Product Truth: Knottyboy VS. DreadheadHQ

First off, I am in no way here to try and sell you products.
It is true, you don't NEED this stuff to have dreadlocks.... but continue reading.

Soaringeagle posted Dreadlock Truths, which are for the most part accurate... assuming you want to basically go natural. I agree with most of his statements. Except not all products are evil. The sites do not say you NEED these products, but simply try to provide a faster locking experience.

For people like me, I cannot do the natural method as I have to look as presentable as I can for jobs and such.

I have used Knottyboy since beginning my dreads, and as you can see through the pictures I've posted around the forum and that are in my gallery, my dreads are 6 months and I love them very much.
I used wax. I do not have candles or unsightly dreads.
I use tightening gel. My dreads are not brittle and dry.
As long as you use these products properly, as they are ment to be used, you will have no problems.

I do agree, dreads are not a hairstyle... they ARE a lifestyle. But simply "letting them do their own thing" isn't always the case. Not everybodys hair will dread well that way.

Knottyboy VS. DreadheadHQ....

DreadheadHQ:

I HIGHLY recommend AVOIDING DreadheadHQ. I have not used their products, but I have had some friends use their products to tell me how unclean feeling they are and that it leaves unwanted flakes in the dreads. They offer a lot of products that in the end, aren't really even that useful.
Also, comparing pictures between people who've used Dreadhead and Knottyboy, I find the K-Boys come out looking better.

Knottyboy:

But I am here to speak first hand about Knottyboy. I have used it, along with 2 of my friends. Our dreads have turned out looking great, smelling great, and gunk/sludge free. YOU JUST HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO USE THESE PRODUCTS!

THEY EVEN LIST THE INGREDIENTS RIGHT ON THE WEBSITE! Unlike DreadheadHQ.

Wax: If used too much, wax is horrible. But if used properly, it can help your hair hold during that early "soft dreads omg are they gonna fall apart?" stage. You DO NOT NEED wax, and the website never says you NEED it.
Using a small, pinky nail sized amount through medium length/sized dreads after back combing will work wonders in the holding process, and it washes out.
Using another dose or two through the 6 months of your dreads is also ok if you use a very small amount, and use it to coax loose hairs back into the main locks.

Ingredients: Beeswax, Certified Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Avocado Oil, Kukui Nut Oil, Jojoba Oil, African Shea Butter, Vitamin E (All ingredients are ethically sourced).

Cooling/Moisture Spray: This stuff is amazing. If you have itchies, instead of dealing why not have something to help soothe your scalp? I mean with dreads, itchies are inevidble. In their forums, they even give solutions on how to MAKE YOUR OWN! So you don't have to spend money on their product or if you don't have access to their products.
It also helps funky locks or dry locks smell great and get revitalized.

Ingredients: Purified Water, Witch Hazel Distillate, Peppermint Essential Oil, Glycerin, Polysorbate 20, Certified Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Aloe Vera Extract, Grapefruit Seed Extract

Locksteady Tightening Gel: This stuff works wonders for reducing frizzies. AND IT WASHES OUT, NOT LEAVING ANY GUNK IN YOUR HAIR! It's already diluted, so you don't have to worry about doing that yourself! This is probably my favorite product, and it has an amazing and refreshing lime scent. IT HAS 100% PURE ALOE VERA IN IT! The same stuff Soaring tells you to use, but it also has vitamins in it and other things to help your locks stay healthy and keep them from being brittle.

Ingredients: 100% Pure Aloe Vera, Certified Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Hydrolyzed Oat Protein, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Lime Essential Oil

Shampoo: I have used both the Bar and the Liquid shampoo. They have great healthy and clean scents, that leave your scalp feeling tingly and refreshed. It lasts a very long time as well, as it is already diluted and a little goes a very long way. The bar lasted me about 3 months and I've just started using the shampoo. The site's forums also give you a way to MAKE YOUR OWN SHAMPOO so you DO NOT have to buy their products!

Liquid Shampoo Ingredients: Purified Water, Saponified Oils of Olive, Certified Organic Hemp and Castor Bean, Peg-150 Pentaerythrityl Tetrastearate (All-Natural Thickener) and Organic Essential Oils of Rosemary, Peppermint and Tea Tree

Bar Soap Ingredients: Saponified Organic Oils of Palm, Coconut, Castor Bean and Hemp, and Organic Essential Oils of Rosemary, Peppermint and Tea Tree

Those are just the products I've used, coming from first hand experience.

Maybe DreadheadHQ is "selling lies", but Knottyboy isn't! They don't even urge you to buy their products! They offer a lot of times free recipes right on their site to make your own stuff so you do not have to purchase their products.

No, backcombing is not necessary. Products are not necessary. But they're not evil either. Yes, there are cheaper products.

I've had my say, judge for yourself, but I'm just tired of these products being treated like they're evil even when they have the ingredients that Soaring preaches to use so much.
Tea Tree, Aloe Vera, Hempseed, it's all there. Along with other vitamins and oils that enrich your scalp and dreads, making them all the more healthier.

