Month 26

Recently I've noticed that my new growth is going through its unruly phase and has been quite resistant to locking up even to the extent that some areas in the front have begun to break off so I'm slowly reintroducing regulated retwist maintenance to tidy things up a bit. Having gone for so long without maintenance it's been quite the surprise to see how much my locs appear to have grown. I'm certainly heading towards a healthy 6 inches in length and my styling options have really expanded over the last couple of months. Alas I must be honest, I am still teetering in a love 'em or hate 'em mind set about my locs. As I've noted before, I really had envisioned so much more growth in the first two years of this journey and I'm still holding out for the miraculous "growth spurt" fellow dreadlock-ers rave about after their locs have matured. Though I must be grateful, I need only scroll through old blog posts to see that I've come a long, long way follow my big chop back in January 2012.

And let us not forget that strong healthy hair is the true goal here. Having opted out of a seven year commitment to chemically processed hair, that was never in the best condition I must admit, this journey has certainly taught me how to maintain and nurture my nature afro hair with relative simplicity and maximum affordability.

The weather here in the UK is hotting up but a steady routine of washing with moisturising shampoo and conditioning with raw coconut oil is helping to keep my hair strong and healthy. One thing I much improve for truly healthy hair and scalp is my water intake heading into the warmer months.

Got any tips for keeping your hair moisturised during the summer, share in a comment below. And don't forget to keep an eye out for extra photos added to the NaturaLocs tumblr page.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Update: Maintenance and the loc that got away

Hello all,

I want to thank all the loyal followers of my blog for there humour, advice and, kind words over the course of this journey and to the recent followers I've gained I extend to you a very warm welcome. Leave comments and ask questions and I'll be glad to share ideas.

Today, I severed a loc. My intentional two headed dragon was starting to bug me so I decided to snip the thinner of the two and the result looks pretty good to me.

Over the last few weeks I've been sporting various basket weave styles now that my hair is long enough to work with but recently I've noticed I don't really like my hair out and down. I'm still self conscious about the length and I've grown tired of the untamed roots. So last week I received a 0.75mm crochet hook and set to work tidying up my other two headed dragons. Nothing too noticeable but I did enough to realign my grid pattern and help the two headed locs along. I was sure to only crochet lightly just to form a spongy cylindrical shape and still left a quarter inch gap so that my roots remained loose and flexible.

after crocheting

For the moment I want to remain open to the thick and full fuzz I have going but I also what my roots to start loc'ing together so I think crochet sessions every six months will work for me and I'll just keep with the up-dos when I want to be fancy.

I'm also rocking the basic stretch headband on days where I just need my hair to lay down with little effort.

I'm about to finishing re-colouring my hair and I might also do a retwist in a bid to smarten up for a meal I'm going to tomorrow.

I prefer to retwist with the large
duckbill clips as they don't put
as much tension on my roots
and they don't compress
my locs as much.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Locs Tag

Short and sweet, I thought I'd try my hand at the classic 20 question locs tag that frequently floats around on Youtube. Enjoy!

1. Do you remember the specific moment you decided you were going to dread your hair? Where were you and how did you feel?

I was probably at home looking at dreadlocked YouTubers and I felt pretty convinced I wanted to do this. I had very vivid visions of me with thick red locs, long and thrown back in a lazy ponytail and that was that. I was ready.

2. What method, if any, did you use to start your dreadlocks?

Finger twists, rubber bands and three-strand-twists were put in by a hair dresser before they were restarted at home with comb coils. Some of my locs were later restarted with two strand twists.

3. How old are your dreadlocks?

My locs are 2 years.

4. What is the length of your longest dread? And shortest?

 My longest dread is 5 inches and the shortest is just over 3 inches.

5. Do you have any dreads that are especially unique, strange, or awesome?

I have few that are just so fat and plump and I love them. I also have a couple of congos (two locs, one base) growing in.

6. How many dreads do you have currently? Is that the same number you started with?

I have 55 locs which is less than half of what I started with.

7. What shampoo or other products do you use on your dreads?

I've been using Cream of Nature's Kiwi & Citrus Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo and raw virgin coconut oil for over a year now.

8. How often do you wash your dreads?

I wash my hair  once every 4-12 days.

