dreadlock truth (Ongoing Debate)

seeking the truth about how to start dreads ya find tons of sites offerin to sell ya quick eassy methods to beautiful dreads
these sites sell useless and harmful products
like dread wax and dreadmaking kits
they offer techniques and tricks to help your dreads form all the while telling u to put crapin your hair that makes them dread slower if they dread at all

truth
every hai type will dread if
kept clean and left alone

backcombing is not necasary

wax is the enemy of dreads

there maybe ways to look like dreads quickly, but these ways usualy result in dreads being removed or cut just as quickly

patience is all you need to dread....patience cannot be bought

the more money and effort u put into dreads the worse they will come out

theres no such thing as dread products, you already have everything you need to dread

now for my guide to natural dreads (not neglect, pure neglect will result in 1 massive tangle, natural dreads do take a bit of effort, but its minimal effort and is not forced but rather guided)

1 start with clean residue free hair, use bronners or any other natural residue free shampoo or homemade cleaners
wash then just shake em out nlet em fly

as they dry feel around for any areas that seem to be clumping together and seperate em from the nearby clumps by ripping the rairs that comnnect them at the roots

play with the clumps when bored
(this shouldnt be work ppl, ya dont gotta rub and twist and roll and fuss over for hours and hours)\

forget about your hair till its time to wash again...

if ya have stuburn strands that refuse to knot up, stick a bead on it
\best methoid to do this, take a bead about the right fit for the section of hair, take a loop of thread stick thru the hole, wet tip of hair and stick through the llooop then pull it through the bead and force it upward till it just sticks on its own

last thing i'll say about dreads is
what u intend may not be what you receive
you may hope for sooth perfectly round pertfectly uniform dreads and may end up with all kinds of crazy kinks loops twists and lumps, but it dont matter, they will be the way they are meant to be, and will be beautiful
love em just the way they are



please add youir own thoughts and ideas

 

theres so many sites full of lies, intentional or otherwise
intentional lies like thoise who sell wax and other dread products, and the other kind from just years of misinformation like using peanutbutter and honey to get dreads

sticky messes are not dreads just hair stuck together with sticky gunk

they also claim that only african hair types will dread unless you use theyre products and methods
this is also a lie
every hair type will dread
thick or thin, curly or straight, asain, african or caucasian, they'll all dread theyre own way in theyre own time

another lie is, all hair must be backcombed to dread, the truth is, all backcombed hair must fall out to dread and dreads mature around the same time wether backcombed or not
backcombing just allows you to hold on to the illusion of control over a process thats really about givin up control and just letting things happen

 

So back to the topic..

Where do they sell Dr. Bronners? I asked these people at Sally's but they just looked at me like i had six heads..

They're pricey bitches there, man.

 

Thankyou SoaringEagle-
I can always count on you for helpful and honest information,
especially when it comes to dreadlocks.

Slashix-
You can get Dr Bronners at most health food type stores I believe..

I dunno what the other people are talking about so I guess I'll return to my cave now.

 

I am a little confused by what you mean by this part. Could you maybe clarify it please?

 

ripping the rairs that comnnect them at the roots

(my keybords screwed up
p)

translation ripping the hairs at connect them at the roots

 

Do you mean just pulling them apart, or actually ripping them?

 

henyou pull the dreads away from eachother, typicaly a few hairs that try connecting the 2 dreads together, these few hairs rip or break near the roots

waitting too long to do that and you may get alot connecting and not just the roots but severasl inches up too
when that happens theres a definite ripping sound as u seperate them

dreads will try to connect into 1 unidread if you let them
thats why you seperate them often
although you cant always prevent them fom combinning beyond any hope of seperation

 

Very informative. I have to make one thing clear, though.

If someone has backcombed their hair, it is not necessarily true that their hair will have to fall out, or 'untangle' before it can dread. I need only point to my own head to see this. You can see for yourself in my last photo-update.

Great post!

 

actualy, looking at your pics, around the 2 week mark it looks like they are loosening up (but being held in place by rubber bands)
the bands may have hindered the process slightly, but you can still see a definate loosening before they began to tighten at around 2 months

 

My backcombed locks are at 8 months. They have not fallen out. Loosened a tiny bit maybe, before they started tightening, but they have yet to unravel.
To be fair, though, I have super curly hair that always wanted to lock even without backcombing.

 

by fall out didnt mean to imply completely unknott, but i meant loosen..before really beginning to knot up..
i wish we had some very close macro image visual refferences to the whole knotting process,
if we did i believe there would be a definite change in the pattern (or lack of pattern) that the hairs knot up in between the backcomb and maturity stages

 

"The more effort you spend on your dreads the worse they will come out"

...come on thats hardly fair..are you discouraging people from crocheting and even palm rolling as well? to be totally honest you dont sell the whole thing as being very fun at all..

 

But it is fun! getting to see all the stages you'll go through and the way it will always be changing as it matures! I've had such an amazing year expereincing the dreading process...and like I don't find crocheting my hair and what not all the time to be very fun either, I've had more fun swimming in the ocean or make sweet beads to help my dreads come along...

..and he's not saying don't palm role, he's just saying all you have to do is play with them, so like palm roling while your chilling waiting for the bus or not doing anything with your hands instead of extensive alteration of the dreads...

And I think it really depends on the kind of dreads you want. Like I know a lot of people who went into the process wanting perfect dreads, and they were always just disapointed no matter how much or how little work was put into them, like dreads just are not naturally flawless, they are what happens when people choose to be natural and not alter their hair...and all those loops and bumps make every persons hair unique and beautiful...

...I don't know, each to their own...I just think that when it comes down to it the nicest dreads are the oldest dreads...any issues (loops, loose hairs, bumps or whatever) will fix itself over time as the dreads age and mature...and all the work people put in will just end up being about the same as someone who just left their dreads alone and maybe ripped them apart now and then in the long run...

 

Both myself and my partner have dreads, i have a full head of quite hefty auburn dreads whereas my partner has a mullet cut shaved at the sides, short on top with only the long hair at the back dreaded. He was almost to the point of obsession with crotchetting them, waxing them, rolling them, constantly. I mainly leave mine be and have a good go over that usually takes about 3 hours each month (i no longer crotchet them)...anyhoo my boyfriend actually lost a dread through too much messing. Sometimes i think it's better to just let your hair do what it's doing for a bit and to see how your hair takes to the dreading process. Dreadlocks don't have to be pristine to look good...that's their beauty )

 

neverstrayed very good ppoint
overworking weakens dreads
i have lost a few myself from sitting on em (beard dreads) and draggin off on the ground
but to get to that oint they had to be strong, many are very thin, thinner then a pencil but strong because i never poked holes through them with needles never agressively rolled them (causing breakage and friction wear) i just let em do theyre thing
predread we worried that every hair was in ints place and combed and gelled and tried to control
post dread ya let the hair go where it wants to go, give up control and let it do its thing

are you fussin over your hair more predread or post?
there should only be 1 answer to that

 

constant washing and a tam is much better than rubbing and rolling. i wear a knit cap all day at work and they knot up so much in just one day that i have to rip my locks apart at night or they'll get out of control and congo all together like an orgy, and im only 7 months into neglect. nice thread eagle

 

All I have to say is: listen to SoaringEagle. Take a look at his locks, then take a look at the locks on KnottyBoy or DreadHeadHQ....need I say more? :guitar:

 

i dont have dreads yet my hair is about 2-2 1/2inches long and i was wondering how to wash it if they havent started knotting up if some one could help me out it would be appreciated .