Two Dreadheads ... One Love

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Lauren grew up in Adelaide in South Australia, also spending four years of her childhood in the US. Always drawn to the alternative and creative lifestyle, she installed her first set of dreads herself when she was 23. They were made with backcombing, were rarely washed, and were regularly palm rolled in bees wax. Yuck! This set of dreads never became the beautiful locks that she had wanted, so she brushed them out after six months. Lauren continued to dream of having dreads and began researching  and practicing different dreadlocking methods.

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Two years later she entered a salon in Adelaide, asked for a full head of natural dreads, sat for five hours, paid $500 and left with a headache! Her 'natural' dreads were soaked in perming solution, wrapped in pipe cleaners and were half the length of her original hair. They were also four times thicker than she had asked for. This set of dreads lasted for six months before they were shaved off and thrown in the bin in frustration! Surely there was a better way?! Not one to give up, Lauren started growing her hair back and continued her dreadlock research ... stopping every dreadhead she met to ask about their dreadlock journey ... until ...

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In October 2011 she was ready to try again. But this time it would be different! Armed with much more knowledge about different styles and methods of dreadlocking, Lauren created the set of dreads she is still wearing today. She chose to install her locks with a combination of Rip and Twist and Crochet. Back in 2011 this was something new that not many dreadlock artists were doing. It turned out instantly tighter locks right from the start. Lauren then maintained her new locks once a month from root to tip, with crochet method, for the first 6 months.

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Loving her locks, Lauren was now getting stopped by aspiring dreadheads asking her to install their new locks ... and Southern Dreadlocks was born!

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But what about Christian's lock journey??

Also growing up in Adelaide, Christian had always liked the look of dreads, and often thought of sporting a set himself. But due to the crazy curly nature of his hair he never managed to grow it very long before shaving it off in frustration.

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That was until 2016 when he finally committed to growing his hair long enough to dread it up. At 10cm long his new dreads were tiny but mighty! Now at 4 yeras old his dreads have only had 8 crochet maintenance sessions (done by Lauren of course!) and are maturing nicely. Christian's hair being curly in nature, dreads particularly well. Hence needing far less maintenance.  Lucky him!

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Each and every dreadlock journey can be so different. It also means something unique to every person.

For Lauren and Christian their dread journey so far has been something pretty special!