Dread Update- 2 months

It is with great pleasure that I introduce Carlos to the world. Carlos is my very first natural baby dreadlock. I noticed him on Sunday morning--- or rather, Nikola fished him out of my mess of hair to show me that my dreads are actually starting to make progress. Strangely enough, Saturday evening I almost posting an update of my messy head declaring the same-old "nothing is happening, it is a practice in patience," etc.

Carlos is tiny, I know, and he is not very strong yet, but he is definitely a collection of knots hanging out at the top of my head, and I am super excited about him. This means that at least the front of my head has gotten long enough to start dreading, and if I spend countless crazy hours at the beach in Bulgaria by the end of the summer I will have a good set started, that I can bead up and let set over the winter. I really cannot believe that I have my first baby dread in only two months. At the same time I cannot believe that it has already been 2 months since I stopped using shampoo and combing my hair. My hair is very soft and happy being washed in baking soda and vinegar. :-)

The change in me is also very desirable. As I went walking on the rainy streets this morning: sandals, a long flowing skirt, tank top, scarf wrapped around my shoulders and head... I felt completely in my body, confident, and happy in a way that I haven't felt in a very long time. I am definitely meant to be a little earth child. Hippie? Meh, if you wish to title me so. I'll stop resisting it. But it is so much more than that. 

Dread Update-- About a month

See my dreads? Well, neither do I. I am pretty certain that my hair will not actually start knotting naturally until it is about should length, at least. My hair grows so slowly that this means the whole summer I will be dreadless, and all of that wonderful time spent in the sea will be a moot point. However, I really like how my scalp and hair feels with this baking soda and sea salt/vinegar routine. So, I will probably keep that going.

I am realizing that I am making a lot of changes this semester. I think it is a nesting thing, for sure. I am getting in touch with my inner hippie and my body. I am also getting in touch with an inner anarchist that I never even realized was there. Overall I like the person that I am getting to know. And look at her, doesn't she look rather happy?

More natural. More local. More honest. More social.

:) 

Dread Update, Week 3

BIG NEWS!!! I grew a Nikola shaped dread, like, overnight!!!

No, but in reality there is still not a whole lot going on up there. You may think it is getting a whole lot messier and loopy, which it is, but that picture happens to be fresh from waking up. Usually throughout the day it calms down, and then after a shower it is back to normal people hair. On a happier note, after the shower it messes and curls up much faster than it did three weeks ago. 

Dread Update: week 3

So my dreads aren't doing anything particularly interesting this week. Little chunks of hair are starting to separate out at the roots, and that is kinda exciting, and I have some messy crazy loops forming, which is either exciting or annoying, but overall there is very little movement forward. Nothing is knotting or locking. I know, with my hair and this approach that I am going to have to wait a long time for locking, but I was hoping to at least get a little rats nest after three weeks of no brushing. Alas, I am not that lucky. I think that I will have to spend a lot of time in the sea this year. Since the Black sea has a lower salinity I suppose that I will just have to go twice as often. I am going to have find a nice, secluded little piece of beach that I can get to regularly, and definitely do another bike trip along the south region. I think that with all of that sweat and salt and sunshine my dreads will have a good birth, with many great memories knotted into them.

This summer is something in the ether at the moment. Nikola and I still don't know exactly when we will return to Bulgaria, but we are hoping that my visa will be ready and we will be able to return for July morning. My short visit last week was too little, and served only to reinforce a deep desire to be in Bulgaria. I say that the main reason that I want to return is because I speak the language, and that is true, but I also have a desire to be there because of the feel of summer. People were so happy out in the sunshine last week. They were so friendly. There was sitting and drinking beer and eating kebabche and I was fully, completely satisfied. I can't wait for that feeling to be there for the rest of my life. Now, just to get this job and house situation taken care of...