 

Here are my two Knotty friends, Lee and Eric.
Lee is on her second set of dreads, using Knottyboy both times. She cut hers the first time after having them nearly two years, and just needed a change but she regretted it a lot.
Eric started his with Knottyboy and has had them for over a year now, I'm pretty sure he still uses K-Boy.

 

i used wax when i first started, and had to wash my hair out and start again. fortunately it was only half my head, not my whole head. and yes, i used exactly the right amount. even less, if i remember correctly.

and ya know, if you want to spend tons of money on products you DON"T need, please be my guest. but don't try and make it sound like the only way you can get neat dreads that fit in with a professional job is by using them!

i don't use any products except for shampoo (i love avalon organics peppermint). do you see how neat my dreads look? all you have to do is love them and maintain them by root rubbing and palmrolling, and they will look nice and neat!

i agree that the "natural way" is not the only way to have amazing drealocks that are very deeply personal to you. some of us DO live and work in areas where doing that natural thing would make life very difficult for us, and i don't think it is at all a lesser experience to start dreads by backcombing, or to maintain them consistently rather than letting them start and continue on their own.

dreads are about self expression (among many other things) and everyone expresses themselves differently. i hope i speak for all of us in here, when i say that no matter what you choose to do with your dreads, or to your dreads, or how that journey goes for you, it's your journey, and that's great!

but i do think that part of what is seen as a "hostile attack" on products is simply an attempt to get people to see that it's not the only way to do dreads. when i first decided to dread, i "did my research" and knottyboy and dreadheadhq were the only places i could find. so i thought you only could use products to start dreads. well, i paid 50 bucks for a kit i didn't need and the only thing i used was the shampoo and the comb.

so really, can you use products (from whatever dread website) and end up with awesome locks? yes, it's possible.

can you go natural and end up with awesome locks? yes, it's possible.

can you go somewhere in between and find your own balance? yeah, totally!

there's no need to get all angry and defensive about your choice to use knottyboy products. it's your choice. most of us here choose not to. but the real TRUTH (since that's what you're looking for with this thread, no?) is that there are many ways to do dreads, and everyone must choose their own path.

 

First and foremost: The journey is amazing. I'm loving every day of it.

I agree with you very much. And I'm not being angry whatsoever.

I'm not saying that expensive products is the way to go. Trust me, I'm not. I just feel a very negativity around this forum based on these two sites, and I'm trying to get people to open their minds to the products.

I paid 14 bucks for the gel, which isn't very much considering how long it would last and how well it works. Around the same price for the cooling spray, on my second bottle and the first lasted me about 5 months.
So price VS life span = considerably good.

yes, there are tons of cheaper shampoos (none that I can find near me, however without going over to the US boarder for Dr. Woods)

I'm just trying to get across the point that they're not evil. And even more so that Knottyboy doesn't try to force it's products on you. They give you directions on how to make your own products from cheaper things that you can buy.

 

Oh, and also most gels do have Surcose in them.... because that's what makes it stick together and be gel, not an oil or shampoo and such..

 

which is why aloe vera is better, because it is naturally a gel. i'm not saying you're right or wrong, but perhaps instead of "getting people to open their minds," you could focus on expanding your own, and seeing the points of view of some others. it seems to me (and i'm just saying my own humble opinion) that you just have a hard time accepting that a lot of us on here are really against products because we don't want to put anything in our hair that isn't completely natural and/or organic.

and as for expensive... 14 bucks is a LOT! you can get a bottle of aloe vera gel for like, 3 bucks, or better yet, grow your own plant. a lot of us don't spend 14 bucks for much of anything, lol!

it's okay for you to like what you like, but you don't need to force the rest of us to like it too. are you sure you're not on the knottyboy payroll? because you are really quite their posterchild.

 

Nope. Currently don't have a payroll, unfortunantly. My mind is open to pretty well anything, and I don't have a hard time accepting what you say I do. I don't put anything in my hair that isn't all natural, either.

14 bucks is the Canadian price, I don't know if it's cheaper in the states or not. And here, I don't have an organic/all natural shop as I've said before. I usually have to travel about an hour or more to get any natural product, or order from Ebay (don't have a lot of luck with that).

But I'm not forcing anything on anyone. If anything, I feel the whole "natural" thing here is being pushed and forced more than anything. Like I said in the first post, the products aren't needed but they're not bad either.

 

ive never used their products, but im not sure ide want locks that were moist, that sounds kinda nasty to me.

 

Where did I say anything about having moist locks? If you had moist locks all the time they'd smell musty and gross!

My locks aren't ever moist. They dry and are tight and soft.

You may have misunderstood, what I meant was that it helps to keep your hair from getting brittle and breaking.

 

wow! ok this is my secand this is my 4th time having dreads, the first 2xs were excellent the next one awful and this time awesome. What I'm trying to say is when they went right I did what was best for me and whether that be product or not(I didnt use kboy till this time tightning gel and spray and soap) and I have to say I like them but I will have to find a much cheaper solution. I am trying to go natrual but I dont let anyone make me feel bad for using stuff. I'm glad I dont use wax t was making my hair nasty I will try a lot the suggestions here but what I'm really trying to say is to me dreads are spiritual and a journey for me. Alot has happened since I put my dreadies back in good bad and indifferent and I believe this is a time of learning patience for me. So lets celebrate the journey and not how we got there though that should be looked on as time to learn wisdom and patience. Ok rambling I hope everyone understands my point. Happy dreading and Happy Mothers Day mommies!

