How to backcomb dreads

I noticed there's not a lot of information on backcombing on this forum. most of the people here seem to favor natural, but I'm sure there's lots of people reading who would like some easy access information on backcombing. what I'd like to do is get you guys to chime in with your knowledge, and I'll edit this original post as the thread unfolds.

we all know not to use wax, at least that's what this forum will tell you. but I'm sure there are pros and cons to that, like anything else. I'd like information that is as un-biased as possible.

and I couldn't find any decent vids on youtube of the actual backcombing process, so if you know one, please post a link here.


Preparing
you'll need a metal comb with tight-sitting teeth, like a fleacomb. you might want to buy two as the teeth could bend in the process.
you're supposed to wash your hair and let it (air) dry before you start backcombing. always wash with residue free shampoo.
you can section your hair if you want to, but this is not really necessary.

The actual process
it can take anywhere from 5-minutes per lock, depending on hair length. it's a good idea to start in the morning if you're worried about walking around with half your hair dreaded for a day.
if you want, you can put some beads or rubber bands in to keep the freshly backcombed locks in place, but they should be removed within a couple of days. rubber bands are the least desirable.
expect to be in pain for the duration of the backcombing.

Afterwards
the backcombed locks will probably fall out, or half-fall out the first time you wash. patience is still the key ingredient.
salt water is good for helping them tighten, but make sure you rinse your hair after a dip in the ocean.
wash when they feel greasy. depending on your hair type, this could be every two days or every two weeks or even more.

please add if you feel there is anything missing, or if anything here is wrong.

and again, please keep the information as un-biased as you can, pros and cons are great, and differences of opinion have their place but this thread isn't it.

 

This is such a useless, dick post.

Everyone here pushes for natural dreads, if anyone needs any info on natural dreads they could look anywhere else.

This guy was talking about backcombing and put some cool information in one place that really isnt all together anywhere else here. He asked for more backcombing info and you gotta be a dick

And to Jimmy thanks for the post man, it's all info Im better knowing before I make the leap into dread culture

 

i dunno anything about backcombing but i hear its painful and takes forever
u can expect to hurt for a few days after

 

backcombing does hurt the night you do it, just because your hair was being pulled so much. and depending on how long your hair is, yes, it can take..."forever".

but if you you really want to backcomb, make sure you only do it once. after you backcomb the first time, they will most likely half fall apart, depending on how tight you backcombed. and really, all you have to do is wait. its that simple.

this is copied from a previous post i have made.
" okay. so this is the only site i found to teach you to backcomb.
http://www.dreadheadhq.com/make_drea...p_backcomb.php
but dont use wax or rubberbands like that site says! only listen to how to backcomb. the rubberbands aren't good for your dreads, and we all know what wax will do. that site...is not a friendly site...
but, anyway, good luck. happy dreading"

and again, just ignore the site the link is to. only look at the backcombing instructions. every thing else on that site is just trying to sell you crap.

 

i would consider my opinion unbiased so heres what i gotta say...

i backcombed and later found this website... now i wish i had gone all natural. there i said it... i wish they were natural. i feel like i took the easy way out.

anyway. if you do backcomb its going to fall out and look crappy for a while anyway. who cares though... people make comments about my dreads falling apart or whatever but honestly... if i cared for their opinion id ask for it. if you want perfect dreads overnight, dont get dreads... you're in it for the wrong reason. i havent even had my dreads that long but they have changed me and i dont think i could live without them right now.

that is all.

 

very well said
just like i knew when i 1st started this set that id never cut em and have em till they wore off from draggin on the ground when u start u shouldnt have a picture in your head of what u wanna look like next week but years or even decades down the road
and when u get there u want to look back on the journety with fondness not as something u started 1 day but something that happened to you over time

 

I had natural dreads for 10 months, and I have a few friends who backcombed, I have a wonderful friend named Susan who has natural dreads that are 20 years old that look like they were backcombed, but they weren't. This is what she and I have found...

Natural dreadheads (some not all) are complete and utter snobs towards people who decide to dread up by backcombing. Who gives a shit if their reason for dreading is not the same as yours, or if they gave there hair a head start. Who are YOU to judge why they did it that way, really it's none of your fucking business and your come across as total dicks for the high and mighty attitude.

I used to love to forum, now I just see a bunch of natural dread heads that sound like a bunch of pricks.


I like backcombing, it's good for some people, if it's not good for you thats fine, then SHUT UP and leave the thread.

