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.

End of Day One! (And no, Mom, I'm sorry, but it isn't an April Fools Joke)

I would like to start saying I used faaaar too much wax. It still feels waxy, even after the blow dryer and the butta. Ah well, I'll deal with it tomorrow.

David and Kyle finally got all the backcombing finished up today. I may have cried a little bit this time with the pulling on my scalp... but that could of been because Captain Kirk's father was busy sacrificing himself to save most of the crew, their families, and his wife pregnant with Kirk himself... what a hero.

Mom emailed me and asked how they look, I said "pretty bad" and she's like, "Can't you just take them out?" Ah no, not really. DreadHeadHQ sells a product called Dread Zasta that is for combing out dreads if you really have to. And now that I see the condition my hair is in, I have to say that it must be one heck of a product. Like Goo Gone for hair.

But, I made a promise, and unless someone tells my that I did it totally wrong and there is no way my dreads are going to mature, I'm going to try leaving them in. I have a tam, and most situations won't make me take it off... although I fear for the time I have to do the pledge of allegiance at my County Central Committee meeting. My post is already being questioned (redrawing precincts in an election year... boo) and if they see me with dreads... yeah.

Republicans.

But anyway, I am on day one! I am starting them! I am a wax head!

Seriously, I have got to get more of the wax out. Actually, I think my keyboard has a layer of wax on it. Stuff is sticky. However, wearing waxy dreads in a tam apparently streamlines them. I will give you a picture. Sorry about the lighting. Lighting in our apartment is bad and it is full dark outside. Just because it feels like the middle of summer doesn't mean it's light until nine.

I kind of want to send a picture to Jonny Clean of DreadHeadHQ and be like, "Promise me it gets better!" I mean, that's what I've heard.

Also, I am quite worried about the tips. Because we backcombed over several days (and the instructions seemed to say to rubberband right away), we rubberbanded right away. Now all the rubberbands are impossible snarls that I will probably have to cut out. The only reason I'm not worrying more over them is because the point is to make knots... and boy are they making knots.

Other thing I'm worried about is that despite my head being sectioned, they seem to have come out several different sizes. But it could be charming, I don't know.

I guess they only thing I do know right now is that I cannot go back. It's only forward. And after all the hard work people put into it, I don't really want to. I just want someone to promise me that what is growing on my head right now can become cool dreads.

Oh, I put rubberbands on the roots. It isn't as cool fuzzy up there anymore and you can see the section lines, but it should keep the dreads from growing together and keep a lot of loose hair from falling out.

I started a DreadHeadHQ service called "Lock-Up Dates." You get access to this whenever you buy a Dread Kit. It basically emails you pertinent information at the appropriate time, based on when you sign up (which should be right after you finish backcombing). So... now I'm waiting, I guess. I have a vague idea that I should palm roll a little more (although not today. I'm done today), but other than that... not really sure until the second month, where I'd hit a sort of routine.

So, pictures! You want pictures! Day 1!

Me with wax. I was starting to call the really waxy dreads "candles."



My dread hopefuls, all fluffy after the hair dryer.



Me in my tam... which is how people are going to be seeing me for at least a week.



My dreadies streamlined after being in the tam with wax.