9. Do you do any regular maintenance on your dreads?

Maintenance has become quite irregular over the past 5 months. I want my roots to remain thick so I only maintain them on occasion.

10. What are your favourite beads or other decorations?

I occasionally wear silver cuff beads on my dreads.

11. If your dreads had their own personal motto, what would it be?

Haha. I suppose they'd follow my motto in general, as quoted by Usher: " A lady on the street and a freak in the bed".

12. If you could start a new set of dreads, would you do anything differently?

I'd make sure my hair was over 4 inches long before I started and I'd make sure the partings where staggered (brick-lay pattern) so I didn't experience such prominent partings.

13. Is there anything else unique about your appearance other than dreadlocks? (tattoos, piercings, etc).

I have 8 piercings but no tattoos.

14. How many people do you know personally with dreadlocks?

I don't personally know of anyone who has dreadlocks. Apparently my uncle used to have them but I was too young to recall.

15. Have any employers turned you down for having dreads? Any wanted you BECAUSE of your dreads?

I've never been turned down or offered work because of my dreadlocks but I did maintain a job whilst having them.

16. Whats the WEIRDEST question you've gotten about your dreads? DUMBEST? FUNNIEST? Most common?

"How do you do your hair like that?" was pretty common in my first year but I rarely get asked about them these days. I notice people tend to comment on the colour more than anything.

17. Have you ever had a freak accident or an embarrassing moment involving your dreads? 

Fortunately not. They're pretty hazard free at this length though every now and then I'll get them caught on either mine or someone else's glasses, especially as don't retwist my roots as often.

18. Do you have any dreaded role models? If so, who?

I've never had a dreaded role model, I  take inspiration from hundreds of loc wearers

19. What dreaded YouTubers could you see yourself hanging out with in real life?

oceangrins and meroekhalia.

20. Who are you going to Tag?

Everyone reading this questionnaire and I'd really like to get a link to your answers too.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

Year 2

Current Hair Stats:

Colour: Dark Red

Big Chop: 5th January 2012

Loc Birthdate: 3rd April 2012

Current Length: 5 inches

Starting Method: Comb coils and two strand twists

Number of Locs: 55

Maintenance Method: Palm-rolling

Current Shampoo: Crème of Nature Kiwi & Citrus Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo


An account so far:

Day 1: I started out with braids, twists and, rubber bands put in at a salon.
Day 3: I removed the rubber bands and installed comb coils.
Months 1-3: My locs started to form.
Month 4: I had an issue with build up (Organic Root Stimulator Loc & Twist gel) and had to trim my ends and combine locs.
Months 6-7: I started the palm-roll method.
Months 8-9: I experienced severe unravelling.
Month 10: I had my locs professionally maintained at a salon.
Months 11-12: I combined more locs.
Months 13-14: I used the crochet method.
Month 15: I coloured my locs.
Month 16: I did no maintenance.
Months 17-20: I started palm-rolling again and reinstalled some of my locs with two strand twists.
Months 21-24: Growth!

The most difficult part of my journey was between months 8 and 12 when my hair really struggled. I've since learnt that locs, and especially the thicker locs I was trying to attain, need regular maintenance to assist with their formation in the first year or so. I realise that  low maintenance locs have their drawbacks, at least in the beginning, such as greater shrinkage and much slower maturation. Nonetheless, my locs did reach maturity around month 18.

I had noticed that around month 20 my locs were slimmer than they had been at around months 12-15 and I did wonder if this is normal condensation. I've since learnt that frequent retwisting will make locs thinner over time. Having cut back on maintenance over the last 4 months they have thickened up to a size I'm really happy with.

In terms of how they feel and behave, currently they don't have any stretch beyond the root (which thankfully limits shrinkage), and they feel dense and compact. They also hang instead of stick up and frizz isn't a problem any more.

Although my two strand twists in the front are completely entwined they behave in a very different way to the older locs. They stick up a lot now and require more maintenance. They're also a lot slimmer and more stretchy. Being only 7 months old now, they'll most likely take another year or so to reach full maturity.

(click to enlarge)

roots grown out since
last July

a little progress with the
ponytail

I cannot wait for the next 12 months of my journey.


Click here to compare with year one.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Twist and Tuck (Faux) Crown Style on Short Locs

Hello all, here's the low key loc style I had last week.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Wide bobby pins (choose from small, medium or jumbo for best hold and comfort - I'm using medium pins).

