Eight months

So it's been eight months. And I've mostly been letting them do their thing. Yeah, I'm not updating as much, but I feel that my dread journey has slowed down quite a bit from the beginning, so things don't change as much from month to month as they did from week to week in the beginning.

I think I've been finding more that are locked up, nice springy ropey things. Still a few weak spots, still a few weak dreads, blah blah... this is for posterity, remember?

So, in the beginning I had some issues with dandruff. This was nothing new as I've had it off and on my whole life. I usually just change shampoos, either to Head and Shoulders or off Head and Shoulders (usually to Herbal Essence... cause they have good graphic design). Well, my scalp adapted and for a few months of having dreads, I didn't have any dandruff. And then, like it's been doing as long as I can remember, I got dandruff back. Except I was using shampoo specifically for my dreadlocks. It's supposed to be residue free, if you recall, and I know this stuff is. And Head and Shoulders probably isn't. So I just kept using my dreadlocks shampoo and kept having dandruff.

Now, nobody likes dandruff. Makes my head itch and flakes are awful. And once, when I was a child, I got lice. Now, I didn't have dreadlocks then, so you can't blame them. And I wasn't even overseas at the time. I got it here in America while we were visiting. It was an awful horrible experience and I still dread it even now... so when my head itches, I run to Mom.

"Mom? Can you check my hair again?"

Lice would be even worse in dreads cause you can hardly comb them out, so you have to go for stronger other methods.

I hate it when my head itches. And I finally got Head and Shoulders shampoo and about two weeks later, I think it's helping. I'm just going to have to use the dreadlock shampoo from time to time to try and get all residue out.

In other notes, it's really weird going to parties and events at David's work and him being all clean-cut and wearing button up shirts and me with dreadlocks... although I wasn't the most different one at the last event. Some employee's girlfriend had dyed red hair, facial piercings, and tattoos.

Here is a picture. I was outside and it was breezy. And over 60 degrees and warm enough that left my sweatshirt inside. And it's December. Surreal.

Seven Months

Dun dun dunnnnn... seven months!

Ok, I don't really know what that means. And I'm a little distracted. I'm scanning jobs websites because I will go totally insane if I don't get one. And listening to Black Magic Women by Santana, because for some reason that fits my attitude. I can't figure out if she is a magic woman who happens to be black, or a woman who has black magic... I've always guessed the latter, but I still think she'd look like Tia Dalma from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3.

Speaking of which, once my dreads get longer, if I ever feel the need for any sort of costume, I can be Captain Jack Sparrow!

Granted, I was like seventeen or eighteen in that photo. And had real hair. But Captain Jack is awesome!

Hang on, hitting replay on Black Magic Woman.

You know, Tia Dalma has some pretty cool dreads too.

[image from: http://pirates.wikia.com/wiki/Tia_Dalma]

I liked her. She was all like, "No! It was a woman as harsh and unchangeable as the sea!" in an awesome Jamaican accent.

Yeah she's a black magic woman and she's trying to make the devil out of me! I figure she covers both of my speculations.

But anyway, at the beginning of November, my dreadlocks turned seven months. I've said previously that I can't see any change in them. But that's the benefit of photos. I'll scroll back through the photos section of Google that automatically uploads all the pictures I take with my phone and I'll see all the pictures I took, not just posted. For the most part, my dreads are a lot longer than they used to be. Like they still seem short to me, but they were quite a bit shorter. And I like to think they're more solid. Still a few soft spots, but they seem to be growing out knotted if I keep clockwise rubbing, so eventually all the soft stuff I have going on now will just be the ends of some epic long dreads...

I'll worry over them occasionally, but it seems like they've changed a lot since the beginning, and I am only a little over halfway to a year. A year is supposed to be when you can really call them dreads and actually know what it's like to have dreads... if you didn't do them the neglect way anyway.

So, pictures. But first, a story. You know that little unknotted bit of hair? It was kind of bugging me because it was longer than all my dreads and would get caught in things and I'd think I had some loose hair I needed to tuck back into a dread, but no it was just this little bit... I liked it cause it was weird, though. So you know I was thinking about putting seed beads on it. I have more details about the adventures in obtaining said beads on my other blog The Voice of Linsey. Yesterday I finally got a call back from The Salon and with the help of an imaginative hair tech and wire pilfered from their Christmas ornaments, we convince that little bit of hair into two strands of beads.

Beads!

Normal front.

And back. I took that picture because I actually have no idea what the back of my hair looks like.

But anyway, don't I look like a gypsy? Or a hippie? Or just plain crazy? I think they're cool.

I thought about it the other day, and really I am not the type of person who gets dreads. But I'm also getting more comfortable with being someone who doesn't really fit in anywhere. When I was younger I always wanted to fit in, and then when I was older and not very confident, I figured out I didn't fit in and wished I knew where to go... but now I realize that I don't fit in anywhere... and I'm kind of okay with that. I still have family and friends and my interests. I'll just keep going about confusing people.

Six Months

So, six months. And they are still "cooking."

Currently, the loose hairs are getting out of control. I'm getting that fuzzy aura, and it seems like there is just too many to handle and too many to deal with. The ones in the back, down near my neck refuse to progress and consistently fall out, but they've been a problem since the beginning. Probably because they were only like three inches before being backcombed. Several dreads still have weak spots that I can't seem to fix.

But also several dreads seem to actually be mature, featuring that hard-like-a-rope feel. These are mostly the longer ones on the top of my head. It's nice that the maturing ones are on the outside, they can help hide the ones infected by fuzz.

Here's a goofy-smile version to demonstrate.

Also, per suggestion by Jonny Clean, I was thinking about putting larger seed beads on that little bit of loose hair, at least up to the knot. Went to Hobby Lobby to peruse their bead selection and hit a snag. So they have like five different color combinations named whimsical things like "Autumn Blend," with corresponding colors. You can guess for something like autumn. I just want your basic color combinations with a standard rainbow of colors. Primary with a few blends, like orange and green. Heck, I'd even take primary. But upon examining their basic color blend, I found it entirely lacked the color red. It had orange. It had green. It had yellow and blue. But no red.

As red is one of my favorite colors and as calling a color blend lacking red "basic" is entirely an affront against nature and colors as a concept, I neglected to buy it. So I am still searching for the right seed bead packet, and then someone (read: not me) to take on the trouble of stringing them. Then I should have an awesome little bead strand over one shoulder. Unfortunately, the Ames Hobby Lobby is busy affronting color theory and every time I think about going to the Des Moines one, it happens to be a Sunday. I've noticed similar effects related to Chic-Fil-A. Why should I always want Chic-Fil-A on the one day they are closed? Something is against me, and I'm afraid to consider it is my own brain.

In other news, while I was at Hobby Lobby purchasing a large amount of 99 cent bandannas for my hair (including such unpopular colors like red), I looked at other beads, like the ones you buy those basic little bracelets for and then by five+ overpriced beads and call yourself unique because there's a semi-decent chance nobody else combined those same five+ beads. And I found a bead that is ADORABLE.  And I do not use that word lightly.

Behold the cuteness which is small-frog-on-a-bead! Now that I have stunned all your senses with small-frog, I bid you farewell. Until whenever else I make myself update. As in, maybe next time the WoW servers are down.

My dreads... they are an age.

I am not sure how old they are. I've been somewhat busy. So much otherwise occupied (not necessarily productively) that I failed to post for my four month birthday.

