I'm right around the 1 week mark on my freeform dreadlocks, and loving every minute of it. Seems like my hair was much more frustrating before, and I never liked the look of it. But even now, it seems like it suits me a lot more, perhaps now that I'm just not fighting it.

It seems to be coming along very quickly. The soap seems to help. I'd actually been using an organic herbal hand soap that we found at the grocery outlets, I checked the ingredients and it works quite well. But now I've also got a jar of my own home-made shampoo that I'm testing out. I made it with some lavender, pennyroyal, and a bit of rosemary, all picked by my own hands, and some of that organic soap mixed in as well as some Castile bar soap I shaved into it and boiled for a while, and finished with a pinch of baking soda. It seems to do well, and I'm keeping my eyes peeled in case of residue. If it turns up I'll do a good deep cleanse without much trouble, but it makes them very easy to wash with good lather but a natural feel.

My hair has dried out a lot. It knots all the easier now, especially if I keep to my old habit of sticking my head out of car windows to give it some exercise. I let it go free a lot more than I used to, and I'm loving that. Otherwise a bandanna keeps it in order, and it comes out with some knots. There were a few awkward knots that I gently untied as they did not look right, but the others I'm leaving alone, apart from separating a bit. It already seems to like staying in different locks, so I'm wondering what things will be doing in the next couple of weeks. I'm a lot happier letting it do its own thing!

Any tips on the more bothersome, awkward, bunchy knots would be very much appreciated.