I noticed about a week or so that some of the tips on my dreads are white. As soon as I saw it I started messing around with a dread. I slowly ripped one open and pulled out one of the white hairs and the tiny strand of hair came off very easily. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what do you think it may be? Also, is there anything I can do to help prevent this from happening in the future?
I don't have dreads yet, hairs not long enough, but I think when I get my hair ready I'm gonna get the tips dyed white, sorry sorta random just made me think of it
I haven't had white tips of an entire dread, itself. But I have noticed the tips of individual strands of hair have come up white. I assumed it was just a very frayed split end.. Though I'm not sure it is the same thing, as you said an entire hair was the color. I have been getting some white hairs myself, too- but I think that would happen even without dreads ^_~
u backcombed? could be dammage from the backcombing i hear it alot it could even be roots that were ripped out, although youd expect that at or neasr the roots not the tips the pic on the right..looks very waxy but might be the flash ive seen flashes make clean dreads look coated so im not zassummomg u have major wax..but if so, could the hair be covered in wax? i think u saud u didnt wax tho..just backcombed over a month right what else did u do besides backcomb? it really sounds like just dammaged hair is all. lil damage isnt too bad..but alot is wirth worrying awbout i do encoursage ppl to use no dammage methiods alot or at leasst minimal dammage..mostly for strrength and durabuility so they can last a lifetime but just a lil dammage will just cause those unsightly lil flaws..but who cares 5 years from now you'll h1/2 a pillows worth of fluff feathers fuzz and ..other (miscalanios pine needles grasses leaves twigs threads other peoples hairs you name it) stuck in the dreads by then a lil white broken hair wont seem like a big deal now if it is a dammaged hair at the tip, aloe or vitsamin e might help slightly to repair the dammage. but the besgt adviceis..do no more dammage dont twist (much at least) dont palm roll dont root or tip rub dont crochette dont felt dont..definately dont backcomb again.. leave em be as much as u can.. keep in mind if u found some near the outside theres probly plenty more indside so u dont wanna add to em,. if its really annoyimg surgicaly remove it (clip the single hair) if not leagve it be.
ok i reread that got a clearer idea you say the whole tips white? and you can pull the hairs out very easilty? damn girl..thats massive dammage..i was thiking u meant 1 or 2 hairs have u obsessively tip rubbed or over backcombed to try getting them blunt? its that ior like u said u backcombed em over as full month,,i thought u did 1 a day or something, but if u keept redoing em..or tried to get them way too tighht u did a hell of alotta dammage. ok, lets hope u tip rubbed alot if thats the case, then just the tips should be weak and dammaged thats fine someday when theyre really long the tip wuill fall off anyway now, if ya didnt tip rub a ton, well then things are a bit more serius because then the dammage is throughout the whole dread (this is why i dont just tell ppl yea its fine to backcomb..cause backcombuing isnt "fine" itr does dammage to some degree always..usualy not severe, but can be) now dont pannic dammaged hairs not hopeless but would take some extra care with it. i would start off with aloe and vitamin e although im not sure that will do enough. id do some research on your own .. yikes ok i just did some myself googled "repairing dammaged hair from backcombing" the top several sites all agreed on 1 thing, and i will type this big so all can pay alittle attention here there is no way to repair the dammage done by backcombing ok im really sorry to say that i was sincerely hoping to find some different info one link was about a soasp with some syrum that may or may not help but if you are gonna find a solution its going to take some digging. i bet there may be hope ouit there. id concider maybe trying that fructese or whatever it is thats suposed to make your hair real strong..i dont know how dread freindly it is or if its just a scam, but i would at leasst concider it. besides that your options are aloe vera, vitsmin e.. jojoba oil ontop of that id talk to bcmomma see what she canb suggest the absolute most important thing though is..do no furthjer dammage at all..be gentle with them.. the new griwth that dreads naturaly will grow in strong and undammaged the weakened dammaged parts arent likely to fall apart overnight and very well may survive for years if your carefull not to dammage em nmore most likely though when theyre past your butt..ar at leasst mid back where chair backs may rub or catch em u may loose ends..not all at once just 1 here and there..but ..most likely that wont happen till u have a decent length of strong natural growth to fall back on. it could be yearstill this happens if your easy on em but..if it does happen sooner just dont worry bout it chalk it up to a learning experience and be happy with the new growrth that takes its place. i'm bout 70-75% sure that u wont have significant loss till its good bit longer though so ya shouldnt be left with lil stubby dreads unless u really mess with it alot from now on.. finaly i will say just because i wrote that huge wasnt to scare u it wasnt even so much to you as ity was to all thise who push backcombing so much and claim its not dammaging and dammage doesnt matter even if it is i wasnt tryimg to scare u one bit, or claim theres no hope to fix it, that was just the conclusion of the 1st 5 sites i saw..but then there were products claiming they can help so i encourage u to do alotta research..find something that gives u hope and try it out im no authority here, just going on what i read. if the dammage is as bad as suspected from your description, i hope if u ever do decide to start a second set someday u concider natural ass an option. sorry youve had so much trouble..and i sincereky hope things arent as bad as i think.. if the dammage really is limmetted to just the tips..dont worry bout as thing the tips will take the most abuse anway theyre sorta disposable too..some day you'll reach a length and find that a few inches fall off here and there all the time ya know what.. ignore everything i said untill u can get some close up pics so we know for sure whats going on..i dont wanna cause a panic till i hsve real evidence to work with. not only closeup of the white tips, but if possible the lil peices that came out so easy.. oh and include as detailed info as u can into every single thing u did to em..
