Soaking It All In

Yesterday I decided to start a new cleaning regimen with my dreads.  I'd been doing the bicarb for a while now.  I stopped using the ACV because it was making my hair too silky so it didn't want to stay dreaded.  The bicarb made my hair feel kind of gross, but it wasn't too bad, and I knew the ACV would be back as soon as my hair was securely dreaded and wouldn't come out terribly easily.  Who knew something so acidic would turn out to be so conditioning?  If some day I decide not to have dreads I think I'm going to stick with this style of washing as well.  It's made my hair feel absolutely fantastic!

Since I've had my dreads in for about a two and a half months now I decided it was time for a deep clean.  Most of the research I've done on dreads seems to show there are really two methods of dreading hair.  One is done with products and additives.  The biggest component seems to be wax.  My friend over at Otherwise Quite Good has taken this approach.  She recently got a dread maintenance done and her dreads look fantastic!  I've known some people to say taking a crochet hook to your dreads now and again is an awesome way to keep them neat and pull in all those loose ends.  There are some who use a peppermint spray on their hair, though I'm not sure what that's supposed to do.  I've seen mixed reviews on all of these things, though it seems the dread forums I frequent shy away from wax more than anything else, though I've never been able to get a solid reason as to why aside from being able to trap water and dirt and being really messy if you decide to comb them out.

On the forums I've been on have seemed to be filled with people who go for completely natural dreads.  Many of them suggest letting your hair naturally start to dread and then separate it or let it go naturally.  I'm not quite that bold on the natural dreading.  For me it sounds like it would be too chaotic.  Instead I've kind of given them a push.  Besides, I wanted very fine dreads, not massive ones.  The big dreads are gorgeous on some people, but I'm such a delicate looking person that I think they'd look like too much on me.  It seems like the more time I spend on dread forums the more of a push there is to go naturally.  It seems like there are a number of people who don't even crochet their dreads or do any other kind of maintenance because many of those styles can create weak points in the dread.  Given my hair is already very fine to begin with and my dreads are pretty thin, I don't want to take any risks.  I'm just going to let them do their own thing.  I don't even palm roll, though a large part of that is because they're so incredibly short.  There isn't much hair that's actually dreaded to be rolled round anyway, and I'm starting to find that I like the small loops that are developing.  I'm liking the funky flattened dreads (which I hear will naturally round out as they tighten up).  I'm just in love with letting them go and do their own thing!  Given most of my research has said the best way to get your hair to dread and fast is to leave it alone for the first six months or so, not even doing any maintenance at all, that's what I'm doing.  I might consider other options if my hair was longer, but I honestly think I'm glad I've found the sites I did before I started.  My dreads may not look as neat and manicured as my friend, the Artsy Eclectic, but it feels very me.  Better still, my dreads are making the journey their own way, which I've heard is interesting with short hair.

Anyhow, I was going to talk about my deep cleaning and new hair care system!  I got completely sidetracked.  The suggestion I'd gotten was to throw a "packet" of bicarb into the tub, then fill the bath.  Given we don't have packets here, I was left to try and do a few conversions on the measurement she gave me.  It turns out she used a little over a cup of baking soda.  She said her hair was really long, so that's why she needed so much, but diluted in the bath it's all about the same.  I threw about that much in the tub, filled it up, and hopped on in.  It seems like it would be a lot more comfortable than sticking my head in a bucket for a half an hour!  I just sank back into the tub and soaked!  I added some good music, a couple candles for mood lighting, and set up about three teaspoons of apple cider vinegar diluted in about a gallon of water sitting on the toilet, waiting for use.  It was a half hour of relaxation, though the music was muffled by the water in my ears.  The water didn't turn out near as dirty as I expected, which is kind of nice.  I guess that means I'm doing a better job cleaning my dreads than I thought!  Either that or they're just not getting that dirty.

Once the half hour soak was done I just dumped the apple cider vinegar mix in with the rest of the bath water.  Last minute I was having some fears about the ACV making my hair too soft again, so I thought this would help.  I dipped my head back into the spot it had all been dumped and shook my hair around a bit.  Then I started to drain the water and used some clean water to rinse it all out of my hair.  Given the advice I'd gotten on some of the dread forums, I'd decided to pour it over my head with a cup instead of actually showering.  It seems that way is less risky for the hair wanting to come undone.  Again, I'm a bit paranoid with my short hair.  I think it would be a lot easier to dread if my hair was longer.

After my hair was clean I stepped out of the tub and dried off.  My skin felt so incredibly soft!  It seems like that bicarb bath did wonderful things for the rest of my body too!  I've decided I need to do that every month!  It's both good for my hair and good for my body!

Following some more advice from the dread forum, once my hair was clean and dry I took a spray bottle and filled it with a mix of water and sea salt.  I prefer the non-iodized stuff, but I suppose it doesn't really matter.  I sprayed it in my hair and now I smell like ocean water!  By that I mean salt water, not all the smell of fish and other sea creatures the ocean comes with.  It's making me a little homesick, but my hair actually feels like my hair is a little drier and likely to dread up this way.  My hair also didn't loosen up the way I expected it to.  It's starting to come along pretty well.

Finishing off, once my hair was completely dry again I decided I wanted to smell extra nice.  I put some nag champa oil in my hair.  You could use any oil, really.  I used to do this by getting the oil on my fingertips and running it through my hair, but that doesn't work so well now that my hair is dreaded.  I just dabbed it on the palm of my hand, rubbed my hands together, and rubbed it in my hair.  It's nice because the scent becomes pretty subtle after the initial application and as my hair moves I notice the scent gets slightly stronger and weaker.  While it would probably make a bigger difference if I played with my hair more, it's still nice.  Right now I'm just trying to touch my hair as little as possible so I don't interfere with the dreading process.  It's just nice to have that subtle scent.  It feels nice to smell nice!

I have to say, I'm really glad for the dread forums I have.  They've been wonderful.  It's been such a source of advice and ideas.  This is definitely more of a journey than I thought it would be, but I'm excited!  I can't wait to see where it all ends up!