Update: Locs After Swimming

Hey everyone, I recently responded to a question from a dear pen pal of mine, oceangrins. She wrote:

"So, I gotta ask, how did the sea water treat your hair? Did sand get stuck in your dreads? Was it easy to wash the sand and sea salt out?"

So yeah this month I went swimming in the ocean for the first time with locs. I'm pleased to say I seem to have suffered no adverse effects from the week I spent splashing around. I rinsed my hair after each session and left it in a half basket weave style until I got home.

During the week my hair was feeling particularly soft instead of dry like I'd expected and even the debris I was expecting didn't cause an issue. I imagine this was due to the fact that we only swam near rocky coastlines, avoiding sandy beaches completely, and aside from the water in that region being naturally clear to begin with, I think the lack of conventional products like gels or waxes enabled the residual salt to wash away more easily.

When I got home I decided to give my hair a good deep cleanse just to be safe. After rinsing my hair thoroughly I went on to spray it with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and baking soda (approx. 200ml : 1/4 tsp) and sat with a shower cap for around three hours before washing it all out with Cream of Nature's Kiwi and Citrus Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo. I then decided to re-colour my hair (temporary dye) and condition it with raw virgin coconut oil before letting it air dry.

My scalp and roots felt better immediately though it took a day or two for softness to come back due to the acidity of the apple cider vinegar.

Here I'd just taken out my style some days after getting back from my trip:

Apple cider vinegar and baking soda solution applied:

Quick clip of me washing my locs:

 

  

Rinsed thoroughly and shampooed in hot water with Cream of Nature shampoo:



Hair clean and lightly towel dried ready to be re-dyed:

Finished results - I decided to retwist just to get more length after all that shrinkage though I fell asleep in the clips (-__-) and they all ended up swooped to one side:

before

after

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

Week 33: How d'you clean dem dreads?

If you've been keeping up with my journey over the last seven months you'll know that I don't use shampoo or conditioner on my baby locs so I thought I'd do a quick post on what I use to wash my hair instead.

Now you may be thinking, how have you survived for so long without shampoo? Well I was plenty skeptical at first but it's become quite normal now. I guess the main reason I stopped using shampoo was for fear of loc buildup from various ingredients that I still don't know much about. I also haven't yet used a shampoo or conditioner that actually delivers what it promises, even products specifically designed for afro hair weren't dazzling. What I use now leaves me with clean, healthy hair that feels light and manageable.

Products:

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
Baking Soda
Aloe Vera Gel

Method:
Once I wet my head with warm water, I apply a runny paste made with a 2:1 ratio of, ACV:Baking soda, through my scalp (going row by row to ensure complete coverage). I then massage and gently scrub my scalp until I'm ready to rinse (alt: leave on using a shower cap for up to 20 minutes before rinsing). I follow up by massaging the aloe gel onto my scalp (once again row by row) and spread it onto my hair. After massaging for a further 5 minutes I rinse thoroughly in very cool water and I'm done!

It's a bit of process but here's how I prep the aloe vera gel on those days where I have time for a bit of luxury cleansing:

You can clean your hair with the aloe alone or you might try adding it to your current shampoo. Goes well with a herbal rinse too. (simmer herbs in boiling water for 10-20 minutes, strain and use water when cooled)

Click the link for a video on a Rosemary Rinse

Aloe uses:
Face mask
Shaving gel (tried and tested)
Antiseptic
Anti-inflamitory
Personal lubricant (who knew)
Edible ingredient (food & beverages)
Laxative
Teeth cleaning
...to name a few


Oh and before I forget, I recently came across a short page of information and discovered that my cleansing method is considered to be a 'no-poo' approach. Never knew it had a name lol. Click here to have a read.

DREADLOCKS ARE A LIFESTYLE

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DONOT use without permission. Slideshow made at photosnack.**

Month 4

Four months, really?!! This month may have been the most complex to date. I previously posted about my Colour: Loc Trial and the experiment ended adequately with two deep conditions and a re-twist. I received my order of L'Oreal HiColor but went off the idea of colouring again until next year.

