dread maintenance

Well after about 1 1/2 months my dreads are actually starting to look like dreads...for the most part. They're still pretty loose. I think I'm right on the brink of 'no return', the point I like to think of when I can no longer rip them out without having to cut off most of my hair. Actually, I have a couple big fat ones on the back of my head that would need to big cut off at this point. So, I guess I'm teetering. Or something.

I've been thinking about this as an exercise/experiment in commitment. Although I find it a bit of a paradox to commit to a negative action, that is, not maintaining my hair in the normal white/female coiffed standard. There's a little bit of positive action in the backcombing/braiding/rubberbanding, but still less effort overall over 6 weeks than daily shampoo/conditioning/straightening etc. (For those wondering, yes, I am washing my hair, but not daily.)

About 5 % of the time I will admit I have thought, "gee maybe this was a bad idea", but for the most part I am feeling good/neutral. Since I wear my hair covered by a scarf 6 days a week it hasn't been terribly obvious to people. I guess we'll see where this goes from here. Plus let's face it, I am partially doing this because 1) I always liked dreads and 2) I finally can (hooray for new jobs!)