Well I'm on day 2 of my dreads, not long at all I know. But I have a couple quick questions (which have no doubt been asked several times before). But everywhere I look I always get conflicting answers. I have really fine, straight, red hair, that gets real greasy real fast. First, how long should I keep the little elastics on the tips for? Second, I havent washed my hair since the day before we dreaded it, should I wash it right away, or wait longer? Reasons why? Will this help the dreads 'settle down' (stop sticking up all over the place)? I want to keep my dreads as neat and tidy as possible so advice is appreciated.
Wash every couple of days, probably, with Dr. Bronners liquid soap (I like tea tree). You DON'T want the oil to build up - it'll just add to dirt buildup. But you don't want to wash too often, either... In the beginning it's just a little bit of trial and error to find what works best for you. Eventually, when your dreads tighten up, you need to be more careful to be sure they dry quickly - otherwise you'll be in danger of growing mold. Also, DON'T USE WAX! It'll only add problems, and doesn't really help your hair knot in the long run. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, I don't want to use wax anymore, we just used it cause it made things a little more managable to begin. I'll wash tonight with my knotty boy bar shampoo, I'll assume I shouldn't scrub my hair really hard as things are still loose and such. But I'll figure it out, I think I'll leave the elastics in for a few more days even though it looks pretty goofy haha.
wash your hair however often it needs to be washed. Keep it clean. Ditch the knotty boy soap/shampoo, it's full of toxic chemicals just like all regular grocery store brands anyhow, or use it up and then find something else. Or you can just use a regular cheap shampoo, but no conditioners! If you want healthy hair and scalp, it's best to switch shampoo methods to something more natural like Dr. Bronners or baking soda. There are lots of different "no-poo" (no shampoo) head cleaning methods, and all of them take at least a couple weeks of adjustment before your scalp stops overproducing oils. What happens is shampoo strips your hair of all its oil, so your scalp makes even more. When you stop using shampoo (knotty boy shampoo isn't any different, it's the same ingredients) ...anyway, when you stop using shampoo it takes a while for your scalp to stop making too much oil. Everyone's hair is different. There are people who can go a month without washing their hair, and some people like me can't go three days. Keep your dreads clean. It won't hurt them!
thought I'd add... my kid has very fine red hair, and her dreads are coming along nicely. All the backcombing had to fall out before her dreads started knotting up good and tight. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go natural, since that's basically what happened anyway after I stopped messing with it. So if I may make a suggestion to you, go ahead and take the elastic bands out. Then, scrub your hair really really well to get all the wax out of it. This will require some serious scrubbing unless you only used the tiniest amount of wax. And then just ignore your hair, other than keeping it clean. In a few months, you'll be amazed!
I really like Knotty Boy shampoo, I used it on my first set of dreads and I'm using it currently on my second with absolutely no problems. As far as I'm aware it doesn't have any nasty ingredients in it.
oops, confused them with DHHQ... don't know nothin' about knotty boy, but if it's just a natural soap shampoo bar, you can probably find the exact same thing for much less money elsewhere. sorry about the confusion!!
If you can't pronounce the ingredients in the shampoo, don't use it. A lot of shampoos leave a residue in your hair, which ends up inside your dreads as they grow...this can attract dirt AND bugs.
Thanks for your responses! Its been about 1 week and a few days now, the elastics are out and I've decided to only wash my hair once a week to start. Alot of the dreads have about 1 inch of loose hair at the roots, I'd assume this is no problem and they will knot up in time. I had a shower this morning and alot of the dreads came really loose and some hairs separated. Whats the best thing to do with loose hairs? I've been trying to palm roll them into their respective dreads but they just come out. suggestions? I should also mention that I lead a really active lifestyle plus I have quite a dirty job, so my hair gets dirty and itchy quite quickly, any homestyle remedies to keep my hair smelling nice and keep the itch away?
if your hair is itchy and smelly, then wash it, even if it takes more than one washing per week. as for the loose hair, I'd say just let it go, or if you've got nothing better to do then mess with it. that's what I do, just roll up loose hair and it goes right into a dread by itself, no problem. also, I've got fine red hair (though curly ) and I backcombed my hair once, 2 and a half months ago. it's taking a while for things to knot up and get situated, but if you just relax and let your hair do what's natural for it, you're going to have some killer dreads. so good luck, and have fun
my kid's hair didn't start dreading up until I quit trying to stop those hairs from coming loose. All the backcombed hair had to fall out before dreads started forming. I kept backcombing it, trying to prevent those loose hairs, and I'm sure that made the progress much slower than it had to be.
