Speaking of washing my hair... 

People with dreads DO WASH THEIR HAIR! I've already had so many people ask me if I'm allowed to wash it. The big fat answer is a HUGE YES! I think I mentioned this in one of my first posts. Hair will not dread unless it's clean. Have you ever let your hair go a day or two between washing it and it's a greasy nasty oily mess? (I know I have... especially when my kids where newborns and I could barely get in a bite to eat, nevermind a full shower with a hair wash!) Oily hair is stringy looking, feels gross, and looks gross. 

In order for your hair to knot you need it to be squeaky clean with no conditioners. 

I think what people are mistaking for not washing your hair is the fact that most dreadheads will go longer between washes. I promise, there's a reason for this... and I also promise, our hair doesn't stink. ;) When you start your dreads you want to get your scalp to produce less oil than before. Before I started mine I was washing my hair every day and could barely go 24 hours between washes. If I went any longer then my hair was super oily. With all that frequent washing, brushing and running my fingers through my hair I was basically telling my scalp to produce more oil. By stretching out my washing little by little and switching to baking soda/acv to wash my hair I can go even longer before my hair starts to get oily. One of the other big reasons you want to space out your washing is because as your dreads mature they get 30-50% thicker. All those thick dreads take a LONG time to dry! You want your hair to fully dry before you have to wash it again... Could you imagine always having your hair wet? It would probably start to stink and smell like mildew. Ick.

So there you have it... I feel a bit weird admitting that I'm trying to space out my hair washing. I still shower every day (in case you were wondering lol), but I now use a shower cap on my non-wash days. I'm now up to washing my hair every 2-3 days. For example, I washed my hair on Tuesday and my next wash day will be on Friday morning. The week before I started my dreads I was going every other day. 

If you're planning to start dreads, know that it will take some time for your hair and scalp to adjust to a different routine. If I had to start over I wouldn't be so impatient and I'd let my hair adjust BEFORE I started them.

Sorry... I got a little crazy about washing... Anyway, no real changes as far as looks go from last week. I can see some little loopies starting to form in some dreads and my roots are so loose on some of them. Both are completely normal and I'm just letting my hair do it's own thing. I've decided not to do any crochet hooking or sewing in the frizz. If not done right that will only cause damage and it's really only a temporary fix. If you start doing it, you're going to have to keep on doing it. I don't have time for that! I'm a mom of 4 kids... I wanted dreads so that I could be lazy with my hair, not have to do more work! lol I'm only half kidding about that. ;)

Oh! I almost forgot... I think I'm getting some shrinkage!