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

I can't tell anything without a list of ingredients.

 

yea thats why im hesitant to use it, they make it sound nice but dont give a clear list of ingredients, seems like they maybe trying to hide something

 

Hi I'm new to this forum and haven't done my dreads yet, I was thinking about going to a salon to get them done but after reading up here and other places I'll just do them myself, probably with a twist/rip method...
My questions are these:
1. I have layered hair with bangs, will it look silly if I don't dread my bangs? I don't want a little short dread sticking out from my forehead!
2. I also have prematurely grey hair, I usually dye it to cover it up (i'm only 28). Can I continue to dye the roots with dreads? Otherwise I will have silver roots and black(my natural color) dreads.
3. Is there anything I need to do to prepare my hair for dreads, washing etc? Should I get some residue free soap and wash it first to get any leftover residue out?

Thanks for all the advice I've read so far and sorry if my questions repeat, but I read 35 pages of this discussion and got too tired to continue!

 

theres a few people on here with undreaded bangs, i really like it (mine are dreaded)

hair can be dyed.. amybird bleached hers and now its neon pink =D
worldpeace has also dyed hers a few times (find her timeline thread)

prep.. id say start using residue free soap to train your scalp to produce less oils etc.. this means washing less often too, so gradually you can go for a few days/a week without feeling icky and trampy =]

and welcome to the forums =]

 

Also with the premature greying..I'm with ya there. I began getting my first greys in my mid 20's (thanks Dad). I do bleach mine, but I have noticed that I dont need to touch up as often as I did when I had straight hair. Maybe the greys just get tangled up and you cant see them..I dunno. But I use to dye every six weeks..now its like been like 3-4 months since I have last bleached and cant see the first grey.

 

smelly summed it up really well.
i have undreaded bangs and i like them a lot. i started out with no bangs, but 6 months or so into my dread journey, i cut four locks to make bangs.
heres my timeline if you want to see what it looks like- http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=353428&f=209

 

yey ^-^

 

is it okay to use beads to keep my dreadlets separated until they mature a little bit? As an alternative to using rubber bands?

 

This may seem like a dumb question, but bear with me. I'm a high school Chemistry teacher, and being honest I'm fairly straight laced. Each year they ask 5 teachers to volunteer to do something for charity and I've drawn the short straw this year.

The student body gets to pick what the teachers do. It usually involves wearing a costume, shaving your hair, or making a fool of yourself when you try out for a sports team. For me they selected something special, dreadlocks. I agreed if they managed to raise $2000, which they promptly did.

So my question is they have been in 6 weeks now. The woman who put them in (a Mom at the school) said to wax them 2 or 3x a week and to palm roll them regularly. Is that accurate? How regularly is regularly? Is there anything I can do to stop wax forming on my pillow at night? Does it get any less weird to look at with time? There are times I catch myself twisting them absentmindedly (in fact I do that a lot). Is that a bad thing? When will they settle down? Is there anything else I should be doing?

 

Read these threads and try to get the wax out:
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=365451&f=209

 

yeah, wax is pretty nasty.. it's a sad misconception that you need it to dread. get it out! and then let your poor babies be... play with them if you like, but that's all you should be doing.

 

And post pics!

 

I agree.

Sounds like you are a great teacher!

 

Ha ha. I feel like an extremely messy haired teacher at the moment. I've had the same haircut since 6, so this is taking some getting used to.

 

i'd just like to QFT that you are an awesome teacher for doing this.

 

Thanks for that I think. Given they raised so much money I felt I ought to. If I remove the wax, how will the hair stay bound together long enough for it to knot?

 

Hair nees movement to knot and wax prevents movement....sooo, if you do some deep cleanses and rinse with super hot water you will get rid of the wax and your hair can start knotting up. Right now its just the wax holding them together, not knots....heehee.

 

The hair only needs a few tangles here and there to get the individual hairs catching and pulling on each other and creating knots, so don't worry. I doubt you'll be magically back to Pantene hair after washing out the wax (You know to avoid anything with residues/conditioners of any sort yeh?) Saltwater will help a lot with getting the tangles happening.

 

Hi peoples!!!!!! i just washed my dreads for the first time 2 days ago and i was wondering if this shampoo is dread friendly, here are the ingredients: Sodium palmate, Sodium palm Kermalate, Glycerin, Essence of oatmeal, Oatmeal Flakes, Honey, Sodium Chloride, Pentasodium pentetate. I love oatmeal =D thx and also i have been wearing a beanie everyday and i just thought that maybe beanies are to tight to provide movement for the dreads and they wont knot up if i wear a beanie. Is this true?