So... I did it. I undreaded my dreads. It was a sorta crazy experience - and I feel much better after it all. Before: It took about a week to comb out all of my dreadies... and when I was done the hair was down to my knees! Unfortunately my new digi cam did not arrive prior to the salon visit to fix up the do. However it did arrive after! If you're curious to know just how much hair one human loses over the course of 4 years... click here and here. I warn you - it's pretty funky - all that hair weighs 6.5 ounces. One thing that weirded me out about the whole experience.... your dreads are never REALLY clean. I must have been the number one clean freak obsessed person with locks, and maintained mine like a psycho and did deep cleaning weekly for over 3 years. While combing them out the sheer amount of dead skin that gets trapped in them in enough to make anyone faint. Sometimes I miss the dreads, but then I really don't. I feel like as I combed each one out another crappy experience I'd been carrying with me over the years melted away. I feel free. Maybe I'll be back to my dreads in the years ahead, but I have a feeling it won't be for a while.
Beautiful either way...I do think that the new look suits you more. About once or twice a week I just want to cut my dreads off and scrub scrub scrub scrub scrub...it's hard to get the idea out of my head that I need to wash my hair at least once a day. ewww, I can imagine all the nasties you found.
It feels liberating doesn't it? I cut mine off after almost three years just a week ago. I feel like a million bucks...you look like you feel the same!
Samluvsthe beatles:yeh, that's what i was thinking! Im amazed at your achievements! And that amount of hair you lost..... OMG! :O thats another full person in there... lol
you are really beautiful, with and without dreads. I can't believe you managed to comb them out, though, mine took a week to come out after only 7 months.
How is it possible to comb out 4year mature locks?!?!? That's a little hard for me to believe (please don't take that the wrong way). How in the world did you do that??? I'm beginning to feel like an anomaly here, when I had to have my first set of locks cut out (after 4 years) I was completely and totally devastated, and I grew them back with the intention of never cutting again for the rest of my life, and i'm quite sure I won't, yet it seems everyone (on this particular forum at least) is profoundly grateful they cut their locks out......also as far as the "not getting them clean" thing, I remember cutting apart my first set and they were quite clean, nothing nasty, just tangled hair....course I never used wax or anything...
i took apart my first pair and i never had deep cleaned them (just washed like normal), and they were clean.. hm. how much conditioner did that take? mine the first time took 1 whole bottle to get it out... i couldnt imagine how much you used.
Thanks so much everyone - I guess the change in my emotions is very apparant. It was incredibly liberating, but I knew that I was ready for it. As for combing them out, I work from home, so I was able to put about 7-9 hours of work into combing out a day - and it took 8 days to get them all out. I actually didn't use conditioner at all to get them out - I had started with that intention, but when I was combing with conditioner I could hear the hair breaking since it was wet (wet hair stretches more, so is more prone to break). I did the entire thing dry, with a metal comb little by little. I only did an inch or 2 on each lock a day, and worked my way up. Once you get to the new growth of lock (that was the last 7-8 inches for me, the hair comes apart very easily. As for the cleanliness, it's not dirt. Just dead skin form your scalp. I supposed it depends entirely on how much your scalp "sheds", but I guess mine sheds alot LOL. I was washing some of the loose hair that combed out to see how long it all is - anyone know what I can do with it? Most of the hairs are 8 or so inches long, is there somewhere that can make use of it? Seems a shame to throw all that out, when there's so much.
Hey, i know this is an old thread, but how awesome! ive had my dreads for 4 years too and i am having a major dilemma about what to do. I feel pressured to get rid of them and sometimes i want to. on the other hand there is very little non-dreaded growth (its grown about 1 inch and the rest keeps dreading, i guess that means i did a good job lol!) but if i could brush them out that would be cool. short hair frightens me!!inspirational sakori!!
they don't show up for me either, they're probably down seeing as how this thread is so old - it's from last april 20th... haha, good memories
