Hi all I still don't have dreads yet as I'm letting my hair grow a little more but what I want to know is why is wax so bad. I hear a lot of people on here saying how bad it is but not explaining what it is about it that is so disagreeable. mamos
wax prevents your hair from locking up. it gives you the look of mature dreads (sort of but not really) but impedes the natural locking process.
when you wax your hair, water is the issue. you have to be super careful when washing your hair or getting it wet in anyway. wax traps the water inside your dreadies and keeps them moist for way longer than they should be,... this is how mold grows. I dont know if its avoidable... but i would advise you not to do it. dreadies look better when they do there own things anyways. if you search around a bit on this forum you can find photos of peole who cut off their dreadies, they used wax only at the begining but you can see it still in the middle of the dread and the mold growing all around. please dont use wax.. but really it is all up to you in the end. good luck!
One of the reasons why wax impedes the dreading process is because it holds the hairs together of the future dreadlock. The hair in dreadlocks need to be able to move, because it's that movement that causes knotting and tangling of the hair. If the hairs can't move because it's got wax on it, then your dreadlocks arent going to be able to mature as quickly.... wax is a quick fix. It might smooth the new dreads down, making them look more 'presentable', but in the long run it's actually hindering the progress, since your locks arent going to be able to progress as quickly.
plus it makes them sticky and dirt and shit gets trapped in there. You dont want to use wax. Unfortunately I know this from experience.
Wax CAN make dreads go moudly, it can make your hair stink as well I waxed for the first few weeks or so as i didnt have anyone tell me it wasnt right now im dealing with smelly dreads, and it doesnt feel the same as having natural dreads (1/2 of mine are natural)
i second this. also, their really unfomfortable to sleep on if you use wax. at the beginning, their sticky. as time goes on, they get rock hard.
another wax thread..hmm ok. Well, just because I don't want all the posts to be one-sided, I'm gonna add that by today, I know a bunch of people personally with dreads older than 2-3 years who have waxed. Waxing is not just applying sticky shit all over your dreads every week...some only use it to get rid of loose hairs...and not glueing them to the dread, but adding some wax to the loose hairs and crocheting them into the dread so they will stay in there. Well I've gone over the wax thing more than once now, but yet again I'll mention that I had never heard of anyone having problems with mold and shit before I came on this forum. It's all about how you use it I suppose. And to add one more thing, wax is not applied to glue the dread together in order to keep it glued forever and call it a dreadlock...it's just used to help the dread form in the beginning and to keep away as much frizzes inside the lock as possible so the locks get a nice start. The no wax thing is so over hyped here, it's true that it aint that good either but anyone can pull out shitloads of theoretical crap about what could happen about anything. It's all in the hands of the person who waxes...most people just fuck themselves over with over-applying(probably not even a word), applying too often and doing it wrong etc. If you ask me noone should wax their dreads themselves...nor should they let some clueless friend do it...it's best to find a so called non-professional pro heheh...just normal people with alot of experience but stay away from salons and shit. This is for people who actually want "perfect" looking dreads in the future...most people don't want those including me, but every time I see a person with those almost perfectly round but yet still so unique dreads which just look so awesome...there's almost no loose hairs and they look great...and no there's no loose hairs because he's waxing but because he used to like 3 years ago. I like it as unique as possible though, I will probably never wax, but I start getting doubts every time I stand next to a ""real dreadhead""...but i have nothing against being "the guy with the messed up hair" and yeah, sleeping with waxed dreads is REALLY uncomformtable, it was when i was still sideshow bob atleast. to sum it up it's all about the persons personal choice...just make sure you know all about what could happen and find out ways to prevent them happening.
Thanks for all of your replies I now have a little more knowledge than I did when I started this thread and I am glad that I got two sides to the wax issue The reason I brought the subject up is because whenever I hear a a technique, product or anything being vigorously disregarded it always makes me suspicious that people may be poo-pooing so as not to appear stupid or to fit in with a certain crowd without understanding why. I am a graphic designer and there are techniques, styles and especially fonts that other designers say "Noooooo, you cant use that" but all of these things used in the right context can and do work. I also have a off-road 1303 vw beetle and if you talk to anybody in "the know" they will say that the 1303 is not suitable for off road applications. However I have recently met a guy who very successfully uses one for classic trials events with no problems at at a the most recent of road event held by our club, a 1303 came 1st and 5th. I know I am rambling now but I just wanted to know whether there was any reason behind the hatred of wax or if it is just sheep like behaviour. mamos
to me, it just seems silly to use a product to achieve a natural hairstyle. it seems like a quick fix. i would rather have messy hair for a few months. isn't half the point of dreads to stop messing with your hair so much?
