Thinking about Dreads!

Hey there! Congrats on making the decision to dread your head...its a long fun journey! Consistently sized uniformed locks are very hard to get! Honestly...Im not too sure on how people do it. I think it requires a lot of backcombing and maintenance. Im not sure if its possible without using wax and other icky stuff. I could be wrong though...thats just my experience. Im going the all natural way. Ive never used dready care products and I wash my head 1-2 times a week with a combo of Dr. Bronners bar soap and a brand of shampoo that I like called EO. I backcombed a couple of my dreads and they've actually been the most unruly and hard to maintain dreads on my head! They want to combine with all the natural [non backcombed] dreads. The backcombed dreads on my head are by no means uniformed looking. Theyre filled with happy little loopies and such. Anywho...I guess what Im trying to say is that your hair will dread how its supposed to. The best advice I can give is dont try to force them to look a certain way cuz they'll just drive you crazy! If you backcomb just do it once and then let them be. Wash 1-3 times a week depending on your hair type with a residue free shampoo and just love them. They'll be beautiful!

 

your locks WILL NOT look uniformed and perfect like some people are saying. if you want a hair style that will have consistent tendrils that are perfect look elsewhere.

locks take a long time, no matter what method you use. all methods will make your hair pretty messy for a while, if you see locks that aren't messy they are either a year or two old (at least), have some sort of nasty glue in them (probably very young) or they are constantly crocheted which does damage to the locks.

i can only recommend backcombing (never backcomb more than once) if you want some sort of control of the size of your locks. your hair will still get messy and frizzy and the backcombed locks will unbackcomb and lock at different rates.

with the natural method, you will need to manually combine the locks or try to separate them if you aren't happy with the size. its fine for people who dont mind having a variety on their head, but backcombing is better if you want a uniformed size so there is no point in starting natural.

it doesn't matter how you start, maintenance will be the same. all you have to do is keep the locks from eating each other (or let them of your into some variety), wash them and wait. the key to locks is patience, remember there are no shortcuts.

you need to learn to let the hair do its thing, you can not control it but only guide it in the direction you want it to go. if you try to control your locks and try to make them look "perfect" you will simply make trouble for yourself.

 

Uniform locks actually are possible. Most people on this site aren't fans of them so they won't endorse them or the methods used to achieve them but it's possible.

 

i dont think anyone here is specifically against locks that are tight and round without frizzy, just the ways to get there. it would help since there are people who need to look as tidy as possible in their place of business.

 

I say rip!!!!!!!!! thats what I did. I'm glad I didn't backcomb. I think it'd feel way tight :/ I love mine and I ripped, yey! p.s. you would look totally cool with dreads, go for it!

 

Yeah, and some dread forums are wore. They'd rip someone a new asshole just for mentioning poppy uniformed locks. Obviously it's possible, whenever I google dreads 80% of the results are these perfect little ropes.

 

agreed,
i think the perfect little ropes just come with time and a little bit'o maintance.

 

So! What all should I do then hmmm? What is ripping anyway? I guess the question is to backcomb or not to backcomb...

 

ripping is when you rip two locks apart that are trying to combine. or it could be the twist and rip method of putting locks in.

i haven't seen anything rope like that wasn't old/crocheted(heavy maintenance)/newly waxed. i'd like to see the secret of doing it that didn't damage your hair or take years, if there even is one.

the biggest difference between backcomb and natural is the initial process. since there really is no initial process in the natural way, i suggest trying that for 2 weeks- a month and see how you like it. if you really dont like it then comb it out and back comb maybe a week later.

 

I would backcomb and then palm roll. No need for product, your hair looks relatively curly. I would just palm roll about once a week and make sure they don't grow together since you want small uniformity.

 

when I say ripping I mean that I took a section of my hair, split it in two and ripped upwards then re-joining the hair, splitting it in two again and ripping uupwards lightly...

 

Hmm, I don't think I understand fully... Are you meaning pulling the hair in opposing directions crossing it? I'm confused.

 

What I understand as ripping:
If a dread was growing together with another/others, you grab the dread generally in the section bridged between the grouping dreads and rip them apart, the idea is your stopping them bridging/going congo and keeping them seperated!
Alex

 

^ yeah that's what i thought, i'm confused now >.>

 

we should have some established terms for these things. separating for maintenance and ripping for putting them in, sound good?

 

What luxie is talking about is not separating dreads.

If you take undreaded hair and section it off like you would a dread, you can form dreads by ripping. What you do is take the section, twist it around into a coil and then rip it up the center; repeat until done. It definitely knots much better than backcombing, though you do lose a bit more length if done properly.

I did that with my dreads in front on my last set and it worked very well, I would say much better than backcombing.

 

The pics on the first page:

It is impossible to tell how either set was started. The top set have been crocheted.

 

oh so thats what ripping is! I thought it was just the method of letting your hair go and then seperating each dread by ripping and stuff. Thanks for explaining it....I might try that.

 

I'm waiting on my hair to be longer to get dreadlocks (its about 8"), and in the meantime I've been doing some research. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m either going to backcomb them or twist and turn them. I also believe a crochet hook would also help keep them nice and round. Also don’t forget to buy a shampoo that doesn’t leave residue, and be sure you use it before getting the locks done.

A good example on the twisting method is shown by this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtJJyclYCAo

And a good example of backcombing in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrYVa9sXcDM

Notice how uniform and clean they both look without waxing. I don’t think I would wax mines when I get them. I would suggest you keep doing your own research about locks. I hope this helps!

 

I just want to say that I know the girl in the 2nd picture. Her hair was backcombed.