Is it odd that time appears to pass at different rates? And it is a perception that tends to be shared. You remark to someone that a certain month is passing really slowly, and they will agree with you. July was percieved as lasting forever. Maybe it was the large amount of overly humid over 100 degrees days, which seemed to drag on. But once August hit, I remarked about a week in that August was probably going to pass quickly. And it is already the 19th. Amazing.

My dreads turned four months on August 1st. It wasn't planning that put my dreads birthday on the.first of April. I couldn't do it earlier because I didn't have the stuff, and later one of my friends would have already moved and wouldn't have been able to attend. We started on the 31st, but didn't finish until the first.

So, four months. Some on the top are starting to seem a bit firm. One of my Lock-Up-Dates said it would take longer for the skinny dreads, and some might never seem as firm as thicker dreads. Hopefully they are maturing. It seems such a slow process, I keep going through panic attacks, like once or twice a month. I thought they'd be done by now, but now I'm trying to reorient myself to hoping they're done by a year. I want to find one of those salons that fix dreads, tying up all the loose hair. However, we seem to be a bit short in Iowa.

I also think the heat and humidity were adversely affecting them. You'd think the weather that makes normal hair "frizzy" would help, but it seems to unravel some of them at the tips.

Some of the tips are soft and I'll try pulling them in. Then I encountered something strange. I was using the loose hair tool to try and pull the tip in, and sometimes I'd pull too far and get a lump of hair out the side of my dread. I have no idea how to fix this, and a result, I am very cautious about doing so now.

Otherwise, finding loose hairs and clockwise rubbing. Dreaming of what they'll be like in a year.

Sixteen Weeks

Sorry for my noted absence. I went through a crisis of faith where I'm like, "my dreadlocks aren't locking!" And they aren't, really, but I'm hoping that's just because as skinny locks, they're going to take a lot longer. I was hoping they'd be done by now, but then I probably should've put more effort into palm rolling. I hates palm rolling.

Anyway, almost all the bands are out. All the root bands are gone (all the ones I've found anyway), and I only have a few tip bands in that I put in on vacation to try and keep the tips from coming out. I had a small braid of hair that was somehow left out at the original backcombing, so I braided it and would leave it sticking out of my tam right above my ear to throw off anyone who might suspect I had dreads hidden under there. I called it my padawan braid. It is now a solid knot at the top. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it. I am also trying to start using my tiny loose hair tool, as I am getting the sneaky suspicion that a lot of the hairs I put in with the sculpta don't actually stay put in.

I have had two dreams now where my mom has gotten dreads and they have looked better than mine. Eh mom, wha'dya say to that?

At work, a women told me she really liked me hair and then said I looked like "a raggedy Ann doll... in a good way." She went on to tell me she liked my freckles and that she'd heard somewhere that "a face without freckles is like a night sky without stars." Well, now I feel undeniably cute, and maybe about twelve years old. What do you think? Too cute for dreads? (Ha!)

Also, I had to go downtown for something. I hate downtown with most of the streets being one way, alternating at every intersection and parking is a pain. But I was walking from my car to Java Joes and I passed by a group of people sitting on the corner of the sidewalk on an intersection. Mixed races, mixed genders, and I think they were holding a cardboard sign that said something about "slapping a traveler" and named a dollar amount. Great way to relieve stress, they said. First one I noticed was a black guy wearing something in camo with those perfect dreads that I can never obtain. Yes, I am jealous. Then I saw another one sitting on the ground with his back to me, and saw he also had dreads. Coming around the front, I realized he was white.

"I like your dreads, mama," he called after me as I walked past. I flashed him a quick smile and said, "Thanks!"

They were still there when I went back, maybe around a half hour later. The same guy started talking to me again as I waited for the Walk light. He asked me how long I've had my dreads, how I put them in. I said by backcombing. He said his were natural, all he did was mix salt with water and leave that in and it only took them like a month to form. By that time, the light changed and I said goodbye and they suggested that I come hang out with them at some point.

But my question is, am I forever going to be judged on my dreadlocks by how I put them in? We can't look at hair and think the hair looks good without knowing how it came to be? Will I always be considered a sort of poser because I decided to backcomb my hair instead of let it form naturally? That seems so narrow-minded. I'm white with more-or-less straight hair. I have a friend who is mixed with curly "nappy" hair and it took him around five years to get dreadlocks. His hair looked like a palm tree or Sideshow Bob for a lot of the time in the middle and he actually had the hair for it. If I were to go neglect, I would just look like I never brushed my hair for a good seven plus years. And maybe some people think you have to earn it, you have to go through all that for dreads. And I think that it is a hair style and if I can do it to my hair, then why does anyone else care? What makes it more a hair style or less a hair style depending on how you put it in? My ponytail is better than yours because I used a scrunchy.

I know dreads are more than a hair style to a lot of the people who have them. They are a spiritual journey, a memory, or representational of something. Mine represent freedom to me, and the ability to break past the cage of expectations, made by myself and others. But do I have to look like a mess for years to have them mean that to me? I don't think so.

They look blue in the bottom one because I was trying to hide from direct sunlight in my balcony, but it was peeking over anyway. Actually, they kind of look cool blue.

Fifteen Weeks...I Think

Been busy. I thought that being scheduled for full eleven hour shifts meant you'd only have to work four days a week. I could deal. No, apparently it means that you work three full shifts and two half days. I think I was about four hours overtime last week. And then on the full days, I can pretty much choose one thing to do in the three hours of the evening I have left. If I want to raid in WoW, I can't exercise.

All that to say, posting on blogs takes a bit of a back seat. It's an excuse.

So, my dreads aren't maturing quite the way I want. I think some that didn't have much in the way of knots previously now have more, but they don't seem to be locking. I'm getting close to the four month mark and I'm rather worried. I keep trying to tell myself that they'll get there. I've started them and their natural tendency should be to continue to knot and lock and I just take care of the outside loose hair.

My rubberbands at the roots have been falling out. I took out the ones at the top around my part, so they basically covered all the others that still had bands. And they are reaching the point of decay that I cannot take them out intact. They just snap. And now they are starting to actually break on their own. I'll find one stuck to the shower curtain, one by my pillow when I get up, two on the floor after exercising. I actually found one on the back of the car on the trunk yesterday. I took a look at it and decided the sun had adverse effects on it. David came over, recognized it, laughed, and tried to pick it up. He then discovered that old rubberbands sitting on metal melt in the sunlight. It was a little gross. I need to get the rest of them soon. They are starting to get sticky.

Until next time.

Thirteen Weeks/ Three Months

So yeah, I missed a week. Been kind of busy. And last week was my birthday and everyone wanted to spend time with me. It was fun.

But yeah, by three months I was hoping to have full dreads, and it looks like that is not yet the case. But I'm trying not to worry because the most recent Lock-Up Date said that if you go for thinner dreads like mine, it will probably take longer for them to lock. Like only a few will probably be all nice and firm. Which is rather where mine are at.

So trying not to worry. And now I need to teach myself how to use the Loose Hair Tool because I hadn't been using it because it was too big for my dreads, but now I have a tiny version and have no excuse not too. I also think I need to go back and rewatch some of the videos on using the various tools. Get a refresher.

