A year ago: scared to shampoo

I left the mirror steamy as a courtesy

A year ago today I was nervous about washing my hair.  It was the first time I was going to try it after the locking, and I had to wear a stocking to make sure I didn't rip them apart.  My hair sucked up shampoo like Jewish cooking does salt, and then, hours later, after they were finally dry, I had to wax them again.

If you're one of those people who believes that white people shouldn't have dreadlocks because all the extra work should be telling us something, you're preaching to the choir here.  By this time a year ago, I realized that making and maintaining dreadlocks, at least using my chosen methods, was much more work than I'd ever done on my hair before.

Of course, I also was starting to have more fun with my silly hair.  I asked a dreadlock poll question which had such epic rhymes that thirteen people have answered since I asked it a year ago.  How cool is that?

One year later, I'm still spending more time than I should be on my locks (well, on half my dreadlocks anyway), and I'm pretty much done with that.  Once this test period ends next month, I will be very, very glad to neglect my locks like a normal person.

End of the line, DreadHeadHQ Dread Shampoo!

I've been waiting for this day for months:  I have finally run out of dreadlock shampoo. How cool is that?

Shampoo is the one thing that I can't really use on just half my head.  That means that if this proprietary product is having a deleterious effect, I won't notice a difference from one side to the other.  No good!

Now I've read (sadly I can't find where at the moment) that the dreadlock wax business depends upon products that remove wax in order to survive.  If that's true, then I should think that my nurtured locks will be impacted.  There should be more hardening of those locks, and I should be able to detect surface wax for longer periods of time.

I'm now using a natural shampoo recipe which was my staple before I started this madcap adventure, and which I understand is a pretty common one for dreadlock care.  However, according to this article on waxing dreadlocks, a baking soda and vinegar regimen can also be used to remove wax, so it's possible that I won't see the buildup I'm expecting.  But maybe this combo will work better at wax removal than the shampoo.  Not sure how I would demonstrate that, but feedback is welcome!

Warnings of Waxy Worries

I had some warnings about wax given to me today, and they're so far the most credible ones I've heard.

The young lady told me that she'd started her locks with wax six years ago, and showed me that on close inspection tiny white specks could be seen on them.

"That's the wax working it's way out," she explained.  She'd stopped using the stuff after a year.

It stands to reason that if you use too much wax it's going to build up.  Some naturalists say that the so-called "residue-free shampoo" is designed to strip the wax out just to prevent that sort of thing.  Wax buildup leads to moisture buildup, which can lead to mildew or lock rot.

Not pretty.

So I still think that it's the misuse of wax that causes problems.  What I don't know is how much wax is really too much, and that's worth thinking about.  I've always been confident that I can detect the wax in the lock, but maybe I can't.  As I write this I note that my nurtured side is still moist from this morning's ablutions, but the natural side is quite dry.

Better still, I think my waxing hand has been getting heavier.  That's much more insidious.  Wax could very well be a wonderful locking agent, but if it's easy to misuse or overuse, well that would automatically make it inappropriate for American consumers.

Nature vs Nurture: Some visual differences emerge

I need to become better at taking pictures of my hair.  Close-up pictures that lets you see exactly what it is that I'm talking about.  But hey, if I can't paint a picture with words then the seas will rise anyway.

People, at least when they're prompted, say that they notice a difference between the sides of my head, and they can identify which side I'm leaving alone and which I'm futzing with.  I couldn't figure out how to embed the online version.

Here's a quick table laying out what I'm doing with each side of my head.

	Nature side	Nurture side
Lemon-saltwater spray	Yes	Yes
Wax	No	Yes
Palmrolling	No	Yes
Crochet hooking	No	Yes
Clockwise rubbing	No	Yes
Lock Pepa	No	Yes
Rubber bands	No	Yes
Split-and-twist	No	No
Dread Shampoo	Yes	Yes
Separating	No	Yes

Some things it's hard to do on just one side, like shampoo and the saltwater spray.  The latter (lemon juice and sea salt in water, spritz after bathing) is a replacement for a product, and the naturalists seem to like it so I'll stick with it.  The shampoo I'm going to use until it runs out, but I have ideas for a more meaningful replacement when that time comes.

I know there's an actual term for the technique I called "split-and-twist," but I forget what it is.  It involves parting the unlocked hair at the base of the lock and feeding the entire lock through the opening.  I'm holding off on doing this to tighten the bases, as I've heard that weakens the locks and I would rather look into that separately.

Speaking of separately, "separating" simply means cutting or breaking strands from one lock which get stuck in another.  I'm curious to see if my nurture locks will start to grow together.

PS - if you desperately need a fix about my dreadlocks and I haven't posted in awhile, check out the Dread Like Me YouTube playlist.  From time to time I'm in a visual mood instead of a writing one.

Nature vs nurture dreadlock test

This is a better name than the "half-headed challenge," but sometimes it takes awhile for my brain to catch up with itself.

