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.**

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...

**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.**

Month 23

Whoa, I'm only 31 days away from being two years loc'd. I'm currently experiencing a lot of tangling at the root of many of my locs. It's not causing any adverse effects but it's strange to feel how they're starting to interweave.

Here's a shot of one of my intentional congos (two or more locs with only one base or root):

I still think I have a lot of new growth and I can't tell if any of it has loc'd up in the last six months. Things seem kind of stagnant lately so there isn't much to update on but I'm hopeful for more fattening up and perhaps the two strand twists in the front will move out of their unruly phase and start to hang.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

Month 22

Oh dear blog, it feels like for ever.

Let me keep things real on this dreadlocking journal. I wish I could upload a reel of cute head shots sporting my luscious mane of flowing locs but currently my hair is so dry, knotty and shrunken beyond belief. I did rinse my hair a couple of times since my last post but I've been so distracted lately I keep forgetting to oil it before it dries and we all know what kinky afro hair feels like when you let it air dry without moisturising it quick.

But my hair has thickened up so much in the past three weeks.

I'm still suffering with dry scalp, it doesn't itch much but it is starved of moisture which makes sense as I never keep myself hydrated (must do better).

I'm about to wash, oil and style my hair and continue this post soon...
________

Update cont. 22 Feb.

My five month old two strand twists are starting to get nice and plump. I have a few pairs of locs that have merged at the roots so I twisted together the ones I liked and popped the others apart. Kind of looking forward to my future two headed dragons (two locs, one base) after seeing all the videos from PeaceandLoveHarmony.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

Update: A Week Later

Hi guys,

Just delivering a brief update from last week.  I've washed my hair 4-5 times since then, massaging in coconut oil and letting it air dry each time. My hair felt dry at first but it's softened a lot in the last day or two.

So you could say I've adopted a wash 'n' go routine. I'm not sure how things will develop from here but since I can't rush nature all I can do is wait it out.

In regards to new growth, I saw a video that has me a little concerned:

thoughts?

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

Update: Puffy Roots, New Growth, Length?

Hi all,

I've just washed my hair and am currently sat with a shower cap on feeling deflated. Essentially:

• I'm tired of shrinkage.
• I'm tired of my roots not loc'ing up.
• I'm tired of a retwist being the only option to show my length.
• I'm tired of having short hair period.

It's been months since I examined my roots and running my hands through them today made me smile. But it's because of these puffy roots that the rest of my hair still looks short. My roots are a good 2-3 inches long and my locs are a good 3-4 inches long. It's that half and half thing that really makes them look so odd to me. Now if my locs were 7-8 inches and my roots were 3 that'd be fine.

I remember feeling this way in September and now it's January. I see you all with long locs and I know it's possible, but it's been 21 months already! At first I knew it was the buds that were swallowing up some of the length but over the last month or so I've noticed that my buds haven't  made any visible progress. Actually all progress seems to have stopped in general.

Yes it looks fine when I retwist them and my grandmother certainly approved of my last hairstyle but it feels so limiting, trying to preserve that level of neatness. It's lost its charm.

I don't really know what to do next. I need advice on how to work with short locs without the pinned up grooming. I've decided to give my hair another year before either getting extensions or putting this journey on hold until I have a length I'm comfortable with. 5 inches in almost two years just isn't fair.

I'm going to oil and dry my hair and then leave it until I get some input from you guys :)

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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