Hello folks, First off I would like to say hello to everyone, I am a new member to the forums. I have been thinking about letting my hair dread for quite sometime. Career reasons, life reasons, for whatever reason I have not done it yet. I have been reading about the subject since I first became interested, and only just stumpled upon the negativity of using wax which up until this point I was oblivious to that, so a big thank you there. I have some concerns in regards to my hair type that I have yet to find answers to and would like to see some feedback. First off my hair is mildly curly, somewhat thick (was thicker when I was a bit younger) and brown with a red tinge. I have the hairtype that when the humidity is high outside there is no helping the fact there is curl there. My first question is in regards to natural hair oil. My hair when I first wash it and it drys is very volumous and thick looking / feeling. If I go 2+ days without washing my hair it seems my hair appears thinner and thinner as the days go by. I realized this isn't the case and its just hair oils but will this have adverse affect on dreadlocks and is this normal? Secondly, my hair is a bit thinner on the sides of my head near the sideburn area and aroun the frontd part of my ear, do any of you with dreads, or rather, prior to having dreads have this problem? Thanks
My hair is very thin and straight so I don't have anywhere near the same hair type as you do. But from what I've read it appears that curly hair dreads better than straight hair. Though the oils could be a problem. If you wash it at least once or twice a week then you shouldn't have too much of a problem with it. Oily hair, which I have, doesn't knot very well because the oils lubricate the hair. But it will knot, oily or dry. Good luck! Show us pictures when you finally have some!
here one tip that comes to mind: as you change the fequency of your hair washing, the output of oil will also change. My hair would get oily after a day or so when i was pre-dread, now i can go weeks if i want to without much of a problem.
it sounds like you and i have VERY similar hair. heres a pic of mine when it was pre-dread: look similar? anyways, i had the same oily issue, but like Orange sunrise said, after a month or so, i noticed my hair no longer creates oil like it used to. plus a wool beanie keeps it bristly. i backcombed a few in, but went natural for the rest and am having great success at 3 months in. was able to get em into a ponytail for the first time today actually! got pics?
rojiblanco, can you post of pic of how they look now? maybe you did on another post, but I'm beat trolling around for info. ha! how are your backcombed and natural ones getting along?
Welcome, let me just say that the description of your hair sounds EXACTLY like mine right down to the colour. firstly you wont have any issues with them dreading. the oily issue will sort its self out when you stop using conditioners and crap and stop washing so frequently, or you could use one of those harsh shampoos that will just strip the oils and moisture out of your hair. now as i have what sound like the exact kind of hair as you i also have the issue of having dense thick hair which gets thinner/finer around the front of my ears (not balding in anyway just not quite as thick, am i correct?). now i gotta say these parts were the most annoying to dread. on the left of my head where the hair is thinner its turning out quite well now but on the right side i have had 2 tiney really naff thin matts of hair with LOTS of lose hair. i actually unravelled them last night so i could redo them. TBH i dont want it to put you off, i personally blame uneven hair growth as at the time i did my dreads (nearly 4months ago) the side bits were a bit shorter and my g/f had issues clumping it together to backcomb but now its grown quite a bit and also as i havent been playing with it, it appears to have thickened up a tad so hopefully when i redo them tonight they should be a lot better and stay together. my hair was 5-7 inches long when i started and i had no problems with them dreading, apart from the problem side bits like i mentioned. gl with your dreads ^____^
Thanks for the feedback guys. Tr!pp, You are correct, the sides by my ears are finer / thinner hair. I'm sure as my hair gets longer I will have a bit easier time dreading my hair. My hair at the longest spor is about 6.5 inchs now and the shortest somewhere around 5 inchs so its not a whole lot shorter on the short spots. I am thinking of starting the dreads ar around the 8 - 9 inch mark. My hair should be ample length come April - May. Are there any pictures of your dreads floating around Tr!pp?
