Baby Dread!

I made my first dread! Last night. I couldn't wait to see what the process was like, so I made my first one. Backcombed it and played with the crochet needle a little; that might take some figuring out. It was really fun!

Since my hair wasn't squeaky clean when I made the dread, I thought about just combing it out and re-doing it, but I think I'll leave it in and compare how well it locks up with how well the ones I make right after using clarifying shampoo lock up. The recommendation is to have super duper clean hair while making dreads (except those first couple weeks when the moisture and motion might undo them) because clean hair knots up more quickly, while oils and grease de-tangles.

On that note, the reason my hair was greasy when I made the dread (and in the pic) is that since you can't wash your dreads for the first couple weeks (or the knots tend to just fall apart), it's a good idea to try to get your scalp used to it a little bit before you dread by phasing out washing. People who go from washing every day to suddenly not washing (for those first few weeks), complain about itchiness. I don't think I'll have too much trouble (I think washing every day is bad for your scalp, so I don't do that), but I figured I'd let my hair go an extra day or so just in case.