HUGE change... but no chop. O.o (Pic heavy)

[terryn]

Hello LHC! It has been quite a while since I have seen your faces, not that I was an active poster before my little break. But, I have had this post brewing for quite some time now, because I have changed my hair tremendously, and wanted to make sure the change "stuck" before posting about it here.

This is my most recent progress shot - taken 1/14/2011, my hair is about 1/2" above APL.

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4031&pictureid=104982

What was the change you may ask?


...Dreads!

That's right, LHC - nearly 5 months ago to the day, I took a flying leap off the bandwagon and over the cliff, and I dreaded my hair. I wasn't really sure I'd stick with it. I knew I really wanted to (I had been thinking about doing it for nearly a year) but, I was very attached to my neat, shiny hair, and to growing it out. But, you only live once and I wanted to try dreads, at least for a little while.

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104984

Sectioning my hair out in preparation for dreading. There were roughly 27 sections when we started. We backcombed the daylight out of my hair, and my friend crocheted some sections to help them stick together a bit better. Zero product was used - these dreads are au natural.

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104983


Immediately after backcombing. For those who don't know, it takes a while before they really start to look like what people recognize as dreads. Mine are just starting to get there, but I basically looked like a huge fuzz ball for the first few months.

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104987

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104988

This is about two weeks in.

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104990

This is my "just out of the shower" look, from just a few weeks ago.

See how they've changed?!

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104992

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104991

And, this is how I've been wearing them recently:

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104994

Poor flexi-8, getting a little eaten by the dreadlings.

And a side-shot:

http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4694&pictureid=104995

So, yeah! There you have it!

I still plan on growing my hair out - I'm looking forward to having long, crazy dreads, and I am hoping to comb them out when the time is right and have long, somewhat healthy hair, even if it will need some rehab and a trim.

I am still washing my hair with BS, like I was pre-dreads, I'm using using a bit more now and having to go at it a little differently to make sure everything gets washed. I am not conditioning at this time, but when they are older I am planning on using some coconut oil in them to try and keep my hair healthy.

I still probably won't be around much, but I miss you guys! So, I'm lurking here and there. ;p

[umbrellabones]

I have always liked dreads. Not for me though! I like that you had the guts to go for it. I always thought that the only way to get rid of them was to cut them out though? You can comb them out? I'm curious as to how so!

[terryn]

You can comb them out, most definitely. Although with the age of the dreads it gets harder. I imagine if you've had them for a long enough time, the amount of time it would take to comb them out would really outweigh having more hair than if you cut them.

[ifthemoonsmiled]

I love dreads! They look great on you. I had 'em for a while, but it was too hard for me to keep them. They'd all turn into one big dread whenever I got them wet & it took hours to separate them again. Combed them out, but my hair was all frazzly & broken. I cut it short soon after. Not to discourage you...I have friends who have had much better experiences with dreads & have combed them out with no issues. Guess my hair just wasn't a fan. I envy people who can wear them!

[terryn]

Aw, thank you! I didn't have too much of a problem with them combining in the beginning, and now that they are pretty much formed they are behaving quite well. The first few months tho I had to rip them all in half as my friend had sectioned them out bigger than I wanted, so that really hurt and took forever. :/

Yeah, I'm not really thinking about removal for the immediate future, I'll probably keep them for a few years, so hopefully all the hair I ruined will be regrown by then and less ruined anyway.

[Dragon]

I like dreads. I saw knee length dreads once and they looked awsome.

[Drynwhyl]

Awesome! Good luck in growing them, give them lots of love :)
I'm also with you in the journey, but I haven't backcombed mine, I'm just letting my dreads form by themselves...No product, I just wash my hair and occasionally palm-roll them. My hair feels extremely healthy, leaving it alone really helps :)

[jasper]

Thanks for posting. I want to have dreads some time.

[pink.sara]

Cool! They are forming nicely and look cute in your updo. :)

Just a friendly warning about the combing out process though... Don't get too attached to the idea you can comb them out.
Speaking from experience, my hair is silky straight and was dreaded at waist length then kept dreaded for 5 or so years during which time they grew to knee, I washed them normally and conditioned with a light spray for Afro hair but even with 2 friends helping and a whole bank holiday weekend of combing torture (8-10 hour days) I still ended up cutting to roughly a shoulder bob.
I have lots of friends who we have dreaded then cut and in my experience the only person we've managed to successfully comb out had APL 4b hair. Straight hair kinks permanently after a while in dreads.

They are cool though and I hope you enjoy the change :)

[terryn]

Awesome! Good luck in growing them, give them lots of love :)
I'm also with you in the journey, but I haven't backcombed mine, I'm just letting my dreads form by themselves...No product, I just wash my hair and occasionally palm-roll them. My hair feels extremely healthy, leaving it alone really helps :) I'm really impressed you're doing "organic" method! I don't have the patience for that, and my only real worry when doing them was that they'd end up too big, so I don't think I've relinquished control enough for that. But, I hope they turn out super amazing for you!


