Pretty disenfranchised...

***UPDATE***

Today I had a physical with my doctor. I talked to her about the dandruff issue. Little bit of backstory, i've had this happen to me ever since I had my first child. It's like my entire scalp sheds a layer of skin every day. Now since having the dreads, of course, it's very very visible, so I finally spoke up about it to her.

She had a look at my scalp and immediately said it wasn't dandruff. It's hormonal cradle cap!!!!

She told me that due to hormones flippin' around like flapjacks and buggering everything after giving birth, it can cause an adult version of cradle cap!!! I asked her if there was anything I could have been doing to prevent it, and there was nothing; no amount of scrubbing with any OTC shampoo would have taken care of it.

Good news: I know what the problem is, and there's a cure!
Bad news: I have to shampoo with a LIQUID steroid shampoo every day for 2 weeks! Crikey! What's this going to do to my dreads?????






Well, I finally did it! I got my friend to section my hair beautifully, and over 5 days, dreaded each lock nice and tight. That was 3 weeks ago. I now have a few issues that I'm really frustrated and upset about. I've spent WAY too much time trying to find answers to my issues on this site, and I haven't found any, so here goes:

1) Big shocker here....my hair is growing, and my dreads are nice and tight from the tips to about 3/4 of an inch away from my skull. From that point to my skull, it's flat, non-dreaded, and a BITCH to work with! I don't know what to do! I've tried back-combing, and I ended up with nothing more than sore arms and scratches from my comb. I've tried the twist-the-dread-clockwise thing (at least I think I did it right), and all that did was hurt my scalp. ARGH!!! How do I keep my dreads from looking like CRAP?!?! I've also gotten this halo of fuzz that I can't STAND, and a bunch of hair has managed to come out of their dreads! ARGH!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!

2) For some reason, since installing my dreads I have come down with the worst case of dandruff I can imagine. It's like my entire skull is shedding itself. I have Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree bar soap, you know, the one with the orange label? I haven't used it yet bc I haven't washed the dreads yet....fear of them falling out. I talked to a hair dresser and he was very blunt that i NOT wash my hair for the first entire month. ARGH!!!! This dandruff is EMBARASSING! I mean, the flakes are HUGE!! HELP!!!!!

 

its totally normal for it not to be dreaded at the root. I think Ive heard somewhere some people have an inch or so of undreaded hair. You can do the clockwise rubbing of the root to help form knots. Just let it do its thing, and if you cant stand looking at it, where a tam or something.

 

Your hair will dread as it grows, don't worry about that. If they are too tight near the scalp, it can pull and be very painful.
Please wash your dreads! They will come apart a bit, but the build up of oils will prevent knottiness and it's not healthy for your scalp either.

 

wash your hair now. nothing grosser then 1 month old dirty hair. dreads dont lock when they are dirty. i like washing every other day but others wash every 3rd or 1 time a week.

its people like you who give dreadheads a bad name. not washing for a month ect.

 

having dreadlocks gives a lot of situations in which a lot of people would feel uncomfortable.
i personally don't give a shit about what other people think of my hair, and i recommend you to do the same. I seem to have dandruff once in a while, who cares? not me. get over it and let ur dreads grow mature, don't forget you now got babies and that its gonna take a while before they will be similar (but never exactly) like the way you wanted them to be.

good luck with them. I'm sure they'll work out just fine

 

wash with the deep clean concoction you can find the recipe for here in the forums twice a week, i find that helps with the dandruff but in my case it never really goes away. 2-3 days after washing they get itchy and flaky again and when it becomes unbearable, i just deep clean again. its a cycle

as for the roots, i say just get used to it since you cant expect new growth to come out dreaded.
when i feel frustrated because of the huge amount of fuzz on my head, i just look at this guys picture:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Man_with_dreadlocks.jpg/520px-Man_with_dreadlocks.jpg

 

when you have locks you just have to learn to go with the flow. i get my hair wet every morning and the locks dont come apart. in time the dandruff should stop as your scalp produces the right amount of oil. for relief in the meantime just wash your hair, or at least get it wet. try a couple of drops of pure tea tree oil too. maybe a little aloe.

