Hello all,to start off im new here and hope to have a nice time here. Anywho,I plan on getting dreadlocks soon,and I was wondering if I have to cut my hair to do so,im black so i would normally have a fro,but for the past couple years ive been getting my hair relaxed (i quit getting them around octoberish).Anyways I planned on getting my hair backcomb and crocheted but if i cant get that done cause my hair is relaxed I was either gonna transition back to a fro and then let that naturally dread or in the summer shave off all my hair and let that grow and dread naturally .So would relaxed hair dread or would my hair just untangle itself or something of the sort. Thanks in advance for answers .
Ralexed hair WILL dread, don't cut it off. I don't think you shouldn't go for the crochet thing, backcomb yes, but crochet...I've heard not so good stuff about that. I remembered the days I used to relax my hair....Ah, the regrets >.<
Yes my friend! relaxed hair works for dreads, and I'm speaking from experience. Your relaxed hair will seem "drier" and "unhealthy" with a faint white glow with light, you know, the shininess of relaxed hair? Although that aside, you want dry hair for dreads which is a plus, and it will work. I'm only approaching 7months, but my hair is locking on track and nothing is stopping it!
Relaxed hair will dread but your hair is going to fight itself at the line of demarcation. Dreading involves a lot of patience so you might as well take the patience and start out right. It doesn't happen to everyone but some folks experience breakage between the relaxed hair and the new growth when they don't properly moisturize. Since moisture can be counter-productive to dreads you can end up with two things: Hair that won't dread or dreads that form and then snap off where the relaxer stops. Grow it out and you won't have to worry about it.
That's a good point you bring. I've never had my hair beat down to a point where it would snap off. Well in the past when I straight ironed it. If you're hair is badly damaged and very brittle, try using some remedies before you start the process. That or start process with natural remedies that are easy to wash off - aloe vera to moisturize for example.
Chemically straighten hair. Typically referred to ethnic hair. Ralaxers are strong shit man, it ends up leaving some people's hair all dry and brittle sometimes.
Yeah, my mom uses it monthly even though it made patches of her hair break off on 2 different occasions. I wish she would just rock an afro instead.
Yeah. I read about how back in the day the longer you had it in your hair the slicker it would be. BUT, it also cuased painful scabbing. Ouch.
Not Red Devil Lye. Red Devil Lye has been discontinued. That's what the strong shiz was made with back in the day.
I want to add this little story since it pretty much summerizes the process used in the old days: (from "The Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1964") "Shorty soon decided that my hair was finally long enough to be conked.... I took the little list of ingredients he had printed out for me, and went to a grocery store, where I got a can of Red Devil lye, two eggs, and two medium sized white potatoes. Then at the drugstore near the poolroom, I asked for a large jar of vaseline, a large bar of soap, a large-toothed comb and a fine toothed comb, one of those rubber hoses with a metal spray head, a rubber apron and a pair of gloves. "Going to lay that first conk?", the drugstore man asked me. I proudly told him grinning, "Right!" A jelly-like starchy-looking glop resulted from the lye and potatoes, and Shorty broke in the two eggs, stirring real fast.... [Shorty said,] "You know itís going to burn when I comb it in. It burns bad. But the longer you can stand it, the straighter the hair." The congolene just felt warm when Shorty started combing it in. But then my head caught fire. I gritted my teeth and tried to pull the sides of the kitchen table together. The comb felt as if it was raking my skin off. My eyes watered, my nose was running. I couldn't stand it any longer. I bolted to the washbasin. I was cursing Shorty with every name I could think of.... He lathered and spray-rinsed, lathered and spray-rinsed maybe ten or twelve times.... [Shorty said], "The first timeís always worst. You get used to it better before long. You look real good, homeboy. You got a good conk." When Shorty let me stand up and see in the mirror, my hair hung down in limp, damp strings. My scalp still flamed, but not as badly.... My first view in the mirror blotted out the hurting.... When it's the first time, on your own head, the transformation, after a lifetime of kinks, is staggering.... On top of my head was this thick, smooth sheen of shining red hair real red as straight as any white man's.
Soap has other materials in it that counteract with the lye and cause it just to bind to the dirt on your skin. No such materials in relaxers. They are SO dangerous. God forbid you scratch a week before you get it done....
