Im pretty much a noob when it comes to dreadlocks and i was wanting to know a couple of things. Here it goes: when you have dreads is there a way to...lets say..."undo" them or are they pretty much permanant? Ive heard a couple of things like you can condition the crap out of your hair and they will start to come out (i dont really belive that) but other people have told me you have to shave your head or wait for them to grow out. Also when you get dreads how hard is it for them to lock in and how long does it usally take? someone educate me?
It depends on how much time the dreads have spent locking. The longer they have been in, the tighter they will be. Anything less than 6-12 months should "come out" but I wouldn't want to see what it looks like when it does. Generally when people condition them and comb, it's because they used wax or had some other problem developing. So yeah, I would say they are pretty much permanent, but I have read stories that indicate otherwise. As far as the other question about how long it takes dreads to lock, you will not find and answer because it is a flawed question. Dreads are knots. How long does it take for two hairs to knot up? Not how long does it take for 100,000 hairs to knot up? Now add in environment variables like unknotting, friction, snags and potentially improper hair care for hair/scalp type, and you end up with: Nothing. There is no answer. Generally, think 1-2 years. I repeat, years.
i see, now im a little bit clearer thanks. i want to get dreads but i dont know if i would like them once i had them or if i would prefer my regular hair again. im scared i would get them, they wouldnt turn out right or something and i wont be able to go back to my original hair. If i get them at the age i am right now and have them for a while, im wondering if i would want them later on in life or not. im so confused on what i want to do. some negatives and positives from expierence would be nice.
I doesn't sound to me like you have the patience for dreads. True dreads are not a hairstyle, they are a lifestyle. They are not neat, or tidy, and generally take many many months to start looking what the [rest of the] world considers "good." Try braiding your hair. If you like it, and want to live with it like that for a few years, undo the braids and let them dread up. And read around. If you start looking at picture threads, you will get an idea of some of the "bird's nests" that people endure on their journey's. Read the forums.
i tried to take 2 dreads out after 4 months with no luck at all but everyone's hair is different. i had the same worries as you before i started "what if they look like crap" "what if I change my mind" but i say this: dreads have their ugly duckling phase but i've never seen or heard of a set of dreads that didn't come out well (after a year or 2) that is unless someone did something weird to them like put crazy chemicals or too much wax or dreadheadhq products.
i understand it would tke a while, thats why im also doubting myself about my patience too. i've seen dreads before and did some rough research on them. but im very un decided. i'll try the braid though thanks.
very true. thats a good way of putting it. lol. well im glad to know they cant messup and not turn out well. i guess it just takes some time.
patience is everything, usually everyone ends up loving them because they are all individual and you pretty much watch them grow. it grows on you, ha ha. i could suggest synthetic locks for a day if you want to get the feel of big heavy hairs on your head, but it just doesn't do the real locks justice. each person's head ends up with different stages and different results so its hard to have any feeling of how they will turn out. hell, i've had two sets and this second set is way different from the first. you just have to take the dive and see how it is, i haven't met anyone that did locks, had them for a while and decided to get rid of them because they didn't like how they look. people usually cut their locks because they either started out wrong (wax, snake oil crap), if they are worried and obsessive during the "messy" phase, and if something happened to them that damaged them too much. you can remedy problem 1 by starting out right, problem 2 by educating yourself and learning patience. there really is no way to remedy problem 3. either its so severe that you need to cut your hair, or you'll be fine to keep the hair. the thing with problem 3 is that you would probably end up cutting your hair whether or not you had locks in the first place. the things we do to our hair to keep it from locking is usually bad for our hair. we use harsh shampoos followed by heavy conditioners just to clean it, then we take a comb to it to prevent any knots and end up ripping a ton of hairs out. i was like you, i was on the fence because i really liked my hair how it was and i was worried about the permanence of locks. if i didn't like how things were going within a couple of weeks, i knew i would have to cut them. i already had a bad experience with them so that was yet another barrier between me and locks. then my hair started to "lock" (really just tighter sections of hair) on its own and that sparked me to go researching about locks. i found out what i was doing to my hair just to keep it from locking was unhealthy and that i could have very healthy hair and locks at the same time. it also meant i didn't have to spend forever in the mornings trying to tame the beast, so letting my hair lock became a no-brainer. i would have healthy hair, easy to manage and could keep it long. my dream come true. i started out right this time and i have never looked back. i realize your uneasy about the big change, but its more gradual than you think. just weigh up the pros to the cons and maybe you will see it my way.
They've pretty much cleared it up... looking at your sig, your hair seems like it would be fairly easy to take your dreads out if you decide to take them out within the first week or so. but i wouldnt take em out, i think they'd look good on you.
haha i agree with you! ive grown my hair out once before, got it real long ( nearly waist) had to get it cut above the collar for a really freaking fantastic job, and i havent cut it since, that was like two and half years ago that i cut it. its about half way to the waist now, and i kinda figure that ive had "long" hair for about 4 or so years of my life now, and why not try something different? but im still on the fence about it kinda....i really like running my fingers through my hair... but at the same time brushing it everyday is a pain in the ass. seeing that your a girl im guessing youve had long hair for most of your life, so why not? if not spend a while combing them out ( a teacher of mine had dreads for 10 years and combed those fuckers out, his hair was crazy frizzy for a few weeks before it calmed down, but he still had pretty long hair when it was all done) im going to back comb after xmas and between new years and start i think... but then again i laid off from one of my jobs today so i kinda want a new one first.... idk im your boat totally though
I know a few people who brushed out their locks after having them for 2-5 years. It took alot of conditioner and combing, but they managed to save most of their hair length.
Someone mentioned dreads are a lifestyle but I kind of had to eyeroll at that one. I'm not trying to be an ass about it but some people think dreads are this spiritual magical adventure and when someone doesn't agree with there views they throw around the 'bathroom dreads' crap. Some people want dreads to try out something new, and it doesn't matter if they don't think of it as an 'religious' experience. So Tori, if you want dreads for a year or 2 it's all good. You don't have to be a die hard and stick with them for life. Try it out and see if you like it. Hey, maybe you'll end up loving it and sticking with it til yur 85 years old. :]
they ARE a lifestyle unless you are exceptional and nothing around you changes. you have to change your view of your community, or you crumble under the pressure. we have topics here every week about people having trouble or dealing with stress because of the way people treat them for what they have on their head. North America, most of Europe and nearly the rest of the developed world says you have to comb your hair and bathe it in wacky shampoos to be acceptable. they say we have to control our hair or we're bums, slobs. people with locks do the exact opposite. we stop combing our hair, the only thing we put in it is to keep it clean, not strip it then condition it everyday. you may even find some people close to you treat you differently. we have people here who were disowned and kicked out for what they let their hair do. some of us have been able to weed out the fakers and narrow down who our true friends are. these are just two examples. humans are so controlling, we are one of the only organisms ever to have walked the earth to shape the earth more than it has shaped us. we are so controlling, and this sense is carried on to our hair where we feel we need to control everything it does. when you let locks happen, you are basically letting go of that mentality. you can't live with both because if you keep trying to control your locks, they fall off. so just changing your thinking from making things happen to letting things happen is a lifestyle change by itself. its so much more than that though, and i think everyone who has had their locks for a while has experienced these changes and challenges to some extent.
I see how they are a life style for exactly the reason above me. People think of you differently and judge you quicker than they usally would. Most people are bases on image nowadays, and theres not much we can do about it unfortunatlly. :\
