about to dread hair, but have one question 1st

raven - palm rolling isnt the answer to your prayers. they WILL be flat after youve slept on them, they WILL be flat at the very roots, cause normally you cant get yer hands up there to round them out properly/enough for your liking. and yes they WILL stick out at funny angles. i noticed in an earlier pic you wore a bandana.. it makes them stick out... go to my dready thready and find the pic of the dread that comes out of my head sideways before it goes down... no amount of washing or palmrolling will make that fucker do what i want it to do =]

 

It is a baby dreadlock's right and duty to defy gravity at all costs!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amybird8/3147490265/sizes/l/in/photostream/

 

palm rollings a waste of time
1 it doesnt look that flat and even if so whats it matter the flat ones will be the ones u love most cause theyre not boring like the round ones..but ya wont discover tghis till theyre more mature.. you'll love the cray ones way more then the "perfect" ones
and 2 doing what?

look like possibly beginning to congo
the 2 have hairs connecting them
rip em apart
thats all

 

2 is sticking out from the root SE

 

Yup, always with the sweeping statements. So it's just always definitely a waste of time is it? Under every single possible circumstance? For everybody and every dready situation?

*sigh*

 

yes amy. yes it is.

 

Ok. I must have imagined everything then.

 

Se, you might not be able to see it good in the pic, but a few of the hairs are really flat like someone took a iron to it. i prefer the round dreads to the flat ones. the flat ones just look nasty to me. its my personal opinion about have the round ones and no flat ones. i was told a little wax and palm rolling would help it round out but i am trying to stay away from using the wax. i know that they are going to change from now to the time they lock up, i just want to make sure that i dont have any flat ones once they do mature

 

nah, i doubt theyll be flat when they mature. its simply because theyre getting squished.. and palmrolling them now wont do anything, cause theyll get squished again! just hold out, things get worse before they get better =]

 

Based on how you described the section shape earlier, I think they are quite likely to naturally round themselves out. You will probably always have a portion of them close to your scalp which remain flattish, but that will matter less and less as they grow.
I appreciate it's not at all helpful being told something doesn't matter if it does matter to you. I certainly found that palm-rolling evened my dreads out a lot. In fact that wasn't my goal, I was just doing it because that's what the "instructions" said. I'm really fascinated by dready textures and characteristics and think it's a shame I palm-rolled a lot of the character out of mine.
Until your dreads tighten up a lot more, going to bed with even a little dampness will un-do any palm-rolling and re-shape them into crazy bed-head-dreads, however if you palm-roll them damp and allow them to dry fully before squashing them against your pillow, it can make a big difference to their shape. Or it did with me anyway, like I said. Maybe it won't with you.

Just because someone doesn't have the same dready goals or ideals as us, doesn't mean we shouldn't help them achieve those goals.

 

Amen sista!

 

amybird, thank you so much for the help. i have not gone to bed with them damp at all, i have washed them once, and that was yesterday, it was about 8pm and i dried them then i went to bed about 3:30 am. i am happy with the way they are except for how flat some are and i just wanted to make sure that they wont stay that way. like i said b4, my cousin just stopped washing his hair for a few years to dread his and he has a few flat dreads and other flat dreads i have seen just turns me away from dreads. i just want to do everything to stay away from that end of the dreads. again thanks to everyone who has been helpful and friendly! if it wasn't for the advise and the help, i would of most likely ended up undoing my hair and starting over (which i DO NOT want to do!)

 

i should quote that in my sig. i think i will once i finally change that pic.


to the OP: i had many many flat dreads in the beginning stages. its very common and totally fine. almost all of my flatties have rounded out. a few were so flat that they just folded over on themselves and melded like that to become round.

 

you missed the pint i was trying to make..now your goals are perfect roundness.. but in most cases years from now the ones u wull love will be the 1st that deviate from that norm the most.. your perception changes.. the more unique the dread the more ya like it..its cause thats the 1 that stands out the most from the rest..
it doesnt hafta be flat..maybe its spiraled or forkes or just ziggy zaggy..

im just satyin what ya look for now most likely wont be what u like most then..relax and enjoy the journey
they are gonna do all sorts of things before theyre tight

your gonna freak out alot
there will be days y wanna rip em out and start over cause they got a mind of theyre own

the sooner ya give uop control and alow them to do what they do..and sit back and wath more as an observer then participant the happier you will be with the outcome..


concider this
you can palm rioll 10 hours as day every day and not reach total satisfaction..or u can choose to be satisfied and go with the flow and love em the way they tirn out..

now with diamonds a raw uncut diamond has a beauty akll its own, rouch and unpolished yes but whole and radient
a diamiond cutter can cit tye diamond to the exact facets he wants bringing out its briliance, but there still may remain a flaw to disatisfy.. however, if he keeps chipping away trying to remove the flaw most likely the result will be a pile of diamond dust..


you can choose to be happy with what u got and not freak out over every lil detail at any time
the sooner the better..cause the more hours of work u put into em the more that tiny flaw will haunt you till you go overboard and end up in ruines..

thats a metaphor though to actualy palm rioll a dread right off your head you have to be obsessive about it..if u got ocd though..wouldnt start..


and dery.. the 2 standing out at the roots..i cant be sure but it sorta lokks like threy maybe standing out because of a connecting few hairs holding them there..

 

So now the thousands of posts where I have read you telling some poor kid that if you palmroll they are gonna break right off...you were just speaking metaphorically????

Dude if ya dont want em flat...palm roll palm roll palm roll. It works and it helps tighten up the new back combs..and since you are skipping the wax part you will need to help them a little until they get on their way.

 

The thing I partly pointed out earlier, about how I sorta wish now that I hadn't palm-rolled so much because I love dready textures... well obviously it could all be completely different for you and you're the only one that knows your own mind, but the more time you actually have dreads and get to know them, and look at other pics of them possibly in a changing light, the more you may come to like the things you currently think are faults...so maybe just chill a bit for the time being, or leave a few dreads alone as plan B or something. Yeh. Did that make sense?


Those ones on the side that appeared to be sitting strangely....I've got several on the sides of my head which also do that. It's not due to connecting hairs between dreads, it's just the hairs within the dreads pulling with uneven tension. Try to ignore them for now and see if they change. As they get longer, either the weight will make them sit more evenly or it will cease to matter because the dreads above them will hide them.

And just generally worry less! It's a longish journey and there's no point stressing over every detail!

 

I'm guessing from your occupation and interests that you are particularly conscious of line, curve, form, correct flow etc. You hair is a growing natural thing that you should probably try to work with rather than against. Although you can guide it to take certain shapes it will still ultimately follow its nature. Hair is comprised of coils and spirals and grows following lines which follow some of the most basic beautiful lines and rules in the natural world, which inspired many of the design principles you follow consciously/subconsciously today, so have a little faith in nature to just do its thing and turn out beautiful

 

thanks to everyone for the help. after seeing the pics of dreads that other people love, i have decided to just palm roll once every couple of days and let my hair do it thing. i did use a little wax last night but it wasnt enough half of a m&m size, found out i have a interview monday. from this point on, no more wax, no more worrying, no more trying to control it. again thanks to everyone!

 

How are the new dreadlings today?

 

ravenmikhail - Good luck at the interview. Do you not wish you could fast forward this part of dreading? Not to rush a good thing, but just excited to see what the finished product will look like? I do! I just want a sneak peek! =D I'm just a few weeks ahead of you so we will continue to compare to see if our flatties turn to roundies. I rarely palm roll so will be neat to follow.