Note, I got the tiny loose hair tool through a sweet deal from DreadheadHQ. They offered a deal where I'd get the swag pack and a loose hair tool just by buying some stuff called Dread-Licious. Brand name, of course. It is spray-on scented stuff that helps nourish your hair. And makes mine smell like vanilla. So I was planning to buy that eventually anyway and I got all this cool stuff to go with it!

But onward. I was prepared for negative attention when I got dreads, like stereotyping, staring, and odd questions. I wasn't prepared to be receiving complements for the first time in my life from random strangers. I had someone honk at me and yell "Hey, sexy!" I had a guy today say something about me or my dreads looking good and give me a thumbs up from his car. Another guy waved in passing. People will just say out of the blue, "I love your hair!" And they do ask questions. Another person didn't seem to think much of them in comparison to his friend's until he found they were only two months old.

Basically, all this attention is a little bizarre. Because my hair is different. It isn't like my old hair was bad-looking, just bland. Entirely normal and uninteresting. And now it's fun and different. I said I didn't think I'd do it again if I somehow lost them... but I look at my old pictures and think how boring my hair was.

And now my relatives are warming up to it as well. Mom thinks me wearing a headband is really cute. My Aunt Cindy was quoted saying it was cute, and apparently even my grandma told my mom "it's just hair, Dar."

Things are looking up.

Eleven Weeks

That is me. That is my hair. Cool, huh?

That was this morning. I have more wax in it now. If I could only get all the palm rolling I plan on getting done, done. I think the problem is that The Voice is out of season. It was a lot easier to palm roll when watching an episode of The Voice.

By the way, The Voice was awesome, Juliet Simms was awesome, and I can't wait for the next season to come out. You really should watch it.

Really. If you don't have cable (like myself), it airs on the Internets the day after.

But anyway, I'm at eleven weeks. Coming close to three months. Which I find rather worrisome, because I don't know if a lot of my dreadchilds have progressed to three months. Some are still rather pathetic. Thankfully, you can't tell looking at me. 'Cause really, I look awesome.

But maybe I'm worrying prematurely. After all, I did opt for thinner dreads, and those tend to take longer. I comfort myself with thoughts of vacation next year and how they are going to be all locked up and sweet and I won't care at all about getting my hair wet, cause skinny dreads dry fast and they will no longer be prone to the ends falling out.

See yah there!

10 Weeks

Sorry I am late on this post. I am currently in Branson, on my phone. And the Internet didn't work for my phone the first couple of days.

Want to know how my vacation is going? I am having a blast, but I've also been stupid. I am not fragile, not a China doll, just stupid. Like just going along doing normal things wouldn't have put me in the spot I'm in.

First off, I burnt my back. No biggie, just some time at the pool, but it was burnt and somewhat painful. Then, Tuesday, I went out on a boat ride. I went because I wanted to feel the wind in my dreads and the speed of the boat... not sunbathe. I had no idea we'd be out there so long, otherwise I would have put sunscreen on. And the cool breeze tricks your mind and makes you think you aren't getting burnt... my legs went from white to red. And on fire. I was begging for aloe vera by the end of the day. Aside from my legs, burnt my face, arms, and chest.

So yesterday, I took precautions against the sun when we went out. 50 spf, and I stayed in whatever shade I could find. I probably wasn't in the sun more than fifteen minutes. Turns out the sun wasn't my problem. First time I jump off the cliff, it goes fine and I hit the water feet first and slide right in. One of my ears begins to ache on the way back up and I spend a little time trying to determine if I busted it. I think I still have water in it. Second time I agreed to go with my scared sister-in-law, me jumping from the higher spot at the same time. I count down and I jump... and look over to see myself falling alone. So I didn't have time to get in position after looking before I hit. I dog paddle back to the cliff so I can restore the feeling in my left leg before swimming to the boat. Now I have a pretty impressive purple bruise up my whole thigh.

My point being, all these things were avoidable. I could have used sunscreen. I didn't have to jump twice. I didn't have to jump from the higher cliff. I am not accident prone, just a bit daring and a bit stupid. Thankfully my acrobatics on the zip line didn't hurt me.

Oh, you wanted to hear about my dreads? That's a bit of a sad story. Yes, I still have them. My step-father-in-law offered the zipline guy 50 bucks if he could comb them out.

But the sad part is that I went and blunted all my ends. So not all of them are locked in. And I've been swimming. Swimming pulls out pretty much all of your loose hair. I had to redo around 10 to 15 ends after I swam the first time. I stuck what bands I had with me on some of them, and now I have like five ends I have to redo every time I go under. I was really worried in the beginning, but I'm at peace now. I'll just put them back together as they come undone.

Pics? Not sure how they work on the phone apparently. I tried to attach one, I'll have to check and see what it looks like when I get back on a computer.

Nine Weeks/Two Months

Hey y'all, it's the third and I finished backcombing April 1st... So that's two months! And like, two days.

So I went ahead and blunted all the ends. It took forever and I had to do it over several different sessions. Basically what I was doing was taking, or breaking, the rubberband out of my hair. I was uncomfortable to find some wax had accumulated under the rubberband, but I suppose that's to be expected. I mean, I knew they were prone to doing that. I just don't like wax in my hair. So anyway, I'd try and pull the paintbrush tip out so I knew all of it that wasn't knotted, then I used my Lock Scuplta, that tiny crochet hook, to try and pull the loose tip hair into the tighter knotted body of the dreadchild.

The knotted bit was often quite knotted and didn't really have room for all of the tip, so it was hard and took a lot of work with the Sculpta. I went at it so long, I developed a blister on one of my fingers and my hand started cramping.

But the tips look awesome. For the longest time I've felt like apologizing for my hair and I'll look into the mirror and worry, and wonder if my dreadies will ever look like actual dreadlocks. But now I look into the mirror and think I look pretty cool. I still have the bands at the roots, and I'm thinking I'll wait another two weeks to actually take those out. This next week is a B week, and then after that is A Week and vacation... so maybe after vacation. Maybe after the B week, I don't know.

I know not all the tips will stay blunted the first time around. But I think the self-esteem that came from blunting the tips and what they look like now will help carry me forward a little bit.

I still have those problem ones. There are a couple in the front that could fit in a drinking straw and don't seem to be maturing, but I'll worry about all that later.

[May not look all that different to you, but the nice blunt ends instead of miniature hair explosions make me feel so much better.]

Eight Weeks

Sorry I'm a bit late on this one. But, you know, Monday was a holiday. In which I did nothing but read a book and play Diablo III. And arm workouts, but that's not really relevant. Hey, you don't need to know my itinerary.

Anywhere, here is the picture.

This is like my new favorite way to wear my headband, cause it hides the roots in the front and makes me look a little more sporty and allows my dreadbabies a little more freedom.

Sooooo... I'm thinking about just yanking all the rubberbands, blunting all the ends, and letting nature take care of them. It's A week, so I won't have a hot rinse for another two. And the reason I am thinking that way is because the bands at the ends are starting to break. I didn't get the Pro-Elastics or whatever is recommended, so I just have standard bands. Most of the ones at the roots really aren't tight enough to break. So I'll find a rubberband in the shower, or on the floor of the bathroom after I blow dry my hair (still haven't found what that went to). And I don't want to put new ones in.

It's about two months, the time when Jonny Clean said they'd be about ready to blunt. I know by feel that some of them probably aren't... But the idea of doing it is tempting.

