The Crunchy Life

Okay so its been a few days since I updated and I thought I'd let y'all know what I've been up to. I guess the most pertinent news is that I *finally* got my application to apply for DreadHeadHQ Sponsorship. I'm WICKED psyched to finish that up and send it back to KJC. I'm just waiting for Meg (whose hair I dreaded last weekend and it came out AWESOME) to post the photos from her dread party to send along with the application. I am looking forward to seeing where that will take me.

As I just mentioned last weekend I helped Meg put her dreads in. She now has 55 suh-weet dreads. We backcombed and crochet 'em all and pulled all of her ends in right at the get-go. She knows that she will have to frequently touch up the ends as the dreads begin maturing and doing their own thing. It took us, over the course of two days, probably a total of 16 hours or so to put in her dreads. It would have likely taken us much less time if we had just backcombed without the crochet. She started by washing her hair with DreadHeadHQ Dread Soap and then sprayed it with Locking Accelerator. She toweled off much of the excess moisture and blow-dried her hair so we could section it. We did approximately 1 inch sections with the ones around her hair line a little smaller so she can style it a little more easily (like the people who put in my dreads did). Meg has pretty thin hair that's prone to breakage so we wanted to make sure we didn't give her dreads that were TOO skinny. I think their size is JUST right! We used the DreadHeadHQ Dread Comb and Lock Peppa to backcomb and I used my 0.6 mm crochet hook to get 'em nice and tight! Like I said, we took pics on her friend, Elizabeth's camera... I'm just waiting for them to upload and post them on facebook so I can share some of them. ^_^

This past week has been pretty non-eventful. Our condo was shown once with mediocre results. We signed a pre-foreclosure agreement last Thursday saying that if we don't manage to sell this property (short-sale or otherwise) by July 30th they will foreclose on us. Here's hoping it doesn't come to that, but I have to admit I'm not particularly optimistic about it. I did have a dream a few nights ago that we received two offers, one for $90,000 and the other for $96,250 (oddly specific, I know!).... so maybe it was a sign... here's hoping!!!

My mom made an official offer on the house that was accepted for $118,000, and it was inspected a couple days ago. They found termites and some structural damage equaling about $2,000 which I guess the owner is taking care of. And I hear the closing is probably going to be at the end of June. I was kind of hoping she would close a little sooner so we could start moving our already packed stuff into the new basement. We will be, as previously mentioned, moving into her garage. Glamorous, I know. But... as my mother so poignantly put it, it's better than being homeless.

In other news, I have finally gotten off my butt and starting making some dread coils! They are listed in my Etsy shop; Sylph Wings Designs. I created a Seven Chakra Dread Coil with gemstones to represent each chakra. I think I want to tweak it some... but they are currently available! So, check it out! I have plans to also make one with gemstones to represent the five elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit), and another with gemstones to represent the four directions of the medicine wheel (East, South, West, and North). Keep an eye out for those!

In other exciting news we have a friend coming over to stay for a few days on his way through to Sherman, NY for me to put dreads in HIS hair! I will take plenty of photos to share!

Thanks for reading!

Blessings

~ KnottyMama

A surprising number of people have indicated in my poll that they would like me to make an entry about washing your dreads. I have been doing some more reading and I really wanted to address a couple of other issues in this entry as well. I want to address not only HOW to clean and shampoo your dreads, but also how frequently you should wash, and I want to address the stereotype that dreads are dirty or gross.

Firstly, the biggest questions people usually have is ‘how often should I wash my dreads’? There are several factors to consider in this question. On the DreadHeadHQ website they say to wash your dreads every 2-3 days. Honestly, I think this is way too frequent, ESPECIALLY for new dreads! The wonderfully helpful people at DHHQ correctly explain that clean, dry hair locks and matures faster than dirty hair. However, washing also loosens loose hairs and can cause a lot of frizz. The theory here is that the oils from your scalp will loosen dreads and prevent them from locking. However, it is entirely relative. If you washed and brushed your hair (and stimulated your scalp) every day before dreads at first things might get a bit greasy. This is because your scalp is used to getting a certain amount of stimulation and when it doesn’t it begins to produce more oil. Even with ‘regular’ hair they say that you only need to wash your hair however often as you do, because your scalp will adjust its oil production accordingly. If you regularly wash daily than after two days you will have greasy hair. If you only washed every 2-3 days, after 3 days you’ll be oily, and so on and so forth. Having dreadlocks is no different. Hair is hair!

The biggest complaint I get about washing less frequently is that the itch is unbearable! This, too, is a result of less scalp stimulation. Without dreadlocks, you are brushing or combing your hair and stimulating it every day (or at least I assume you did!). Once the dreads go in that comes to a screeching halt and the scalp needs time to adjust. The itch is your scalp craving stimulation and there are two major ways to get it: wash your hair, or scratch it and DON’T wash your hair! I can’t say enough for the DreadHeadHQ Head Honcho! This was an invaluable tool for me for the first few weeks of dread-hood while I was still in my itchy period. Another option if you haven’t ordered your Head Honcho yet is to clock-wise rub… not only does it stimulate the scalp and quell the itch, but it helps to encourage knotting and locking at your roots! If you continue to wash your hair every 2-3 days you will never be able to space out your shampooing, and at the beginning of your dread journey especially frequent washing can be a real downer as far as fuzz, loose hair, and frizz!

