Hello! I'm having some problems with my dreads and I was hoping to get some opinions on what the heck they're doing! I apologize in advance if this has been posted before, but I honestly didn't have a clue what to search for before posting. Please don't flame me! So here's the story... Last August I had shoulder length hair and wanted to cut it all off. I had always thought dreadlocks were cool so I figured 'what the heck!' and gave it a go. If I didn't like it, I could shave my head. No biggie! So I searched on the internet for info on dreading. I found a ton of sites, but only thought it slightly odd that all sites pointed to 1 bigger site (dreadheadhq). They all ranted and raved about how good their wax was. I'd never known anyone who had dreads and didn't use wax. So I spent 3 days dreading and waxing my hair with my boyfriend. We averaged about 30 minutes per dread with backcombing. I chose this method because dreadheadhq seemed to push the backcomb method more than the others. So anyway, obviously my dreads started falling apart. I panicked because I thought I was doing something wrong. I needed to talk to some other people with dreadlocks. I did a search on dreadlock forums and found 2! That's when I learned the evils of wax. But I had been using it for almost 2 months by then. 8 months later and I still can't get it all out. I've recently switched to Dr.Bronner's and I LOVE it! It's helping to work out the wax better than the old shampoo (dreadheadhq). I've also noticed that my scalp can go up to a week without being washed now, whereas with dreadheadhq, it would itch like crazy after 2 days. But I don't want to make this a hate post about dreadheadhq. I could go on for a while about them, and there are already enough hate posts about them LOL! So! I've posted some pictures and here is what I think I did wrong (besides that God awful wax)... I put rubber bands on the tips of each dread. I cut them off after 2 months when the bottoms had dreaded. But because the roots and tips of each dread have locked up unnaturally due to backcombing, I think the center of each dread is having problems. I gently palm rolled (or finger rolled cause they're small) a couple and that seemed to pull the hair out of the dread. I stopped touching my hair about 4-5 months ago. As you can see in the last picture, I have a ton of fly aways. These don't seem to want to get pulled into any of the dreads. Also, several dreads have undreaded since I stopped using the wax (it was only holding them in place and not letting them knot up) and have made 0 progress since. I'm considering either cutting them off and starting over without wax, or soaking each section of hair/dread in deep conditioner and working with what I have after that. I would really like to start over with the natural method, but I can't. I work in a health office filing medical papers. A lot of the patients already stare at me and some look at me with disgust. I may lose my job if I come in with disheveled hair and announce that I am re-dreading. The condensed version: What the heck is up with those giant loop parts? How did they form like that? How do I keep it from happening? Will they ever straighten out? Should I crochet the small fly aways and the long hairs that won't attach to a dread? Would wearing a wool hat help with these undreaded parts? Or should I wool rub? Should I re-backcomb the sections of hair that have refused to dread for 7 months? Should I just cut them off and try to start over? Also, this is for anyone who uses wax... I'm not going to tell you that you're crazy or stupid for using it. It's your hair, your prerogative! But every time you wax, that wax works its way inside your dread and collects dirt. I opened up a few of the looser dreads and had a look inside. It looked like a mixture of fuzz and/or mold. I wash my hair every 2-3 days. Wax will hold onto dirt because it's designed to bind to things (hence keeping your hair in a half dreaded state). It doesn't let your hair breath so it holds onto water inside your dread and that is what causes mold. Even in skinny dreads like mine. But I'm just trying to warn people who are germaphobes like me LOL! Seriously I hope it's fuzz... Cause every time I think of it possibly being mold, my boyfriend's beard trimmer looks more and more appealing. Thank you all for taking the time to read my mini novel! Any help or suggestions is very much appreciated. Pictures: http://profile.imageshack.us/user/dreadeez
The loops will straighten out over time. The undreaded hair let it be within time they'll dread naturally. Thats what dreads are low maitenance. Don't make it harder then what it is suppose to be.
definately what they said above^. i used wax at the very beginning too, and thought i had messed up. i got on here, asked a few questions, and now mine are close to 8 months along too, and they're looking fine^^. just the other day i found one that still had a little bit of wax in it, so i've gotta focus on it a little more when washing, but yeah, all is well^^. hope it goes well for ya, ya definately found a good place^^
I've had my dreads for 9 months and mine are loopy like yours. I've noticed over the past month they've started to straighten out a little, so yours will too. Loopy dreads look way more unique and interesting than boring straight ones so learn to love 'em!