As I gear up for the nature vs nurture dreadlock test, I'm winding down on my residue-free shampoo.  This probably isn't a bad thing, because I'm finding it's harder and harder to rinse it out on the first try. As wholesome as it is, I'm going to move to a baking-soda based shampoo once that stuff is gone, and use it on both sides.  I'll post the recipe for it and the vinegar rinse at some point.

Not tonight, I have to wash my hair

I washed my hair for the first time today.  Twice a week is recommended for new locks, with the suggestion that you can wash more frequently as they tighten up.  My mother washed my hair once a week and I keep to that schedule (unless something makes me grimy), so the question is going to be whether this new hairstyle attracts more dirt.

Am I a bank robber?  Only my hairdresser knows for sure.

I'm not entirely sure I did it right.  I wore a stocking on my head because the locks are still fragile, so the first challenge was getting the damned thing over my head.  When I finally stretched it out enough to fit, I felt like my skull was in a medieval torture device.  I used the dreading shampoo by washing through the stocking, and there was no sudsing at all.  There were suds when I used this shampoo just prior to dreading, so I don't know where they went. Were they sloughed off by the stocking or absorbed by the dreads?

I focused on my scalp, because that's where everything you don't want on your head tends to show up.  I scrubbed as best I could through the nylon, and squished my head around to get the soap in my hair to come out as I rinsed.

The post-shower fluffhead look

Shampooing is definitely dangerous, because with the nylon removed I can tell that there's less wax, and the locks are all much less tight.  Looking at the picture, I think that some of them may have doubled in width.

I don't think I could have done that by taking off the stocking too roughly (think there's a how-to video for that?).  Thinking on it, it's probably because the wax which is helping to compress the hair until it locks was washed out.  I guess that means that I did it right after all.

So the washing means I have to add more wax, based on the approach I'm taking to locking my hair. The debate over whether or not to use wax or not is a really fierce one, believe it or not, and it's worth a post of its own to explain the different positions and how I made my choice.  I've made it, though, and it means that I need to put wax in a lock if I can't detect any in it.  After my hair is completely dry I'll be adding a small amount of dread wax to about half of my locks. I can do it while watching television, but it's probably going to add half an hour to my hair routine on washing day, which is a lot.

The daily routine right now includes checking locks for wax, rewaxing the ones that need it (again, only if I can't feel any wax at all), and palmrolling each of them for thirty seconds, or a minute for the rewaxed locks.  Eventually I will be using wax only every other week, and mature locks have no need of it, so the time requirements drop off.  I won't be washing my hair any less, and with the time requirements I sure as hell hope I don't have to wash it more.

Drying takes more time, too.  I prefer shorter hair because I can quickly towel it and let it air dry, and that takes longer now.  I also find that my scalp itches while it's drying.  I don't think I will start using a blow dryer, but I can't put a hat on wet dreads so the time factor could force my hand if I have to be somewhere. Especially when they're fluffy like this, I'd prefer to keep them covered in a lot of circumstances.  I'm a journalist, and it would be a distraction if my hair became the story.

Coming soon:  a video from dread day.  I have the link to the Flip video and should have time to figure out how to edit it together soon.

Today's the day!

Yep, I have chosen Earth Day as my locks' birthday.  I need to take one more before picture, to capture the moment for all time.

Then I'm going to wash my hair with dread shampoo and figure out how big I want 'em to come out.  This can get complicated, but these tips on sectioning for dreadlocks say I should be aiming for bundles of hair about the diameter of a pencil, which will make slightly thicker locks.  We will figure out how big the sections need to be.  It ranges from about half an inches to two inches for each square, and my hair is thick so I expect that about an inch per square will be about right. I want my locks to be consistent in thickness because it will look nicer and they will mature at the same rate.

Then I will squirt a bit of locking accelerator on them before the backcombing begins.

Crap, I need to figure out what we should watch on TV while we're doing this!

Got my dread kit!

Supa Dupa Dread Kit + Lock Peppa

I got my Supa-Dupa Dread Kit in the mail today (well, yesterday), exactly when it was promised.  Here's what I got in the box, which includes the kit and one add-on product:  dreading comb, dread wax, dread shampoo, lock accelerator, and Lock Peppa.  That last one is the product I added onto the kit.

So far, so good:  I was promised the kit in 5-7 days and got it in 6.  Everything I ordered was in the box.  Nothing was broken, there wasn't any unnecessary packaging, and there was absolutely nothing else in the box - they sent me an email, and I like that they didn't print the invoice out, too.

Dreading comb

The dreading comb is the crux of this entire adventure.  It's the tool that makes this a process of cultivation, rather than simply allowing it to grow wild.  My head's going to be an English garden, not an old-growth forest.

Backcombing can technically be done with any comb, but if it's not metal it's probably not going to hold up without breaking.  I'll be writing a lot more about backcombing, the technique which my team is going to use for the locking.