After your dreads are established you CAN wash more frequently if you want to, but at that point why bother, IMHO! LOL. When my dreads were first put in by my wonderful dready friends, they told me right off the bat DO NOT WASH YOUR DREADS FOR A WEEK! Occasionally, someone will send me a message asking me what I do to maintain my dreads for them to look as decent as they do considering their young age and I firmly believe my washing frequency and technique has a big part to play in that. Although things get itchy and sometimes oily, it gives the body of the dreads more opportunity to lock in between shampoos. I have never shampooed more frequently than once a week since getting my dreads in. In fact, many dread heads only wash every TWO weeks, which I am building myself up to slowly. Although some of us like to be dirty hippies, just because you only shampoo every week or so doesn’t mean you can’t shower in between! Invest in a good shower cap to wear to prevent dreads from getting wet on non-washing days. And, another important thing to note, I didn’t wash the dreads themselves until just last week (8 weeks old). When your dreadies are just starting out and aren’t established yet all you really have to do is wash your scalp/roots. Realistically, that’s where all the crud, oil, and grime is, anyway and it feels fantastic!

As far as scalp itch goes there are some other things you can do to minimize it. If you are using any products (Read: Lock Accelerator) that specifies NOT to get it on the scalp, follow the directions and DON’T do it! Any products that use sea salt, in particular, can make scalp itch worse and cause dandruff. Also, if I haven’t mentioned it yet, make sure you’re using a shampoo that is residue free! The DreadHeadHQ Dread Soap is top-notch and comes highly recommended by this dready mama! Residue is also a big cause of scalp itch in even non-dreaded hair.

So it took some finagling, but I manage to get a video of myself shampooing my own dreads to give you an idea of how you can go about it yourselves. Below the video is some text directions on how to wash, too!




HOW TO WASH YOUR DREADLOCKS:

1. Naturally, if your going to wash those dreadies you gotta get ‘em wet first! So step in the shower and soak those dreads before you get started. (Okay… read the whole instruction list first…. THEN hop in the shower!)
2. Squeeze some of that DreadHeadHQ Dread Soap into your hand… I usually start with a full palm-full about the size of a half dollar or more.
3. Start lathering it up on the top of your head, using your fingers on the scalp to massage it in between all your dreads.
4. Squeeze more Dread Soap into your hand (about the same amount) and rub your hands together and lather up the sides of your head the same way as the top of your head.
5. Finally, squeeze just a bit more soap into your hands and lather up the back of your head and give the whole scalp a good, stimulating massage.
6. Next, which I only recommend if your dreads are AT LEAST a month old, preferably closer to 6-8 weeks old, you can begin rolling sections of your dreads in between your hands like palm rolling. Roll down the entire section of dreads to get ‘em good and clean.
7. Repeat the above step until you have gotten every dread.
8. Rinse! Make sure you rinse them out REALLY good. You do NOT want a soap left behind inside the dreads themselves OR on your scalp.
9. Squeeze your dreads to get the excess water out. You will probably have to do this a couple of times to get all the water out.

Drying your dreads is beyond the scope of this article, although DreadHeadHQ has a great section on their website about how to dry your dreads. At this point, once I step out of the shower, I will wrap my dreads up in a towel to get some of the excess water out, spray with Lock Accelerator, and put the towel back on my head until I’m finished getting dressed for the morning (about 5 - 10 minutes… since usually my shirt won’t fit over the towel). Then I take the towel off and let ‘em air dry! I didn’t mention this in my blog about dread beads but if you have them, make sure you shift them around throughout the day to make sure that the dreads underneath them dry really well, too!

Now, another thing I want to address before I sign off for the night is the cleanliness issue. There are some people who claim that people with dreads have dirty hair because we shampoo less frequently. That is simply NOT the case! Like I talked about earlier, the less often you wash your hair the less oil your scalp will produce. So, if you have dreadlocks and only wash your hair every 1-2 weeks your scalp is producing a negligible amount of oil. That, in addition to the fact that dread heads religiously use (or should use) residue-free soap, means that in all actuality, people with dreadlocks actually can have CLEANER hair than our non-dreaded brothers and sisters who use shampoos and conditioners with all kinds of fragrances and moisturizers. I repeat: DREADS ARE NOT DIRTY! DREADS ARE PROBABLY CLEANER THAN REGULAR HAIR! I am not aware of any official studies on this issue, but I think logically, you’ll agree that it’s the case!

The only thing that can stop misconceptions and ignorance about dreadlocks and cleanliness is EDUCATION! I love answering questions about dreads and encourage all my dreaded friends be prepared to field questions from all kinds of people who are fascinated by your awesome dreadlocks! I hope this article has helped you all out and I look forward to your comments! Happy Washing!

I'm super excited everyone. One of my crunchy mama friends in Southern CT is ready to take her own leap into her own journey of dread-hood. Her and I have been chatting back and forth for a couple of weeks now about it, what products I suggested she purchase, what she needs to do to prepare, etc. She was saving up to buy a Dread Kit from DreadHeadHQ and finally took the plunge and has arrange her own dread party. To my knowledge, I am the only person who actually knows HOW to dread hair, so I suspect I'll be doing a fair bit of instructing while I'm there. I'm so excited for her! Of course, I'm also excited to get to help her out! I LOVE dreading people's hair, so this will be a really fun opportunity for me! I am heading to her place with my LO in tow Saturday afternoon. The hope is to at least section her hair Saturday evening so on Sunday we can get right to the good part!

