How to extract coconut water & crack it open

How to extract coconut water and crack it open

Coconut water (also called coconut juice) is a sweet liquid with nutty flavor, it is obtained from the endosperm of coconuts. It is known for being low in calories and fat.

A mature coconut

You can wwatch this Youtube video about how to extract coconut water, how to crack it open, and how to extract the coconut meat:

When t comes to dreadlocks (or hair in general) Coconut water is incredibly hydrating and helps keep your locks

conditioned and prevents them from breaking. It also contains potassium and other nutrients that nourish your hair

follicles, making them strong and preventing hair loss. coconut water is 95% water and 4% carbohydrates, with protein and total fat content under 1% each (table). Coconut water contains small amounts of vitamins and dietary minerals

So if you want healthy dreads / hair drink coconut water regularly, or even daily if you want.

Coconut eyes

There is no need to tell you that getting the juice directly from the coconut is way better and healthier than buying bottles of it from the stores.

How to extract the water

In the video above I showed you how I extracted the water from the coconut that you can easily buy from the store, but feel free to do it your own way, as long as you get the juice at the end without causing any damages.

Watching some youtube videos I have noticed that some people used screwdrivers or even drills to poke a hole in the coconut.. I do get it that the shell is very strong but still, I wouldn't trust any tool that is not properly cleaned and sterilized.

I used the scissors that we usually use in the kitchen and also applied a disinfectant gel on it. The coconut has three eyes, one of them is softer than the other two, simply poke the soft one to make a hole in the coconut. It's better if you make two holes, the water will come out really easily and quickly. Then simply pour the juice little by little, and at the end filter it.. There you go, you have fresh clean coconut water ready to use either for cooking or drinking.

How to Crack coconut open

If you want to crack the coconut open that's another story, you need to get yourself a hammer or any other strong tool, than start hitting it in the middle, and focus on the three lines that represent the sections of the coconut.. Be careful in the process as you may get carried away and hurt yourself, it may take a while before your coconut cracks, then you will be able to open it.

How to extract the meat

Using a sharp curved knife, you can now extract the coconut meat, section by section, this could also take some time depending on many factors like how old is you coconut, and how long since it was picked...

Opened coconut

False advertising

Marketing claims attributing health benefits to coconut water are not based on science and are disallowed by certain regulatory agencies like the FDA in the United States. Producers were warned about misleading marketing claims that coconut water is antiviral, can lower cholesterol, can regulate blood glucose levels, and other false claims, as inappropriate for the product.

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How to make a Dread Bun

How to make a dread bun - 3 ways

You have your long beautiful dreadlocks now, you are doing all kind of Dreads maintenance you can: washing them properly, drying them.. now it's time to think about styles and how to wear your dreads.

There are several choices as to how to style your dreadlocks, this post is only about one of them, making a dread bun. But there are other ways to wear your dreads such as tying them in the back or make a ponytail or even wearing a hat.

Watch this youtube video about how to make a dread bun

There are also no rules to "how to make a dread bun" you can play around with your dreads and invent your own style as long as your dreads are long enough to form a bun. Or you can just watch youtube videos and see how other dreadhead make dread buns and get inspired.



Dread bun Style one:
I have seen many dreadheads doing it this way

• First put your dreads in a high ponytail using an elastic headband, this will allow you to gather them all into a single bunch.
• Then twist your dreads from roots to ends while forming a cercle around the headband.
• Secure your bun by tucking the tips of your dreads under the headband

Dread bun Style two:
This is the easiest one to do, just get your dreads only half way through the headband, it will automatically form a bun, you will still have your dreads down a little bit but that way they will be less annoying and they can not reach your face.

Dread bun Style three:
This one works only for very long dreads, and will need some practice, it is similar to dread bun in style one but without using a headband. twist your dreads form a cercle and secure just by tucking each dread under the bun you are forming. It may not look very secured but I have seen people doing it without any headbands and it doesn't fall off.