Only thing I'm really worried about is family vacation in about two weeks... including swimming in a lake and/or pool. Probably not conducive to newly-blunted ends. If it was salt water... I wish we had salt-water around here.

But yeah, thinking of pulling the tip bands and then maybe the root bands after the A weeks is over and I've made sure to clockwise rub all of them real good. And then pray.

No, seriously, I've been praying, "please God, heal my dreads." 'Cause if he can heal people, why not hair? Not saying they're all bad, just a few that feel like they could still benefit from rebackcombing, but I don't think I can stomach any more of that. Some people's hair does this naturally.

But, 'til next week. When maybe I'll have an awesome picture of blunted band-less dreadbabies going on. See yah.

(Rawr! Can you see my lower fixed retainer from there?)

Seven Weeks

Nothing much to report at seven weeks. I'm trying some therapy on straight spots before I put the wax in for this next B week. I dislike B week.

On an unrelated note, we went down for my sister-in-law's graduation, so I was exposed to a large number of people who hadn't seen my hair before. There was the usual gamut of questions, such as "So you don't wash your hair at all, right?" and "Is that your real hair?" and "Now, are those braids?"

I washed my hair yesterday.

I also had someone in Wal-Mart be like, "Ma'am? I think you're hair is really cool." That was fun.

I wouldn't want to go through the backcombing and starting phase again, and I've already stated I wouldn't if I somehow lost my dreads... but it's getting to the point where I might try and find a salon to put them in. I am falling in love with my dreadies.

My mom emailed me at some point telling me that Studio X in Ames does dreadlocks. Their website is less than informative, more like a website that exists just to have a website, and the phone number included. I haven't checked them out yet to see if they do dreadlocks the backcombing way, but I'm tempted to call and see if they do dread maintenance. Then maybe I'll have them clean up my dreads and take care of some of the slacker ones when I'm ready to get my bands out. Like a dreadlock checkup.

I have also obtained two new beads. Collecting beads for my hair is my new hobby. But anyway, these beads are heavy metal nickle-colored ones and they were on a hatstring for my little sister-in-law's cowgirl hat. The hat broke, so she gave me the beads. I probably won't wear them much for a while, until my dreads are a little more solid. Also, I'm going to try and avoid washing them, as I don't know what metal they are made out of. But still fun :)

Six Weeks

Going to have to make this a quicker post, as we are supposed to be leaving for the in-law's house soon. More creassult on the way.

But anyway, I put wax back in and palm rolled them this last week. Today I washed them really good twice to hopefully get most of that wax out.

Honestly, I'm rather worried about them. Some seem to be maturing fine, and I even tried my hand at blunting a few of the tips (though I should have waited until after this shower I suppose). I only did it with a few that were pretty hard right above the rubberband. It was actually difficult to try and pull the tip into the rubberband. And those look pretty good and dread-like. Others don't seem like they've matured at all since backcombing and others seem to think their goal in life is to make me despair of them ever dreading. I honestly don't know what to do. I'm stumped. I'm starting to think I'll do everything according to schedule until the end of three months, then just take all the rubberbands out. Maybe the problem ones will dread themselves eventually.

The pictures aren't the best (although the first one makes my eyes look like they are deep red... which is kind of cool) because I haven't had time for maintenance right after the shower, so there should be a lot of loose hair.

This picture down here is trying to show you some of the blunted dread-like ones.

I am attempting to join DreadHeadHQ's Facebook-like thing (called Dread Family) and maybe I'll get some more input there. I hate going running to Jonny Clean every time I get worried. He's lucky I don't have his phone number, or I'd be texting him all the time.

But I'm still holding out. Because I love my dreadies.

Something Week Dreadiversary!

I think it's... five weeks? I must confess, I didn't take a picture today. It's dark out and I didn't think to earlier. I was waiting to post until I did my B Week duty of putting wax back in my hair... not really happy with that. My dreadies were all fluffy and touchable and now they are... stiff. Not terrible stiff and I think I got most of the wax off the surface, but there is a difference. Even Jonny Clean hates wax in his hair and he markets the stuff. Just cause it doesn't feel good doesn't me it doesn't help. I guess I can't wait for next week... A Week again!

Speaking of Mr. Clean, he saw what I had to say about Super Soap there, and has his own opinion: "I read your post about the knotty boy soap. The knotty boy soaps are traditional soap formulas made with saponified oils  - they leave behind residue/soap scum like any other Castile soap. The fragrances they use may not cause an issue but the soap itself certainly does. For more info you can google soap scum, soap residue and how soap works. I have a page on soap residue with lots of info here: http://dreadheadhq.com/residue"

I have to admit, I rather suspected. He makes a good point about soap leaving soap scum (in the link), but I haven't tested the Knotty Boy stuff...

Heck, I never know who is right. And I don't want to take chances with my dreads. That's if I believe the DreadHeadHQ people in the first place (referring back to the Dreadlockssite people). Did you notice I included a link to them? It's not because I agree with them (I committed a cardinal sin by putting wax in my hair), but because I think they are actually a resource if you wanted to start neglect dreads. I barely have the patience for this method, I could not go for months upon months of my hair looking like I forgot to brush it for six weeks. If my hair would even dread in the first place on it's own. Does that make me unworthy? In their eyes, I'm sure. In my opinion, it's a hair style and means to you what you want it to mean to you. It's not fair to tell some people they can't do something with their hair. It's their hair.

But whatever, I already washed my hair today, so I do not need the soapbox.

By the way, I got my tam from Knotty Boy today. The lady at the office who receives packages is like, "How do you get your hair to do that?" and asked me to keep her updated when I explained it wasn't done. On the list of people to talk to is the hair stylist who put in my braid sections. I'm waiting until I at least get the bands out. Rubberbands are so tacky. But I got the tam, and as suspected, I do not look as cute as the girl in the picture. My dreads are not as long, not as thick, and I don't have bangs. Not a bangs person in the first place, and in the second place it seems incomplete. Also, I think I need my tams to have brims.

But, pictures. If not today, then recent.

I make a fairly awesome biker chick, if I do say so myself.

Hats don't fit me like they used to.

Clean Dreadies

Rebackcombed a few more of my babies. I'm not happy about it, but even more I hate finding ones that are like limp noodles with few more knots and a pony tail.

I almost wish I was being oversensitive about it and that they actually were knotted... but they aren't. Can't blame the backcombers... much. These are thin dreads and David actually talked me in to letting the really short ones at the base of my skull grow out more, because some will just refuse to stay knotted. That's the worst, ones that have been backcombed, rebackcombed, and still won't hold a knot.

Hopefully, I can cover them up until they are long enough to do something with.

In other news, I washed my hair really really good yesterday, trying to get most of the wax out. Lots of loose hairs afterward, but now some of my dreads are so fluffy and springy... I don't want to put wax back in them. It feels like they are actually doing something.

It's really hard to get back of my head pics with a camera phone I'm attempting to operate myself.

The pinch rubbing didn't last through the shower, but to really try and get it to last, I was supposed to put wax in it and I didn't. Now I'm trying to decide if I should wait for the end of this "A Week" to do so, or just do it now.

Eureka!

I believe I have discovered the key to pinch rubbing, and it is Lock Peppa!

Pinch rubbing is what you do to try and knot up straight spots in otherwise knotted locks. You basically just pinch the lock between first and middle finger your hands on either side of the straight spot, then rub it together vigorously.