I don't know yet if she will want her new dreads crocheted, but I am going to bring my NEW hook with me when I go! Yes, I received my NEW hook in the mail today! I tried it just a little bit on a couple of dreads in particular that were really hurtin' and the results were fantabulous. It has a nice fat handle which makes for less strain. The other cool part is that it actually came with a little metal cover to protect the hook, which in my case will more accurately protect my LO if she accidentally gets her little hands on it. I'm glad to have a hook that I know will cause minimal damage to my dreadies.

Other fun news, my hubby graciously agreed to remove all of my remaining rubber bands at the roots today! It is an exciting step in the growth of my dreads. To be honest, I felt like a lot of them were actually getting in the way at this point during clock-wise rubbing. Many of them had migrated down the dread and the dread had started sucking them in so I couldn't just take them out -- they had to be cut out. Now, though, I am BAND-FREE! Yippeee!!!

I am trying to get more in the habit of using my loose hair tool to pull in loose hairs in the body of the dread instead of crocheting. One person on the DHHQ Facebook Page suggested the results tend to be longer lasting than crochet. Here's hoping he's right! I spoke to a follow dread head through facebook who was very interested in seeing a video on how to use the Loose Hair Tool v. 2.0, so that will have to be something I plan on doing in the future. (Thanks for the suggestion, Natalie!)

However, my NEXT blog will actually be about washing dreads as so many of you have indicated you would like to see an entry about it. I actually have already written it, but am planning on making a video to accompany it tomorrow morning, so stay tuned!!! In the meantime, Happy Dreading!!!

Blessing

~ KnottyMama

It's April and I definitely see the end of this semester in sight. After this semester (I'm taking Sociology and Business Law now) I'll only have one class remaining in order to graduate with my degree in Business Administration. I've been hemming and hawing over what the next step from here is. When I first decided to get a degree in Business I figured I would open a healing practice using my Reiki/energy healing skills. (I'm a Reiki Master.) However, since then I've felt the Universe pulling me in another direction, but I can't quite see what's at the end. The next thing I thought I might do was become a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). I am still considering this option although I'm also trying to weigh what other possibilities are out there.

In my very first blog post I wrote about WWOOFing and since then read that most places (in this locale, anyway) expect WWOOFers to stay on for the entire growing season (from April - October) and work basically full-time Monday through Friday (and sometimes more!). It's not that I wouldn't enjoy that, it's just that its not feasible considering I already work part-time/go to school part-time. BUT, since then I discovered there is a college near here called Hampshire College in Amherst, MA that has a really awesome Agriculture program that has a distinct focus on sustainable and organic farming, agriculture, and food sources.

I have read so many articles about families that have created their own sustainable, off-grid homesteads and I think that's SO admirable and I would love to be able to do something like that but I just DON'T have the skills to do that! If I were to go to school for agriculture it would really be with the intention of using it toward that end, rather than towards a career, per say. I haven't really decided yet if I think that would be irresponsible! It seems silly to go to school for something and spend all that time and effort on something that, in the long run, won't equal out to enable me to generate income. So, I think I've decided ultimately that I might like to volunteer at a local farm on weekends (assuming I can bring my LO along) and go to school for something else.

On the KnottyBoy website they offer a lotician program where you can become certified by and affiliated with their company as a dread stylist. I think that's some pretty cool $h*t, but at the same time I'm not sure I can make a career out of that! Plus, I'd have to drive up to Canada to do it... not my cup of tea. So, I guess that leaves me back at midwifery, which I think no matter WHERE we end up is a marketable and, obviously, valuable skill. The more I talk about it the more excited I get about it again! Assuming I don't come up with something else again I will likely start in a distance-learning/apprenticeship program through a midwifery school in Vermont next Spring after I graduate with my degree. The last thing I want to do is load my plate TOO full.

Originally I thought I might become a Doula in the meantime to sort of get my foot in the door, but who knows if I'll do that or not. All I know is that despite how awesome of a boss I have (I mean... he doesn't care about me having dreads!) I am really looking forward to a change. The only thing I am hesitant about when it comes to midwifery is how unpredictable the schedule can be. With my own children I worry how that could affect us as a family. I always would need to have a back-up... someone who could watch my LO last minute if I had to run to a birth. But, everything else I think I would love!

In other news, my mom put an offer on a house that we would all end up in. It's pretty dinky, though, so my hubby, LO and I will end up living in the garage. Glamorous, right? It's our only option, unfortunately. We are selling our condo and it's only been shown ONCE.... not exactly encouraging. It's probably going to be a short sale. The scary thing about short sale is that if it doesn't sell within an allotted length of time they will foreclose. When you are foreclosed on you can't buy a home again for NINE YEARS.... that's a LOOONG time! I want to have my family living in a house, goddamnit!!! The American Dream has become something rivaling an impossibility for most. I just want my baby to have at least as much as I did growing up... it's not moving in that direction just yet.

