Update: A Month, Finally

Today completes the pledge I made to change my dreadlocking approach for a month. You wouldn't believe how long it feels when you're waiting to washing your hair. It started out simple enough, bonnet, hat or shower cap went on and I went about my routine but the latter part of this week has been tough. In some ways it's been remnant of my first month with itty-bitty starter coils though not half as frustrating, thankfully.

All in all I did what I set out to do and my hair is matting together wonderfully. I've been working hard and treated myself to another annual trip to London. This time I went for an extended stay and got a real feel for the lesser known, quirky persona of London's social scene. The thing about the natural scene in England's capital is that dreadlocks are everywhere and worn by anyone. I felt somewhat at home there but also a tad commonplace by comparison. Nonetheless my baby dreads have received increased attention from the new people I came into contact with and there's been a couple more "toucher" incidents which I still don't mind, though I see it being overdone in the future. By the way how do you deal with that, people touching your hair I mean? I suddenly recall similar reactions when I wore braids to school...

One thing I never had to concern myself with this month was "popping locs". However thick my hair has gotten, my roots just haven't merged, which is ideal for the particular style I'm aspiring to. I've combined a number of locs where I felt they were oddly matched with their much thicker companions nearing the crown. I counted around 51 locs last night which was a little unexpected but you know it's all good when your mother's like:-

mother: -"think they need retwisting..."

me: -"why? are they unravelling?"

mother: -"no they're just looking thick.."

me:  -*shakes head...smiles*

I am desperate to retwist them though. I want to see my truer length. I measured in at about five inches and was adding up my yearly growth one afternoon. If I started out with one inch and trimmed maybe an inch or two over the summer then my hair grew up to 6 inches maximum which averages at a very rough 0.5 inches per month, should my hair not grow anymore by April, which it will.

The plan now is to wait a little longer, mostly because I won't be free until sometime next week, which will bring me well past my 'month without washing' deadline, but also because the combined locs are more likely to separate if I wash them now. Since I plan on doing this myself I need to be meticulous and give each loc the attention it requires so I'll need a couple of days off work to do it.

 

 

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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