Lock Peppa is this powder that gives hair extreme temporary friction. Read, really easy to grab and knot.

I had tried pinch rubbing in the past and had no success with it, and really the key is to use a decent amount of Lock Peppa (little bit on the spot, little bit on the fingers of both hands) and then rub vigorously for around thirty seconds.

At least they feel better, if not totally cured. But at least, I think I am making progress.

One Soap to Rule Them All

I wrote to Knottyboy asking them if their Every Body All Purpose Shampoo Bars were residue free. Here is the response I got.

"thanks so much for your email. All of our all purpose bars are residue free. Synthetic scents and conditioning agents are residues, but the scents in our soaps are only from the actual ingredients in the soap and essential oils that have a purpose in the cleansing process! You don't have to worry about residues with Knotty Boy!"

So a 100% biodegradable, residue-free, nice-smelling, all-purpose soap bar... sounds too good to be true. It is the stuff of dreams. I see myself out in nature in a fitted tank-top and baggy cargos in earth tones and a length of cloth wrapped around my head, holding back my perfect bead-bedecked dreadlocks as I contemplate nature and hear only the birds, insects, breeze through the leaves, and babbling of the stream in which I will bathe with my perfect soap bar...

I think my imagination got a little out of hand, there. I normally don't take other people on those absurd flights of fancy. I am, in a weird way, always imagining possibilities and hypothetical situations and vague dreams for the future, but I normally beat those back with cruel, hard logic. I think my mind may not be compatible with itself.

So, you get the gist, I like the idea of this soap.

You also have glimpsed what I dream my dreadlock life will be like. Camping and beaches and surf and nature and hiking and rock-climbing and kayaking and biking... I want to be active and spend time outdoors. Or go back to the summer camp I attended in high school. It's weird reading about dreadlocks online because you get this sense of community and forget that most of these people aren't anywhere near West Des Moines, Iowa. Isn't much in the way of beaches around here, either. There is a small one by a lake nearby, but it's salt water that holds the locking power for dreadlocks. So instead of getting them better, I'd mostly just be getting them wet. And exposing them to pond scum.

Now I know I didn't need dreadlocks for an active lifestyle or a healthy lifestyle. They just inspire me to want it more. I already love biking and beaches. Is it such a stretch to want more?

One Month Dreadiversary!

First, let me say the new Blogger interface is scaring me. I have a 23-inch monitor and the text box now takes up the entire screen. That's a lot of white space. I guess I need to fill it.

I am now at one month! Well, four weeks. Much to my consternation, my dreads don't look a whole lot different. They don't stick up at the roots as much, so I guess they look a little better to my mother-in-law. And they are starting to feel different in a way I can't really describe. Sure, there is still the straight hair, the bane of my locks, in some. I hate that stuff. I want there to be a salon around here that does dread maintenance and spend about an hour there. I've seen pictures online showing what some of those dread salons can do, but if you know of one in Des Moines, Iowa... let me know! I really want one!

And I want a place that sells tams. So far, I've resorted to ordering them online and they all seem to be $20+. Even on Etsy. So now, I'm supposed to be switching my maintenance routines. Instead of having wax in them all the time (in which I've been slacking... pretty sure that's why some of my dreadies feel different, is the wax just wore out), I just have wax in them part of the time. I get all the wax out using a hair dryer and a couple good washings at the beginning of the month (I'm thinking Tuesday, cause I'm due for a washing then), then I spend the rest of the week trying to make knots. I don't have to palm roll them that week, thank goodness. I'm pretty sure I've gotten more arm muscles from doing that every day. Then, the next week I add a tiny bit of wax and spend that week compressing knots, doing stuff like palm rolling. And when that week is over, I was my dreadies real well again and start the first week over again.

Jonny Clean calls it the A-B Maintenance routine. First week, making knots, is the A Week, and second week, compressing knots, is the B Week. I just can't wait until they are solid enough for me to take the rubberbands out. Those are tacky.

I take most of my pictures out on the balcony, cause I get a decent amount of natural lighting. So what you see behind me is the siding of our apartment building. The other pictures, the grainy ones, are in the bathroom because when it is too dark outside, that room has the most concentrated lighting. Still not good, but better. I suppose I could use flash, but I'm taking these pictures myself with the camera on my LG phone. It has two lenses, one on the back case with a flash (that can be used as a flashlight), and one on front with the screen with no flash. I can switch between the two, and it makes it awesome for taking these pictures of myself, cause I can see the viewfinder and take the picture. And check my teeth for stuff.

Oh, I should also mention, I went back to the family ranch to help out with stuff. Fencing, actually. I decided there is nothing in me that wants to be a farm kid. But to get to the point, the fence posts were about eight feet tall and five to six inches wide. And covered with this nasty stuff called creassult. Ok, ok, it's not called that, it's called creosote, apparently some sort of oily substance made from distilling tar. All sorts of fun. I call it creassult (kind of like Missouri, Misery) because it helps me remember that the nasty stuff assulted me. And my clothes. AND MY HAT! So I got it all over the thighs on my jeans, all over the borrowed work shirt and gloves, and a tiny bit on my only tam.

Not happy. I guess I will be conducting experiments with dish soap seeing if I can relieve my poor hat of a nasty stain. My mother-in-law is actually buying me new jeans. I don't have work jeans because I just wear my jeans until they wear out and demonstrate that fact by ripping near the crotch. So I can't use any of my old jeans because that would be downright indecent. Meaning all I had was my new jeans, which have been assaulted. But now I have a little money from this venture, and I am using some of it to buy a new tam from Knotty Boy.












[Image from Knottyboy.com]

It looks really cute on her, and it probably won't look as cute on me, but I like the slouch look better than the pancake tams. I am dirt poor right now, otherwise I'd probably have like five different hats for all occasions.

Like dinner with grandma. My family has conveniently forgotten to notify my grandparents of my recent hair change. And they will hopefully neglect to do so... oh, how long do you think I can drag this out? I only see my grandparents every few months or so. And if my mother cannot understand, my grandparents might disinherit me.

I'm not changing my Facebook picture anytime soon, I can tell you that much. And I'd prefer to face any hate from my friends with a set of almost-mature good-looking dreadlocks, not the little dreadies I have right now. Well, that's all I have for now! I'm going to go to dishes and then meditate on the removal of creassult from one's tam.

[Disclaimer: Apparently, Blogger no longer preserves my line breaks. I guess I will be exploring html code next.]

The Horror

So I've started rebackcombing (read: David started) some of my babies. It has been the most painful part of this process so far. And I don't mean physical, although it was a bit. It hurt me somewhere to know that I was restarting my dreadies. The only way I managed it was the firm belief that they weren't going to lock if I left them. The ones I pulled out were almost all loose hair. I believe they are a minority, but it feels like I keep finding them.

There are also several that have loose hair in the middle, but knots on the top and bottom. Supposedly they can be fixed, but I haven't had a whole lot of luck with that technique yet. Probably just doing it wrong. Anyway, if I know they can be fixed, I'll worry about them later.

Some I'm not going to worry about much anyway. They are so short, once they do grow out, the section  I have now will only be the tip.

Or maybe I'll still worry. I worry obsessively over anything I feel responsible for.