So, yeah, as far as living in the garage, I think my mom should renovate it to turn it into part of the house (insulate, frame, and dry-wall the walls). She could put in a third bedroom, half bath, and a living room and turn what is the living room now into a dining room.... or vice versa, whatever. The cinch is that things like that cost major money and you have to have all kinds of permits and crap like that in place to be able to do such a thing.... On the PLUS side, the house has a WONDERFUL, large yard that will be a great place for my LO to play in. I'm hoping to start a small vegetable/fruit garden, too, with all the space back there. The only problem I can see with that so far is that a lot of the ground is covered with moss suggesting that in the spring and summer it is most shaded... we'll see!

I think in my next blog I want to do it on washing dreadlocks since a lot of you have indicated you would be interested in seeing me write a blog about it. I am due to wash my hair Friday so I am going to attempt to take a video of it then... but I have to get my camera fixed first... >.> I have to get my butt in gear!!! If anyone has ANY other topics (related to dreadlocks, preferably, LOL) they would like to see me write about PLEASE don't hesitate to ask! And, as usual, please follow my blog or subscribe to it if you like what you see! I really love knowing that there are people out there who care what I have to say!!!

Blessings!!!

~ KnottyMama

So, today my exciting news is I BOUGHT A NEW DREAD BEAD! OMFG I swear the ability to put beads and pretty things in my hair is one of my favorite parts of having dreads. I used to feel like I always had to wear some sort of jewelry to identify myself as Pagan or feminist or interested in Native American culture, etc. Now I just put it all in my hair!!! So in this entry I am going to show off my beads and tell you their significance. To me, dread adornment is like tattoing; they should MEAN something to you. It might represent a belief, a part of your identity, memorialize a loved one, or commemorate something going on in your life. I want to clarify here that not everyone feels the same way about dread adornment. Some people like to cycle out their beads and wear different things all the time. Like tattoos and my dreads themselves, I feel like my dread adornments are a long-time commitments and so they should be something I REALLY love since I will have to look at them for a long time to come!

Some people may love putting stuff in their dreads, but it can be hard to find places that sell beads that you can use on your dreads. My favorite place to shop for dread stuff is Etsy. --> 69o9uiikjj,mjuik7 <-- (I'm leaving this... my daughter typed this when I got up to check on the chili in the slow cooker!) My dreads are about the size of a fat pen and when they were younger I could get a 5mm hole bead onto my dreads. All of the Pandora beads are that size so I had a big selection to choose from! Now, however, I have a hard time getting something that small onto the dread. That and 5 mm seems to vary from artist to artist. Some 5 mm beads I can get my Loose Hair Tool v 2.0 through to pull the bead onto the dread and others I can't. So if you dreads are the same size as mine or a little smaller that helps to expand your bead shopping options! Another site you can check out for dread beads is ArtFire. Another important note here is that you want to try to get your beads a little on the small size, especially if your dreadies are still pretty young. Dreads naturally shrink and then thicken up as they mature and you want to make sure the bead will stay put even once they tighten up!

So onto me, LOL. When I decided to get dreads I knew ahead of time that I REALLY wanted to find a bead to commemorate my new dreads and the beginning of my journey into dread-hood. Although the imagery and colors of the bead don't exactly mean anything in particular to me I thought it was REALLY f*cking cool. :-) Although, I will note that it does remind me a little bit of fire, but has a whimsical, etherical quality to it, too! It's just pretty and I put it in the back on my first dread! This bead was a bead that was made to be a Pandora bead and has a 5 mm hole (that my Loose Hair Tool v 2.0 fits through). I bought it on Etsy from a shop named Glass Addict Beads. I want to note here that you'll find that all but one of my dread beads is glass. I like glass because 1) the color won't fade or chip like wood, 2) it won't tarnish or rust like metal, and 3) it won't absorb bacteria and germs like acrylic or polymer clay will.

My second bead I don't actually have a photo of because its actually an earring that I turned into a dread cuff. I found the image on the left to help me describe it a bit to you. The image to the left is a Sun Face Kachina. Kachinas are nature spirits that are, for lack of a better term, 'worshipped' by many of the Southwestern Native American tribes such as the Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni. I have really connected with this symbol for a long time and associate it with my interest in Native American culture and spirituality. So, anyway, the earring was shaped like the middle part (the face) with four rays (or spokes) coming out of it. I bent the two rays on the sides around into the shape of a cuff and put it on one of my front dreads on the right side of my head. It is sterling silver, turquoise, red coral, and mother of pearl so eventually it will probably tarnish, but in the meantime I like having the symbol close to me! I purchased the earring set from the Santa Fe Trading Company which sets up a kiosk in the mall near me during the winter holiday season every year.

My third bead is a rainbow bead. I got it for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I LOVE rainbows! But, more importantly, I wanted to communicate my stance on gay rights. I am ALL for gay marriage and equal rights for gays. I strongly believe that love and love regardless of what may be below the waistline of your lover and that love should be recognized the same by the government and receive the same benefits as the love between a man and a woman. Really, what's the difference? Secondly, (thirdly?) this bead also represents, for me, the Rainbow Family. Their website states that they are "the largest non-organization of non-members in the world". The Rainbow Family "means different things to different people. I think it's safe to say we're into intentional community building, non-violence, and alternative lifestyles. We also believe that Peace and Love are a great thing, and there isn't enough of that in this world. Many of our traditions are based on Native American traditions, and we have a strong orientation to take care of the the Earth." Anyway, you basically become a non-member simply by agreeing with their ideals and I really love the ideals of it. So that's what my rainbow bead means to me. :-) It was advertised as having a 7 mm hole. I wear it on a dread that's on the top of my head on the left side. I bought this on on Etsy from a store by the name of Raven's Curiosities.

