Month 20

And in the spirit of the season I wish each of my lovely readers a safe and merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Today my locs have reached the final quarter of their second year and compared to last December they have come a long, long way. It was about this time last year that my locs had just entered what I now look back on as the 'rough stage' when my hair refused to take shape. This year my locs are fully formed and much easier to manage. They're a comfortable 4.5-5 inches un-stretched which isn't much in twelve months but that's ok for now.

My two strand twists are three months old and I've since put in a few more for fullness. They are the most well behaved starter locs I've had. The buds are making their way down towards the tips and the two strand twist pattern is hardly noticeable. I'm looking forward to beyond this phase perhaps in the next three months by which time I'll be closing in on my 2 year milestone.

I'll leave you with a few pictures as always.

finally starting to see a length difference

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

Update Continued: Budding

Did I guesstimate that budding would begin in a couple of months? Well I think it's started already! I could be wrong but they look an awful lot like my first set of buds, starting at pretty much the same time, I've just noted, so I'm going with it. I was quite unsure sure at first because I didn't retwist after shampooing my hair but I re-coloured recently and noticed several buds when I went through my hair. Most of them seem to have formed where the new growth meets the two strand twist which I first thought was just unravelling but I tried to pull a twist apart and it didn't budge.

Buds: From what I can tell a bud is a swollen bulge that feels somewhat thicker and firmer (but still spongy) than the rest of the loc. They can start at different points in the loc but most commonly towards the middle. Towards the end is common if your locs are particularly short to start out with. They usually form between month 2 and 6.

Now close-ups of locs and buds in particular aren't easy to photograph but I tried to capture a few of them for you:

this is what I hope is a bud on one of my 18 month old locs.
I say hope because my new growth is
now over an inch (as seen by the black roots)
and it hasn't started loc'ing yet.

this is a bud just barely forming. It's not visible
but if you were here you'd feel where it will grow in
(the frizz near the centre)

and my twists are now irreversible from the root

they appear quite distinctly in silhouette here

So far, in almost six weeks I've experienced:

Shrinkage^

Frizz/Fuzzies^

Budding^

And currently all three are happening at the same time i.e. shrinkage started before budding but shrinkage hasn't stopped even though budding has begun and of course frizz will be with us throughout.

For some reason the developing (^macro) stages of baby locs are much clearer to see in these two strand twists than they seemed to be in my comb coils. I'm sure it's due to a number of differing factors including the additional length, and being more informed/prepared and, possibly the starting method too.

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.**

Tools for Thick Locs

Just dropping in to share some recent purchases for my locs. Firstly I decided to invest in a set of duckbill clips which differ from the double and single pronged clips I use when retwisting. I started to notice that the pronged clips would leave indentation marks where they were holding the dread in place.

Large duckbill clips don't compress my locs and can hold several locs at once which will be more comfortable overall. I also bought hair pins which are different from bobby pins and are much better for styling my plump dreadlings:

Much like the duckbill clips, the hair pins don't compress my locs so I can wear them without causing tension and eventual weak spots.

I mentioned buying ouchless bands for the recent style I've been doing. I like how they are just the right size for my locs at this stage, i.e. I only have to loop them once to get a firm hold, again, without compressing them.

Lastly, current hair shots:

DREADLOCKS ARE A LIFESTYLE

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

Month 11

Exactly three weeks shy of my one year dreadlocking milestone. My locs (at various progressive stages following my last entry) are awkwardly but certainly developing. I don't know how I feel about it all recently. They're nothing like I'd imagined them to be. I feel sort of disillusioned by the whole process and again the focus falls on thick dreads. My research up until this year had mostly covered how thinner dreads are formed and my anticipated time scale for progress for thinner locs has skewed my vision a little now tha they're thicker. There's not the same amount of information and personal documentation for thicker dreads, they just seem to happen.

February in London (before combining)

March in Slovenia (after combining)

A few days later back in the UK

But in reality it's not that simple and thick dreads are incredibly boisterous, epecially when started on short hair. I keep reminding myself that all dreads tangle, matt, shrink, swell and condense and that non of it occurs linearly. I keep telling myself that if I leave this untamed, unruly mess of hair alone for just another day it'll get better. It does get better, slowly. Whether I watch my hair or not it's still happening slowly. But at least it's happening. It's strange to observe the subtle changes. My newly combined locs feel and look different to the others. The others feel more...established. And the fact that I can tell says a lot for how far they've come.

This month I washed my hair like before; spray bottle of diluted shampoo to the roots only, gentle agitation, a soak and even gentler rinsing. I could only wait 2.5 weeks this time as my scalp was too dry and dirty from my travels. Shrinkage is still lingering but as I only wet my hair once a month it's manageable. As my bottom row gets longer I'm having to remove lint that attaches to the tips). Although I have gained length I've also reached that first growth stage where it never seems to pass your ears.

I still adore dreadlocks so I'm going to wait it out.

retwisted in February

retwisted again in March

Oh and does anyone know where I can find unique wooden and/or metal dread beads online? I've scoured Etsy and although there is a generous selection most cost a fortune with p&p. Thanks.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

Washed Locs: Pictures

Here are the pictures for Washed Locs and a Product update. I was very happy with the results using this cleansing method. As you'll see I still had a "unravelled fro" appearance afterwards but I think it photographs worse that it actually was. They'll probably be this way until they mature.

During

shampoo at the roots

After

 

soft and clean

Retwisting

 

air dried

Finished results

 



the clips flattened my dreads a bit

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

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...

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

Month 7

Oh boy it feels like a long time coming but here we are. Seven months in and they're beginning to move y'all! I predict they'll be swaying by month twelve. Yeah I can see it - "oh sorry is my hair your way?" *flick* teehee.

So, it appears my locs are in transition. Following some of the issues I was experiencing a couple of weeks ago I've since taken down my two headed locs and re-coiled them thanks to the advice shared by friends over at Loc and Roll, My Baby Girls Curls and My Africa is Showing. Shrinkage is here one minute and gone the next and the buds are increasing and expanding. I think I'm getting a case of the fuzzies too:



fuzzay-wuzzay

My locs drink up water like there's no tomorrow. They look a lot like this after a couple of days using my water and oil spray:

swollen buds

I love the results of palm-rolling and I've learnt it's all in the technique. If I palm-roll congruently from root to tip, in time, they'll grow more uniformly:

 

freshly palm-rolled

Here's how my braided loc is coming along. I like this one because I can feel just how much new growth I'm getting and I haven't had to maintain it since it was installed two months ago:

I'm trimming regularly, especially since I'm starting to get those single strand knots hanging at the ends, but my hair is around 3-4" long now yayy!

Peace.

DREADLOCKS...

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