Also, Jonny Clean recommended doing a hot rinse to get all the wax out before rebackcombing. "Nah, they don't have that much wax in them," I thought. Turns out, you try to comb them out with even a little wax in there the comb catches and pulls at your hair or pulls out your hair. Overall, bad idea. I'm beginning to think he says things for a reason (read: no, duh).

Hopefully once I'm done with all this, they'll be better and more dread-like than they were before. It's not like I lost three weeks of progress. They weren't progressing, so I lost nothing. More like I know now I've wasted time in relation to them. That's why I'm in such a hurry to get them rebackcombed. Now I can start those dreadies moving forward.

Three Week Dreadiversary pictures

So, like I said, not much different as far as appearance, but so far they look similar to some of the other pictures I've seen for around this time. I realize that you can see all the section lines... and right now, I kind of like that. The rest of my hair seems so crazy, I like the hint that somewhere, there is order.

Jonny Clean emailed me back and said I should probably rebackcomb the ones that seem all straight hair, so I'll probably be getting David to do that here shortly. I can't really lose progress on those when they are unable to progress. And I'll feel better cause I'm actually doing something about it.

In other news, I applied for a part-time job at a Christian bookstore. I wore my tam during the interview and followed my mom's advice, which was to tell them about my hair and offer to keep it covered. When I showed the manager my hair, pulled back in a headband, he said it was fine. He didn't care.

And that is cool.

Three Week Dreadiversary!

So, I've had my dreadies for three weeks now. I don't have a picture because it is too dark outside and I don't have enough lighting inside for a good picture. And they are in a towel. But honestly, they don't look that much different from last week. I'm experiencing typical early dreadlock paranoia, and it seems to be rather common. Shouldn't they be doing something?

Like, in the beginning I was afraid to show them and now I actually like walking around with just a headband on... but I think that's more because my perception of them changed slightly. I think they'd be so much cooler if they didn't have tacky rubberbands in them and had blunted tips... even if they didn't get thicker, which I really hope they do.

I did try to blunt one of the tips. Jonny Clean recommended wait until end of the second month, maybe longer for thinner dreads (and mine are thin), but this dread had one of the worst tips on my head. Let me give you a tip: if you are having inexperienced backcombers, have them start on the back of your head. The dreadlock in the very front, right on my widow's peak, had the worst tip and it drove me nuts. It was long and messy. So I tried to blunt it, and it shows no indication it wants to stay that way, even with the rubberband on. But it looks a lot better.

Sooo... that's not really recommended. But I'm not really sorry, either.

I rode bikes with my mom today. The first things I learned involved hats. I learned that my helmet is tight on my head and David's helmet fits great. I also learned that Mom loves my tam, maybe in part because it covers my head. But she also thinks it looks cute on me.

And we talked. It helped her a lot to know that for some reason she cannot comprehend, my husband likes my dreadies. Sometimes, I think he likes them better than I do. He's playing the supporting husband role very well. But she was afraid I had somehow plowed ahead with my own wishes and he was stuck letting me do what I wanted but not really liking them. So it helped her that he actually sat there and told her that he likes them.

We had a conversation about why I got them. She can't understand what would posses someone to do this to their hair. I can't understand how a hairstyle could matter so much. I think we've hit another generational gap (not saying everyone my generation would understand, either). I like my dreadies because they make me feel free, funky, crazy, cool, and will hopefully someday be a low maintenance, awesome hairstyle. I like the look of them. She seems to think they are worse than if I tried cutting my hair with a lawn mower, or let a mouse build a nest on top of my head. She doesn't understand why I'd do something she considers the opposite of trying to look good.

And in the end, I can't really explain it to her. We start from very different positions, mine being "dreads are awesome" and hers being "dreads are horrible."

But she felt a little better after that, and I'm glad she felt a little better. And liked my hat.

Soap

Now, I was rather under the impression you generally needed two types of cleaning materials for general shower-related hygiene, those being soap/body wash and shampoo. One cleans bodies, one cleans hair. Add to that conditioner if you want smooth hair that's easier to brush, facial scrub, things like that.

When last in the shower I discovered my razor had moved yet again from where it was propped next to my body wash. Which meant that my roommate was probably using the body wash (I assume she wasn't after my razor.) I don't mind sharing my body wash, but I was confused because the only reason my razor was next to my body wash was because the spot it previously occupied was now taken up with some sort of soap bar. If she had a soap bar, why was she using my body wash?

"It's facial soap, or that's what she told me," David said.

Facial soap bar? At that point, that was just too many soaps. I already had body wash, facial scrub, and my DreadheadHQ Dread Soap, and of course razor and shaving cream. Why couldn't just one soap bar do it all?

It made me think about the Knottyboy bar soap.


[Image from Knottyboy.com]

Now, I don't know if these would pass Jonny Clean's check for soap. He says if you wash your hands with the soap and can smell some sort of fragrance on them afterward, they have a residue (the stuff clinging to your hands.) You aren't supposed to put residues into your dreads because they'll build up in the inside, attract moisture, grow mold, and then the mold will die and stink and be "dread rot."

A lot of the natural/neglect dreadheads from the dreadlockssite seem keen on mixing their own.

I like scent and shampoo. And I'm a sucker for good branding. So I must say, these dreadlock soap bars seem highly appealing. Knottyboy markets them as for "use on hair, bodies, faces, Grandpas, babies, pets, dishes, travel, stain removal..." Doesn't that sound fun? And a whole bunch of attractive scents...

Still, they don't say "residue-free." And their general advice is to wash your scalp and then let the diluted soapy water flow down over your dreads. Will that get residues in them? I don't know. The product shown is for mature dreads. It's also biodegradable, so good for camping and such as all the materials will just wash away.

Will I ever use this product? I don't know. I'm wary of stuff that isn't residue free (I'm assuming it isn't because it never claims to be). But, it seems like the ideal soap bar that washes everything. Imagine being able to cut down to one bar!

Knottyboy

So, I've spent some time going over the Knottyboy website. They have a decent amount of content, FAQs, and products. One of the things I liked a lot was a couple different sources giving the history of dreadlocks. Seems not everyone agrees to where they really came from. At the end, they have a link to the Wikipedia.org article as well.

Their method appears similar to DreadheadHQ at first glance, with backcombing and palm rolling being staples, along with special wax and shampoo. However, Knottyboy appears to use a lot more wax, making big poofy sections of hair and then waxing them into submission, using wax and palm rolling to get them into a dread shape. They then recommend putting in more wax twice a week for the first two to six months.

Does this work better or worse? I'm hardly one to say. It's different. My hair would look fairly similar without wax. I don't even have that much wax in it. And Jonny Clean has a waxless dread kit to start without it if you were so inclined. And Knottyboy recommends a lot less washing (none in the first two weeks, and then only once a week afterward) and they recommend putting in wax at the roots to help it dread as it comes in. DHHQ has you clockwise rub the roots (which again, I can't tell how much it helps because I've only had these for almost three weeks) and wash three to four times a week. Jonny Clean likes being clean.

Their shampoo also does not appear to be "residue-free," but they recommend only washing the scalp the soapy water flowing down will clean dreads on the way out.

They don't use rubberbands. I imagine putting wax at the roots helps keep those in with their respective dread, and they roll the tip around on their palm to try and achieve the rounded tip, although it appears that will only come with time. It also appears that their only maintenance is more wax and more palm rolling.