HOW TO: I set my retwist going all back and once I removed the clips the front fell into a natural side parting. From the front I formed the crown by making two single row flat twists going in opposite directions around the perimeter of my head and secured them at the back. Inside the crown I made more flat twists starting from the top of my head, going down, and secured each one again. I then tucked the ends into the crown until I was happy with the look.

With long locs you can do one complete flat twist going around the perimeter of your head to make a real crown and you'll probably get a nice low ponytail/bun at the back or you could have it to the side.

I knew I wanted something sleek and off my face for when I dreass up but with such short length I couldn't figure out how to make it happen until now.


Love it.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Locspiration: Long Locs

I had to share...

I've been secretly crushing on a particular set of dreads for a while and just this week I fell in love with another. Their locs couldn't be more different but I admire them equally.

Locksylicious aka @thyka_layone

Cosmos aka @cosmotoomuch

They both have various other social media pages including facebook, pintrest, and, twitter.

I have a long way to go to get long, beautiful locs and it helps to look a head and see the fruits of other people's labour. I'm so inspired to keep growing my locs through all the challenges, concerns and doubts. Thanks to blogs like theirs I've been able to really visualise how my own locs may turn out and it's exciting.

I hope you enjoy the unique qualities of each of these ladies. Let me know what you think, post crushes of your own and be sure to drop in with a message for these two loc'd women by clicking the links above.

UPDATE: Dec 13 - I've just found this beautiful lady on instagram - mwilliams7

I'm certainly inspired going into the new year.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photographs are publicly available on Google images. Original owners: please send quires/removal requests to naturalocs@hotmail.co.uk**

Curly Edition: Twist Out

Hello all, so since I've gained a little more length I thought I'd give styling another go. This time I used two strand twists to create a crinkle effect.

And here are the results:

The best thing about twist outs, as opposed to braid outs or bantu knots, is that you can retain over 80% of your length and still get the textural effect. The only down side is that two strand twists can unravel at the root while they're drying and it results in a less polished look but I just held them in place with duckbill clips.

I think I'm going to wear this style for my concert.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Update/Tips: Two Strand Twists, Frizz & Baby Locs

Just a quick update on how my two strand twists are developing. After shampooing for a second time they are really starting to frizz and knit together. I wouldn't say the two strand twist pattern is fading it's just becoming less obvious under the frizz.

I haven't started palm-rolling my two strand twists yet but I will once they develop some more as I already palm-roll my locs.

They've got a long way to go but I trust they'll form nicely. I have an inkling that budding will be starting in the next couple of months. I'm intrigued to see/feel how they develop in two strand twists compared with comb coils.


Frizz

Experiencing frizz is a brilliant stage to reach for anyone new to the journey and wondering how to deal with their newly developing fuzzies. It can happen in as little as two weeks after installation depending on your hair texture and is usually induced by frequent washing.

From what I can deduce, shrinkage and frizz are the first steps towards developing baby locs and with two strand twists frizz is even more desirable as it will progressively transform the visual appearance of two strand twists into dreadlocks.

Frizz isn't the same as loose hairs but can occur simultaneously, especially with comb coils. Loose hairs are often found coming from the roots and in between the locs themselves. Frizz forms across the shaft of the loc and those hairs will interweave over several months whilst hairs on the inside combine to thicken the loc and solidify it's structure.

To form neater locs you can start palm rolling your frizz, training it to form cylindrically, to your liking. I recommend starting no sooner than three months in or when your locs start to firm up (when you can't reverse the two strand twist).

(Week 5)

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission.**

Red Locs: The Whole (messy) Process + Pics

Hi everyone, this post may seem a little scattered as it initially served as a rough to do list for my own use but I've decided to share it for anyone wanting a general description of the procedure.


Things I will need:

1. latex gloves (7prs £1.50 Superdrug)
2. glass bowl
3. tinting brush
4. paper towels
5. bin
6. mirror (or two)
7. timer
8. old t-shirt
9. plastic caps
10. old dark towel

Products:

1. Lightener - Dark & Lovely 384
2. developer 9 % 30 vol (If your hair is black/brown I don't recommend the developer that comes with the lightener it's not strong enough)

ALWAYS PERFORM A SKIN ALLERGY TEST BEFORE USE.