Cool! They are forming nicely and look cute in your updo.

Just a friendly warning about the combing out process though... Don't get too attached to the idea you can comb them out.
Speaking from experience, my hair is silky straight and was dreaded at waist length then kept dreaded for 5 or so years during which time they grew to knee, I washed them normally and conditioned with a light spray for Afro hair but even with 2 friends helping and a whole bank holiday weekend of combing torture (8-10 hour days) I still ended up cutting to roughly a shoulder bob.
I have lots of friends who we have dreaded then cut and in my experience the only person we've managed to successfully comb out had APL 4b hair. Straight hair kinks permanently after a while in dreads.

They are cool though and I hope you enjoy the change
I'm not *super* attached to combing them out, I go back and forth between wanting to hawk them then shave them down to a buzz cut or trying to salvage them. But, I'm pretty fickle, so I'll just figure it out when the time comes. I just would rather avoid having to grow from a hawk again - it was a very slow and painful process. But thanks so much for the honesty and encouragement!

[SC]

Wow your dreads are lovely! They look very good on you and I've never thought that dreads could be on up-do and be that pretty.

[terryn]

Wow your dreads are lovely! They look very good on you and I've never thought that dreads could be on up-do and be that pretty.
Aw, that's sweet of you! Thanks! My sister bought me the flexi-8 for Christmas, about 2 weeks before I did the dreads, so I knew I needed to find a way to use it. ;p

[archel]

Ah, so jealous you have the guts to do this - too permanent-ish for me! I had dread extension several times that lasted for about 3 months before they began to slip and I had to take them out. WOW talk about heavy. Here's a photo:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263991_10150303411045631_512320630_9888431_6716775 _n.jpg

They were black, red, pink, and white, and some of them had the colors swirled like a candycane. :)

[newbeginning]

Ah, so jealous you have the guts to do this - too permanent-ish for me! I had dread extension several times that lasted for about 3 months before they began to slip and I had to take them out. WOW talk about heavy. Here's a photo:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263991_10150303411045631_512320630_9888431_6716775 _n.jpg

They were black, red, pink, and white, and some of them had the colors swirled like a candycane. :)

Too bad these didn't last because they look awesome.

[FluffSpider]

I also had dreads on the back side of my head-they took about 2 months to start looing like actual dreads. I had some very thin cotton-covered elastics, and had about 10 of them. I kept playing with them, up and down the 'tail' every day. By the end of the 2 months, they looked like full-blown dreads. The process was easier if you took smaller sections. I had to comb them out after two months, because I visited some therapeutic baths and the water was VERY salty-they came out WHITE. I got home, took out the teasing comb( no, no LHC back then:d) and started working. The shedding is rather shocking because 2 months worth of shed hairs were caught in them, but my hair wasn't really damaged-then again my dreads were 3 inches *give or take half an inch* so YMMV

[jujube]

I also used to have dreads! What I love about them is they get nicer and nicer with time.

[terryn]

Ah, so jealous you have the guts to do this - too permanent-ish for me! I had dread extension several times that lasted for about 3 months before they began to slip and I had to take them out. WOW talk about heavy.

Those look stunning! Yeah, they are mostly permenant, but I was definitely in the "seriously want to do it, but not brave enough to" phase for a long while. I gthink what really helped me get over that was a girl at my work who I see nearly every day got her dreads put in, so I got to watch them firsthand thru their entire existence. She's talking about cutting them off now at a year old, but she was definitely a big inspiration to me.

[terryn]

I also had dreads on the back side of my head-they took about 2 months to start looing like actual dreads. I had some very thin cotton-covered elastics, and had about 10 of them. I kept playing with them, up and down the 'tail' every day. By the end of the 2 months, they looked like full-blown dreads. The process was easier if you took smaller sections. I had to comb them out after two months, because I visited some therapeutic baths and the water was VERY salty-they came out WHITE. I got home, took out the teasing comb( no, no LHC back then:d) and started working. The shedding is rather shocking because 2 months worth of shed hairs were caught in them, but my hair wasn't really damaged-then again my dreads were 3 inches *give or take half an inch* so YMMV

I have a friend who started hers about a week after I started mine, she crotchet and maintains hers pretty much constantly and used wax when she started them. She's really happy with hers and I definitely think they are more recognizable as dreads at this point. But, I like the idea of letting them do their own thing and just seeing where they end up, for me that's half the point of it. I'm at 6 months today, and while they are no as far along as I had hoped, I'm still perfectly happy with them, and I'm starting to get a lot more comments about them, so I think other people are starting to see what is going on with my hair.

I'm so glad I'm not the only dreadie/dread enthusiast lurking around here! Maybe we need our own social club.... ;p