Finally stopped lurking- here are my dreads!

you sexy devil you

 

his hair looks brown to me..

 

Heheh I would say my hair is brown, sorry! But when I dreaded it, it does look a lot more 'red' for some reason. I mysteriously have a ginger beard too, one of life's great mysteries....

 

You make an interesting point DonBK. Using the hook is supposed to help speed the maturing process, but arguably its the hairs knots naturally shifting into a 'stable' formation that makes the locks mature. I don't know whether the hook does harm in this respect (breakage etc), but I certainly think its a good method for making dreads from scratch. Maybe it depends on how good your technique is.

 

A pic or two mid-dreading. Second pic is when there were only a few left to do at the back. Excuse the expression, it was fecking exciting!!!



At whitby harbour. Hmm this tshirt seems to be on all my dread pics, it DOES actually come off sometimes haha


Thanks for all the nice comments guys!

 

Ahoy ... It could do harm, plenty of harm if used incorrectly, excessively and beyond the point it should be used. Using crochet hooks especially heavy steel ones, like with any other interventionist method, should be a month tops, I reckon … and a bit in the second month at an absolute push. But after that it’s back to ‘old school rules’.

Messing with one’s locks has to stop, sooner or later; otherwise the hair itself will never be able to do its own thing … which leads to a bad soap opera … the longer one messes with their locks the longer one has to. Given your locks a push in the beginning … cool, if done properly … trying to tame something that wants to only be wild … well, one step forward, two steps back

 

Ahoy … Nice start, the sectioning looks good. I personally don’t dig artificial sectioning, but that aside, your sectioning looks good.

Umm, check it out; your scalp is itchy because you are not washing it enough. You have taken the crochet hook ‘push start’, so you are going to have to wash more regularly to increase the matting process. Taking the ‘neglect’ approach is not good at this point for what you have got going.

The DH shampoo is the best from what you have mentioned, scrub your scalp with your locks, circular motions and only using the palms of your hands … right side clockwise scrubbing, left side anti-clockwise (unless you believe both sides should be clockwise based on the direction of the follicle growth perspective).

Every person looses hair everyday, 60 – 100. The benefit of a maintained load of locks is that the bulk of the hair is in the locks, even when it falls out. With what you’ve got going, there is loose hair in the locks. When any of these loose hairs fall out from day to day … there is a good chance, more than 50%, that they will fall out the locks. Also … wear a ‘cap’ made out of the top of the thinnest pair of stockings when wetting and rinsing your locks … and put your head down when rinsing.

Also, wear a tam / beanie as much as possible, when sleeping too, until those loose hairs work themselves into the locks. Loose hairs which have fallen out from day to day and are indecisive as to whether they will stay in the locks or fall out will be kept in the lock by wearing a tam / beanie, which will save a large amount from actually falling out, particularly due to the wind.

Anyway, blab blab, this is why people take the neglect approach, it saves them from the hassles of getting their locks to a point where they can be neglected … hahaha, go figure.

“If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice”

 

Thanks for the advice!

I didn't know that more washing increases the matting process. I was told to wash once a week as too much washing causes lots of frizz. This is something I experienced myself in the first month- washing the dreads just created frizz central!

And this stocking 'cap', do you put it on first then apply shampoo etc? I'm confused as to how this works.

But good call on the tam I guess, I hadn't been using a beanie or anything. I was told that hair falling out was a good thing as hairs not strong enough to hold the dread together are unnecessary. Hmm......

 

ur dreads are nice and they suit u super well

 

cute picture

 

Ahoy … it depends how you are washing … it needs to be circular motion with the palms of your hands, blab blab. It definitely, definitely will increase the matting process … guaranteed, but the trick is the stocking ‘cap’ part, which keeps the work done by washing in place.

Cut the legs of the stocking off … leaving a bit on each leg to tie into knots. Put the cap on when you wet your hair, take it off, scrub with the shampoo as mentioned … put the ‘cap’ back on and rinse. Keep you head facing down when rinsing, you want the water to pass through your locks from base to tip, so best is also to wash your locks with your hear upside down and with the locks facing down then put the ‘cap’ on to rinse … the marvels of gravity.

The hair that falls out daily will start locking from the tip of the locks to the base … in the long run this is beneficial as by continually washing with this approach you won’t have the hassles of long sections of un-matted hair at the base … the matting process reaches the base …

PS. By more often I meant every three to four days instead of once a week or more …once the locks are really mature you can start washing less, but the point of the method that I’ve mentioned is how to go about getting ‘neat’ locks with out messing with them month after month, it’s basically just putting some parameters down, while letting your hair do it’s natural thing.

I’ve mentioned this approach a few times … it’s the way that Rasta in Cape Town taught me and I swear by it … except you have had your hair sectioned by someone instead of letting the hair section itself over time by washing … but hey, all good. This is the second 'load' of locks that I have had from using this approach, so tried and tested, Roger Roger. Once the locks have matured a bit, then consider feeding any additional loose hair into the locks with a big eyed needle and needle threader.

Oh yes, no hair is unnecessary … and the more you keep in your locks, the fatter your locks will be. Mature locks are mostly comprised of hair that has fallen out and becomes compacted …with the washing method I mentioned, the compacting process starts at the tips and works it’s way to the base, creating an even matting process … once again, the marvels of gravity.

 

I think we need a pic of you dreads DonBK. Also, I left a message on you home page wall thing

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to write it all out man, really appreciate it! It's help like this that makes forums worthwhile. I'll give it a try today. And yeah post your locks!

 

hey Spacebase, what made you choose Spacebase as your username?
Wouldn't happen to be after the Lego series Spacebase would it?

 

Ahoy ... Done ... on the 'Tell us about yourself' thread.

 

Used your method today Don and it worked brilliantly thanks! I think this coupled with less frequent hook maintenance will work very well indeed. Your dreads look good too :cheers2:

I do like lego but thats not where the name comes from. It's from this, listen and enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2HFzl23sEE

 

Ahoy ... Thanks Bro ... At first you may have to work some of the loose hair into yours locks from time to time ... the down side of taking the crochet hook approach originally ... but use a needle with a big hook and a needle threader. If the hair is shorter than the needle, put the needle into the lock first, then insert the needle threader and then put the hair into the needle thereader etc. ... and always work the needle through the length of the lock and towards the tips ... don't go sideways and don't go downwards.

PS. The tam / beanie ... Keep the locks covered, they love warmth, and that's when they start to really do their thing.

 

I can hear the hair breaking.

 

Your dreads look good though, man. I'm more of a messy dread kind of gal but for someone who really needs to think about neatness, they look good.