Forum Activity for @lu-a

Dready Goodness. TnR timeline. Four Month Update.

Member Journals and Timelines

Thanks I'm pretty happy with 'em

And I actually miss the fro sometimes, but dreads are really awesome too

Neurotic Envelope said:

Looking great!
The fro is pretty cool too

Dready Goodness. TnR timeline. Four Month Update.

Member Journals and Timelines

I'm at three months tomorrow, so this as good a time as any to start a timeline. Before dreads I changed my hair alot with lots of cuts and colours

This is my hair in a bit of a mohawk (the sides are grown out)

And this is brown with blonde highlight (a few months before blueish green, which I don't have a pic of)

Then I rocked a fro for a little while as I gre my hair out, with dreads in the back of my mind

I started my dreads on January 24th with twist and rip, sitting in front of the tv and doing them absently. Finally finished in the wee hours of the 27th, because I stopped in the middle of all that to go to school lol. Here's what I ended up with

that was after the first wash because I washed em right away

I don't have many pics between week 1 and week 7 or in because I was HATING my hair, I was keeping it tied up all the time, and this is the only (pretty blurry) pic I have, from week 4. I also only have this because it was my friends birthday, a black and gold theme lol

Around week 6 i started to love my hair, because this is what started happening

Fun curly dreads!

Loops! Oh my!

I got so excited I put some deco in my hair

That is what they looked like at the end of two months

This is week 9 or 10

Four Month Update

Hit four months a few days ago and my locks are definitely becoming more defined. They are still very frizzy and messy but I like that. I did trim a few in the back because they are several inches longer and it looked awkward.

This is an individual one. They all more or less look like these, with a defined body and then crazy curls and loops at the end

updated by @lu-a: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM

Does long hair lock faster?

General Questions

if your hair is afro-textured (which im assuming it is since you started with twists) do NOT use sea salt. it will only dry out your hair, which you do not need.

Elroy said:

there gonna poof when you wash them until they really start locking up you can try to spry some sea salt on them that might help them lock up a bit faster

~Elroy~

updated by @lu-a: 07/09/15 03:45:58AM

Does long hair lock faster?

General Questions

ok, i kinda feel like I'm doggin you now cause I already replied to you lol

anyway, long hair does lock a lot faster, but short hair shrinks less. This is important for you because you want that uniform look, and shrinkage will cause curls and loops and zigzags all over the place. I rocked the fro for a long time, and now I'm dreading so the loops and stuff don't bother me, but if you want that uniform perfectionist look you were talkin about, you'll want to start short.

towel lint

Dread Maintenance

that could work

towel lint

Dread Maintenance

ooh, that's a good idea. haha I haven't used any tools on my hair in so long that the thought never even crossed my mind. I'll use the dyeing it option as a last resort Thanks

soaringeagle said:

i heard someone mention taking a soft bristle brush and brushing it out

i have loads of it in mine so was concidering dying it to match but too lazy even for the lazy way out

towel lint

Dread Maintenance

Due to exams and final assignments I've had a lot less time to dry my hair lately and I stupidly used a fluffy white towl to speed up the process (I usually squeeze out excess water and air dry) Now I have fluffy white lint in my hair which is proving pretty difficult to pick out. I was just wondering if there is some easier method to get it out. Will rinsing work or is there something else I can do? Please keep in mind that I JUST washed my hair and am trying not to dry out my scalp, so anything other than the application of water would be awesome.
updated by @lu-a: 01/13/15 09:00:30PM

Words of encouragement, Please!

Dreadlocks Journey Emotional Support

He doesn't sound like he knows much about dreads, even though he had them once. Since he is your husband and someone you are legally and (I'm assuming) spiritually tied to, it might be worth it to educate him. A lot of people just don't understand the process, the journey, etc, so if you do that, and explain to him why dreads are importnt to you, it might help.

If that doesn't help, tell him he is being a (pardon my language) total dick, and that as your husband he needs to support you.

dreads lost from retwisting

Help! Save My Dreads

um...why does your dreads need to support a thousand pounds? or 200 for that matter? do you regularly hang weights off your dreads?

just kidding

I'm not saying interlocking is a good thing, im saying tons and tons of afro-textured people interlock once in awhile without losing their dreads.

dreads lost from retwisting

Help! Save My Dreads

I totally agree, but I feel like sometimes you scare people with the way you put things. Your dreads won't fall out if you interlock, just if you over do it, which granted is easy to over do. Same as twisting. I don't twist or interlock because I like my fuzzy roots, but if you ARE doing, keep it to once every four months or less and you'll be fine. Average hair growth is 1/2 an inch a month so in four months your hair grows two inches. if your dreads are mature, they are dreading at a rate slightly less than that, so even at four months you would only have an inch or so of undreaded hair at the root. You don't need to be doing it anymore than that. and your hair won't learn to dread on its own if you don't let it.

soaringeagle said:

its true african hair survives the abuse more but..more ppl with african hair have lost dreads due to interlocking cause they do it far far more often

it has always been known to be 1 of the worse things u can do (besides felting and perhaps dread perms felting is by far the worse dread perms and interlocking are probable fairly equal some have satisfactory results some have devestating results)

tbhe whole idea beghind interlocking makes no sense at all though

Lu A said:

Before I even write this I know that SE is going to disagree with me but I'm gonna say it anyway. I don't think interlocking is that bad. At least not for afro-textured hair. I certainly wouldn't recommend it, and even if i did, I'd say do it like MAYBE twice a year, but my cousin has long gorgeous dreads that he has had for 14 years (actually, might be longer than that), and he interlocks occasionally. A LOT of ppl with afro-textured hair interlock once in a while, usually out of convenience and don't lose their dreads. I think with afro-textured hair you can get away with more, but ANYTHING you do to your hair is bad if you do it too much.

soaringeagle said:

nooooooooooooooooo thats interlocking one of the worse things you can do! never do that

jameela bailey said:

yes i had this problem too i used to retwist 3 times a weak, and my dreads were kind of thinning so i stopped and decided to use olive oil only (not to retwist just to put in) but yea you dont have to go to a locktician?? i dont know what tht is but just use olive oil or there is a video on youtube were this girl is talking about how to let your roots of your dreads get thicker or let them stay, you take your dread and you put it through the hairs at the root and keep doing that until its firm and secure, thats how my roots got tighter and thicker.