I started my dreads up yesterday, by way of rubberbands and backcombing (no wax). My hair is very short to begin with, not to mention very straight. My friend who helped me with my locks had 3 year old ones that were beautiful, and she insisted that I leave in my bands for a few weeks, if not months. I assumed because of her dreads and how many shes done for others that she would be knowledgeable. But having combed these forums, apparently I'm supposed to remove them almost immediately or else I'll risk them getting eaten by my hair. My question is, will the short and thus weak state of my babies come undead if I were to unband them tonight when I sleep on them/when I shower in the morning? I slept with the bands in last night and it was awful. I just don't want them to fall apart! I'd be embarrassed when I saw my friend if they fell out after ignoring her advice, ya know? I guess I just want to know what happens before I do anything rash.
That is a tuff call man.. I never had rubber bands in my dreads, I bet that would be uncomfortable when you sleep for sure.
The bands sure as hell don't make dreads. I imagine it will be hard for you to maintain what you have right now through showers and sleeps. Most dont wash their hair for atleast a week after backcombing cause they unravel very easily in the beginning stages, but that never means they're gone forever, it's all part of the process. the bands keep them sectioned, but they dont keep the dreads in shape obviously. If you palmroll and rip them i dont see why you would need bands anyway, they just hinder it in my opinion. Soaringeagle and many others have repeatedly said, that hair needs to move/tangle/knot etc freely if you want faster process, but faster process doesn't always mean that they'll look good from the start...this is almost never the case. so how i see it is that the bands help them stay a bit 'neater' aslong as you keep them in but the locking process is a bit slower and its the other way around without bands, they might get messy fast, esp. with how short they are in your case, but the overall locking process would probably be faster....just all about patience. not the absolute truth though, just how i see it atm, no personal experience with bands.
in weeks or months they can be significantly swallowed so removing them can rip apart knots that formed around them itrs probably ok to leave em in a couple days, but wouldnt more then a week and at least idfd remove them right after 1st washing i would also hold off on washing as long as u can ..till they start feeling pretty yucky give ekm tiome to settlke in
Thanks for the help guys, as always I'll probably cut them out tonight and just refrain from washing them for a week and see what happens. Soaringeagle, I'm just so darned eager for dreads like yours, you beautifully dreaded bastard! It will just have to be a lesson in patience. So be it!
I left my elasics/bands in for just 2 weeks and my hair wasnt but around 6-8 inches and man it was hell removing them and im still finding some bands....Ya hair swallows them fast. Like Soaring said probably best to leave them a couple days but no longer. The main goal from what i gather from Soaringeagle and others is to establish sections that'll hold without elastics/bands by backcombing once thats done the dreading process will take form by itself mostly....then all ya do it neglect em and wait. ~SKiLLz~
The bands wont do anything good man, your hair knot because of time movement and residue free soap ONLY, backcomb just help a bit to knot faster at first and that's it I guess I never backcombed anyway. If you sleep without the bands try to put something on your head, a wool hat, or find something if you don't have one yet. I used a new soap and it killed my dreads so I put it into the garbage and used my good old one and just a day after sleeping with my hat they are a lot more tight, I even got new one forming haha.
i don't think you should leave em on, but if you take them off, they may come undone because it looks like it was backcombed pretty loose (or maybe it's just cuz your hair is so short right now...)
Short hair is pretty impossible to backcomb in my experience, so I'm just letting it go and after one week and a half I'm allready getting little dreadforming^^ just be patient and let it go, and get a nice tam
