dreads are flexible and spongy unless you have either wax, or mold. either 1 can make them too hard but in general drewads should be easy to bens and twist and tie in knots if u notice in the dreadheadhq vids his dreads dont move, too stiff from wax buildup. mine if theyre extremely dry might be a bit hard and stiff but a lil conditioning and they are soft and flexible as can be. they feel great in fact.
the thicker and the more mature dreads i have are very stiff, actually kind of like nerf darts. the younger/looser ones are really bendy. the skinnier ones also seem to have a natural tendency to be more flexible, despite maturity. so i guess i would say the the thickness and titeness, or maturity rather, are the biggest components of a dread's bendability. who knew dreads could be so scientific.
It is definitely 100% possible for a dense mass of hair to feel hard WITHOUT any wax in it. SE you don't fucking know everything! Argh!
at the moment, only about 4 inches, but they're not shrinking any, just growing longer now, so I can deal with it.