Starting new dreads + question about length

I guess with your hair being very long you could get away with looser more gentle backcombing? Coz it's got a greater distance to slide back down in its initial attempts to unravel, therefore maybe more time to form sufficient knots here and there to catch and hold it in place....

That make any sense at all? lol

 

Yeah, I do think that's my best bet. I don't put my hair up (it's too heavy and gives me a headache), but I do braid it or at least pull it back. I definitely don't want to lean over to pick up some doo and drag my hair into it.

Amy- Loose backcombing seems like it would work well. I don't want to go crazy and tear up my hair, and it is really long. I think if I gave it a bit of guidance it would knot up pretty quickly, especially with the humidity at work and going to the beach and all.

I may wait until early March if I'm going to backcomb. My lifelong friend is coming to visit me for a week, and he asked a long time ago if I'd backcomb his hair to get some dreads started. His hair is almost as long as mine. I'm sure he'd help me with the back. We'll make a day or three of it.

hellodreadhead- I LOVE GSDs! I'd love to see a picture of Shadow. Are his ears standing up yet? I love it when they're puppies and their ears do the half standing half floppy thing for a while. It's adorable. My family bred German Shepherds when I was little. They have such a special place in my heart. I want one badly, but my dog is very old and I don't want to put him through any unneccessary stress at this stage in his life. I will have one again, though. And a rottweiler as well. I love them too.

 

Annie, No way Another GSD fan! Well he turned six months old yesterday and he celebrated by chewing through the outdoor phone line. Yeah his ears are standing up now but I have a few photos with silly ears in my albums here's a special photo of him being very clever



They're the best breed in the world!!

 

annie my cats weirsd cause rescued her from a crackhead that already starved a puppy to death (and left the poor dead puppy tied up on the porch at least a month aftyer it died)
we found my kitty in an abandoned building locked in therre at least 4 days withouit food or water..on thanksgiving we were sharing free food in the crack neighbourhood and some kids heard her meowing like crazy in the anbandoned building she wass the size of the palm of my hand
i took her home and named her freedom.. and for the 1st few months she never left my lap shed climb up my dreads and when i was on the computer shed attack my fingers as i typed demanding constant attention shes always sleeping on my chest or by my feet shes a real attention whore and has food issues too..anytiome i eat a bag odf chips she attacks the bag till i give her some and shes very vocal and demanding when she wants attention
ive had her 8 years now


on to the dread question
loose backcombings not a bad idea..much less tiring workthen trying to get it tight and all
if your waitting a month though to backcomb order yoirself a wool tam todaty and start wearring yoir hair tucked up in it at work
after work take it off give your head a good shake then feel for areas clumping togetger and seperate from eachother..put the tam back on and forget it awhile
if u repeat that seperating ritual every 8 or so hours theres not alotta chance it willnover combine and they should form fast
by the time u are ready to backcomb u probly wont need to

they are right thouigh running the fingers through will unknot earluy knots and isd a hard habbit to break
but if yoir hairs outta sight putta mind in a tam most of the day then u cant run fingers through it

 

oh yea and the smartest animal i ever had by far was a doberman pincher
i swear shed read my mind
so gentle she tried saving a cat thast was hit by a car (on the very same corner a van took her life a week later while she was trying to protect a freind from an angry abusive boyfreind)
if i let her run frree she was great with everyone freindly as can be (except with junkies she hated the heroin vibe and wejnt after em..even a ex junky that lived with us whben he did heroin 1 day she went after him..i cant blame her tho..lol)
but if i put her on s leash, or locked her in a room away fromme shed freak and go at anyone who came near..or try eatting through the door to find me
She was so smart that all i ever had to do was snap my fingers and shed always know exactly what i wanted her to do

 

SE, your Freedom sounds like our Oliver.. we took him in as a stray last year, he was well skinny.. all bones, all scabby and horrible, and now hes a fat little bastard. always wants attention, loves to be around people (loves to attack yer ankles while youre walking upstairs too..)

 

Awww, Shadow is ADORABLE. I miss having a shepherd so so much. Luckily my neighbor has one (a shiloh shepherd, but similar), and one of my training clients is a very clever and very large female GSD named Emma Jade. She's almost like one of my dogs.

Freedom sounds like a cat I had named Liberty (funny coincidence, eh?). I rescued her from the people across the street. They seemed more concerned with their meth lab than taking care of their pets. Sadly, Liberty had terrible respiratory problems (probably from the meth lab). I nebulized her every day, but she died peacefully in her sleep one night about a year ago. I was very fond of her, and she was very needy. Understandably.

I love dobermans too. It's funny, all these breeds with a "bad rap" are the ones I'm most connected to. I love pit bulls as well. I fostered one for a month while my friend got her sh!t together (she got evicted). I just loved him.

 

Thanks. Dobies and Weimeraners were my favourite growing up but I'm hooked on Shepherds couldn't be without one.

 

can we see a pre-dread pic?

 

When I get batteries for my camera, yes.

I'll make a progress thread, of course.

 

How long you had dreads Annie?

 

she doesnt yet..lol read the thread

but i think i remember her saying she used to?

 

Ah yeah! My bad bet you end up having gorgeous hair by the length of your hair!

 

Yeah, I had "dreads" a loooong time ago. I didn't wash them correctly, and they looked like crap. Didn't feel too nice either.

Anyway, I can croquet my own tam, right? I don't know how big to make it though. I have a ton of hair. And should I only make it out of wool, or could I use hemp?

 

ceoqoute is a game with maqllets and balls and sticks and hoops i know ya meant crochette
hemps great will last forever and all i just think wool because of the (i barelty remember this from science/chemistry) loose electrons (or something) has a tendency to release electrons to trhe hair making static which possibly aids in the knotting i guess
\
to measure for a tam tie hair up, and measure around the hairline (slightly above) then with the hair all in a big ol ball ontop of ypur head measure from front to back (hairline to hairline across the top)

 

hahaha you know you've fucked up on spelling if soaringeagle is picking up on it!!! lol teehee

Yeh crochet not croquet

 

Ahh, yes. The literature major is tired.

 

So, update I guess. I haven't brushed/combed my hair in 3 days I think now. I'm going to let it clump a bit before backcombing so the sections will look natural. I'll even them out a bit size wise from now until backcombing. But honestly, they're already kinda clumped. I like it. My mom told me my head looked like a rat's nest today.

 

OMG!!! a compliment...congrats.

peace.

 

I was wondering if this would be ok to use to start the dreads off with, not to use all the time. I'm getting dreads tomorrow, and my friend whose doing them said to buy the product. I've read that beeswax is horrible to use, but my friend says it helps to lock the dreads when starting off...
Um, any comments?

I'm super excited about tomorrow.