Dread shampoo

In terms of PR, I think the dread shampoo and its tag line ("dread don't have to be dirty") is top priority.  Not only is it possible to wash dreadlocks, it's a really good idea.  Good washing and drying practice helps the lock tighten up and keeps them healthy.  However, ordinary shampoo will do anything but.

Commercial shampoo has a whole lot of crap in it, crap that doesn't get rinsed out of locks the way it does out of "straight" hair.  (When you're talking dreadlocks, "straight" is hair which isn't locked.)  When I popped the top on this bottle, I didn't smell a blessed thing.

Dread wax

The wax is something that I'll use a lot of early on, and eventually not need at all.  You have to put a whole lot of in the new dreads, but re-waxing doesn't happen until there's none left in a particular lock.

DreadHeadHQ calls its wax Dread Butta.  The stuff is slightly yellowish (can you say "waxy yellow buildup?") and doesn't have any particular odor.  It has about the same consistency as coconut oil does at room temperature.

Locking accelerator is a product that's supposed to help the locks form.  It comes in a powder in this bottle, which has to be filled with water to whip the stuff up.

Not entirely sure what this stuff is supposed to do, but I'm going to make some kind of mass-instruction list about what to use when and how and maybe even why, so I can keep it all straight, which will hopefully keep my hair from staying that way.

I don't think there's much to be said about the elastic bands, although the kit came with 50 more than promised, which is cool.  Overdelivering makes good marketing sense.  The bands are black, which is especially stylish.  They're going to help keep the locks separated as they mature.  Natural dreads merge and separate over time, but I'm not going for that effect right now.

Why do I want dreadlocks?

Egads, what on earth am I doing this for?  Why do I want dreadlocks?  It's an important question, part of the whole mental-preparation process.  This video is definitely worth ten minutes of your time if you want to dread your hair.  I'll clue you in below if it's not worth spending ten minutes.

As Jonny Clean explains, knowing why I want dreadlocks is going to make it easier, because the reason will give me the commitment and the will to get through the hard parts.  For the first six months that's going to include:

• The long day of initial locking
• Daily palm-rolling of locks and checking for loose hairs
• Weekly waxing
• Regular washing, every two or three days for most of the process

My reason, and my commitment, will also carry me through as I learn to explain my hair, answer questions which I'm sure will get tiresome ("You wash your hair?" "Yes, I just can't use the chemical crap on most stores shelves because the residues will cause rot and mildew."), and potentially deal with bias or discrimination based on my appearance.

Writing a book about it isn't going to cut it - that's too circular.  For me, like many people, this is going to be a spiritual journey.  Where it starts will be with a desire to learn more patience, which is one of the reasons I admire trees and other plants as much as I do.  Trees can only adapt to the world by using one tool:  slow, methodical growth.  In comparison, blooming flowers and ripening vegetables in the garden seem swift, but gardens themselves are best improved year over year in the long haul.

Where the journey will take me after that is unknown - and that's part of the fun.  I like being surprised.

It looks like this will be happening in about a week or so, although the full cast and crew hasn't been lined up yet.

How long to dread?

Even though I've made up my mind to dread, I'm still pondering if my hair is ready or not.  In some ways it's readier than anyone's, but it may literally fall short, or come close.

Hair with texture, before shower

I've been washing my hair using a non-residue natural shampoo that I make at home, and instead of conditioner I use a vinegar rinse.  I avoid putting a hat on when it's damp, but I've worn my took throughout this long, cold winter.  When it got really goddamned cold, I put on hat on over it when I went out.  I haven't brushed my hair since last summer . . . I'm going to say certainly August 2010, but probably sometime in July.

I think it's safe to say that my hair has texture, as evidenced by these before-and-after-shower pictures.  In the first, I pulled my took off and simply photographed exactly what I saw in the mirror.  The second picture is after I have towel-dried my hair.

Hair with texture, after shower

Where I may lack is in length.  Most sources I find online suggest a 4-6 inch minimum for my hair, because while it has texture and definitely can dread, it lacks the kink factor which makes it possible to lock hair when it's as short as an eighth of an inch, so it's claimed.

When I was a young man, I had more than 18 inches of hair, and I pulled it back into a ponytail for about a week straight, discovering the natural method for locking hair.  I never completed the process, but it tells me that I can probably get away with something closer to 4 inches, and I'm reasonably sure I've got at least 5 all around.

The main advantage of locking the hair when it's shorter is that it will take less time for my dreadful friends to help me.  The backcombing process can take six hours for 18 inches of hair, and is painful and tiring.

On the other hand, it also means less time to practice, so there won't be any really mythic dreads.

On the other other hand, my hair is going to take more maintenance in the first months to get it to lock.  Longer hair simply stays put better.

Ultimately I like shifting most of the work onto my own shoulders, since I will also reap most of the rewards, whatever they shall be.