Dreadling advice needed

I suppose I'm a little over 9 months in (I finished backcoming on October 31, 2009), and my little dreadlings are turning into a hot mess. And not the kind that may translate into more mature dreads. In short, I think they're falling apart, and if you read nothing else but have advice for someone I can go see in the South Florida area, I'd really /really/ appreciate it.

Pictures to follow.

Essentially, when I started backcombing my dreads, I thought it would be sick if they were blonde (and eventually require less dye related maintenance). So I bleached my hair to death, couldn't deal, and dyed it back to it's blue black self.

A few months in, I started noticing a ton of damage and breakage everytime I did the least amount of maintenance. I mean, like, entire dreads breaking off an inch from the root.

I waited it out, and now I have some dreadlings which are getting pretty loopy and solid, and inbetween I have messes of undreaded 5 inch longish hair. It's not easy to encorporate into surrounding dreads, and try as I might, it's too short to dread on its own. Should I extend it? Relegate myself to wearing wraps/hats/tams for a year? WTF at my hair?

I'd say out of the close to 50 I had to start with, I probably have 10 solidish dreads at this point, and the reast is sort of wavy tangled sections of hair.

I don't want to comb them out and start over, but I don't know what to do. Anyone have any advice? It would be appreciated. Seriously! Please help save my dreadlings!

Loose Hair


More solid-ish dreadlings




Thanks for your help!
Stephanie

 

If you are sure you want to keep them in, then all you can really do is wait. The rest of your hair will dread up in time, but some of your hair may be too damaged already.

 

I guess you're right. I just wish I could do something more proactive. I've thought about human hair extensions, and wondered if those might help?

I am very attached to my dreads. A lot of love went into them, from someone I'm madly in love with. I don't want to lose them or any of the emotional energy they carry. I just want to take care of them.

 

Any hair that falls off will be off. You really have nothing to worry about.

 

It's not the hair that has fallen off, it's the loose hair (probably 30-40% of my hair growing in now that I don't know what to do with.

 

your hair looks a lil oily, just from the pics, unless it is just really shiney, but if it is oily hair, try washing a bit more..

 

I think shiny/bad flash? It's actually freshly washed and dried as of a few hours ago.

 

Oh', the hair in the dreads with unattached roots. Wear it proudly.

 

Even though there's so much of it? I'm not into deads that look like 100 identical pencils of hair, but it's like, half my head. I've never seen pictures of someone with "dreads" that look like this undefinable mess of hotness.

I guess what I mean to say is, am I just being impatient? I love my wild messy dreadlings, their loopies and even their quickly shrinking length. But I also feel like half my head is back at square one. Should I try to fix it? If so: how?

Have other people gone through this? What did you do?

 

If Hair Just Snaps, It Can Be The Result Of Having A Very High Fever And

Acute Ilness, Have You Been Sick In The Last Few Months...?...

Just Loved The Word Dreadlings, Haven't Heard It Before, It's Cute....



Cheers Glen.


EDIT:- Just Read Your Post Slowly, And Noted The Use Of The Word "BLEACH",

Having Been A "Bleachaholic" For Too Many Years To Count, Believe Me This

Will Happen Regardless What Colour You Put In The Damage Is Already Done.

 

leave it alone and it will dread
or you could keep fucking with it and having it break off

 

I hear ya. That's why I haven't fucked with it (aside from washing it) in months. I bleached it once before I even backcombed and haven't done anything since - that was 9 months ago.

It all broke off months ago of its own accord due to bleach damage, I'm just wondering what to do with all the hair that has grown back. Your suggestion is to just leave the new growth be?

 

I went through my hair falling apart at about 5 months, and I left it alone and it just started knotting up way better then when I was messing with it. I would leave it alone and just wait it out and give it time. My tips are still not close to being knotted up and I am at a year.. Time

 

Thanks Liz - I love my little babes and just wanted to make sure if I gave them time I wouldn't wind up with some massive beaver tail. Congos are cool, but I'd like more than one dreadling to play with someday, haha.

I actually sort of like my loose tips... they soften the edges. I know some people love to rock those rounded edges but they're not for me.

I guess in time all the shorties will blend in. Maybe October 2011 will be their year

 

Yeah the only thing I did was pull them apart so they didn't congo, well some I let congo. but I mean I have a lot of unknotted hair at the ends that I wish would knot up, I don't want any blunted round tips or anything, I just wish it would knot more toward the bottom. Like when I wear my hair in a pony you can't even tell I have dreads because its so loose at the bottoms.

 

I'm up in Jax. I might be able to take an up close look at them and help ya out.

 

If the growth is in patches close in size to the locs you want, backcomb, rip and twist it up.

 

Well as people have mentioned I guess bleach is the devil. Ive never used it so dont know much about the side effects. However I do know about dreads taking a long ass time to dread! Im at 2 years and still have loose hair! Your undreaded hair also looks very short...which will prevent knots from sticking. I'd say...stay away from bleach and stop messing with the hair. Wash every couple of days and preoccupy your thoughts with other things. Once the undreaded bits grow longer you can either let them knot up naturally which will take a few years maybe depending on your hair type....or back comb them. I would also stay away frome extensions even though I know it's tempting because the added weight may just cause more damage...and just wait. Keep us updated! xoxo

 

dreads are ment to be natural, the gods of the earth are punishing you for dyeing your hair and bein an a-hole to them

 

Definitely staying away from the bleach - it really is the devil, especially if you're foolish and don't know what you're doing (I just youtubed that shit and went for it, total mistake). I guess it's just good to know I'm not the only one with a ton of undreaded loose ends hanging about, which is probably because I don't really do anything in terms of maintaining them. Ah well, all things in due course I suppose