 

This is for nakedtreehugger I just wanted to let you know u have a beautiful smile and love your dreads mine are just a little shorter than yours and wonder how did u style them when they were shorter.ps saw your pics awesome

 

villa u say you cant find natural products near you, have you looked in your kitchen? have you looked in your garden?
the best shampoo is baking soda and water...costs pennies and is in practicly every kitchen in the world
aloe is the best tightening product also incredibly good for scalp and hair health
salts good too how far ya gotta go to find salt?

get a bottle of teatree oil and your set...

 

I didn't even read all that but i can tell you that KnottyBoy and DDHQ are BOTH a scam. Sure some of their products may work alright, but it's about more than that.

I refuse to buy anything from them because they are knowingly selling people lies, all to make money off them. That is a dishonest business practice in my eyes and I do not want to support them in any way.

 

a lot of people miss the whole point about dreadlocks. They are just after the finished product, and want to skip over the whole growing part. It is not about the destination, but rather the journey itself. by trying to make the locking process go faster, you are cheating yourself. An extroardinary amount of patience is needed to grow dreadlocks, and it is an invaluable trait to have.

um no offense, but weren't you just talking about cutting them off or something?

FACT: everyone's hair will dread given time no matter what hair type.


Dude....you don't need all those products to have kickass dreadlocks. All you need to do is wash it.....THAT'S IT. Why would you waste money on these company's products when time will do it for free?? dreadlocks should be LOW MAINTENANCE. If you're worrying about your hair all the time and using these products then you are doing too much work..

 

that's because they fuck up people's hair and we are left to fix it.

huge bottle of Dr. B's at Trader Joe's= $2.50
time= FREE

 

I'm not arguing against any of what you guys say. Not a bit.
My hair hasn't got fucked up at all.

And if you would've bothered to read I said the only thing about my dreads is that I wish I started them thicker. Also, I wish I had rolled the set in the back because they're lumpy.
Not a fault of the company, but my fault.

I'm just putting in my 2 cents. I didn't say this stuff was cheaper, but what I am saying is that if you use it correctly, it IS effective and not destructive.

You can say they sell lies all you like, maybe that's true for DreadHeadHQ but the other site offers a lot of useful tips for not having to buy their products. That's all I'm sayin.

I have tried the natural, no back combing method. My hair just got into a knotty rats nest at the nape of my neck and nothing else happened and it looked gross and nasty. That was more than a bitch to comb out as well.

Natural method or not, it doesn't matter. I've enjoyed my journey thus far, and have happily enjoyed the products I'm using. They haven't ruined my dreads at all.

 

well im not sure, i tried back combing and ended up just pulling it all out and going natural right after. i wouldnt say i regreted it, but i was a little unsure about going natural, but decided to go with it. i have a few little locks starting, but a few days ago i was pulling about a clump i had behind my ear and i found my first real thick lock starting, and i was just like "holy shit!", the feeling is awesome, to see it happen naturally. its just now at 2 and 1/2 months that im really starting to see stuff happen, its not fast but every few days i notice new things. My hair looks extremly messy, but i still love it. But everyone has their own opinion, but thats how i feel about my hair right now. Im glad you love you hair, really thats all that matters. But in no way do you need products to enjoy and love your hair.

 

reminds me of a funny story..
2 years ago my frreind chevy anyd i were goin to the colorado gasthering for weeks leading up to it she kept going on and on about wanting to find some1 there to help her start hers..
we get there and she asked dozens of people to help her start hers and 5 or 6 said they would when they had the time
she kept askin ppl then after bein there a week she just stopped askin and figured sooner or later someone would help her..
after 2 weeks there she just didnt care and figured shed just sask 1 more time before she left..
another week went by nd there was no need to ask anymore she had 3 tight dreasds and dozens more waiting to be born..


she never used any products let it go natural as can be while holding down 2 jobs and going to court for the custody of her kids

another loe these sites spread is that you'll slways be unemployed if you dont use thgeyre products..

hell they sell u kits to put em in kits to take em out you could be a weekend dread and incognito hippie durin the week..


but all y are doin is dammaging your haor

 

Do you even read the sites? Honestly.

They never said you would be unemployed if you don't use their products.
I'm talking about personal experience from living in a small, crappy, judgemental town.

You're just assuming things, IMO.

And as if ripping dreads apart doesn't damage your hair...? The things we all have to do to keep them from being one big mass lump.

 

hehe, I knew this would happen Villi. I would'nt even bother. It's very hard to get people to listen in here! People seem to beleive that what they have done for their dreads is the right way for you too. No matter what is your hair type. I'm here to say that my dreads were started by kb. And yep, wax was used in the start. And no, people out there reading this in cyber space, it did not fuck up my dreads, they look fantastic. I'm very happy with them.

I shall stand back and let the 'yelling' begin!

:talk2hand