(almost) 1 Year Natural: Shrinkage and a length check

Quick post. It's been a long and fruitful year. Here are a few photos of my current length and how well shrinkage disguises it.

From the fro where it all began to now:

soon to be 1 year natural approx. 5th Jan 2013

re-dyed with adore intense red (71)

DREADLOCKS ARE A LIFESTYLE

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Month 8

Well don't things look different this month? Since month seven my spirit has been expressing itself quite vividly and I've chosen to go with it for now. As you can see, the external results have been bigger hair and intensive shrinkage. I combined a few locs in the back using loc beads or rubber bands but after about a week I got tired of the rubber bands and untwisted and backcombed or palm rubbed the roots instead. Several of them have meshed and matted about an inch along and I have one loc that has formed very nicely since the end of summer:

new favourite loc: it's so sponge-like

Other locs are still figuring things out:

I used a homemade rosemary rinse for the first time and I'm quite pleased with the results. My hair felt soft and smells great with no additional oil so I'll continue with a wash and go approach and look out for any signs of progress. In all honesty I suspect my locs are maturing at a considerably slow rate but I'm still hopeful. I had three compliments from people who "love my hair", one person wanted to touch it and a stranger was grinning at me in such a strange way as he asked what I "call that hairstyle". I think he may have been mocking me...

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DONOT use without permission**