How Dreads Saved My Hair

When I first got dreadlocks back in August 2011, someone made the comment that I had destroyed my hair--didn't I know that?!

Of course I knew that my hairs were broken, that if I tried to undo my dreadlocks, I would have an irreparable bird's nest on my head. But why did it matter? My dreads would never come undone. To this day, they are still as tightly knotted as ever, even if not on my head.

But didn't I know that I had to cut them off to get rid of them??

Yes. I mean, not to be rude, but duh. I'm not the kind of person to neglect to think ahead like that. The dreads were meant to be long-term, but not permanent, and even before I got them I intended to someday cut them off. And yes I knew that that would mean my hair would be short.

But dreads did not ruin my hair. They saved it. And, to some small degree, they saved my wallet.

I used to wash and condition my hair every day. If I went more than 24 hours without washing, my air looked greasy and nasty, so I never considered washing it less often until dreads required me to.

Suddenly, I was only washing my hair twice a week. Eventually, it became once a week. My hair had a rough time at first, but it slowly adjusted. My scalp finally started producing much less oil.

Now that my dreads are gone, my hair is quite healthy, and I still only wash it with soap about once a week. I still haven't touched "real" shampoo or conditioner in over two years.

I'm finishing up my dread shampoo now, which takes a while because of how little I need with short hair and how infrequently I use it. When it's gone, I'm switching to a baking soda homemade shampoo with an apple cider vinegar rinse. Obviously baking soda mixed with water and apple cider vinegar mixed with water is much cheaper than "real" shampoo and conditioner.

I am proud of this. I actually brag that I only wash my hair once a week. That's all I need to. I wash it a few times a week with just water (scrubbing/massaging my scalp in the shower), which helps keep it nice between real washings.

My hair produces a very small amount of oil. This is actually really good. No shampoo is stripping my hair and scalp of moisture and nutrients, so my scalp doesn't have to overcompensate by producing masses of oil like it used to. I don't need head-and-shoulders anymore because I don't get dandruff because I don't have a dryness problem, either.

I'm not crazy enough (yet) to use even weirder things to wash my hair like beer, mayonnaise, bananas, or eggs (although I hear they all do wonders).

My hair is thick, shiny, soft, and moisturized. It's super healthy, perhaps healthier than it's ever been. I never would have gotten to this point if getting dreads hadn't forced me to cut down drastically on my shampoo use.

Not endorsing Dr Pepper or anything, this was just the only recent photo of me where you could see my short hair up-close.

Dreads. Saved. My hair.


God bless.