 

:iagree: im getting really sick of dread elitists.

 

In my humble opinion, everyone must follow their own path in all things (dreadlocks included.) You can make helpful (and sometimes not so helpful) comments and suggestions, but ultimately dreads are a very personal journey. I'd say to those who are adamantly against others locking up in any but the 'natural' way--just make your opinion and suggestions known to those who ask, but don't tear them down for going their own way. If their way works for them, cool. If not, then they come back here and have access to plenty of helpful advice.

As for the OP, I had my hair backcombed, and it was PAINFUL. I mean, more painful than getting my tattoo done. Just imagine someone pulling (hard) on one-inch by one-inch sections of your hair for 30-45 minutes at a time---not fun! I'd say my hair is pretty thick, and was about 6 inches long when I had my mom and sister help me backcomb. It took 34 hours altogether to section and comb, and like I said, it was the most painful thing I've ever experienced (I swore like a sailor the whole time--had to bite down on a hoodie to keep from scaring my 3 year old nephew lol.) Anyhow, a lot of the backcombing has since fallen out, mostly in the back of my head (maybe because I sleep on my back mostly?) My hair is definitely starting to tighten up now, but it still has a LONG way to go--I'll post pics in the next day or two, as I'm coming up on 4 months of having my baby 'locks.

Anyhow, that's my two cents as far as backcombing goes. Hope it helps!

 

I don't mean to double post, but I realized that my first reply had no info on the actual backcombing process itself. So here is how mine was done (remember that before you do this you should have clean, air-dried hair):

1) My hair was separated into four sections--my hair was parted down the middle, then across in the middle (wish I could explain better). Basically you have 1 front-left section, 1 front-right section, 1 back-left section and 1 back-right section. Secure each section with a hair clip to keep it out of your way while you work (I had my sis section my hair)

2) After it's sectioned into quarters, have someone (or you yourself if you're good at sectioning) take each 1/4th and section that into aprox. 1-inch by 1-inch square sections (depending on how thick you want your dreads to be). I'd say don't go under 1-inch by 1-inch as you'll end up spending a looooong time backcombing. I had a bag of small rubberbands to put on each 1-inch by 1-inch piece as it was sectioned off. Once you're done sectioning it'll look like a bunch of little ponytails sticking up all over. Then you can use hair clips to isolate one of the original 4 sections to start backcombing.

3) Have whoever is backcombing your hair start in the back--that way they can practice a bit on hair that won't be as visible. Basically you want them to hold one of the 1-inch by 1-inch sections straight out from your head, kinda tight. Have them pull off the rubberband holding the small section before they start to backcomb. Then they take the flea comb and (while pressing down against the lock of hair with the comb) brush it straight towards your scalp (the complete opposite way than if you were just combing or brushing your hair). This is what hurts (at least in my experience)--as they comb the hair down towards your scalp it will be knotting up and forming a tangled bunch of hair near the root. Make sure they hold the lock of hair tightly, and they don't let go of a bunch of hair as they backcomb--you want the comb to essentially pull only a hair or two down on each comb stroke. This is why the process takes so long (30--45 minutes for each lock of hair for me). As they get more used to only letting a tiny amount of hair slip free as they comb, they will be able to move quicker and make faster strokes with the comb. Just make sure to keep pressure on the lock of hair, and comb it as tightly down towards your scalp as possible.

That's basically it--I had a rubberband put on each lock of hair after it was backcombed, but I took all of the bands out after a few days. Even after only a few days I noticed my hair wanting to swallow the rubberbands, so make sure not to leave them in for more than a couple of days. I hope this was helpful to you--let me know if you have any more questions

 

it appears some of you either are unable to read, comprehend or didn't read the original post. if you want to argue natural vs backcombed, please start your own thread. this is the dreadlock forum, not the natural dreadhead forum. be as elitist as you wish, but not in my thread.

I've edited to make it a little easier to read, and added some things. please feel free to add more.

big thank you to the people who added something.

