If you see my 4 day pics compared to this one. You can see how much it is shrinking and it's only been 17 days. It seems like it's coiling up into itself like DNA strands. LOL!
Thanks Heather, I did put my hair in that buff like thing I had last night. I don't know about the knotting yet, but it was nice to not have my baby dreads getting all caught up under me. I couldn't get all my hair in it, but it definitely helped and I will continue to do it. It is all cotton too so my scalp can breathe. I am the same way about wool. I get very irritated by it. The little fibers seem to just fly into my eyes and I get itchy too, so I will not be trying the wool pillow thing ; ) I do think since I initially did the TnR pretty thin I won't see the dramatic knotting I would see if I did all natural/neglect and the sections were thicker. I might try to bead a couple together to make them thicker, but I'm not sure if they will knot together when each individual one is pretty stuck together. It would be like two vines (not individual hairs) winding around each other. Maybe it will work. I am thinking about it : ) I have heard as they mature they will thicken (which is why I started thin) and I have seen other timelines of people whose dreads have thickened. I guess I just can't imagine it yet. Too early in the journey. ; )
distilled water might not benecessaryfor you but we have crap hard water here and i try to reduce the amounts of residue in my hair. regarding the buff, its long and stretchy so i basically stuff my hair inside it and then tuck the fabric under the band in the back. my hair isn't very thick though so i'm not sure if this would work for everyone. i'll try to take a pic of me wearing it. my hair can still shift around in it and i think the friction of the locs rubbing together is whats helping with knotting. i tried doing the wool sweater over the pillow thing but i would wake up in the morning with a very red, irritated face. wool and my sensitive skin aren't friends. plus, i never really saw any knotting happening even when i wore a tam to bed for about 5 months.
Thank you Heather! I don't think I put enough sea salt in the bottle and I didn't use distilled water. That was why it didn't work. I have something like a buff which I bought on etsy awhile back to keep my regular hair back. I think it would work well. I don't know if I can get all my hair in it, but it might help. I have the same issues with pulling on my hair at night, or my husband does by accident. I'm going to try it tonight. Does your hair move around in it or is the buff fairly snug?
Thanks, Heather. That's a great suggestion. I never heard of a buff but will try to get one down here. I've been sleeping with a small wool blanket over my pillow and that gives a lot of knotty friction. From what you said a buff might even be better.
@hippiegal tams didn't do anything for me. i wear my hair up in a buff at night. its really been helping with knotting. i wake up in the morning with a ton of new knots. if you don't know, a buff is a stretchy sleeve/tube type headband most commonly seen on the show survivor. you can get them onlinehttp://www.buffusa.com/ or at most camping stores like rei. i found a way to wear it with all my hair tucked inside which is great because then i don't pull on my hair all night while i toss and turn.
the trick to the sea salt spray is to get your salt to water ratio as close to ocean salinity which is approx. 3.5% salt. i mix a 2qt container of distilled water with 4 1/2tbls. sea salt. shake it up and then pour some into a spray bottle. it gives my hair just the right grip to knot without the crispy, brittle feeling you get when its mixed too strong. i don't rinse it out until the next wash. i haven't had any problems with it drying out my hair or causing damage.
I might ask this question on one of the categories if I don't get over it in a couple days. I also wonder if a few of them are too thin and don't really have enough hair to knot around? I might stick a bead in a couple that are thin and try to combine two together. I don't want to take any apart. I will give it a couple days though to make sure it's not just me ; ) Thank you for your help : )
Laugh! I know exactly what you mean. Ignorance can be bliss when it come to messy hair! Tams are good, but I read somewhere that hair needs movement to be able to lock. Anyone else out there with some idea on this?
Yep, I don't think the sea water is a go for me either. I made the mistake of keeping it in too late for me to rinse it before I went to sleep. I ended up with a bunch of grit in the sheets from the salt probably flaking off. I'm done with that. Lol! That's the weird thing is that the shrinking stopped 10 days ago and now it seems like it is relaxing or loosening. I'm thinking about getting one of those big woven tams and put it up in that so I stop looking at it. I honestly think that would be a good idea. ; )
I stopped using sea water because it didn't seem to speed things up and it made my hair feel dry and brittle. Yet some people swear by it. I guess it's trial and error. Even if your hair's escaping the TnR, if it's shrinking it's definitely locking.
