying shampoo and is meant to be used every now and then). You can try baby shampoo also. The baking soda wash is the most effective but you gotta make sure to make the recipe properly and dissolve it in very hot water, and rinse with hot water also. There's lots of recipes on the forums if you search.

I'd steer clear of Lavendar, Tea Tree, and Peppermind oil's though because they can cause gynecomastia in some cases and proven to decrease testosterone/increase estrogen. There's stuff on google about it. Peppermint oil can even slow hair growth, some people tested it on one side of their face for their beard and noticed that. Weird huh! Lol.

Sections Parting (Awkwardly) Near Cowlick/Back of Head

Dread Maintenance

Lol I get that same thing (not dreading at the moment) but if I don't comb my hair, sections form and flare outwards just from the way the back of my head curls. You could always palmroll to straighten them but they will round themselves off over time so that wouldn't be necessary. The roots are probably getting knotted unevenly from sleeping on them and having more knots on one side of the section than the other (kinda like when one backcombs but focuses on one side of the root instead of all of them. As they grow they should even out, but yeah I guess you could try sleeping with your hair pulled back.

Im begining to hate my hair

Dread Maintenance

post some pics please.. you might be able to push them along with some light backcombing and t&r. with some people that's totally necessary. what's your washing routine? if anything you can still use V05 conditioner and recover your hair by coming gently. it'll take a while but the knots can come out. then you can start over if you choose to. as for the "matted together" part in the front, that's a good thing because that's what dreads are right, matted hair? Maybe separate the front into little sections and help them along with backcomb/t&r.

Neglect Method Newbie -- Baking Soda Wash Questions

Dread Products

Oh I almost forgot. There's also reports online that tea tree oils can also cause gynecomastia and testosterone imbalances. Most of those are for kids in puberty, and they linked them to body washes/shampoos. Not sure if it's the same on adults but I'm not really into taking that risk...

Neglect Method Newbie -- Baking Soda Wash Questions

Dread Products

Any time! Exactly bro it was still 100% worth the effort even when it didn't work out. I'll be adding more pictures from how neglect went with my hair type so you can get an idea of the sectioning

Neglect Method Newbie -- Baking Soda Wash Questions

Dread Products

I wanna add this too. Given, I have an oil scalp in general. But when I started out with shorter hair and waited 3 days to wash, my hair would be fully saturated in oil by that time, making it more slippery for knotting and also harder to clean without affecting progress. Now with the amount of hair on my head vs. my scalp, I could wait at least 7 days before my hair is equally as saturated in oil. I still only wash every 3 days and it's not even usually necessary, when it was absolutely necessary in the beginning. When I start dreading I'll probably wash my hair only every 5 days or so, and considering longer hair knots faster, and I'll have 5 days at a time of uninterrupted/unaffected knotting that is much less likely to come undone in washes, as opposed to 2 steps forward 1 step back approach when I started. Like, when I would wash my hair when it was shorter, usually knots were more likely to come undone during washing and it was almost like a comb to my hair. Now knots are inevitable and much more appear after washing - I have to hand comb after words or I end up with large curlies/sections. The only time knots disappear in my washes now is when I use normal shampoo *and* finger comb during washing.

The whole idea though, is it takes knots to make knots, and once the initial knotting (from neglect or starter methods) is there, it becomes exponential. Hence how eyeheartchrist for example (my favorite dreads of all time next to KnottySleeves, Rawsum, Ian, SE, JackRoth etc), had dreading at such short length with caucasian hair, because the initial knotting from the palm rubbing caused a knotty explosion lol. Hell, lots of people with long hair start over because they didn't separate often enough (use eyeheartchrist's videos on youtube as a guide for sectioning). It's just a lot easier to create and keep the initial knotting when it's longer.

Sorry for rambling but I kinda feel like I owe it to the forum since I was really active here (name was ChewinChange) and I should share.

Neglect Method Newbie -- Baking Soda Wash Questions

Dread Products

Hehe Marcus I only advised that because that area would be very sensitive to PH imbalances (no homo).I also have very oily hair and I have the same texture hair as yours at that length (I'll upload pics some time of last year).

I don't want to be negative but you will probably have a frustrating road ahead of you until your hair gets longer...I took natural dreading very seriously and did everything I could when I first started out to let my hair dread. Wool tams all the time, even in the heat of the summer, and even in my sleep. Sea salt sprays whenever I could. Spacing washing. Trying dozens of variations of washes, shampoos, etc. You'll see knotting but the worst part is when you wash your hair because you lose a lot of sectioning. As your hair gets longer you'll notice it'll knot up more and more over time but it was very difficult after a while.

If you've seen eyeheartchrist's page on youtube (he's the man!!), he started with his hair shorter but he also did a lot of palm rubbing to create the knotting -> then he kinda went "neglect". And his hair was longer than yours when he started. Some people can get dreading with short hair but that's with fairly textured and curly hair (SE for example). I know eyeheartchrist used burt's bee's and prell and alternated. Prell is a clarifying shampoo so it cleans very well and helps you space out your washing - it can also be too harsh on some people, and can cause dandruff depending (it has alcohol in it). It tends to take a while to rinse in my water... Nowadays I alternate between burt's bees and normal shampoos until I start again, and the burt's bees (non-residue) gives me lots of texture.

I was on campus and talked to a white guy with badass dreads and from what I can tell he used a starter method like most people, but they ended up looking neglect which was awesome. He recommended baby shampoo, which is definitely what I'm gonna use when I start up again (probably burt's bees baby shampoo).

Your journey reminds me of the beginning of mine, cause I've grown my hair out from a fade for a whole year specifically to grow dreads (never had long hair in my life), and haven't had a single haircut =D. I started out with backcombing at 4-5 inches and then it all fell out even though I did it pretty aggressively. Then I went natural for 3 months til I gave up when I had a ton of dandruff buildup and I was forced to scrub it which ruined all the progress, and went back to normal shampoos. And I've had like 6 different girlfriends since then and they all couldn't tell I didn't cut my hair, they loved it. It's sweet seeing how I'm supposed to look naturally, cause haircuts remove a lot of thickness I want in my journey, and not combing at first was a good way to add texture to my hair style. At first I thought my hair was dreading, eh, it was just sectioning because that's just long hair... Of course when I combed it all out I did have a ton of knots. I have the same hair texture but as it got longer it's wavy and I wake up with sectioning every day just using normal shampoo, having to comb it... Knotting gets sooo much faster with longer hair - a sea salt rinse for me now will cause instant sectioning all over. It's actually a cool experience to see the stages of your hair as it grows even if you don't dread it til way later.

After all, if you grow your hair out long enough it'll only take 2 weeks to see results that you might only see after 5-6 months from now. It's good getting familiar with the mechanics of proper scalp and hair care now though, like freezing rinses, scalp care, clarifying shampoos, how the hair knots and sections, how your hair products affect your scalp, etc. I don't mean to steer you away from your journey but it's not uncommon for some people to not see knotting with neglect even after a year of trying, depending on their hair - for those people it takes a starter method which isn't shameful.

Oh, and I would probably stay away from Lavendar oil and Peppermint oil - they've been linked to gynecomastia and reduced testosterone/increased estrogen if you google it. I'm sure gyno is not very but I wouldn't risk getting it on my skin anyways. Be easy on the rosemary oil though, some people are sensitive to it so try it on some skin before hand.

Good luck man. I'm sure your dreads are gonna look sick in time, and the journey's the best part. Everything's worth a try. Nobody would have been able to talk me out of trying neglect for 3 months until I decided on my own.