Potential colours (semi-permanent):

Ion Color Brilliance Brights - Red

Pravana - Red

AlfaParf Jeans Color - Chili Red

Fudge Paintbox - Red Corvette

Colorful Professional Protein Filler

Step by step process:

PRODUCTS CAN BURN, ALWAYS USE GLOVES AND AVOID CONTACT WITH SKIN.

1. Make sure hair is clean (within 3 days) and that roots are loose and untwisted.
2. Grease the hair line, ears, forehead and neck.
3. Section hair into small groups.
4. Put on gloves.
5. Mix 1 part lightener and 2 parts developer til smooth and completely blended.
6. Set timer for 50 minutes.
7. Working quickly, start at the crown and work forward then back.
8. Apply lightener 1 inch away from the root.
9. Apply a shower cap and wait for 50 minutes (Checking EVERY 10 minutes).
10. Remove shower cap and apply lightener 1/8 inch away from scalp.
11. Reapply shower cap and wait for 20 minutes (Checking EVERY 5 minutes).
12. Make sure all hair has turned evenly (use a blow dryer on low for 2 minutes if needed)
13. Remove bands used for sectioning and wash hair in cool water squeezing through until all product is removed (minimum 10 minutes).
14. Do a final rinse in warm water.
15. Lightly squeeze hair in a towel until damp but not dripping.
16. Place clean shower cap on and leave for 10 minutes using a blow dryer on low to create steam.
17. Remove shower cap and begin applying temp hair dye.
18. Saturate all of the locs to be coloured but avoid the scalp.
19. Reapply one final coat of colour before placing hair into a shower cap.
20. Wait 20 minutes following the instructions from your colouring product.
21. Wash hair thoroughly in cool-cold water until water runs clear all over. Be sure to repeatedly squeeze water through each loc (root to tip) as well as to rinse behind ears.
22. Saturate hair in warm water and apply coconut oil. Squeeze out excess water with your hands until they stop dripping and place a shower on for 20-40 minutes before finally rinsing in cool water. The same can be done with diluted conditioner if you prefer (only for mature locs).
23. Pat dry and leave to air dry completely.

Link to slide show: http://www.photosnack.com/BD5D897EFB5/ph98wi39


And that's pretty much how I did it. If you're going to try it yourself the process will vary depending on the results you want to achieve and what exact products you use but be confident in your own judgement and don't be afraid to ask for help. When mixing the developer try to add slightly more developer than required so that the mixture is a tad weaker, especially advisable if you only need a brown or golden colour rather than yellowy-blond. For individual locs or tips place each loc in foil instead of using a shower cap. For two tone colour always start with the darkest colour first.

In the end I used two boxes of lightener and around 200ml of developer to do my whole head though I only needed 125ml of colour. I highly recommend using semi-permanent colours as you'll not know the true result until it's on so better to have something that fades than something that's permanent.

After my first attempt which appeared blotchy I then repeated the process which resulted in a red that was too bright and a touch too brassy/orange. I did a little research into how to tone down bright red hair and was surprised to find that many people have tried using brewed cold coffee. I didn't quite get around to trying it for myself but I did go out and get a reddish-brown colour (Adore 78 Rich Amber) and mixed it with the chili red I already had before applying it to my hair. It came out much richer and darker and really compliments my skin, eyes and glasses. It's funny because in all my research I never envisioned a brown/red combination but I'm in love with the results.

It was a lengthy process, far more complex than I could have foreseen. There were no guarantees and I had to be prepared for the worst, but all in all it worked out.

I'll update soon. Any questions, comments, please leave them below.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission. Slideshow created with Photosnack**

Red Locs

Eeek! My locs are red!

Dying my dreadlocks was a new experience but I'm relieved and impressed with the initial results. My hair feels quite soft (after conditioning with coconut oil) and perfectly healthy which was always my main concern.