the hair will always be unlocked at the root. there needs to be space for the hair to move around against the base of the lock so more hair can lock thus lengthening the amount of locked hair.

people who have baby locks for the first time are usually pretty worried and anxious about their hair. just don't worry about it. the worst thing you could do is try and control it. you will end up going mad, palm rolling, root rubbing and other crap you might try. all of these things are bad for your hair in the long run. the only time i ever do any rubbing is clockwise rubbing all over my scalp in the morning with a towel, but that has the dual purpose of drying my hair and frizzing up the roots. that's right, i go out of my way to get my hair to frizz. frizzy hair locks easier and wet locks are yucky. you can't even wear a hat with wet locks because that could lock the moisture in for too long.

this is important. STOP backcombing your hair. backcombing is rough on your hair and your scalp, you should only do it once, ever, or not at all. you need to be more gentle with your hair or you could end up with problems in the future. since you backcombed, it will unbackcomb a bit before it locks like a real lock. this will be another stage unfamiliar with people who only know the natural, or hands-off method.

all you have to do to ensure the future of your locks is separate the ones that try to lock together, unless of course you want superlocks and congos.

as for your scalp, i'm pretty sure tea tree oil will condition the scalp and aloe should condition the hair, or vice versa, or both... lol. maybe if you get your hair wet more often that will help too. the most important part to locks is patience. just try different, gentle things on your hair that might help your dry scalp problem over a long period of time. it might take up to a month for your hair to condition itself properly. if you cant wait for a solution, living with locks could be hard, so you need to learn patience.

 

i have two inches of undreaded hair at the roots of many of my dreads. i dont think any of them have less than an inch. this is normal and good. you dont want them dreaded right to your scalp, that would be very uncomfortable.
you can crochet your loose hairs in, but i recommend waiting a few more months to let your hair solidify. its harder to crochet into new baby dreads b/c they arnt tight enough to hold the hair in.
just know that all dreads have loose hair. some people have more than others b/c they choose not to do maintenance (and i feel that these dreads have the most character) but you can take steps to assimilate them. other tools people use are latch hooks, yarn needles and those little plastic loops for flossing.
also, all dreads look like crap for the first 6 months-1 year (or even longer in my case lol). so if theyre pissing you off, throw on a hat

 

YES! chill out and your dreads will be FINE. wash your hair every 2-3 days. they will un-lock a bit which is fine, in the long run they will lock up. it is going to be several months before they even look anything like dreads, just relax and do other things besides worrying about your hair. wear a tam. just keep them clean, please - dirty locks are nasty and like a previous poster said, you are giving dreadheads a bad name with your wholly unnecessary bad hygiene. dreads are a lesson in letting go and shouldn't drive you crazy. let them teach you temperance, patience, and zen. just flow..... the less you fuck with your dreadies, the better they will look in the long run.

 

WASH YOUR HAIR. Those "loctitians" are FULL OF SHIT. They don't know anything about dreads and will charge you because you know less than they do. The dreads need to be clean to lock up.

If they get washed out or whatever, twist/backcomb/separate them back. It's not rocket science, and clean or not, you'll have your hands in it anyways. Which you really shouldn't do because you will end up hindering the process.

But then dirty wax dreads "look" better to everybody else because they're not frizzy and dear god who wants frizzy hair? So it's up to you really.

 

Out of interest, why do "loctitians" say not to wash your hair for a month?

 

Because unfortunately them, along with mainstream morons believe it's the DIRT that makes your hair dread. I've had people with dreads GOING DOWN THEIR BACKS tell me that if you wash your hair too much it won't lock. WTF? There needs to be some kind of dreadlock PSA or something.

 

Here are some herbs that are great in preventing/treating dandruff and promote a healthy scalp and happy locks:
rosemary & nettles: prevents dandruff & encourages hair growth
parsley: clears up dandruff
sage: strengthens & conditions & treats dandruff
chamomile: treats itchy/sensitive scalp & encourages hair growth
peppermint: stimulates the scalp

I just boil a handfull of herbs in a medium pot for 15-30 minutes (until it's a dark, strong tea) and I use it in the deep cleanse, in place of some of the water.
Apple cider vinegar is another great treatment for dandruff and aloe will soothe your irritated scalp, tame the frizzies & strengthen your dreads.

