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...
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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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Month 18

So my last post was pretty full and really deserved to be a topic all on its own so I reserve this one for my eighteen month old locs. Not a lot to report. They're thick and becoming less unruly all the time (aside from the bottom rows that remains curled and crooked). I see the length in my ponytails but I still can't wait for them all too reach my neck/jaw. Getting a lot of loose hair (about 2" long) at the nape line, is that normal?

Really enjoying this colour, especially as the roots have grown in properly. If you want to colour your I really recommend semi-permanent, no ammonia, no alcohol, hair dyes as I personally vouch for how low risk and non-damaging they are even if used three times a month.

I'm back to retwisting twice a month for now and my hair is in great condition in the cooler more humid weather.  I have a feeling shrinkage has come to end (past the roots), so it'll be length, length, length from here on out.

 

DREALOCKS ARE...

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Month 17

Hello all,

As some of my locs made one year and five months today I'll continue with the photos and updates I was planning to share with you.

Aside from my unloc'd roots, shrinkage didn't seem as prominent as it had been which was allowing my locs to appear longer and making styling a little easier. I'd been comfortably wearing my hair in the following style for days at a time - click here.

Five months ago I wrote that I was going to avoid trimming my locs to be able to see as much growth as possible and I'm glad to say that since my ends had sealed I was been able to do just that. The one thing I did feel the need to do was groom my locs via pruning (trimming stray hairs along the outer shafts) in order to control frizz. I found that palm-rubbing wasn't effective enough due to how frequently I was washing my hair.

(photo take in mid August).


when will the ends stop curling up like this?

(photos taken a day before combing out my locs).

retwisting with coconut oil

The overall condition of my hair is quite good at the moment. As the weather in August has been modest compared with July's hot spell, here in the UK, my hair has been able to retain its softness between washes. I've just been infrequently spritzing my hair with water and applying my raw coconut oil.

Remember that time I was so frustrated with my "unravelling fro" that I sort advise from a loc'd guy I saw on the bus? Well recently it was my turn to give advise, on a bus no less. A lady with slim, probably shoulder length locs (that were up in a ponytail at the time) asked for advice on minimising damage when colouring her hair. I was ogling her locs at first so I was slightly taken aback when she chimed in with her question. I directed her to the products I'd used to lighten my hair with considerably less risk/damage than when I'd experimented with bleach. She seemed keen to give it a go and got off the bus shortly after, but not before asking whether I was free-forming and then complimenting me on how bright and thick my locs were. That sort of made my day.

 (photos taken a week before I started combing my locs out - click here).


I'll leave it there and get back to everyone once I've decided what I want to do with my locs and two strand twists.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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Update: Reinstalling/Combing Out Locs

This weekend I started combing out my locs. To get straight to the point I was actually all set to tell you how I was just starting to really like my locs but this weekend something changed. I decided to retwist and that's when I realised I don't like how flat and sparse the front and sides look.

I've spent the last two days combing out the locs I don't like and put them in two strand twists:

I'm not sure what the end results will yield but once I'm done I'll let the two strand twists loc up from there.

DREADLOCKS ARE...

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

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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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**