Greetings Everyone! I'm Fritz, from Manila Been reading here for a few weeks now and I've learned a lot about dreadlocks since then. Anyway, let's cut to the chase! I'm planning on getting dreadlocks soon and I plan on: Random sectioning, backcombing, and crocheting. I've basically made up my mind on that, so I hope we keep the debate about which method works out of the question, as I've seen it here quite often So the main concern I have is the length of my hair immediately after I do those methods. I've read some people who told that they lost almost a half of their length, while some others say it's about 20%. I really want to keep the length that I currently have especially on the front. I don't want it to look as "clean" as most crocheted locks-- more on medium diameter with kinda wispy ends to give a sharp look. So, how much length do you think I'll lose after working on my hair? My hair on the front is right around the chin, the side are longer to the collar bone, while the back are mostly around the shoulders. I've attached a pic of me in multiple angles just so you guys can judge it better. (Sorry for the "shmucky" smile ) I was hoping also if there's anyone here with the similar length before the had their locks? Maybe I could check out before and after pics. It's hard to find comparison pics here! Anyway, please do share your insights! I really look forward in being a part of the community! Thanks, Peace and Love!
from what I've seen people with glossy straight hair don't have as much shrinkage. I have crazy curly hair so mine are shrinking everyday. But you never realli know how much length your going to lose till after 7/8 months...you just don't know what way your hair will go but that's one of the fun things with dreads-surprises
they will get a bit shorter obviously as backcombing bunches the hairs up together anyway and then the shrinking bit......same as lux says, you'll never know. Backcombing my hair made it very very short compared to the original length. good luck anyways!
half of my head was really tightly backcombed and these dreads are about 3 inches shorter than the others the other half that was loosely backcombed has given me more grief, cause its looser and i keep twisting & ripping it etc, but theyre longer and have wispy ends =] depends how tight you get backcombed i suppose ^-^
I lost about 1/2 my length, but a lot of that had to do with the fact that my hair had been thinned out a bit a couple of months before I dreaded it, and I have thin hair as it is. I'd say, on average, after backcombing, you'll lose about 1/3 of your length. But it'll be more or less depending on individual factors such as hair texture and density as well as how tightly you backcomb.
its hard to say because everyones hair is different as are the methods they are done.. Just guessing and going by my own experience 1/3- 2/3 shorter.
my hair before locking was about 12 inches, 7 months into locking it is now about 8-9 inches in length. and i used pretty much the exact method you described above. some of the locks that i didn't maintain lost more length.
Welcome! You have a wonderful smile! Cheered me up this morning. First things first... you will be battling to keep your hair down for the first month, so you will not care about length... you will be concentrating on keeping the poofy bad boys down. Your hair looks about as straight as mine is (but I have really fine hair.. not sure about yours) and mine so far has kept it's length and I'm at about four months. However, I have not continued to backcomb the ends and keep the dreads in perfect form, I have wispies (or simply just long straight hair. lol) on the end of all of mine. I imagine I'll start losing a lot more length in the coming months, but who knows. But safe to say the length has not realy changed since I got them. Hope that helps.
I had long very straight smooth/glossy silky hair and at first it remained at the middle of my back but now at 7 month is has shrunk up to my shoulders like about the length yours is now, so mine shrunk in half within 7 months. But everyone's hair is different.
they a month and a bit and im not talking shrinkage just i lost no length when my hair was backcombed
been about 9 months and my hair is about an inch or so longer than when I started. I didn't backcomb "properly" and lost no length when I first started, but over the course of it they are prob about 2-3 inches shorter than where my hair would be now if I brushed it.
I backcombed my hair 12 months ago and it still hasn't grown back to the length it was before dreading, close though.
Thanks for all the replies Aside from hair type, I would assume it depends on how you backcomb your hair? Like, if you compress it as much as you could or something. I'd say the crocheting has a good part in reducing length as well? I've tried some test backcombs but I don't think I lost length, but those backcombs aren't too compressed and can be brought back easily...
As your hair locks up, it pulls the knots tighter which causes shrinking, thats when you will notice the length difference
My hair was about the same lenght as yours (but more) before I backcomed it and now at 13 months my dreads a little longer than in WhiteSnow's picture, but my hair grows crazy fast. After backcoming my hair was about 20 percent shorter, but they weren't backcombed thight and with crocheting I think you'll loose more lenght. Ps WhiteSnow your dreads look amazing!