 

I found what worked the best for me was to use a soft bristled brush along with the flea comb. I backcombed with the soft one to get the hair all frizzy, and then I twisted it around and used the flea comb. Ripping was also key - if you take one section and sort of spilt it into two and twist and rip, the knots hold really well. I was pretty apprehensive about sectioning at first. My friend started in the back and worked her way up, generally staggering them. But by the time she got to the top, they weren't perfectly sectioned - I have a couple pretty tiny dreads and they're not all in line. I love the way they came out, and I'm glad they're not all equally sized and lined up. However, that's just me - if you want perfectly sectioned dreads, I suggest sectioning and rubber banding them off before you start backcombing at all. Oh and about the rubber bands - I took mine off the next day and put beads on a couple of them to keep them separated. You can leave them in for a couple days longer, but I didn't want to risk getting a band stuck in the middle of my hair forever. Hope this helped anyone!

 

a tip about backombing, coming from someone whose done it a couple of times.

1. start by grabbing the sectin of hair and just swiftly backomb it from root to tip. what you want when doin this this is to get the hair realy fuzzy n fluffy n full of knots. go through like this 2 or 3 times if nessesary.

2. then go back to the root, and start about a few milimeters away from the scalp to comb firmly against the scalp. keep doin this, with each stroke moving slightly further up to "grab" more knots, hold the hair very firm when doin this, even if it hurts alill. soon youll have a root. then maybe "hammer" alittle on the root with the comb to get it tight. keep going like this till you have about 1-2 cm of straight unknotty hair above your firmly backombed part. then its time for step one again.

now you wanna repeat step one to get the hair fuzzy and knotty again so its easy to backomb. you can also separate the hair on the tips to force down the knots.

so basicly swiftly backomb to fuzz it up, then backomb, slow firm strokes, moving up millimeter by millimeter on each stroke.

im on my second set now, both times i backombed my own hair. i used this method on my current set, while first time i just backombed normaly. and i this time my dreads have tightened MUCH faster and have only unravelled by a maximum 2 cm on each dread. + i find that it goes faster doin it like this and you get firmer fuzzier dreads with more knots.

hope you understood my description though. was kinda hard describing it like that, but just try to experiment and see what work best for you. it worked realy well for me so atleast it was worth trying to describe it.

 

I almost made the mistake of going out and buying some wax, but after reading all the fourms on how wax is completly brutal on dreads I wont make that mistake on my first. I'm pretty sure I'm going to attempt backcombing since I dont know if I could go all natural. I cant wait to start them!

 

ofcourse you can go all natural
everyone can all it takes is to not be impatient

 

when i put my dreads in the first time i backcombed them, mostly to help get them started. i didn't think they were all that painful, but then i've got a super high
tolerance for pain in the head area, i had hair down to my ass until i was like 14 so i got used to yanking on it.

my friend helped me with the back and i did the front. i used regular plastic combs because i couldn't find a flea comb, but i bought a multipack because they broke easily... i backcombed them relatively quickly, secured them with rubber bands and then palm rolled them. the palm rolling helps them look "rounded" and less frizzy... unfortunately i didn't keep them in long enough to comment on what happens later... but they do take a lot of work. i'm doing them naturally now, but i'd probably backcomb a bit if my hair was longer. i think dreads are beautiful and that is my motive for wanting them... it's a comfortable natural experience, and i don't think backcombing hinders it. all i can say is, set aside a good amount of time just in case, and don't get discourage because the first couple of weeks will be weird and i know a lot of people experience their hair doing wacky things and coming apart.

 

Awsome info, I've been looking for the backcombing process for a while, I tried doing it at first and was wondering why it wasn't working, I tried after reading this and I made 2 dreads on my hair lol

 

Fuck the elitist shit.
I thought this was a good thread.

 

I got my dreads backcombed twice. I thought it was the only way. If I knew that all I needed was to go natural I would've, my dreads would be 3 years old now and I wouldn't have wasted £300

 

i tangled up my hair quite a bit,, i washed it and plaited it and blow-dried it to get it more knotty and wavy etc, in the hope that it'd knot better, (i dunno if it really worked, but it was a great plan)

took about 6 hours to do my whole head with just one person (my friend, not me) doing it, and i had about 50 dreads.. but that included waxing aswell

if i were to do it again id take more time, and defo not use wax

i dont reccommend rubber bands - use them to keep the sections of hair (if thats how youre doing it), but i wouldnt use them when dreads are 'done'. take them out before backcombing

take painkillers before the process!! defo defo defo helps.

first time i washed (after a week), everything fell out. i would reccommend wearing a granny stocking on yer head =D wash through the stocking, itll keep things together. ish.

i washed every week =]









and yeah, my opinions might be biased maybe,, but im just offering up what i learnt from doing backcombing twice. =]