You may want to check this post about wrapping dreadlocks : how to wrap dreadlocks

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How to sleep with dreadlocks

How to sleep with dreadlocks - sleeping with dreads tutorial

Watch this video tutorial about how to sleep with dreadlocks

There are no rules to "sleeping with dreadlocks", most dreadheads just sleep without thinking of what to do and what to not do, but when you first start your dreadlock journey you always tend to over think about everything, you want to do everything right and not to miss any kind of maintenance

Anyway, you may use some of these tips:

1- Clean your pillow and sheets from any visible lint or dust, dreadlocks are like magnet to dust, you don't want them to catch anything whil you're sleeping

2- You may put a wool cover on your pillow to encourage the knotting, especially if your dreads are young, a lot of knotting will happen when you sleep

3- You may also make a dread bun on the top of your head, it is more comfortable than having them tied up in the back when it feels like sleeping on a big lump

4- Putting your dreads in a T shirt prevents them from getting in your face while you are sleeping and also keeps them free to move around, unlike when they are tied up or in a bun

5- Always try to avoid sleeping with damp dreads but if you have to then put a towel on your pillow, and spread your dreads all over it

6- If your dreads are young you may sleep with a loose wool hat, it would help the dreads knotting and it's also comfortable to sleep with



Eventually you will end up sleeping with your dreads the same way you use to sleep with your normal hair and there's nothing wrong with that, but sleeping on your dreads in the same way every night may cause some of them to become flat

Hope this tutorial was useful, Thank you for reading, check out these other dreadlocks maintenance tutorials:
Palm Rollind dreadlocks
How to wash dreadlocks
How to dry dreadlocks
Dradlocks separation

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How to Separate Dreads - Separating Dreads quick Tutorial

How to Separate Dreads - Separating Dreads quick Tutorial

Dreadlocks will always try to grow together at the roots, especially if you're using the neglect method. So if you want to avoid that, if you don't want to have any congos or very thick locks, which some other people would love to have, you should just separate them regularly.

Watch here a quick tutorial video on how to separate your dreads

Simply grab the two dreads (or more) that are conjoined together, and pull them apart from each other to the roots.. you do not have to separate your dreads all the way to the sculp, as this may is some cases cause some dread thinning at the roots with time.

you will hear some cracking hair sound, but that's ok don't worry about it.

Separating dreadlocks is a process that all dreadheads do, no matter what method they used to have dreadlocks, even dreadheads who want congos they still want to control how many dreads are going to be in every new formed congo.

So if you are planning to have dreadlocks, be prepared, along with washing and drying, separating your dreads is a routine you will have to get used to.

It is better that you make it a habbit, every other day, play with your locks by separating them.

Note that the best time to separate dreads is after the shower before they are 100% dry.

If you were not separating your dreadlocks until they matured and congos have already been formed, then pulling them apart will become very hard.. At that point and if pulling doesn't work.. the best way to split a thick dread into two smaller dreads is to brush it out and redread it again.(It is a long and annoying process but it's better than cutting them with scissors)

But if you don't want to put that much time and effort in brushing out and starting over again then the only way to separate a congo is using scissors.

But scissors must be the last choice, and it's better that you get someone else to do the cutting for you.
Be careful and enjoy every minute of your journey :)
Peace and Love

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How to Dry Dreadlocks - Dreads Drying Tutorial

How to Dry Dreadlocks - Dreads Drying Tutorial

Drying dreadlocks is one of the most annoying routines for any dreadhead, because it's time and energy comsuming. Unlike washing dreadlocks that takes only 10 to 30 mins, and no matter what you do, drying your dreadlocks will take hours.

Youtube video showing how to dry dreadlocks:

Here are few points to know about drying dreadlocks:

1- Wash your dreadlocks early: First thing you should know is that it's better that you wash your dreadlocks early in the day if you can, the earlier the better, that way you will allow them to air dry before you go to bed, it's not recommanded that you sleep with wet dreadlocks.

2- Drying starts from the shower: right after washing your dreads, proceed to squeezing them very well to get as much water out as you could. 
I do not recommand doing "head bangs" because shaking your head could be dangerous, but if you want to do that, just be careful and don't shake too hard, it does help a little bit in getting the water to the tips of your dreads.