My fourth bead.... oh it's a wonderful bead!!! I found this bead, more or less, on ArtFire made by an artist who lives in England. She makes the most beautiful goddess beads! This one represents my reverence for the Goddess and by that I mean the Goddess in EVERY woman! It represents my feminist attitudes and my belief that every woman is divine and that the ability give life is truly a divine gift that we should honor and place in the highest regard. (And, in my opinion, that should be fully experienced without numbing the body...) It also represents my passion for natural, un-medicated birth and all of my parenting philosophies. I commissioned the lovely and talented Madeline Bunyan to create this gorgeous bead for me. It was created on a 5 mm mandrel (that my loose hair tool fit through!). I put it on a dread behind my left ear in a place where it is a little bit hidden by the dreads on top of it. Since it is, essentially, a naked woman and I work in the public I didn't want to offend people, but I haven't had any negative comments so far. In fact, I've received nothing but compliments!


My non-fifth bead was one that I am not going to describe here other than to tell you that it was a Pandora "5 mm" bead that the hole was too small on. BUT, I am going to be helping a friend put in her dreads in a few weeks or so and I am going to gift it to her to commemorate her starting on her dread journey so I don't want to ruin the surprise! I think that it was ultimately meant for her anyway and I think she's really going to love it!!!

My actual fifth bead, and the reason I decided to write this blog is a beautiful, blue glass bead with a star on it. To me, though, it has this undeniably celestial feel to it. It just seems so magickal. As soon as I saw it I fell in love with it. I was amazed that it stayed in the shop as long as it did without selling! I mentioned in my last blog that many believed that dreadlocks could bestow a person with extraordinary spiritual powers. I'm not expecting a miracle, but I feel like this bead just emanates spiritual power! The color, too, is highly associated with the brow/third eye chakra which deals in the realm of psychic ability and clear seeing. I feel like this bead will be an asset to my dread head! That and it's just SOOO pretty! It is advertised as having a 13 mm hole which is much bigger than anything I've bought so far so I am going to see how things fit. In the item description the artist says it will fit best on dreads the size of a lady's pinky finger or a little bigger, which mine are. So, fingers crossed, it will fit fine! I certainly shouldn't have any problems getting it ONTO the dreads like I did my non-fifth bead, LOL. I'm thinking of putting it on a dread behind my ear on the left side so it will be visible when I wear my dreads half-up. Plus, it's still pretty visible with them down, too! I bought this on Etsy from a shop named Infinite Cosmos.

Also, I want to encourage everyone to check out MY Etsy Shop: Sylph Wings Designs. I sell jewelry, hemp jewelry, dream catchers, and SOON dread coils! I haven't started working on them, but I can tell you I haven't seen ANYthing like them anywhere else online. I CAN tell you, however, that they will use ALL genuine gemstone beads (unless someone requests otherwise) and Alpaca silver which does NOT tarnish so should stay good even through washing! So, please check back often for updates! I will post more on it here once I get that up and going more. :-)

So, I know this has TOTALLY been the Knotty Mama show here, but I totally want to hear from my readers about what they put in THEIR dreads! Please post comments and leave some links with some photos of YOUR dread adornments, be they beads, hemp wraps, coils... I want to see 'em!!!! Even better is if you tell me why you wanted it in your dreads and what it means to you!

So, I've been doing some research. I've been wanting to do some more reading abut the case against crocheting dreads and I feel like I have enough information now that I can write an informative and intelligent article about it here! As most you probably know I have crocheted my dreads and really liked the results as it left them all nice and tight and really tightened them up especially at the roots where they are often resistant to locking, especially so young.

The long and short of crochet is that no matter how careful you are you will be breaking hairs when you use this technique. Your expertise and awareness of what you are doing will certainly affect how badly it breaks, however. The second more important factor is to make sure that you are using a SMALL crochet hook, that means 1mm or less!! At the time I started to crochet (and in the video I have included below) I was using a 1.3 mm hook because it was the smallest I could find at my local craft store. After doing more research last night I decided to spring on a 0.6 mm hook with a nice, fat handle to prevent fatigue for when I do touch-up my dreads.

The general consensus about crocheting is that it is difficult to stop once you start. Because crochet does have a tendency to cause broken hair once the tightness you get from crochet begins to wear off the broken hairs become more visible as frizz and loose hairs. This means that crocheting begets crocheting and it's probably not wise to start doing it unless you plan on doing it regularly and relatively often. You can stop, of course, anytime you want but you may have to deal with a lot of frizz before your dreads start to lock up naturally again. TOO much crocheting, especially if done incorrectly, can actually break dreads so badly that you will seriously compromise the strength of the entire dread. The strength of a dread or rope comes from the length of the fibers, which is why hemp is so much stronger than wood fiber. However, if you begin breaking the fibers you compromise the overall tensile strength.