Thanks Heather, I did put my hair in that buff like thing I had last night. I don't know about the knotting yet, but it was nice to not have my baby dreads getting all caught up under me. I couldn't get all my hair in it, but it definitely helped and I will continue to do it. It is all cotton too so my scalp can breathe. I am the same way about wool. I get very irritated by it. The little fibers seem to just fly into my eyes and I get itchy too, so I will not be trying the wool pillow thing ; ) I do think since I initially did the TnR pretty thin I won't see the dramatic knotting I would see if I did all natural/neglect and the sections were thicker. I might try to bead a couple together to make them thicker, but I'm not sure if they will knot together when each individual one is pretty stuck together. It would be like two vines (not individual hairs) winding around each other. Maybe it will work. I am thinking about it : ) I have heard as they mature they will thicken (which is why I started thin) and I have seen other timelines of people whose dreads have thickened. I guess I just can't imagine it yet. Too early in the journey. ; )
distilled water might not benecessaryfor you but we have crap hard water here and i try to reduce the amounts of residue in my hair. regarding the buff, its long and stretchy so i basically stuff my hair inside it and then tuck the fabric under the band in the back. my hair isn't very thick though so i'm not sure if this would work for everyone. i'll try to take a pic of me wearing it. my hair can still shift around in it and i think the friction of the locs rubbing together is whats helping with knotting. i tried doing the wool sweater over the pillow thing but i would wake up in the morning with a very red, irritated face. wool and my sensitive skin aren't friends. plus, i never really saw any knotting happening even when i wore a tam to bed for about 5 months.
Thank you Heather! I don't think I put enough sea salt in the bottle and I didn't use distilled water. That was why it didn't work. I have something like a buff which I bought on etsy awhile back to keep my regular hair back. I think it would work well. I don't know if I can get all my hair in it, but it might help. I have the same issues with pulling on my hair at night, or my husband does by accident. I'm going to try it tonight. Does your hair move around in it or is the buff fairly snug?
Thanks, Heather. That's a great suggestion. I never heard of a buff but will try to get one down here. I've been sleeping with a small wool blanket over my pillow and that gives a lot of knotty friction. From what you said a buff might even be better.
@hippiegal tams didn't do anything for me. i wear my hair up in a buff at night. its really been helping with knotting. i wake up in the morning with a ton of new knots. if you don't know, a buff is a stretchy sleeve/tube type headband most commonly seen on the show survivor. you can get them online http://www.buffusa.com/ or at most camping stores like rei. i found a way to wear it with all my hair tucked inside which is great because then i don't pull on my hair all night while i toss and turn.
the trick to the sea salt spray is to get your salt to water ratio as close to ocean salinity which is approx. 3.5% salt. i mix a 2qt container of distilled water with 4 1/2tbls. sea salt. shake it up and then pour some into a spray bottle. it gives my hair just the right grip to knot without the crispy, brittle feeling you get when its mixed too strong. i don't rinse it out until the next wash. i haven't had any problems with it drying out my hair or causing damage.
I might ask this question on one of the categories if I don't get over it in a couple days. I also wonder if a few of them are too thin and don't really have enough hair to knot around? I might stick a bead in a couple that are thin and try to combine two together. I don't want to take any apart. I will give it a couple days though to make sure it's not just me ; ) Thank you for your help : )
Laugh! I know exactly what you mean. Ignorance can be bliss when it come to messy hair! Tams are good, but I read somewhere that hair needs movement to be able to lock. Anyone else out there with some idea on this?
Yep, I don't think the sea water is a go for me either. I made the mistake of keeping it in too late for me to rinse it before I went to sleep. I ended up with a bunch of grit in the sheets from the salt probably flaking off. I'm done with that. Lol! That's the weird thing is that the shrinking stopped 10 days ago and now it seems like it is relaxing or loosening. I'm thinking about getting one of those big woven tams and put it up in that so I stop looking at it. I honestly think that would be a good idea. ; )
I stopped using sea water because it didn't seem to speed things up and it made my hair feel dry and brittle. Yet some people swear by it. I guess it's trial and error. Even if your hair's escaping the TnR, if it's shrinking it's definitely locking.