First off let me say hello as I am new n this is my first post! Peace & Blessings unto all. I have been wanting dreadlocks for sometime now. Maybe even as long as some people have had them. In the meantime iv'e grown my hair, have it down about halfway down my back, keep it braided regularly and am now at the point where I've exhausted braids fully n even have had thoughts about cutting my hair. Anyhow as you long hair folks know like anything that's been apart of you that long u become connected n it's always a debate or struggle blah blah... lol Anyhow my main reason for not starting dreads yet is because i've done soooo much reading about different ways to do it. Iv'e spoken to rasta elders n younger rastas alike. Iv'e seen terrible looking sloppily loose dreads, nice clean tight ones, wide, skinny, blonde, brown, short n long... My issue is that Iv'e never actually know exactly how to go about starting n mainting the dreads I WOULD LIKE to have properly n upkeeping the process properly untill they mature. Iv'e decided i don't necessarily wan't natural (later stage) Marley dreads but neither do i want salon dreads. Also i would like to stay away from slopply looking loose un-managed dreads. Don't car much for these here... ^ alotta wavey undreaded ends n hair looking tips... I Do LIKE THESE HERE......... N these! ^Please disregard the horror scene on the bottom picture.... So basically i hope i made sense n made clear how I like to have my dreads. Nice n tigh for the most part. I know the final look will take a long while but regardless I want to work my way right to the correct end product as you see above. Overall locked nice clean singles and my roots as best as i can have them. will get a pic of my hair tomm. thanks for reading.
Dreads will never look how you want them to, it's part of the fun. Don't wory so much about how you do/don't want them to look like... just see what happens...
if you want tight nice dreads, theyll come out better if you constantly are woeking on them during the first couple of weeks IMO. you should palm roll after back combing over and over again. i did mine thinking i would have nice tight dreads but it didnt work out like that. youre going to have many different lenghths and widths of them so done get discouraged if they dont all match. the ones pictured above are all from years and years of having them so dont think they will look like that after a few months. i just cut mine out recently. so make sure youre prepared to devote time and lots of effort to them if youre really serious about it. good luck and keep us updated!!!!
I don't believe that! Hair is hair and clearly people have different kinds of quality of dreads logically according to what kind of direction they took when starting them n dedication they had while guiding them to maturity. Also I have to much hair to just "See what happens" mess up n chop it all off.
Thanks! Clearly tho ones above took years i would just rather go at it with everything i have n be happy later I don't want half assed dreads. I don't care much about size differential as well.. dreads are dreads i just would like them tight n clean for the most part. I don't expect anything nice for the first year I just need to know more or loss how to initiate the process so lots of feed back is encouraged! Thanks again!
this is how i did it. i took different uneven sections in my hair and backcomb each of them seperatly. then i palm rolled them for a week sttraight at every chance i got. then i waited two days to watch my hair and used non residue shampoo and NO conditiner. then i let them do there thing and after a few months they tightend. then after another month i had a friend come by and use braces rubber bands to wrap around the dreads to compact them.
i didnt start with braids. i dont like how they turn out. pics are in my gallery. they are only 2 or 3 months old
if you section and backcomb, you can keep them uniform, palm roll when they are young and keep them clean. a felting needle will round the tips so that they are not wispy. hope that helps Isaac p.s. stay away from the wax
Yea im gonna google that, thanks on the "Round tip" heads up. really apreaciate that. this really helps!!! Keep the tips n Co-signs rolling in! Much luv! Bless, will have pic of my hair up in a little bit, this should help...
Ok so "hair" is my Hair haha.... Maybe this may help render the difficulty... forgive my continuos inquiry im just a very perfectionist, meticulous person when it comes to doing things right 1 time... lol
Wicked curls, mate. if you want perfect dreads, backcomb them and use wax and rubber bands, but watch out because wax is evil and your dreads may start moulding as they mature and thicken. Or just backcomb, no wax, no bands, keep shoving that hair into the dreads, in a few months you won't have to do it anymore... in the meantime palmrolling helps to keep them long and round,and I hear using a felting needle in some particular way makes them look nice too. Really though, if you spend too much time fussing over them, they're no fun at all and you'll want to get rid of them. You have really beautiful curls though. Dreads with curly ends are sweet. Good luck whatever you end up doing!
You need to palm roll them and rub the roots to keep them tight...you can palm rub the ends too to keep them rounded.... but in all honesty if you want them to be perfect i wouldn't bother because no matter how much you maintain them dreads have a habit of becoming their own and if you want them to be perfect the chances are you wont ever be happy with them
Thanks both of you. Oily i would never ever use wax. Jkaiya I don't necessarilly want them "Perfect" im not shooting for a magazine cover per say lol. I've just seen my fair share of MESSY lookin dreads where there is alot of loose hairs n the dreads themselves don't even look like dreads. Long as i have my hair locked n the tips round for the most part ill be happy. Thanks again for the recommendations! ! Peace & Blessings.
This thread is effing hilarious. "Half ass dreads." The fuck does that mean? You want tight dreads. Enjoy the wait. You talk about how 'some peoples dreads' are messy and have loose hair? LMAO! Thats everyones dreads when they're young. Unless you wax. No loose hair then. But, if you wax, then you deserve what you get. Btw, with hair like yours, your hair would lock naturally very, very well. If you want to learn something: http://www.knottylocks.tk/ Tip though. If you dont like messy hair, dreads are not for you. This is fact. Edit: I may have come off as an asshole ITT. My bad. Im high as fuck, and this thread just threw me.
I don't think my description of messy dreads n yours are the same. Messy or unmanaged dreads are the like the guy in the first pic! where some are clearly pretty mature others are barely dreads, n all the uglyness in between. Then you have the other two exhibits which are to me perfect. Not your mental assumption of perfect but perfect for dreads! Majority of locks n little to no loose hairs overpowering visualy what you see as a whole. I know this can be done, my point of this post was if i was going to take them that serious what is the proper work n effort required to aquire such dreads I don't just jump into things without having done sufficient research so that when i do begin i feel confident. One thing iv'e concluded is that WAX is a no no. I know beautiful dreads take years i just wanna feel confident that I am guiding them properly in the meantime. N thanks on the hair comment of thought this myself. If i keep my hair in a bun for a few days it becomes almost a big lock i gott a rip some of it apart to make any sense of it. hmmmm.......
You will have to work on them a lot if you want them "neat and clean" Dreads will never look exactly how you want them. I know from lots of experience. But, the more you work on them, the neater they may look. Time will also make them look neater, as in years and years. Here's lots of info on maintenance - http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=get_up_dread_up&keyword=Maintenance&filter=all Also, the dreads in the first picture aren't anywhere near as old as the other ones. You will have do deal with at least some messiness (depending on how much you work on them) for a while (up to a year I would say) -If you think those first dreads are "messy" you're going to be suprised getting dreads-
heres just my humble opinion if u want uniform dreads, just section out your hair into the size you want first, backcomb them in really really tightly (so tight that it hurts :O) and then croquet the loose hairs in reguraly (whenever they get messy, usually after u wash), if u dont like whispy tips then u can also croquet them into the dread, some will stay some will fall back out, just sew them back in again if they fall out thats prolly the only way i can think of to keep the dreads 'tight' and 'neat' while they are still young and maturing into dreads, its a LOT of work, but if it is what u are after, neat and uniform, thats prolly the best way to go IMHO ive had my dreads about 4mths now so they are still very young and have a lot of maturing and tighting to do still, but i do try and keep them neat for work, so i currently spend about 2hrs total a week croqueting in my loose hairs so everything looks neat good luck to u mate
