Question about beads, coils, etc.

Hey,

I've been working on my dreads about 5 months. It's been a learning process about hair growth etc.

I have a couple of cool doodads for lack of a better term but I'm trying to figure how to keep them in as the lock forms above them.

Here are pictures of what I've got in (these are the catalog pics):

http://www.dreadheadhq.com/store/skull-dread-coil

http://www.dreadheadhq.com/store/pewter-dreadlocks-bead-style-16

http://www.dreadheadhq.com/store/bone-carved-skull-guy

The pewter skull bead seems to be getting pushed down the dread as it gets fatter above it. I'm trying to figure out how to get what's below it fatter to keep it on. Any help is greatly appreciated.

C/S,
Rev J

 

It's often recommended to wait until your dreadlocks are a little bit more mature before you start putting beads and the like onto them. Also I don't think you'd be having these problems if the dreads were more mature.

 

yeah.. cause the dreads arent mature yet, beads will squash the hair, thus making the diameter smaller, thus making the bead slip off.

i do have a ring on one of my dreads, and its slightly too big, but there is a hair elastic on the dread also, and it acts almost like an o-ring from a plug, and keeps the ring on

 

Those are crazy cool beads!!
But, I would recommend trying to get those little hair rubber bands, for braids. Like, the 100/200 pack for a dollar. And put it in under your bead. Should hold it in place, and help with the dreads a bit.

Or even, there's a twist and rip technique for dreads..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSzkXXvNqL0"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSzkXXvNqL0

You could try a little of that under the bead as well.. I know she's Danish, and speaking her tongue, but it's a good video to get the idea of it.
Good luck with them!
:willy_nilly:

 

Thanks for the compliments.

Here is the brief story. My girlfriend started putting the dreads in using the back comb and wax method which was time consuming as hell. Then she got into a minor accident and tore a ligament in her hand. While that was healing the ones with rubber bands on them started to dread up behind the rubber bands. Some of those got a twist and rip on the ends.

I also made some mistakes in the maintenance process which started them to unraveling. I put the Coil on one that was almost completely dead that I got a good 6 inches worked in tight. The design of the skeleton one is really good since the dread has to be small to go on and the way it goes between the arms and the legs keeps it in place as it is really tight. It's the little pewter skull that wants to come off.

I have a maintenance routine down now that works in three day cycles for three parts of the dread.

Day 1: Spray with sea salt, lavender, rosemary mixture. Scalp roll the root.

Day 2: Spray with mixture again. Finger roll the loose part between the end of the fat part of the dread and the root.

Day 3: Shower, wash hair twice. Finger roll in Knotty Boy Locksteady gel into the root areas I was just working with.

Day's 4 and 5: Spray with sea salt mixture and finger roll starting at about a half an inch below the fat part of the dread.

Day 6: Shower and wash hair put tightening gel in the fat part of the dread.

Days 7 and 8: Spray about 1/2" inch below where twist and rip/loose hair starts and finger roll into what has formed.

Day 9: Shower, Wash hair and put tightening gel into the body of the dread where the taper from finger rolling stops up towards the root.

Then start over. It seems to be working getting my dreads tight and working the tapers out of them.

C/S,
Rev J

 

Ok, personally I would say you don't need to and probably shouldn't do most of the things on that list, but that's just me.

 

Me too.

Save yourself the hassle, don't bother, and they'll do that themselves. Who knows, the stuff you're doing could be actually hindering the process.

Dreads gon' do what dreads gon' do. Doesn't matter if you put products in em and palm/finger roll till your palms/fingers catch fire.

 

Sea salt is fine. Over doing it will give you a dry and sore scalp though. You don't need to do it as often as you're doing it... well you don't neeed to do it at all, but you can if you so wish.

Rolling the root does very little over the long run. The roots will do themselves once the dreadlocks mature, rolling the roots doesn't get them there any faster.

Again, palm rolling also doesn't do a whole lot. Any difference you see with palm rolling will be undone once you wash your hair. It doesn't damage anything, but don't invest too heavily in it.

Not really sure why you're washing your hair twice. What are you washing them with? I wouldn't put soap or shampoo on them twice. It's the rinsing that is the important part.

Knottyboy Locksteady gel. Well that falls into the waxes and gels category that should be avoided all together. It's a con marketed towards new dreadlocks. It gunks up the dreads, stops the hair from moving and attracts dirt. It only sells because it sticks up the loose hair... the loose hair that would have actually dreaded had you left it alone. Gels, waxes, anything that says tightening or locking... or pretty much any dreadlock branded product other than a soap is unnecessary and often carries negative effects.

 

Me three, but I didn't want to be the first to say it

 

The finger rolling technique I use isn't like making a clay rope. I can see where that wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. I take a bit of hair and do rub in a circular motion between my thumb and forefinger (like that old joke "You know what this is? The worlds smallest record player"). When I do that I can literally feel new knots forming under my fingers.

When I do the scalp roll I can literally feel a big "pile" of knots down at the root that gets bigger each time I do it. It also spins the dread slightly so that I'm not always rubbing the exact same part of the dread circumference.

As for the tightening gel. I know it washes out and I kind of view it like the rubber bands that were holding my top together as they started to form on their own. Kind of keeping together the new stuff in semi tight as the loose part above it forms on it's own. Alot like the twist and rip.

C/S,
Rev J

 

Well.... rubber bands are also bad. But it's your journey, you're driving, you choose the route! But most of the wisdom passed on here, atleast in my case is derived from having to make a big ole' U-turn in the journey because there was a nasty wrong turn along the way!

 

beads, coils - they're all pretty gay

 

You're right. They all have homosexual relationships with other beads and coils of the same inanimate gender.

 

I hear that. I've had to correct mistakes and put dreads back in. the rubber bands weren't supposed to be on as long as they were. I'll probably stop using the gel when I run out of it.

C/S,
J

 

in my experience of scalp rubbing or whatever, any new knots i make come undone in the next dread wash i do, so its all pointless. hair will do what hair wants to do

 

oh my lord those are so cool

 

They stay in quite well for me. The only thing is they kind of form these weird flat things toward the the space between the end of my dread and the root. If I fold them in and rub that together it forms a nice round place. The only other real hamper to the process is that I keep accidentally skewering the roots on the ones right behind my ears with the earpieces on my sunglasses.

C/S,
Rev J

 

Thanks. I'm looking at some other stuff. I kind of view them as Totems or talisman.

C/S,
Rev J

 

yes! ive done that with my glasses. had to cut two dreads off a couple of years ago cause the hairs kept getting caught, and they pulled like a bitch. really hurt

 

Bummer. My hair is long enough that it doesn't hurt so much. I've learned a couple of tricks to avoid that happening. If I look down and flip them down down toward the floor then put my shades on it doesn't happen. Also I can tie them back in a ponytail or tie them back under a bandanna and it doesn't happen.

As for the Skull bead I just figured out that if I push up hard on it and got about a 32nd of an inch of tight dread hanging out from under it using the record player technique that on top of making new knots pushes the ones that are already formed into the dread tighter and makes the body of the dread thicker will hold it on.

C/S,
Rev J