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...

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Month 25

Short update, hope you enjoy the photos. My locs have be refreshed and restored to their healthy, hydrated state after recently maintaining my hair.

go to basket weave

freshly retwisted

fresh colour - Jeans Color Chili Red

stocked up on a 400g jar
ordered from www.dolphinfitness.co.uk

I did a shower cap oil treatment with the coconut oil above and my hair is so soft and shiny but I do need to back get into the routine of wearing my head scarves to preserve the moisture. I'm so keen for some more length I'm even considering kinky twist extensions for the summer but we'll see. Other than that I'm still enjoying the journey and steady maturation of my dreadlocks.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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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...

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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...

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Update: My Locs in July

 Early/Mid July:

retwisted after new colour

frizz pre-palm-rubbing

Late July:

post palm-rubbing

this pic captured truest colour in natural light

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

Dread Aspirations: Half Ponytail (2)

A teensy bit longer and much thicker ponytail than six months ago. The main difference being that many of my old locs were combined into the 51 I have now and it really goes to show how much they've matured beyond those little starter coils.

Checkout Dread Aspirations: Half Ponytail (1) if you haven't already. Oh and I'm heading abroad next week. All being well I should be posting my sixteen month update from the sunny shores of Marseille!

Wishing each of you a continually blessed summer XD

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

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...

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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*