Thanks for the tips and encouragement everyone -- Maybe by the end of the weekend I'll have a first page to show off? *hopeful*

I just stumbled across this thread last night, and spent hours looking at everyone's pictures of their journals -- amazing!  I really want to do this, but I'm a bit hesitant to get started.  I'm not very creative or artistic when it comes to paper medium, you see (I'm more of a knitter, with occasional dabbling in other random crafts).  So I don't have paint, decoupage materials, and things like that.  Any suggestions on other things I can use to have a kick-butt altered journal?

Has anyone used a paperback book with any success?  I noticed that most of your journals are hardcovers or spiral-bound.

Thanks, and I hope I can soon join in on the altering fun!

I just dreaded my hair about two months ago, and I want to use my cool new style for Halloween as much as possible.  It's bleached blonde, and kind of shoulder-lengthy.  I'm already planning to do Medusa (I don't want to do spray-in green dye b/c it would NEVER come out, but I'm thinking about wrapping them in green pipe cleaners or something), but I want MOAR ideas, so I can have different costumes for all week!

Anyone have any good suggestions?

awesome!  and don't you just love waking up in the morning and remembering that you have totally boss hair? 

seven hours... i'm so jealous.  it took us 35 hours to do mine.  35.  an entire week.

Thanks for the advice.  I wasn't sure what to do with the rubberbands.  The directions I was working with made it seem like you should leave them in, but that seemed weird to me...

I think the salt from all the sweating I've been doing is actually helping to lock up the roots.  Go figure!

We finished dreading my hair on Friday; it took an entire week.  35 hours.  Ouch.  Here's a picture:



That's after four days; they've already calmed down a lot.  The first two days, these babies were sticking up, down, front, back, you name it.

Now I have some questions.  I'm waiting to wash them, since I've heard that for brand new dreads it's good to wait about a week, but dang, my scalp is itchy!  And I've been sweating a lot, between working out and walking to class in the humid Midwest summer.  Will all the sweat cause nastiness to grow?

Also, how do you guys wash your ears when you're not washing your hair?  I'm super afraid to get any part of my hair or scalp even the tiniest bit wet, since I've read that if it doesn't dry properly, you can get mold/mildew.  That's also part of my concern with all the sweating.  And the skin around my hairline is getting kind of pimply. 

Laneknees:  I think that's reasonable.  That's about $12-15 per hour, so I don't think it's too low...?

We're almost done with my hair... It's been a week-long process.  I'll post pictures when I'm done.

I realize that this thread seems to be kind of dead, but I have a question, if there's anyone out there.  Do I need to do anything if my dreads have been overwaxed?  I know a lot of people don't believe in using wax in the first place, but for those of you who do...

The wax you can buy from DreadHeadHQ.com contains:

Beeswax, microcrystaline wax, mineral oil, hemp seed oil, vitamin E, fragrance.