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!

THEY GET LOOSE AND MESSY LOOKING- My twist and rip dreads started off so thick and tight... after the first wash they started loosening up at the roots. Then they started loosening up through the whole section. Some worse than others. This is completely normal. If you get to this point try not to mess with them too much. You don't need a crochet hook or to do any sort of maintenance on them. That's only going to slow down your progress and take your dreads even longer to mature. They WILL loosen before they start to tighten up. Headbands will be your new best friend.

I'M NOW OBSESSED WITH HEAD WRAPS & HEADBANDS AND ALL THINGS DREAD RELATED! - I love window shopping for head gear! From wraps to headbands, to beads, to beanies. There's so many things you can do with dreads! You don't want to put decorations in your hair while your dreads are still young... As fun as they look, your dreads really need to be free to loc up. I've heard that you can put in embroidery thread in a criss cross pattern and be ok. I'm planning to put some in soon. I have a ton of it from my friendship bracelet making days!






YOUR WASH ROUTINE WILL CHANGE - If you weren't doing the "no poo" method of washing your hair before, I highly recommend starting it before you start your dreads. You need your hair extra clean and residue-free before you put in your dreads. I've learned that my hair absolutely LOVES being washed with baking soda. I've never had my hair feel so healthy and clean before. If you've never heard of this before here's some good info on how to wash with baking soda and vinegar. There's also lots of dread shampoo out there. Some are really good and others not so good. I really like this list on the Raging Roots Studio website. Besides the baking soda I also splurged and bought some foaming dread shampoo from a shop on Etsy called My Tangled Knots. It's on the approved list of shampoos on the Raging Roots site. :) You can find her Etsy shop here. I bought the Tea Tree one based on the fact that Tea Tree oil is supposed to be good for your scalp. If I like it I plan to go back and buy the Orange-Tangerine one. Sounds like it smells so yummy!

So there you have it, week one... I've been getting a lot of questions from friends about dreadlocks and I hope I've answered their questions either in this post or my last one. If you have any questions about my experience so far you can find me on Instagram under the name: @cambrayah. I'd be happy to help you! Or if you're friends with me on FB, you can always message me. :)

I plan to post again soon so check back!