**READ ME** - Dread Newbies FAQ/ PLUS Basic Care and maintenance Guide

weash your hair at least weeklyt
more if u need to..crochetting was a mistake,
(dragfonvine to answer your quesation few posts ago you crochetted thats why the dreads feel weird, you crochete once it changes the look and feel of the dread making them feel srtrange, then they quickly degenerate requiring constant rew-crochetting, you should never have started once you do your on cxonstant dammage repair

to the new guy who crochetted, i know hearring that that was a mistake maybe scary, but dont be too scared everyobne for the most part makes mistakes especuialy those in a rus to have dreads too quickly
just leave your hair alone make sure u never use wax keep it clean wash at leasst weekly
dont worry about it
dont recrochette ir fuss with it
nmake syure u have no elastics in it and just relax and enjot the ride
ity will all taker care of itseklf if u stop worrying and messing with it


having crochetted you may find frizz to be an extereme issue awhile.. ands the fool wgo crochetted ya will tell you to crochette more to deal with the friz anmd loose hairs...do t..he may tell u to wax too..dont..ya screwed uop so u got to deal with frizz toll the dammage can repair itself and the drewadsa become dreads not just crochetted hair

 

I need help! My dreads are coming apart! Heres some backstory..

I used to have long straight hair past my shoulders, but decided it was getting too girly so I was either going to cut it or dread it. My friend ended up volunteering for it, and he back-combed them all, probably about 50 minutes for each. It hurt like a motherfucker. Its been about three months since. I shower infrequently and I don't palm roll them enough which everyone tells me I should...

My question is, how do I keep them from falling apart? I have a lot of loose hair, and its incredibly obvious in these pictures, possibly because of the flash from my camera. Should I palm-roll more to fix this? or is there another way? I'm really scared that they're just going to come apart.. they certainly look like they are...

 

Ummm....for 3 months old they're certainly not looking like something you should be worrying about...
The strays will all find their way back into a dread eventually. You can use aloe vera to smooth them down a little, or use salt-water rinses to help tighten them.
But chill...they don't look like they're going anywhere

 

Here. This was the state of mine at 3 months. See? No need to be stressing.

http://flickr.com/photos/amybird8/3148350264/sizes/l/in/set-72157611793257049/

 

Hmm I guess. I just read "the dreadlock truth" and the guy said not to back comb, but its too late. Will aloe vera stick em together? Is there a thread/post detailing the effectsand uses of aloe vera and salt-water?

Thanks!

 

Here's a thread about salt-water.
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=348436&f=209

Most things are covered in this forum somewhere, so have a search around. Maybe start an aloe vera thread too

 

Wow, thanks for all the advice! I'm looking forward to posting here.

 

Bamboo... they're looking pretty good...but you should definitely take off the elastics. My loose hairs didn't really go away until I stopped doing anything to them...I wouldn't be too concerned with them coming down... like amybird said somewhere on this forum. If you are really concerned, try to actually comb one out... not likely its going to happen.... so no need to worry... they're going to get a little worse before they get better.... but thats the journey and why people with great dreads love them so much.... you go through so many stages before you love them!
Mine will be 2 years in may and I am just starting to realize that they are mature dreads....

 

take off the lastics. they look good,yeyyy. I love dreads so much, it's such a fun journeymew. just have faith in your hair and in the natural course it chooses to go.

 

Well I'm not so sure about taking off the rubber bands.. if I did that then the ends would be open to coming apart! I think the ends are almost locked up though...

 

Lol quit the paranoia! Even if the hairs at the end are not completely stuck together, it doesn't mean something very bad is happening to your dreads. Is it for appearance that it worries you or because you think the dreads will come apart?

 

take off the bands! dreads are a natural process. whats natural about plastic bands in your hair? they are not kornros!

 

Talking of elastic bands.... I've got 2 dreads which I've been suspicious of for ages, because they were contorting in a strange way e.g. not the normal squiggly way, whilst part of them remained really tight like there was something in there. Today I found the remains of elasitc bands in both. They've been there for nearly 8 months. They are now black manky splurges that I can't remove. Yum yum.

 

ive wanted dreads but i think my hair is to thin for that. can you still get dreads if your hair is really thin?

 

Contrary to popular belief thin hair dreads extremely easy. I'm not sure why people think this as being a bad quality for dreading. This hair will dread faster than thick straight hair much like the hair Asian people have or even Native American hair types which I have. Thin hair has a tendency to work itself out of knots as easily. In fact it does the opposite. Just switch to a quality vegetable based soap from a health food store or use baking soda and wash once or twice a week, really as necessary. And then quit brushing you hair. You hair will naturally section itself off form knots that will become dreads over time. Eventually you will have to separate or rip the sections apart or they will begin to grow together to the point they can't be separated.

 

So, how long does my hair have to be to start this process?

 

bald
stop combing and the process stqarts
however
different hair types dread differently
african hair will dread naturaly at about 1/4 inch or less
straighter caucasion hair will dread naturaly between 4-6 inches typicaly (mine started at about 2 inches naturaly)
backcombing or twist n rip typicaly 3-4 inches is needed at least

with natural process the longer the hair the quicker it dreads in general
so 8 or more inches can dread rather quickly (in some people)

how longs it now? if u stop combing it will dread when its ready to...pure simplicity

 

my hair right now is about 1 1/2 inches. so i just stop combing it and wash it twice a week? is it better to use baking soda or the soap?

 

eitger 1
at this point length will matter more then how u wasgh

but
theoreticly rubbing with soap createzs knots but can disturb em too if u run fingers through em
but the bakingsoda u just ppour on and wait no unknotting but no movement to knot (till u shake em out that is)
so find what works for u
but unless u got pretty perfect hair (african or close) it wont show alotta progress till u get 4 or so inches
u can backcomb or twist/rip at 3 or so though
or waitr and go natural
which 4-6 should be good to astart..however will be slow in most cases till its longer..the longer the better in most cases

at 1 inch though u can jump start natural by forcinbg on some beads wearring a wool hat
and such
mine started at ariound 2 inchges with beads in back maybe 3 inches natural (no beads) on top
if not beads u could do lil hair wraps
there are ways u can help it out even in really short hair

lets see what your hair looks like now might help come up with other suggestions

 

i think id suggest soap, not baking soda.. i think its softened and loosened my backcombing quite a bit, so if your hair is still 'normal' it might possibly potentially make it too slippery to knot up