So... different. Maybe better, maybe worse. I must say, they have really fun branding and a nice selection of really cute hats, tams, and wraps. I may end up buying some stuff from them. I don't know if I'm going to try the shampoo out as it might not be residue free, but they say it works on dandruff fairly well, so might be worth a go.

As it currently is, I'm going to continue with DreadheadHQ.

In that note, I keep finding some straighter spots, maybe even some locks that feel straighter. I'm scared I'd have to rebackcomb those, as that pretty much (supposedly) restarts the locking process. I'm worried I may have done it to some of those with the Lock Sculpta (pull too hard and you can break the hair). I emailed Jonny Clean to see what he'd say about some of the things I read about yesterday, and I also asked him about the straight spots. We'll see if he gets back to me.

Here's a picture of me after waking up without wearing anything over my dreads.

Opposing View

It would be one-sided of me if I only included DreadHeadHQ stuff. I usually mention that because that's the plan I'm working with.

But, there are opposing views. Jonny Clean has a page trying to address the idea that wax is bad for your dreads. I can't say one way or the other, I don't even have a three week dreadiversary. But apparently there are dreadheads out there who believe that wax, and other DHHQ products ruined their dreads.

Geez, I hope not. I hope they don't ruin mine.

Now, the other site appears to be a forum called dreadlockssite.com. The main opponent of DHHQ and Jonny Clean is a neglect dreadhead with the tag "soaring eagle [some symbol I can't reproduce]." I'm a little confused, because he seems to have so much hate, but at one point, he said that he couldn't review the products because he never used them, his dreads came together from the so-called "neglect" method. And yet he directs so much hate toward DHHQ. I really have to wonder.

Also, capitalization and punctuation and spelling seemed to have escaped this person in the strength of his emotions. All other things aside, I have a hard time taking credibly someone who doesn't bother to punctuate.

All that aside, they have some claims. Claims that the DHHQ products can ruin your dreads, ruin your hair, and were invented so you would buy more products trying to fix them. Claims that wax never comes out of your hair, locking accelerator does nothing, lock peppa is for removing hair from cat ears (ok, what insane person tries to take hair out of cat ears? Leave the poor animals alone). I can't speak for these claims.

And it seems there is a large amount of evidence on both sides. Aside from the reviews on the website, DHHQ also has all the social media sites, and a good portion of those seem to be positive as well. The only reason I went searching for alternate views was because someone posted the claim that their products ruined your dreads on the DHHQ Facebook page. The one dissenting opinion I'd seen. When I went looking for information, I found several different hits, all to this forum and the same guy leading the charge. And there are a lot of people there, saying the same thing. Don't do it. Wax is bad. DHHQ is evil.

I really hate when there are opinions both ways. Because I want fact.

Like I said, I can't speak with validity on either of these subjects. The problems in my hair appear to be from the backcombing (that is, a few straight spots), and they are a bit thin for my liking, but since me and my friends put them in, I'd say that was more our fault. My hair is a bit sticky, usually from the lock accelerator and slightly from the wax, but mostly that is under the surface. Like the dreads keep shape and are sometimes a tad stiff, but not particularly sticky. The shampoo doesn't make my hair oily and while I can't tell what it does to my dreadies, I know from the two weeks before I put them in that it gives the hair a lot more friction. I don't know what Lock Accelerator does, but people keep saying it is like seawater. Whatever that does, apparently people like it. I don't use much of the Peppa, but it appears to do what it says, i.e. give you more friction to roll hair into balls to stick back in the dread.

I find the Loose Hair Tool 2.0 rather fishy, because the end is so big and the clasp likes to try and get caught. I do a lot with the Lock Sculpta, the tiny crochet hook, but not all of that seems to stay. I like the Head Honcho hair pick. I don't know how well the Dread Butta works as it is like hair lotion and my hair shouldn't need lotion yet, but I'm thinking for ease of application, I'd be interested in their sprays. My scalp itches occasionally, but usually just the day before I wash it. I have dandruff, but to be honest, I had issues with that beforehand. I might try taking their advice and getting the Wal-Mart anti-dandruff stuff. Used to be I'd just switch to a Head and Shoulders shampoo every time I got it, that'd work for a while, then switch to something else when it came back. Variation.

There is another dreadlock product site out there called Knottyboy. It receives both hate and good feelings, obviously from different places.

Just thought you should know.

2 Week Dreaderversery!

Two weeks! I got another Lock-Up Date from Jonny Clean with more helpful pictures of people who had somewhat poor-looking dreadies at two weeks, and then awesome dreadies months or years later. I think those pictures are the most encouraging things I've had yet. Makes me feel like I'm not a freak and these strange fluffy knotted spikes are going to turn into awesome dreads... someday.





Don't look much different from last week, huh? Well hopefully, they are tightening inside. There are some straight spots within dreads that kind of worry me, but hopefully they are there from backcombing and not because I somehow wrecked them by misusing my tools.

Now something to note, I've had a few dreadlock dreams. Bizarre, huh? I guess I think about them a lot. I used to have dreams about my teeth falling out and that could have been an offshoot from having braces. In my first one, some of my dreads came off near the roots, leaving just the rubberband holding the hair in place. In the second dream, some dread professionals agreed to help fix my hair (from what, I'm not sure. I had all of it attached in my second dream). In my third dream, my dreadlocks were just falling out, leaving loose straight hair behind.

Crazy stuff, huh?

My in-laws are getting more used to it (one even said they were "growing on her." I try and make people think twice about that idiom). Even so, when I am explaining them to some people, they look at me like I decided to get a tattoo on my forehead. I don't get it. It is just a hair style.

I should also confess: I have stopped wearing the nylon. I'd rather check my pillow for lint at night than have my dreadies bunched around my ear. And I have rubberbands at the roots, so that should help with loose hair in the shower. I like being able to reach my scalp when washing it. It feels like the nylon absorbs the shampoo and I just lose it.

And I'm sure half of it is because I feel really stupid wearing it.

Family. Specifically, mine.

On Easter Sunday, I opted to go to my home church and then lunch with my family. Through a series of events, David (my husband) and I ended up separated. So I was going to face my family alone.

I only have one tam, a billed tan-and-green affair, so I selected an outfit that went with that, hoop earrings, and an orange headband that threw some color on my army green array. Something that exemplifies my semi-casual somewhat military style. I'm actually wearing it in my dread-one-week-birthday pictures in the post below. I also had a hemp necklace that I haven't worn for a while, but really fit with the outfit. I tried to use the Lock Sculpta to clean up my dreads, and made sure to wash them the night before so I wouldn't have to worry about them being dry on Sunday morning.

Armed with my tam, I headed out.

Now, I thought wearing a tam was like a proclamation that I had some sort of unusual hair secreted underneath. I think my immediate family were the only ones who actually got it, armed with the knowledge that I had done something unspeakable to my hair. Various acquaintances at church seemed completely oblivious to the fact that it was anything other than a strange hat choice.

Mom
Then I had a chance to talk to my mom before church started. I told her a bit about what was going on in my life (aside from dreads), and then broached the topic. I took off my tam and shook out my dreadies. Mom asked me to leave the hat on for the rest of the time. She couldn't understand why anyone would want their hair to look like that. "Well, maybe someone your age," she relented when I told her other people thought it was cool. In despair for my common sense, she sent me to get my seat in church. Later, she quoted someone saying that white-people hair doesn't lock until ten months, so she will willingly pay to hire someone to comb my hair out if I change my mind. I'm getting an inkling that she doesn't like my hair.

