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...

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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...

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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...

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Month 1: Combing out my locs, then, now & what next...

Over the course of three days I combed out half of my locs with a large safety pin and a fine tooth comb and put them in two strand twists. My hair was already clean and moisturised so I just left them for the month of September and what a long month it has been.

I've decided that my loc journey will continue with two strand twists in the front and locs in the back. It had crossed my mind to comb them all out and start fresh but I had not the time nor the heart to go through with it. After all I really like my locs in the back and as the twists will turn into locs anyway, there was no need to fix what wasn't broken.

I've never had two strand twists before so I never recognised them as a wearable style. I remember being so against them as a starter loc method because I was sure they'd be a fuss and bother with only an inch of hair but now that my loose hair is 5 inches long, two strand twists have been ideal.

(reinatallation - week 1)

 

 WEEK 1: They started to shrink the day after installation and continued to shrink throughout the first week. The pictures above show them at their fullest length after installation. Non of the twists unravelled and my hair was baby soft as I wore my satin scarf/bonnet to protect them.

(week 2)

WEEK 2:  I got caught in the rain so I re-applied a tiny amount of raw coconut oil before they dried. The twists stayed firmly in place but they'd shrunken to almost half their original length. I retwisted the two at the front to get them to lay down better after the shrinkage reached it's peek, as seen in the pictures above.

(week3)

WEEK 3: I decided to retwist to freshen them up a bit. My scalp is almost due for a shampoo, though I'm hesitant as it'll fade my colour and I don't know if I can re-colour without unravelling these new twists.

(week4)
*PICTURES TBA*

WEEK 4: Last week's retwist came undone after a night of dancing. I washed my hair with great success because unlike the very first wash I didn't require an over haul retwist. They feel just that tiny bit more solid and are beginning to knit together so I'm expecting steady progress over the next 6 months.

So did reinstalling my locs solve the problem? I'd say so, they don't look as sparse anymore because I added a loc to each row. I also staggered the parts (brick-lay pattern) after doing some research online. Turns out the grid pattern I originally had in the front made my parts too prominent and as my locs were starting to condense it was clear they'd always be visible whenever I retwisted. All this time and I'm still learning.

My next post will be brief with clearer pictures of my actual locs as they reach one year and six months maturity.



Confusing? Yeah, but it's a journey all the same. Comments welcome below!

DREALOCKS ARE...

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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...

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Month 16

Current Hair Stats:

Colour: Dark Red (click here and here for more info)

Big Chop: 5th January 2012

Loc Birthdate: 3rd April 2012

Starting Method: Comb coils

Number of locs: 51

Length: 3-4.3 inches (unstretched)

   

 Hope you like the new colour. I can't believe I'm writing to you, celebrating sixteen months of loc'dom from right here in Marseille. Locs are pretty popular amongst the masses here too.

I was still washing my hair on average twice a week but as I've just recoloured it (faded colour in previous post) I don't want to wash it that often. When I do wash it it's in cool-cold water, that way the colour doesn't run.

I'm also still trying to palm-rub my locs more often because they're still pretty fuzzy. Other than that though my tips have completely sealed and they're looking very healthy. I think they've condensed a even further this month as I can hardly describe them as "puffy" anymore. They're of course much easier to manage than they were twelve months ago and I haven't had to anything to them all on this trip, though I imagine the 40˚C heat will take it's toll eventually.

  

Since I'm really attached to washing my hair a lot, and short, thick locs don't stay twisted for very long I've been using a different maintenance technique to help my new growth form. I've been crocheting for around four months or so and I think I've improved on my technique enough to share it with you.

Compared with conventional retwisting I've found that crocheting:

- allows you to wash your hair more frequently without new growth unravelling
- lasts longer/indefinately
- controls loose hair, especially around the hair line
- causes less tension on the scalp
- can allow for a less groomed appearance, if that's your thing
- allows you to manipulate your hair immediately afterwards, without unravelling
- requires no product(s)
- is best done after washing on completely dry hair
- shouldn't be done immediately before washing otherwise it'll come undone to some extent
- can take longer to complete but easy to do over a couple of days as and when you have time
- doesn't require clips so can be slept on straight away
- is harder to master

When I first tried it I didn't really know what I was hoping for I was just tired of unravelling. After a few goes with a micro crochet needle (not a crochet hook), I learnt that the best results come from light and infrequent crocheting that way locs don't become stiff and rigid. If you crochet just enough to form the beginning shape they'll still have a soft spongy feel being pretty hollow in the middle but they thicken up and fill in over time. Also I've learnt that there is such a thing as 'over crocheting' which can lead to hair loss. Each section of hair should only be crocheted once; so each time you do it you should only crochet loose new growth. The most important lesson I've learnt was to never crochet to the root/scalp. I like to differentiate between "roots" and "new growth" just for my own clarity on this method. I think of "roots" as being the first 1 inch section from the scalp and the "new growth" as being the loose hair from that inch to where the loc has already formed.

I tried to find related videos for use of the crochet technique on afro/black hair but I could only find one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nOZqBWwkng

frizz after several days of swimming in the ocean

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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Month 14

Hello to all of you old and new. I've been on this journey to loc'dom for fourteen months today. Though the changes are subtle from month to month I think my locs are maturing at a steady pace these days. They're still unruly and shrinkage is still with us but my hair has been considerably more managable recently.

Research into loc extensions has firmly drawn to a close. I found it to be an expensive affair wherever I turned. Buying the hair for a DIY job is pricey and seemingly hard to find and salons (or even at home hair enthusiasts) charge hundreds if not a £1000 or more for installation! Although a worth while investment for some, I had to ask myself; (as I do with most purchases being on student budget) what is the value of true contentment...?

...And so I wait for length. The locs in the back are surpassing those in the front in growth and maturity but developments are happening all over. My locs feel different every month. Now they feel firmer than before, less spongy somehow. They're certainly a long way from the hollow coils I started out with and the compact density really makes them look like locs.

shrinkage and bed head

I used to get a lot of straggly loose hair at the tips when
I washed them but I palm-rub it back in often

On occasion I catch myself toying with thoughts of what I'd do if my hair were loose but it still doesn't really appeal to me. To be honest I don't know if my locs really appeal to me at this stage either but I'm growing with them and I do see potential.

I've seen a good many loc wearers in and around my home town recently (probably due to the warmer weather) and it's really opened my eyes to how popular this style is in the UK. But no matter how many loc'ers I see, somehow dreads still achieve that individual look. I've observed moderate uniformity and trends that various loc wearers prefer but they're all worn in very different ways. Now that I think about it, it's the years of growth and maturity that make them appear so individual and I'm sure baring through without extensions will be just as rewarding. Even when they're groomed and moulded consistently they grow naturally according to who that person is.

I like that.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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