Hey guys. I am african/black hair. I have REALLY soft thick hair, and it stays fairly dry (and clean if you ask me). My dreads for the most part have already formed, but some parts are a lot farther in the process than others. At this point I actually don't wash my hair more than once or twice a month. I was wondering does the process of washing them and letting them air-dry help them knot faster or am I not missing out on anything at this point? Peaceness. :sunny:
i wouldn't exactly do what the last person said. if you only washed your hair once or twice a month before your locks, you should continue to do so after your locks. with your hair type, increasing the frequency of washing may dry out your scalp. locks knot up at their own rate. as long as you hair is clean, i wouldn't worry about changing your washing routine. depending on the methods you are using to lock your hair, everything kind of just happens on its own. no use in forcing your hair to lock faster if it doesn't naturally want to.
I totally agree with vigilantherbalist2. So long as your hair is clean then it'll knot well. It's only when it's dirty and oily that you have a problem. I don't know much about black hair but I've heard that if you wash it too often it becomes dry and brittle. Definitely something you don't want. So if washing it twice a month is keeping it clean enough then that's all you need.
Word. I'll try to be less paranoid about it then! And actually, for me, the time in between hair-washes has gradually become less and less. It's allright brah. I'll magage.
Don't worry about it at all. I used to wash my hair every 1-2 months, depending. Your head produces oils at the rate that you normally wash it.
Wetting/drying cycles can, theoretically, help tighten locks. As long as your hair's clean, I doubt you'd see any improvement with more frequent washing, and mixing up your schedule could cause months of instability in your scalp's health, with flakes/dandruf, itching, and dryness and the greasiness from when your scalp rebounds against dry. Sounds like you have a good thing going, and it's working well for you. Stick with it, IMO.