The whole tips aren't white, it varies from dread to dread. Some dreads have no white tips what so ever. The ones that do either have a little bit or a lot. I haven't tried blunting the tips or re-backcombing them, I let the tips do as they please. Also, I believe you misunderstood me.... my hair was only backcombed once, it took me about a month to get through my whole hair. I'm not sure whether backcombing had anything to do with it since I did have another set of dreads before and didn't experience this problem with those. EDIT: You also said my dreads looked waxy in my right pic... it's not wax, just the camera flash.
yea camera flashes do that so im soooo glad it washnt the massivedammage i feared can u try to get a close shot of the white tips in the dread as well as the ones that came out easily it still sounds like some type dammage but probly not real severe..i wewass fearring the worse and worried how youd take it. i was hopeing for the best tho ofcourse. close detailed pics will really help a ton. but u cant really fix dammage just feed it to prevent it from being worse ande slowly pick at the destroyed parts til they come out. are u sure its hair not fuzz or thread? i couldnt find a single split hair on mine cause it wasnt ever dammaged at all, but ..especfialy in the ends i get alotta white fluff caufght uop in it if thats all it is..ignote it or pick it out (prefferably fingers or tweezers, but if need be a neddle, trying not to rip o]up the dread only pry out the exposed fuzz
How old are your locks? If its just the very end of the hair that is white, that is only your hair follicle. When you have locks the hairs you naturally shed get trapped into the dread and as they age you see more and more of the hairs with a white tip. Nothing to worry about at all as its completely natural. *edit Do not pick at the parts that are "damaged." That will only cause damage. Your hair is fine.
Sometimes I get these tiny little bits of white fluff (thanks flannel sheets) stuck to the ends of individual hairs, but they come off when I run my finger over them. Or do you mean more of a split-end type white? Or not that at all?
im guessing slit endsm, but the hairs also broken off the other thing, the folicue u mean the roots this typicaly happens art the roots when backcombed too hard ofcourse yea hawirs fall out and get trawpped inside but i have never ever njoticed 1 whote exposed root andshe said its in the tip, so root isnt an option.it must be fuzz..or dammaged broken ends
By follicle I mean follicle. If you don't know what it is look it up on google. She has very dark hair so the white follicle would be very noticeable. I don't see how you've never noticed a single follicle. Apparently you are not looking hard enough because it is 100% inevitable that you have follicles sticking out of your locks. You may not notice them because you have lighter colored hair or possibly bad eyes. That or you have never shed a single hair in the 19 years you've had locks. But seriously SE, get a magnifying glass and choose any lock. Look closely and you'll see lots of follicles. They look like little balls or bumps on the end of the hair. I don't really get it, but SE you seem really paranoid about damage to people's hair when it is completely unjustified.
just inspected very closely a few thiussnd hairs sticking out all had absolutly perfect ends, except 1..1 split end actualy the 1st 1 i ever foundill look more dont doubt theres a couple more, ..no exposed folicules thoughjust that 1 hair split in 2 at the very end ok 1 dread that was ripped off from being terampled on had 1 krinkly hair ah 1 more exteremely tiny splir end in tyhe very end of a thick dread (only saw it cause i thought i saw a folicue byut turned out to be a tiny lil downb feather just clinging to the end. i found 2 more now with slight bends in them, perfect ends but the shafts slightly crimped ive probly looked at masny thousands of hairs found whast did i say 2 or 3 split ends no folicules and 3-4 with slight bends id call thsat extreemely healthy wouldnt u?
That sounds very unhealthy to me. How exactly is it possible that your hair lacks follicles. Do you have some kind of genetic disorder?
They are about 3-4 months. Yea it's just the very end, and they're just strands. I had thought that it was the hairs that usually shed but figured i'd ask since it was starting to bug me.
yeah, thats just hair follicles. Its absolutely nothing to worry about. The reason they pull out so easily is because they are no longer connected to your scalp. I started noticing them when my locks were the same age and I worried too. Don't worry, be happy! :cheers2:
Actually, they will kinda hang out where they are. I personally don't know of anyway to make them go away besides crocheting the individual hairs into the dread which would be time consuming and a major pain in the ass. Unfortunately they look like little louse eggs but that's what happens when you have dark hair. You will only get more as your locks mature too (if it is hair follicles which I'm sure it is) Fortunately no one will really notice it unless they get really close because they are so small and even then its not a big deal at all.
I have those white split ends too, but my hair is lighter so it isn't so noticeable. I also have the follicles, but they don't bug me. I think they eventually get eaten up over time, so they aren't as noticeable (this is my theory, because there are these guys at my school with tight mature dreads, and they don't *appear* to have any of these problems, haha). You could probably dye your hair if you're really bothered, it should cover follicles and the white of split ends.
i took some dready pics today and ended up with a good macro shot of some hair follicles like mr. donkey was talking about. see those little white things on the ends of the strands? when your hair is shed naturally, those stay attached. with dreads, the shed hair just stays in the dread and those little skin tags stay too.