Brother Andrew
I had found out on Twitter the day before that my brother Andrew, a self-admitted urban hipster, was home for this weekend as well. I knew he knew. And his only expressed opinion on dreads was a comment on my other blog, saying "Don't get dreads! you are a pretty girl! Anyone with dreads looks more attractive without dreads! (ie: Nathan K., Holly J., Bob Marley...)" Later that night, for I stayed the night, he asked me who on earth my inspiration was because he couldn't think of anyone who pulled dreads off. I guess I don't really have one.

Brother Jacob
Jacob, my high schooler brother, didn't say much for or against. He just begged me to take off my tam and came over and touched them later. I think he was disappointed that they still have a aura of stickiness from the wax or whatever is in there. I didn't put any Locking Accelerator on after the last shower.

The Grandparents
My grandparents came for dinner. Thankfully, they can't recognize "rasta hats" as Andrew calls tams, and they had no idea I was doing anything but wearing an odd hat, for me anyway. Thankfully, none of my immediate family deigned to tell them. What Grandma doesn't know won't hurt her. Although, I'm going to have to keep Facebook mum for a while... she just started using that on her new Kindle Fire.

Dad
Dad knows. I know Dad knows. And Mom told me Dad's opinion was the same as hers. But I have been too chicken to ask. Neither of us have said a word on the subject.

But in the good news, my in-laws seem to think that I am somewhere between eccentric and cool. The report is that even my mother-in-law was heard saying she thinks it is cool that I got them. And that's a good thing.

One Week Old!

My dreadies are one week old! Tips are still bad and they are still mostly skinny, but overall the bodies are fairly tight and still have lots of knots. Jonny Clean sent me another lock-up date for my one week birthday and it had some pictures of several other people, him included, at one week. Mine actually look pretty decent compared to some. Some are all fluffy like they are about to fall out. And from what I could tell, Jonny Clean's were about as skinny as mine, so maybe mine will eventually get to his thickness... which is better than they are now, though I was going for a little thicker.

Here's the back, as well as I can get it on a phone camera without looking while hitting the take picture button.

[Picture place holder... well, this is awkward. Figures my phone automatically uploads all my other photos, but not this one. I'll get back to you as soon as I can figure out what the heck it is doing.]

I guess it is kind of messy back there. I might need help dealing with the loose hair because I can't see it. Ah well, what are husbands for?

Disclaimer: I am saying husbands (plural) as husbands in general and their role in helping their wives. I am not saying I have multiple husbands. Don't need that kind of stress.

Dreads and Farming

First off, a short update. Dreads look pretty much the same, as far as I can tell. At least they don't look like they have more loose hair. I've been trying to palm roll them all every day and then work on them a bit with the Lock Sculpta, like a tiny crochet hook for dreads. I basically just try to pull some of the loose hairs on the surface into the dread. There is another tool called the Loose Hair Tool 2.0 that is like a hook that you use to pull larger amounts of loose hair into the dread. First you roll the loose hair into a ball, then insert the Loose Hair Tool 2.0 into the point where the hair would reach if it were inside the dread. You pop the tool out the bottom, hook the ball on, and pull it up into the middle of the dread. I haven't been having much luck with that, partially because I find it difficult to operate without practice, and partially because some of my dreads are so skinny, the tool is thicker than they are. I don't really know what that is going to mean for the future. I also spray Locking Accelerator on my hair after showers, although I am getting kind of tired of my hair being sticky. I haven't added any more wax yet, but I'm probably due soon.

Now, about why farming is in the title. Don't get dreads if you live on a farm or something related (like a ranch). I do not live on a farm and until Thursday, was not worried about large amounts of dust, dirt, ash, straw, and other airborn menaces. I simply don't encounter that many.

But we went down to my husband's family's mini ranch (complete with about six or seven horses and five dogs) to do some work for them, what with our job situation and all. One of our jobs was to clean out the burn pile, pulling out all the metal and plastic and leaving all the wood and cardboard. Now I didn't know that half the metal had been deposited there a long long time ago and was under six inches of ash at the bottom, not to mention the dirt that had piled up on all the individual pieces in the burn pile.

My dreadies were just out, getting some light, and I was getting worried about the amount of dust in the air. My husband confirmed that I had dirt in my hair. On lunch break, I fetched my tam and put that on. That evening, I moved my hair-washing up one night and took a shower. Without the nylon, to make sure the dirt would rinse out. When I was palm rolling later, I could see a little bit of dirt stick to my hands. And I'm never even sure the tam would've saved me from all that fine ash. I had it in my nose, ears, and eyes too.

The next day, I found my tam still had ash on it. My mother-in-law promised to clean it, but meanwhile, I was going to try and avoid dirt. The burn pile had been finished, so maybe I'd be ok.

Or maybe not. We had to load the plastic (include a large section of Berber carpet) onto the cart with the metal to take to the dump. I put my hood up for that. Later, I managed to get my hands on a bandanna to cover up, but I was worried enough to keep my hood up. So bandanna and hood for the dirty bits.

Later we were moving some hay with our hands over to some cows (those cows were clinically insane) and I didn't even want to get near it. The dust from the hay could just fly up the sides of my hood.

Not to mention the flies from the cows, the gravel roads, the dirt from various ranch activities... crazy. We don't even think about that in the city.

So if you live on a farm and actually do anything on said farm... might want to wait to get dreads until you don't.

First Washing

Yesterday I washed my hair. Big deal, right?

Washing hair with dreads is supposed to be more washing the scalp and rinsing through the dreads. And when they are new, it also involves a nylon. On your head. I'm sure I looked quite foolish. But the nylon is supposed to keep more of the hair in at the roots. I was hoping that I'd wash more wax out, even though I need it... I just don't like the feel and don't like my dreads acting like wires.

After I washed them I sprayed them down with Locking Accelerator, squeezed them out, put them in a towel, and then blow dried them. Supposedly it was supposed to be a pretty good condition to make new knots in them by dread balling, palm rolling, and clockwise rubbing, but I think I still had too much wax in my hair. And I am inept at the tools I bought. Hair just doesn't seem to want to dread ball, even with the Peppa. So I just clockwise rubbed and palm rolled. The dreads themselves look decent, but my crazy tips screw up the overall effect and make them look similar to braids that have been left in straight hair for like three days.

Supposedly, skinny dreads should thicken out as long as you made the section sizes right, but I'm still rather worried.

My step brother-in-law (so my husband's step brother) had what I consider to be a positive reaction, said me getting dreads was bad a** with a lot of exclamations of surprise. We were helping move my sister-in-law and I had been wearing my tam, but was getting warm. So I whipped it off and put my headband in. At first I wasn't sure what he was shouting about. He couldn't believe I'd do that.

Here are some horrid pictures for documentation purposes. Don't look at them.


Me in my sleeping nylon. Makes me glad it is normally dark. To protect them, I just tuck all of the dread potentials up in the nylon. I don't know what I'd do if they were longer.



My dread padawans remain in the same position even without the nylon cause of the wax. Equally absurd.



After the first wash. They retained shape fairly well, just became a little more fluffy.



Here's a snake I saw while biking! The picture doesn't show how big it actually was (it would reach past my knee straight up) or how cool it slithered... snakes rock.