Backcomb or Natural, Advantages & Disadvantages?? Photo's of what im starting with...

Hey everyone, im new here and new to the dread journey, but im ready to set off for my destination.

My hair is thick, slightly wavy and ive been growing it out for 5 months (started it from 0.8"). Currently averaging about 4" - 5" all round, bit shorter n longer in different parts. Anyway, Ive been expecting to backcomb, but ive noticed a huge push by people to go all natural. What should someone in my situation do? Are there any big advantages to starting out backcombing over natural, is one a more "fail-safe" way to get the hair to lock and stay locked? Please can anyone give me some advice on what to do, im really not sure what method I should use, and also when I should make the first step to get these going. Heres some photos of what my hairs like, and its current state...





See my gallery for differnt shots if u want.

Thanks in advance,
Jeroth

 

Personally I would recommend a lot more hair before even attempting to backcomb, your hair is still way to short to go natural too. But if you decide to do it anyways best of luck, just stay away from wax, I cant stress that enough!

 

Yeh im not wanting to start now, thats why I asked for when the right time would be to start. I just dont know where to go from here, like, leave it to grow, have it slightly trimmed and then letting it grow etc. And are there different better ways to get the hair to lock for different types of hair?? I just need a bit of sense of direction to get my hair prepared to finally start the dread process, thats all. When i say prepared i dont mean starting dreading in the next month etc, i just mean whenever you guys rekon would be the best time for me to start, and how to get to that stage.

 

agreed on the wax, but disagree that its too short to start natural
mine was about the same length or shorter when i started,
the back was slightly longer however...
i started with just a few beads in the back & a hair wrap or 2 which all dreaded rather fast, then the rest just played with lil bit now & then seperating clumps & let it go, & in months had a head full of short lil dreads stickin out all over
my hairs thick n wavy just like his & it should dread nicely
backcombing only tames the process, making seperation easier by defining the dreads before they form, natural takes lil more care to feel for dreadlets, & seperate them & allow them to form on theyre own

backcombing will give a more uniform thickness to each, but natural will make every dread unique. some thick some thin, a more natural appearance

 

soaringeagle: thanks for the reply, your dreads are amazing! and thats a real confidence booster to hear you have a similar type of hair. I would prefer to go all natural to be honest, what would you recommend I start doing? Ive heard about saltwater & lemon or something along those lines, and using residue-free soaps? Should I just neglect it, start using those soaps and salt water?? And anything else youd recommend I do to help push them along, ive heard wearing some kind of hat/hair sock type thing helps. Any information would be greatly appreciated, as im very lost in this area, theres so much conflicting information on the net, it would be good to get some advice form someone whos travelled/travelling the journey already.

 

BTW, when I say natural, i mean neglect method. Just found out there seems to be a bit of debating as to what is natural, so im talking about neglect method vs more controled methods like backcombing. Any ideas as to what would be best for my type of hair? Or does it really not matter?

 

wash with bronners weekly do a salt water rince every other week (be sure to rince it out after)lemmon jiuce combined with sun or heat acts like peroxide & will bleach the hair, so dont use it
after u wasgh just shake it out & let it go
hats can help yes
just the most important thing is once a week or so feel through your hjair for areas that seem to want to clump together, & pull & seperate them from other clumps

 

I wonder what mine would be called ..

I let them form on their own for over 6 months, and then i twisted and ripped the ends a bit on a few of them.. but they weren't backcombed or sectioned. I just gave a boost to what was already there... hmm

so I did a bit of both. hehe

 

It's really got to be your own choice... but to give advantages and disadvantages of natural:

advantages:
1. dreads form a size that's right for your hair type and personality (even if you keep em separated, like I do, you'd follow the lead of the dread rather than the other way around).
2. they represent what dreads are about... NATURAL state of hair... these dreads are grown, not made. You won't be running around saying "OMG I GOT DREADS TODAY!!!"
3. teaches you patience and the ability to stop trying to control EVERYTHING. Truly.

disadvantages:
1. to say this takes patience is an understatement. There are days it can be extremely frustrating... and at times you may look at folk with nicer looking dreads that are WAAAY younger than your own with a twinge of envy
2. if you are dead set on having your dreads look a certain way (particular thickness, etc.) you're better off backcombing
3. if you want extremely uniform dreads... natural isn't for you. If you keep em separated they will be *relatively* the same size... but variety is inevitable

 

Thanks for all the replies. I think im just going to stop bushing, and use the salt-water and bronners when I wash my hair. Any other tips to help them start forming?

@soaringeagle: when you say you started out with a few beads int eh back, do you mean u sectioned it off from the start with beads and then let it lock up? or do you mean you added the beads to locks that had started forming?

I really like the idea behind the natural neglect method, but I also would like to do everything i can to help them along, sorry for all the questions!

Jeroth