My Dread Journey: Two Months

I can’t believe it’s already been two months! Time flies, it seems. Two months ago Joeke from SoraOrigins came over to make a start on my untameable (with a brush) hair, to turn them into dreads. At first we were planning only to do the lower half of my hair and I would leave the rest of my hair loose… But that same night we decided otherwise, hahaha, because my loose hair wouldn’t stop tangling and I really didn’t want to damage my new dreads with a brush. So, that same night I asked Joeke if she could do the rest of my hair as well. We had a good laugh about it, because well, we hadn’t really expected anything else after her first visit. The second appointment took quite a while, however… because the Netherlands went into lockdown, but thankfully the wait wasn’t too long.

In two days the rest of my unruly, long hair was turned from a complete chaos into an organized one with dreads! I was so happy! In total I now have 77 dreads and still have two loose strands of hair at the front. I’m not sure if I’ll keep those loose. It looks great, but it still tangles so much and it makes me mad sometimes. So, who knows… But for now I have 77 beautiful dreads.

I really love how my baby dreads evolve into young dreads and how they are changing. Not a single one is like the other, some are thicker, some are thinner, but I love them all equally. This hairstyle is so me and I really don’t want anything else anymore. In the past I used to have synthetic dreads a couple of times, they looked great and I would even consider wearing some along my own dreads now, when I go to a festival, for instance, but a full head of synthetic dreads just isn’t entirely my style. Another downside of synthetic dreads is that it’s not wise to keep them longer than three months at the most, to prevent your own hair from felting. Removing synthetic dreads at that point can be very hard and painful. Luckily you don’t have to do that with real dreads, of course, because they’re permanent. You could always comb them out, but in all honesty, I hope I’ll never have to do that myself! I also didn’t like the added weight of synthetic dreads, because it was really heavy. I had about 120 of them and they really added a lot of weight in addition to my own hair. So, now, after so long I finally got real dreads and OMG I love them! The whole process is so enjoyable, because that’s what it is!

The first two months I’ve palm rolled my dreads on a daily basis. You do this to make sure your dreads keep their round form and don’t become flat. I’m not going to keep doing this on a daily basis, because it’s good to let them form on their own, but I’ll still keep palm rolling about twice a week. I use tightening products from Raw Roots and Dollylocks (Patchouli Fields) for this and order them at DreadShop. OMG these products smell so incredibly good, I can really recommend them to anyone with dreads. There are many different fragrances to choose from and I can’t wait to use them all, like Nag Champa… Another thing about them is that they’re made using all natural ingredients, so they’re not harmful for our planet, and as you know, this is very important to me! I’d also like to try their shampoo bars for real dreads, they seem so great!

I wash my scalp weekly (relax, I take a shower more often than that, but I wear a special shower cap to prevent my dreads from getting wet. This shower cap is awesome and allows you to take a shower normally, because otherwise you’d have to position yourself pretty oddly to prevent your hair from getting wet and you really don’t want to risk a back injury! I wash my scalp with a shampoobar from Flyway Hair from Lush, I let the shampoo wash away along my dreads, so that they get clean too. This is a bit faster than when I really wash my dreads, because that is a bit more time consuming and something I usually do on Sunday mornings when we don’t have any appointments. Of course, when I wash my dreads I turn the shower off when I’m soaping my dreads, because otherwise I’d waste a ton of water and I don’t want to be wasteful. I rinse out my dreads to make sure no soap remains in them and pat dry them. After that I keep a towel on them for about 15-20 minutes and the rest of the day I’ll have to entertain myself inside, as long as it’s still winter at least. It takes until well into the evening before my hair is finally dry. Luckily, I was already used to that taking ages before I had dreads, hahaha.

When I told people that I was going to get real dreads this was met with some resistance from a couple of people, because they said I’d ruin my beautiful hair (spoiler alert; it doesn’t!) and they thought dreads were the most horrible thing ever. Not that those negative nancies stopped me from doing it anyway. This is what I want and it’s my hair, not theirs. To be honest, I’ve never felt more me than I have now that I have real dreads. They make me feel complete. I have quite a past and was barely allowed to be myself and taking dreads has really blasted myself forwards, finally being able to do what I want and like. That freedom is a true blessing.

One of the most shocked questions people ask me about dreads is: “But can you wash them?!” Ehh, of course you can, it’s still hair and just with any other person, you can wash them. Another question is: “Aren’t dreads really dirty?” Nope. They’re not, depending on the person who has them, of course. Of course, there are some people who don’t take care of them at all, but most dreadheads are very clean and have dreads that smell amazing. I’m afraid there will always be prejudices and stereotypes, as long as people don’t want to utilize their brains. Aww well, I don’t care and don’t bother with those folks. Trust me, the day you choose for yourself and you don’t allow others to tell you how to look, it is such a liberating experience.

I’m really looking forward to seeing my dreads develop and evolve further and I’ll keep you all updated, also about which dread products I use and recommend and much, much more!

Would you like to maintain your dreads and take good care of them? Real dreads, or synthetic dreads, it doesn’t matter. Just head over to DreadShop for all of your dreadhead products and if you want, you can use my code for a 10% discount. ^_^ Just fill in the discount code: greendreamdreads when you check-out at the shop and enjoy your wonderful products! 😀

Love,

Bren Medusa