You guys are too kynd I'll trust you's and leave my hair be, let it do its thang. Pics are here if your interested. http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2547588#post2547588
you can simply wash your hair with plain water in the shower on the days in between using your shampoo. Or rinse with a very dilute lemon juice solution. I find that if I rinse with the lemon juice on those in between days, I can go longer between scrubbings (I use baking soda to wash my hair).
I bought a bar of all natural soy milk soap to wash my hair with...my hair is about the same length as yours and all i doo is scrub my hair really well with the natural soap and then wrap it in a towel for about 20 minutes than let it air dry...it does really good and started knotting up very fast/
eeek yes DHHQ is horrible stuff. I really like knottyboy but agree it is expensive, my mama bought my first bar for me as a dreadlock present but when that runs out I'll probably opt for something I can afford (saying that I've been using the knotty boy bar for 4 months and it's only a 1/4 of the way down!). xxx
I noticed somewhere about you said you were using wax, a good thing to get the wax out (since wax is a no-no) is to run very hot steaming water, and let your dreads soak in it, without burning your skalp. You might need to bend over and be somewhat upside down into a bucket to do this. However, this sin't something that should be done every time you wash your air, and should probably not be done yet. I'd wait a few more weeks until you feel absolutely safe soaking them in hot water. The hot water will melt the max away, hopefully. As for that inch of loose hair at the roots, most people afer a long time of having dreads still have the loose hair. Its what gives the dreads the ability to knot as they grow. Some websites say to put elastics around the roots to righten them, but do not do this. If the elastics are on for too long, or are too tight than they can cause maor breakage amoung the hair and do more damage in the long run. Showers are really great for your dreads, and at this stage you should be washing them about every 6 days. I know in the beginning I was washing mine almost everyday since washing your hair is a hard habit to get out of, though I lucked out and it didn't kill them. After just over 2 weeks they are well formed! Invest in a shower cap too. It will make your life easier while you are showering but not wanting to wash your hair. Once you get out of the shower, pat dry your hair with a very un-fuzzy towel, and do each dread at a time (squeeze towel around dread, soak up excess water, repeat with next dread) because you dont want any lint in your hair, and than wrap your dreads up and leave them in a dry towel for about 10 minutes. You can also use a hair dryer to dry them off if you want. I use the hair dryer method because it dries the dreads right through to the core, and you don't want your dreads staying wet on the inside because it can cause mold to grow. Plus, washing and than the drying of the hair promotes faster tightening! I know I was sure having the problem of an itchy skalp, and after 3 weeks I decided to do something about it. This morning I browsed the internet for what seemed like the easiest and safest thing to do with my skalp that wasn't going to hurt my dreads. As long as you haven't scratched so that you have sores on your skalp this is a great method: Mix 1 part household white vinegar with 9 parts water (you can change the ratio if you'd like, but dont make it too strong) in a spray bottle. Spray the solution onto your skalp and not the dreads and let it site for a few minutes before rinsing out gently. I was walking around all day constantly itching certain places on my skalp that were unbearably annoying me, and after I did this this morning, I haven't had one itch yet! It's amazing, really. Another thing, it's always a good idea to get someone to check and make sure you haven't picked up lice if you notice yourself itching constantly, but at this point the itching is more than likely caused by your hair not knowing whats going on with its regular washing schedual. Hope any of this helped, coming from someone who has only had hers for just over 2 weeks. Goodluck with your dreads!