My official opinion on crochet at this point is that crocheting is okay IN MODERATION! I wouldn't recommend crocheting any more frequently than once a month. More than that and I think you seriously need to worry about the breakage you may be causing. Granted, for some people they are willing to compromise a little strength for tight, neat looking dreads. That is a personal decision that I can't make for you, of course, but I CAN warn you about the pros and cons and encourage you to think long and hard before you decide one way or the other! Ultimately, don't start crocheting unless you are aware of how often and how long it will take you to maintain it that way. I can tell you that it took me about a total of 15 hours over the course of a three day weekend to crochet all my dreads like you will see in the video below. I plan to touch-up in a week or so any that really need it, but I am trying to really minimize how much I do. Crochet is a great way to get neat, well-manicured dreads, but be prepared to keep up with it or things might get a little crazy!

If you still really want to crochet (and I still am so I haven't been totally scared off by what I've read!) I have posted a video I took of myself crocheting my dreads so you can see how crocheting tightens the dread and how to do the technique. When you first start do it in front of a mirror so you can see what you're doing and definitely do it in silence. This way you will be able to hear and feel hair breaking if you are being excessively rough and adjust accordingly! And, this is important, DON'T make your dreads super tight! It prevents them from locking, not to mention how rough it is on your scalp! Below, in case the audio is too low for some to hear are the basic instructions on how to crochet your dreads.



MATERIALS NEEDED:

1) Crochet hook (1mm or smaller) - some say the larger size is easier to learn on and then go smaller once you become more proficient in the technique.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Choose a dread to crochet. I recommend starting in the front where you can see what you're doing before you start moving to the back ones.
2. Grasp the dread with your thumb, forefinger, and middle finger with the thumb underneath and other two fingers on top.
3. While you are crocheting you will insert the crochet hook always in the small area between all of your fingers as this helps to compress the dread as you are going.
4. Begin inserting and pulling the crochet hook out of the dread starting near the roots of your dread and working towards the tip. Make sure you are rotating and rolling the dread around in your fingers as you work your way down. As you go you should be able to feel the dread tightening up and you'll intuitively discover when its time to move onto the next area.
5. Once you reach the end of the dread I will usually insert the hook a little bit more vertically and parallel to the length of the dread to attempt to pull in some of the loose hairs at the tip. In this video I show how to pull in loose hairs a little more purposely. Since this video I have come to the conclusion that this is MUCH easier done with the DreadHeadHQ Loose Hair Tool v2.0. I will post another video at a later date on how to use the loose hair tool to blunt the tips of your dreads.

There is some conjecture out there that the Loose Hair Tool causes holes in mature dreads because of its size. Perhaps I will review the information out there on the safety of the loose hair tool in another blog! I, however, LOVE my loose hair tool and I doubt anything anyone says will sway me against it. In the meantime, I hope this blog has been helpful and informative for all my readers!

Okay, so yesterday I posted about the history of dreadlocks. I posted it to the Facebook wall of the DreadHeadHQ Facebook Page and got a decent number of people who read it and commented on the wall post or sent me messages, but no one started following me on Blogger!!! PLEASE follow my blog! It lets me know that there are actually people out there reading who give a rat's patookis what I'm writing! All you gotta do is click on the 'Follow' button in the column to the right of this entry!

In other news, yesterday my friend Nicole convinced me to go out for a girls' night. I know this sound like a non-issue and not worth bringing up here, but I promise it relates! It was the FIRST night I've EVER been away from my daughter at bedtime since she was born. Usually she passes out between 9:30 and 10:30. We had plans to go to Diva's, a gay bar in Northampton, MA, in part because the cover was free before 10 p.m. So, we got there shortly before 10 and let me tell you it was DEAD in there. It was basically us and the staff, which was pretty lame. We didn't have plans to stay out super late, so we figured by the time it really started to pick up there we would have to leave, so one of the other girls with us suggested going to Maximum Capacity in Chicopee, MA. So, we did.

We got to Maximum Capacity at 10:30ish. It wasn't super packed, but certainly much busier than it had been at Diva's. (Which, by the way, was quite a disappointment since I've been wanting to go there for years now and hadn't...So first trip was a flop.) And maybe this makes me old, but I think its just plain GROSS to see people basically dry humping on the dance floor. It was so... obscene! I'm definitely not prudish, but that was just nasty. I definitely could have done without those images permanently burned into my brain that's for sure.

The high point of the night was, however, that when we FIRST walked into Maximum Capacity there was a WHITE guy with dreadlocks!!! Ohmigod... it's the only other WHITE person I've seen with dreads in this area! It was such an exciting moment. I think the best part, though, other than just seeing him is that there was a split second where we made eye contact, smiled, and nodded. We were just acknowledging each other, but I had this distinct feeling of community in that moment. It's like just by knowing that we have dreads we automatically belong to that community, we have something in common, and more than likely share a lot of the same ideals. It was so... refreshing! I wish we had gotten to actually talk. I would have asked how old his dreads were, how he maintained them, what products he used, etc etc etc. That didn't happen, though. However, it didn't detract from the excitement of it!

Only a half an hour into our stay at Maximum Capacity my hubbins called with my LO screaming in the background inconsolably. He was clearly NOT in a good mood and she was clearly NOT going to sleep with me there to nurse her to sleep for the night. I felt bad to be cutting everyone else's night short. Fortunately, all the other girls (minus 1) have little one's themselves so they understood that baby comes first. Stupid me, however, didn't drive my own car so it was midnight before I finally got back home again. By which point, naturally, my daughter had indeed fallen asleep while watching Finding Nemo in my hubby's lap. It was adorable. I knew that would happen, though, but it I hadn't left for home I would have felt absolutely awful.

