My Dready Timeline

I've had dreadlocks for nearly four years, I figured the time was right to post some pics to show how I started them and how they've developed and matured over the years :-)

Pre-Dreads

After 7-8 hours of backcombing

5 months?

8 months?

About 1 year old

 

18 months?

22 months ish

2 years

2 and a bit years. Needed a job so had to dye them brown :(

Sometime in late 2011, so probably c. 2 years 10 months

3 years ish

3 years and 9 months. Gettin' long :)

I don't use any product on them other than 'Jumping Juniper' dry shampoo bar from Lush. In the last few months I have been using an intensive conditioner on the ends, as I have horrible dry crunchy hard spiky damaged ends - this is due to the initial backcombing and also due to the repetitive dying, bleaching, lightening, dying routine that I've had for about 7 years. I say it is due to backcombing as the new growth (length of dreads and roots) are natural growth - the hair has dreaded itself. The ends are the original hair that was backcombed, and I read one theory/persons opinion that the backcombed knots gradually slide down the hair, which is what makes the chunky, hard tips of dreadlocks.

The ends of my dreads are so dry and brittle that I can rip the ends off. (Seriously - I can pull the ends, and a weak spot will stretch and then the hairs just rip. This is why I'm using intensive conditioner on the ends, to try and strengthen the hair, but it doesn't seem to have much of an effect. Sometime next year when I have some more length, I will be cutting the ends off my dreads to remove the worst areas of damage.)

I do not and have never used dreadlock wax on this set of dreads (I did use it on my previous two sets of dreads).

I do not use tightening gel, lock pepper, locking accelerator, dread butta etc. I also do not use rubber bands on my dreads (I do have three tiny braids with a rubber band at the end of each of these).

I do not do any form of maintenance such as palm rolling, root flipping, twisted, re-backcombing the roots, crochet, felting or scalp/root rubbing (unless I do this last one whilst washing my dreads).

I do wash my dreads! Twice/three times a week in the summer and once/twice a week in the winter. I use a dry shampoo bar from Lush, though I have used a range of products - Alberto Balasm, L'Oreal, and even shower gel if I had run out of shampoo. I switched to Lush as I wanted a more natural product (ie, more chemical free product) than what I was using.

I am starting to congo a lot of my dreads together, to form big, fat dreads. I used to favour skinny dreads, but as they mature and the ends fall off, I want fatter dreads - I believe they will be more stable (in terms of tip breakage) and I just generally prefer fat dreads these days. I have about 15 congos, most of which are 3 or 4 dreads held together with thread, beads, cotton hair elastics or in braids. Most of my dreads are in congos than not.

My dreads will be four years old in February!

for Laura

Volunteering Week Ten; The Final Week

What happened in week 10? It was our last week, so we were happy and sad and up for a laugh and wanting to get it done and intending to get loads done and to conclude at a satisfactory point. And then we found a walrus skull.

We also found a dugong skull - WEIRD. 

We also explored another green box, just to finish up the section, and we found more skulls, mostly of terriers. We found a seal skull, I think it was a cape sea lion, big sharp pointy teeth! The box also contained the ear bones from several whales; two of which were marked as humpback whales! 

Tucked away in a corner of a box was the skull of a fox terrier, with its teeth attached to a piece of card. A little bit weird.

As it was our last week, Lynsey came up to see us, and we were presented with certificates for the work that we have done! So we hosted a prompt and cheesy award ceremony photoshoot ;-)

It was a really, really good ten weeks and I honestly learnt something new every time I was there! It was also great to get some experience in this sector, as museum work is one career path I am interested in taking when I graduate. I'm also a bit morbid and am fascinated by bones, especially skulls, so it was good to indulge that side of me too! A big thankyou to Lynsey at Thinktank, and all the MCC staff for helping us get the work done, despite technology issues! Hopefully I will be back next year to finish up the Natural Science section.

Volunteering Week 9! Bones!

In week nine, we continued to work on the large items on the shelves. There were lots of bones that needed identifying as much as they could be, and then adding to the MINISIS software.

We had half a skeleton of a large cat; a whole taxidermy peacock and a monkey of some sort complete with gunk on the joints!

Handling taxidermy peacocks is a lot harder than you may think!

Volunteering Week Eight! A belated post

I’m not very good at blogging a series of posts on the same subject. I’ve been meaning to catch up with these posts for a while, but have just never had the desire to do it. No more! I *will* get the remaining posts written, and then you’ll all hopefully be sick of pictures of skulls!

So, in week 8, from what I can remember, we carried on working through the box of monkeys, which actually contained six primates and a koala.

We also carried on with some of the large taxidermy animals, which included a hyena, a deer, a fox and a cat! The hyena was quite big – I didn’t think they were that big – but the face looked it was smiling at us. Very unnerving.

I also had a mooch around the far side of the warehouse, and found some more weird and wonderful taxidermy. A pet dog? A sloth on a branch? A seal? Welcome to museum storage!

There were also some objects that were not part of the natural science collection, so I took photos of these as well.

I've become a mommy!

...To two white dumbo girl rats :-) They are sisters, and are now 17 weeks old. Matilda has a darker nose and splodges down her back, Missy is the pale nose.

Work In Progress

Corking Dolly. 5.4m long. Started when I was about 10 years old.

This will be the biggest pom-pon that I've ever made. Started when I was at primary school!

Drinks coaster. Kit from Mollie Makes.

Bag of 10 x 10 cm knitted squares, made by my Grandmother. Enough squares to make a single bed size blanket. All need sewing together! Was given to me by my aunt when Nan died

Autumnal Scarf. Rapidly becoming my favourite piece. Wanted to felt it, but the acrylic content is too high. So far has 4 and a bit balls of yarn, and I've got another five to use. Scarf is becoming a blanky.

Crochet 'boyfriend hoody' from Inside Crochet magazine. Wrong stitch, wrong yarn, wrong size. Oh well. I'll make it work somehow!

Granny A Day Project. May have given up.

A small piece. Crochet dreadlock sleeve. Hook is 2.5mm.

Crochet dishcloth! With actual dishcloth cotton!! Bitch to work with, keeps splitting.

Yarn basket has now become a 'Work In Progress' Basket. Looks neat, huh? Won't stay that way.