 

Alright, just checking in here...

I'll get this out of the way first: dajaqa and zilla939 - piss off, both of you. It's people like you who have and vomit out the shittiest attitude towards someone new at something that give dreadheads a bad name, not a newbie like myself who was following instructions given by what I thought was someone who knew what they were talking about - a "loctician", as some users have called him, and then ponying up to ask advice about it in this forum!

Okay. I feel better now. Sheesh.

rainbowedskylover and scatteredleaves, THANK YOU for helping me feel like not too big of an idiot. I'm new at this, and I want what's best for my dreads. Everyone's advice is great. I'm going to take the advice and wash my dreads. My scalp is tingling now, it's so excited!

Okay, so I'm thinking the jist here is to leave them alone and maybe do a little clockwise rubbing, but not too much? And for the dandruff issue, we'll see how the shampoo bar I have treats it. I've also put a drop of tea tree oil straight onto my scalp in one spot and rubbed it in to see if that'll help things. If not, then I'm going to try and make that herbal stew.

bcmama, how do you use your aloe to tame the frizzies & strengthen your dreads?

Oy. Time to buy a tam. Or maybe I can get my grandma to knit me one! hmmmmmmm....

 

hey, i am sorry if i offended you. i think it is foolish to trust ONE PERSON'S advice, but it's definitely a good thing that you came here sooner than later! i really only wanted to help you, sorry if it came across as harsh, it just really sucks that people are perpetuating this idea that dreadies are dirty. i'm not saying it's your fault at all. i was trying to get the point across that these people who have told you these things are misguided. i really did try to give you sound advice and it seems that you are convinced that it is the right thing to do. no hard feelings i hope.... if there are, bummer, i am truly sorry. i'm glad that now you will be representing dreadheads well sorry if you feel that i am not.

 

Thanks for your post. There have been quite a few people that have told me not to wash my dreads for the first month, actually....ranging from "locticians" (4 or 5), to a few employees at a certain knotty salon that sells a bunch of stuff i never ended up using anyways, to 3 people who have dreads themselves. I just didn't post about them, is all.

I don't think they were trying to say that nice dreads are dirty dreads...at least the "locticians" and 1 of my dready friends said that for the first month don't wash bc they'll all unlock and it'll be all for naught.

Anywho. Thanks for clearing the air btwn us. After I get my little one to bed, it's tubby-time for my scalp!!! I've literally been counting the days!!! No hard feelin's. It's all good.

 

I just slather aloe all over my dreads. Somedays I rinse it out, but usually I leave it on, to tame the frizzies. You can find it at health food stores, and be sure to use 100% aloe that is food grade. Other aloes on the market have witch hazel and/or other drying agents added to them.

 

hey, just so you know, the "not washing your hair for a month" came from salons using chemicals after backcombing to keep your hair in that position...not washing is to keep it there, think they call it "permed". Any way, point is its bad, You need to encourage movement to ensure progress, Don't be afraid if some parts fall out when you wash / get them wet..they'll go back where there suppose to.. in time. Glad to see you found the site before it was too late, good luck.

 

glad i could be of help
just ftr, i didnt wash my hair for a month or so after i backcombed. and yes, i was fully informed by this site and others that it was not necessary to wait so long. i just didnt feel like washing and my hair was so short, i was hoping it would form a few good knots before i washed all the backcombing out. it all fell out anyway, but i think waiting to wash did help keep it sectioned. my hair takes awhile to get gross though. now, i usually wash every two weeks or so.
if your hair is greasy, dandruffy, or feels gross, you should definitely wash though. you can wash your hair whenever you feel like it. theres no right or wrong time to do it, its different for everyone. just as long as you know it needs to dry completely btw washings.

 

great! that shower is going to feel amazing. your hair will possibly un-lock a little, but no worries, it will all turn out right in the long run. :cheers2:
patience!