It's been almost a year but I'm glad I waited. My locs needed to reach a good stage of maturity to endure DIY colouring. Through my experimentation I developed a clearer idea of how I wanted my locs to be as well as how I definitely didn't want them to turn be. My biggest concern of late was where and how to apply the ligthener/dye so that the colour worked with my complexion. I decided to use a semi-permanent colour because double processing (lightening, then dying) increases the risk of damage and I'm not an expert. I decided to place the dye quite away from my roots to help with the contrast and this way my new growth will hopefully blend better. The semi-permanent dye causes absolutely no damage and delivers bright results meaning I didn't have to lift my own hair colour very far. The downside of course is that it's not permanent. In fact this brand doesn't last long all. Washing my hair once a week is only an option if I'm willing to reapply colour very frequently but for now I happy to do it as it's much safer than a permanent dye.

The products I used:

And here's how it came out:

Now as far as this being my final colour I have to say I'm not 100% keen on how it turned out and here's why. When I lightened my hair I avoided squeezing the product in after reading into the debate for and against how much damage may be caused [to the effect of; bleach/dye can become trapped inside dreads causing shedding, breakage and hair loss in the future, therefore only coating the outer dread is advisable]. That said my results seem blotchy. I think with thicker dreads a lot more of the original colour can show through giving a sort of two tone effect:



By comparison some of the locs I'd dyed several times before (as above) are a more vibrant red. The others look almost burgundy/black.

I'm also not so sure this shade of red suites me in the first place but the best thing about semi-permanent dye is that in a few weeks it'll fade and I can try a different shade.

I am planning to go back over with the lightener just to even out the tones and also to redo my roots at the crown which didn't take so well because I ran out of product. Another plus for using a box lightener instead of bleach is that once the two components (lightener and developer) are mixed together, the chemical compound is designed to stop processing after a certain length of time. Sadly bleach (powder or liquid) will keep processing until there's nothing left so washing itr all out is vital.

TIP: As mentioned before in a previous post, to achieve the lightened colour (pics in next post) I did not use the bleach booster packet provided in the Dark & Lovely product above, so for anyone wanting to try it themselves, don't use it. You'll get great results and less damage without it and it's only really needed if you want to get to a true blonde. If you're throwing any other colour on top leave the bleach packet out.

Other than that I am super grateful that it worked out, I recommend those products to anyone with healthy hair and I'm so so excited to have red locs!

Next post goes into more detail about how I got these results and shows the results of me re-doing the process to get a even look. I took plenty of photos at various points during the transformation - Red Locs: The Whole (messy) Process.

Commenta welcome below.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission**

Coloured Dreadlocks: Results Are In

1st of July and the polls have closed on my little survey about what you guys think of coloured dreadlocks.

33 votes were counted over the past nine months and the results are as follows:

 And from top to bottom the options (in full) were:

1. I'm rocking a colour right now.
2. I've always wanted to try.
3. Dread heads should keep it natural.
4. I have no opinion, it's not my hair.
5. Beautiful but not for me.
6. Love them.

I'll be colouring my locs in a two part process; 1) lightening. 2) dying.

I had thought about documenting the progression but as I'm not on the video/vlog platform I don't think I could convey an exact tutorial. Nonetheless, if I can gather a few pictures during the procedure I'll be glad to post them if you're interested?

Have your say in the comment box. If you didn't vote just right down a number 1-6 or elaborate on your opinion.

Check out the results of my coloured locs: Red Locs

 

DREADLOCKS ARE...

*Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission*

Colour: Last Minute Change

Just a current update as my hair colouring trials continue. I'm totally amped for going red at fifteen months and I'm hoping the abrupt change will help me abstain from extensions.

You already know that last week I recoloured my test subject (baby loc in the back) but this time instead of Adore in Intense Red I opted for Crimson from the same band, hence the super bright results in my last post.

Side Note: It's been really annoying having randomly coloured locs coloured with differing shades of red for the past 9 months and so many times I've wanted to dye it all black just so it won't look so 'experimental' because I wear as it is so often. The lengths I go to eh?

But anyway having now tried three shades of red I found that they all had a very, very pink undertone meaning that in natural light it looks pink too. I've managed to avoid the orangey, fire red that I feared back in beginning but the pinky tones have bothered me so much I just had to give up and look for a different brand.

I researched all over again and settled on a handful of semi-permanent brands to try. They included Pravana, Ion, and Fudge Paintbox but non were easy get my hands on.