Anyway, so yesterday, too, I posted on the DreadHeadHQ Facebook Page a question that has been haunting me for a while in light of some things I've read online. I've read that mineral oil is not good for use on dreadlocks. This makes sense in the fact alone that anything oil-like will make the hair slippery and prevent it from locking. However, DHHQ uses it in a few of their products. The one I'm most concerned with, though, is their Dread Butta. I posted on the Wall a question about if they have any official recommendations for the use of Dread Butta as far as how frequently it should be used and at what point in the maturity of dreads is safest, but no replies from them yet. I'll keep everyone here updated on the response(s) I get!

I've done some minor, light reading about the history of dreads. I wanted to make sure I was prepared to defend myself if anyone ever challenged me to say that I didn't know their origin. The sad part is that despite how many times I've read it I seem to have NO retention of the information, SO, I figured if I wrote about it here it would not only benefit my readers, but help me to remember it as well!

The history of dreadlocks is varied and differs depending on who you ask. This, then, is a summary and compilation of all the different accounts I have been able to locate online.

One account claims that dreadlocks originated in India (unlike most who cite Egypt as their birth place) with the dreadlocked diety Shiva and his followers. It is likelythat this is the spirituality origin of dreadlocks in Indian culture. However, the first archeological proof of people wearing dreadlocks came from Egypt where mummies have been recovered with their dreadlocks still in tact.

Regardless of their origin, dreadlocks have been worn by nearly every culture at some point in time or another. Roman accounts stated that the Celts wore their hair 'like snakes'. The Germanic tribes and Vikings were also known to wear their hair in dreadlocks. Dreadlocks have been worn by the monks of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Nazarites of Judiasm, Qalandri's Sufi's, the Sadhu's of Hinduism, and the Dervishes of Islam, and many more! There are even strong suggestions that many early Christians wore dreadlocks; most notably Sampson who was said to have seven locks of hair which gave him his inhuman strength.

The belief that dreadlocks gave a person power is not unique to this Bible story. Many believed that energy (presumably life force energy, chi, prana, ki, etc.) exits the body through the top of the head and that having knotted hair prevents or retards the escape of energy making one stronger and even potentially imbuing a person with supernatural mental and physical abilities. In many cultures it was and is common for shamans in particular to wear dreadlocks. Dreadlocks have also symbolized the recognition and demonstration that our physical appearances and vanity are unimportant. Another, similar practice is having a shaved head with no hair at all. Others still believe that dreadlocks are the most natural and healthy style of hair to have as hair will dread if left to its own devices.

At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution Rastafarianism began gaining popularity among the Black Jamaican population. Rastafarianism draws its belief from three main sources; the Old Testament, African tribal culture, and Hindu tribal culture. Before it got the name 'Rastafarianism' its followers called themselves 'dreads', signifying their 'dread' and respect for God. In an attempt to emulate the Nazarites and Hindu holymen their beliefs were modeled after, they began to wear their hair in matted styles and this is when the term 'dreadlocks' came into common use. Rastafarianism began to draw attention when in the 1930's Ras Tafari was crowned the emperor of Ethiopia. He was forced into exile and many vowed not to cut their hair until he was released.

The association of dreadlocks with marijuana smoking also began with the Rasta movement which contended that smoking it facilitated clear-thinking. It still holds true today that many dreadheads (caucasian more than Rastas) are pro-marijuana. However, there are other sects of Rastafarianism who believe any sort of mind-altering substance is impure and also restrict the consumption red meat and alcohol. These same purists suggest that Bob Marley and his extreme pro-marijuana stance damaged the reputation of Rastafarianism.

Marley, himself, identified as a Rastafarian and it was his dreadlocked style that brought the style into the mainstream where it has expanded into many other subcultures. They have become especially popular among New Age travellers (Pagans, especially, who travel from festival to festival across the country), hippies, vegans, goths, and cyber goths. Additionally, dreadlocks have become highly popular among the subculture of jam bands, such as the Grateful Dead and Phish,

Dread heads today have varied reasons for chosing to wear their hair in dreads. Some of them are based in spiritual purposes such as suggested above, others because they identify as Rastas, and others simply because they love the look! More importantly than what your reason is, is knowing your reason so that someday when someone asks you WHY you put dreads in your hair you can say without a doubt why you have dreads and what your dreads mean to you!

Welp, here I am. I have been tossing the idea of starting a genuine blog up recently and I have made a small leap in the right direction by getting so far as to even post this. Amusingly, the idea first hit me while watching 'Julie and Julia' on Netflix but was presented to me once again when I met someone on Facebook (Betsy) who is a sponsored blogger by DreadHeadHQ. Granted, I have a regular job so its not like I need the income, but I thought it would be a fun and productive way to capitalize on my newly-found passion for DREADLOCKS! I started my own dreads 8 weeks ago today! I had been considering dreads for a couple of years, but wasn't ready to take the plunge. I felt pretty strongly that dreads was a one-way street that you don't just change your mind about. That was the biggest deterrent for a long time. Then, one day, I was visiting with some friends who have dreads and I just felt something click and I just KNEW I was ready to do it!

