happy one-month dread birthday

since i'm on a blog posting roll today...and i just realized that today, i've had my dreads a month... and i've been wanting to share a dread update... well...

i love my dreads!! i really and truly love them. and i totally feel that i'm meant to have them; i don't regret the decision for a second. and i hope to have them for many years to come, especially since i hear that they just get better and better with time.

even some of the biggest doubters have been pleasantly surprised, when seeing them. so they say. or so they lie to me. my family seems to ummm...not really mind them. i can't say that they love them as much as i do, but they seem to be tolerating them quite nicely.

the other day, i had this conversation with ryder, while in the car: ryder: momma, your hair always looks crazy. me: i know, but isn't it awesome. ryder: it's crazy. me: lol.

and today, i read this book to sky's first grade class and talked about the beauty of being unique and embracing your differences. and then shared all about my dreads, which was fun.

for those interested... i wash my dreads once a week. and wash the loose front hair every other day. i do dread maintenance pretty much every day. and probably do too much.  there's these loops that happen within the dreads, which i crochet back in...although it's not really crocheting like you're thinking. and my roots. well, my hair seems to dread (mat, knot, etc.) on it's own rather easily...almost a bit too easy. i recently had a couple dreads start to mat together at the roots (and that's with me trying to keep up with them). separating them was not easy...and hurt. i know there's some folks that just let dreads mesh together when that happens; however, i think all of mine would do that if i let them.  and because my hair is baby fine, i don't have a lot of dreads to begin with. needless to say, i'll be paying close attention to my dreads trying to connect themselves together.

all in all, i think i have the front managed pretty well (whatever that means). the back of my head...let's just say, it isn't the prettiest (whatever that means). today, i actually came to terms with the fact that the back kind of looks like this...

i took these today with my iphone, for a friend.

this photo highlights my trouble spot in the back of my head. the spot that was trouble even pre-dreads. it's the one spot that i must roll around on throughout the night. pre-dreads, i would wake up with that spot completely flattened and matted--every. single. morning. the same thing continues; however, now none of the dreads want to lay over (cover) the spot.

one thing i've learned is that no matter how many photos of other people's dreads you look at, yours will most likely end up looking different than all of them.  your dreads...are your dreads and yours alone.

and well. i love that. and i love my dreads. i really, really do.  i'm totally happy with my dread-do.  and i guess that makes me one big happy carrot top!  :-)