Now I've learnt that the simplest way to gauge what undertone a (red) dye has (if the bottle isn't clear plastic) is to either smear a drop onto a piece of white paper or mix a drop into a glass of water. If you hold either the paper or the glass up to the light it'll be clear whether you have a pink-red or an orange-red. It does mean having to buy a sample in order to test it but all hair colouring involves some risk. The good thing is that semi-permanent dyes are usually cheap.

So it's out with Adore and in with ... well, I've decided to keep the reveal until July, good or bad they'll be photos!

To find out click: Red Locs.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

Year 1

Oh how I truly adore my dreadlocks. They're even more beautiful, more meaningful than all those months ago. It's been so rewarding.




one year

To sum up my first year, 'Laying the Foundation':

As I described in my combined locs post. I started out with a million little locs due to the minimal length I was working with. The fuller and longer my hair became, the thicker I wanted them to be. In hindsight the most logical thing to do was to comb them out and start over, though by month four a do-over sort of happened anyway after my buildup escapade, it's just that they were still too short. I split the thickest ones and then spent the next six months awkwardly combining them all back to arrive at my current state. It took time to know what I wanted but I'm glad I got the altering over and done with in the first year.

It was also a year of careful research. As you know I took my efforts toward hair dying very seriously and did more than enough experimenting. I've always envisioned myself with red hair and red locs are all the more alluring. I managed to find a photo of me wearing kinky twist extensions shortly before starting my dreadlocking journey. Though poorly lit, it's the best I have:



around March 2012

The plan for year two is for them take on a more permanent form. When they mature they'll feel solid and compact and I can't wait to see their final size. Growth is the key thing though. Last year I trimmed a lot to keep my ends healthy but this year I want maximum prosperity. I'm entering year two with approx. 48 locs and I'll be colouring them all at the end of July so look out for that one.

The only product I use now is the Creme of Nature Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo Kiwi & Citrus that I bought just before the new year. I don't condition and I don't moisturise either. I don't use oils or gels or sprays or herbal rinses or acv or baking soda as there's been no need for any type of "deep clean" and my locs stay twisted with water alone. As for the battle between buildup and dryness, I'm over all that. I don't experience any sort of buildup and now that I've resolved the over-washing issue my hair stays soft enough between washes and I think frequently wearing my satin bonnet day and night has helped (it now goes under ALL of  my hats). If it gets really dry I just bump wash day forward. It's been far less hassle. Of course things may differ during the summer...

My method of maintenance is still a combination of palm-rolling and comb-coilling. Each technique is dependent on how established the loc feels and where it's positioned on my head.  For example: it's harder to comb-coil locs mid-point at the back so they're palm rolled along with locs that are sturdy and well formed. I palm-rub any locs that develop strange kinks, bulges or stray hairs. Palm-rubbing is how I describe the method of rubbing a loc back and forth between my palms as opposed to palm-rolling where a loc will be rolled in one direction only.

So what stage are they at? Well since I've been steadily combining, budding began again around a month ago. Each dread has meshed and tangled from the middle down to the tip. I'm just trying to train the area nearer the roots to follow suite. They're currently in their swelling and shrinking phase so they're loosing length but gaining width and the hair inside them is slowly knitting together. Some of the skinner locs I still have scattered thoughout the back are a little more dense and a little more loc'd. The locs I combined most recently have now, a month later, formed single strand knots at the ends just like before. I've decided not to cut them this time, though I've had folks ask me to or trying to pull them off *awkward flinch*.

Socially speaking I've had little to complain about. I've received far more compliments than negative reactions and I've been able to work, travel and socialise with hair as unruly and untamed as it's ever been in my life (scroll through previous posts for numerous examples). The only thing that's getting old is the infrequent but quite disturbing 'toucher' incidents. Touchers are those who touch without being given permission to do so, usually those who I don't know well at all. From keen strangers to nuisance youths, it's starting to creep me out. It's like my hair isn't my own.

But lastly, I did wonder what to do to commemorate the twelfth month. I struggled to find anything unique and befitting until I found this:

  

Discovered this cuff whilst browsing at an alternative jewellery counter and it suddenly felt wonderfully appropriate. I have a good number of piercings but rarely wear jewellery as trends don't tend to sway in my favour but this was perfect. Charming and certainly not plain. And it's multi-wear! I love wearing it as an ear cuff but it fits snuggly onto my locs too.

See my comparsion photos from day one to now here.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use with out permission**