At first my hubbins was very against the idea. He felt that I would change my mind about it a couple of months in and want to take them out and then be upset that I had short hair. He worried about how short my hair was, too. While I was still deciding one way or the other I had let his opinions sway me, but when I clicked all of that fell to the wayside. In the past he had always said that whatever I wanted to do he would support, so I figured even if he didn't like it he certainly wasn't going to leave me over it. At first his biggest complaint was my dreads poking him up his nose in the middle of the night when he was trying to snuggle me, LOL.

I, unlike many, only wash my dreads every 7-10 days. The wonderful dread heads who put my own dreads in for my recommended only once every two weeks. I haven't worked up to that yet, but I definitely can see how my choice to wash less often to this point has worked in my favor. At only 8 weeks my dreadies are looking pretty awesome, especially compared to some photos I've seen of others with dreads the same age. Here is a brief photo-history of my dread progression so far!




I am constantly and dilligently maintaining my dreads.... as you can probably tell I REALLY like them to look neat and clean! I'm sure as this blog continues on living I will discuss the particulars of my maintenance for other people to benefit from. PLEASE feel free to ask me any and all questions about dreads, mine, yours, or otherwise! I sent an email the the honorable Knotty Johnny Clean (KJC) about the possibility of becoming a sponsored Team Member of DreadHeadHQ. Here's hoping that my message is well received!

My name here is KnottyMama because although I do love my dread babies, I love my ACTUAL baby infinitely more! She is the love of my life. I subscribe faithfully to the philosophy of Attachment Parenting (often abbreviated "AP"), of which the main components include breastfeeding, baby wearing, and co-sleeping/bed-sharing. I am very opinionated about these matters and about the horribly medicalization of birth that is and has been going on in the U.S. As far as I'm concerned anything less than a minimally AP parenting style is almost like torture to a young child. (This is not just an arbitrary belief, either. It is based strongly on 'The Continuum Concept' by Jean Liedloff.) I know it sounds extreme, but that's just my humble opinion. I assure you that in person I am actually quite tight-lipped about voicing my opinions too much because I don't like to offend people by insulting their parenting! Anyway, there is a good chance that this blog will contain ramblings about my adventures in parenting my baby/toddler, too!

In the title of the blog I mentioned WWOOF, too. The name of this blog is 'The Crunchy Life'. Lest you should think this is the blog about HOW to be 'crunchy' (which is a slang term meaning green, eco-friendly, liberal, etc.), I should clarify that it is more accurately intended to be about how we TRY to be crunchy. Granted, I consider myself pretty 'crunchy' already there is always room for improvement!!! WWOOF is the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. My understanding is that you can use this network of organic farms to find farms you can stay on for a vacation or extended stay in which you lodge and eat for free in exchange for working on the farm. It's a great way to teach your children about sustainable living and learn how to garden organically. I really want to begin growing a lot more of our own food, but I admit that I know little to nothing about it beyond what I read. I learn pretty well by reading but I feel like learning about it in a more structured, kinesthetic way would be HIGHLY beneficial for me. Ideally, I would love to someday be able to live off the grid with completely renewable energy and sustainable living. We have a LONG way to go, however. So, I will keep you updated as I attempt to learn more about that.

Finally, there is one last thing I think is important to mention here in my initial post. In addition to trying to live green and crunchy, we are looking at a severe cut in living space. In December of 2008 we moved into this condo and I was 8 months pregnant. Previously we were living with my mother in her two bedroom condo with her and my 11-year-old brother. I was absolutely unwilling to live in her condo (in which the air quality is highly questionable because of mold) so I rushed into moving out and we ended up in a condo we couldn't afford. I could give all the details of why, but suffice it to say that certain factors that were supposed to fall into place to assure we could comfortably afford this mortgage did NOT fall into place. Most notably, was my husband finding a job in his recently chosen job field; medical assisting.

So, now we are officially 9 months behind on our mortgage and the mortgage company (who has been wonderfully helpful and understanding to this point) officially advised us to SELL, SELL, SELL!!! So, we listed our condo on the market. Because we are so horribly behind on ALL of our bills (especially our credit card bills) the only way we can afford to live at this point is with my mother again. Fortunately, she is in the process of concurrently looking for a new house/condo meaning that we are looking to all get a place together. However, she has only been pre-qualified for $120,000. So, looking for a house/condo with at least 3 bedrooms for under $120 thousand in this part of the country/state is difficult at best. That means that we will most likely end up living in a basement or garage while we are with her. That means a seriously loss of space. I love my mom... and sometimes my little brother, but I am generally much happier when I DON'T live with them so I know its going to be very important that I have my own space some way or another. I don't know what's going to happen just yet, but that is by far the biggest issue weighing on my consciousness lately. To compound things, hubbins lost his job a week or two ago. Before that I considered the vague possibility of renting a small, cheap apartment instead, but that possibility was completely shot when I became the only employed member of our family.

I mentioned to DH that perhaps the reason he lost his job is that he is meant to go back to school so he is vaguely looking into the nursing program at one of the local universities for this fall. So, we'll see where the chips land. In the meantime there are lot of things up the air. This blog should allow me to keep tabs on things and organize my thoughts about what's going on.

I guess I've rambled enough... keep checking back frequently for updates! I hope to post at LEAST once a week!

Blessings

~KnottyMama