For the past three weeks I've been hitting the gym regularly and came to a compromise between my hair and exercise regimes. I rinsed my hair most days of week and gave the maintenance a break. My locs were transformed! Most had unravelled and swelled out of control. During this time I decided that I had far too many locs and that I wouldn't mind making them thicker and fewer while they were in this state. Gathering adjacent locs together with rubber bands I planned to twist them at a later date.

After each rinse they seemed to lock tighter feeling moisturised but very firm (what I imagine very mature locs to feel like). Everyday I looked at my hair and wondered if this was true progress. You see my confusion came from a combination of grey hairs and suspected buildup that I couldn't distinguish between. Nonetheless I continued to exercise, rinse and hope for the best.

August 1st arrived and I decided it was time to go through the previously sectioned locs and start my maintenance again. For some reason I suddenly got the over powering urge to inspect my loc'ed ends more closely and cut off one tip! I was shocked, there was buildup, but how? I cut another, again! And another, the trend continued.



buildup at the ends

I cut most of the tips that were hard and each one was soiled. I came to the conclusion that instead of tightly loc'ed hair matting together, I had tightly locked build up matting together. I'd also managed to completely ruin my parts while trying to combine locs so I said enough was enough.

One baking soda, lemon juice and water scrub later I was ready to get to work. I called in on my mother's helping hands and after first conditioning with coconut oil and then with olive oil she set to work re-parting and re-twisting my hair.

I had 107+ at first count. I now have 74 thick twists. Slightly short after their trim but healthy and clean.



before

after

What caused the buildup? I can't be certain. At first I thought it was the exercise sweat but surely rinsing had helped. I then wondered if it was the lock & twist gel I had started my locs with. I only used it for a week but it would explain why only the tips were effected. Either way I've discarded the tub and continue to use only oil & water. I will also be washing my hair every two days and exercising without a head wrap so more sweat can evaporate as I cycle home from the gym and it get pretty windy.

Dealing with buildup? Check out Quotidianlight's highly informative video below:

Also take a look at my post: Tips: Baby Locs Problem Solved.

Oh what fun. You thought my journey was sounding too easy? Well there you have it. I was quite deflated to say the least but let's think ahead to month 5 for a length comparison.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

**Photography ownership is held with the blog account holder. DO NOT use without permission. Videography material is publicly available on YouTube**

Month 2: part 1

The arrival of month 2 has brought with it some developments primarily, Summer is on it's way and we've enjoyed a spell of hot weather. And so my main loc objective has been to retain as much moisture as possible, which has been successful with the aid of oil and water. British weather is warm but rather humid around this time of year so the risk of dryness often stems from sweating and salt buildup rather than from dry air. It's been quite manageable; I've increased washes and water exposure in general to combat the conditions.

They continue to thicken up and the increasing length has helped them to look fuller in contrast with their scalp-y beginnings. When I first started my hair was just under an inch long which required regular re-twisting, sometimes up to three times a week. Now that I have a little more to work with I can start minimising re-twists to once a month. Two weeks after my last re-twist my hair looks like this:

Stocking Cap Rinse

The battle against post-wash unravelling may have just come to an end. I believe this was the third wash and I wanted to try using a stocking cap. In my attempts to make this journey as cost free as possible I always have a look around the house before purchasing any new items. I cut the legs from a pair of tights and tied a knot once the cap was on.

make shift stocking cap

I then wet my hair thoroughly and applied baking soda pressing it into the cap and massaging gently. It seemed to absorb fairly well so I rinsed and repeated the process one more time. I followed up with distilled witch hazel and rinsed with plain water to finish. Here are the results:

 

An overall success! It wasn't as squeaky clean as previous washes and I still had to re-twist in the back but when I pulled the coils out of the matted shape it was clear they had stayed intact.

Compare here with my first attempt.

Dreadlocks are a lifestyle

**Photography ownership is with the blog account holder, DONOT use without permission,**

Week 1: First Wash

Hurray for the first wash. I decided to wash my hair last night for a few reasons. One, the flaking was showing more and more and moving from the scalp to the hair, two, I'd been to the gym for the second night running and three, my coils just felt plain gross.

I wanted to wait it out for another week at the least and until the end of the month at the most but with the recent perspiration activities and going back to work in a few days I just had to rescue the situation.