3- Using Towels: you will mostly need two towels or more, because dreadlocks suck a lot of water in. rub the towel on your head and dreads, just like you used to do with your long hair before dreadlocks. 
wrap your dreads in the towel and squeeze them.

4- Blow drying: be careful while using the blow dryer, do not set it to maximum heat ( you don't want to fry your dreads from outside) and don't apply it on one spot for a very long time either. Same things you would actually do with undreaded hair.
You may put a towel on your dreads and make some kind of a tunnel and blow dry them while they're inside the towel like shown in the tutorial video, it helps trapping the hot air in, that way the hot hair will circulate inside and won't get wasted all over the room.. and therefor more thance to get dry dreadlocks faster.

5- Sleeping with wet dreads: If you have to sleep with dreads that are not 100% dry, put a towel on your pillow and spread your dreads all over it.

Different people will have different results, depending on the hair type, the size and lenght of dreads, and the weather where one lives, people living a hot places are luckyer than the ones living in cold humide areas.

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How to make cornrows with extensions

How to make cornrows with extensions - quick tutorial

I have recently published a blog post and a video about how to make corn rows that you can read here: http://dreadlocksjourneyblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-to-braid-cornrows.html

This quick tutorial I am posting today is about how to add exensions to your braids to make them look longer. Those two posts by the way may not be directly related to dreadlocks, but I just wanted to share with you few hair styles that I have tried while I was on my dreadlocks Journey, the corn rows and the Afro hair style that I have also posted here: http://dreadlocksjourneyblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/afro-hair-style-tutorial.html

Anyway, back to this corn rows with extension tutorial.. The process is simple if you already know how to braid corn rows, as you can see in the video below:

It is better if you get human hair extensions of course, but other kinds of extensions will work fine too especially if you use them only at the back of your hair (like I did in this video) also because you will only have them on for few days.

You may also use extensions from the root of your hair if you want big and thick braids.

Hope that this quick tutorial was useful to you, it is nice to try different things sometimes ;)

More about Braids and Cornrows from Wikipedia:

Cornrows, also known as braids, are a traditional African style of hair grooming where the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to produce a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often formed, as the name implies, in simple, straight lines, but they can also be formed in complicated geometric or curvilinear designs.

Often favored for their easy maintenance, cornrows can be left in for weeks at a time if maintained through careful washing of the hair and regular oiling of the scalp.

Cornrowed hairstyles are often adorned with beads or cowry shells, in the African and Caribbean tradition. Depending on the region of the world, cornrows are typically worn by either men, women or both. Cornrows are known as canerow in parts of the Caribbean and the United Kingdom.

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How to braid Cornrows

How to braid cornrows

Welcome to this tutorial on how to make cornrows, or how to braid cornrows, it is a phase that I have been through during my dreadlocks journey it's nice to try different exotic hairstyles sometimes.

This is not actually the first time I do this hairstyle, I have had my hair braided before twice, but I must say, the second time I have had cornrows on my hair was the best, I loved the look of braids on me.

this is how to braid cornrows:

start by sectionning the hair, choose big or small sections depending on the look you want, then divide the section into three small sections, one hand holds two secions and the other hand

holds the third one. the hand that has two sections twists them to make the outter section becomes in the middle then the other hand grabs the middle section, then you do the same thing with the other hand. everytime you grab the middle section grab some hair from the scalp with it, to keep the braid attached to the scalp.

More about Braids and Cornrows from Wikipedia:

Cornrows, also known as braids, are a traditional African style of hair grooming where the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to produce a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often formed, as the name implies, in simple, straight lines, but they can also be formed in complicated geometric or curvilinear designs.

Often favored for their easy maintenance, cornrows can be left in for weeks at a time if maintained through careful washing of the hair and regular oiling of the scalp.

Cornrowed hairstyles are often adorned with beads or cowry shells, in the African and Caribbean tradition. Depending on the region of the world, cornrows are typically worn by either men, women or both. Cornrows are known as canerow in parts of the Caribbean and the United Kingdom.

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