Wanting uniformed dreads

Alright, so I'm thinking about dreading my hair but need some advice. Ideally, I'd like thick-ish dreads, something like Lil Wayne's...



lol


My hair is around 18 inches long and curly. I'm hispanic, my hair isn't nappy but frizzy and damaged in some areas.

It seems kind of fragile, could I end up with bald spots after dreading it?

Some of my hair is also uneven lengths, maybe 1-2 inches off, and I have a couple spots with previous hair loss due to styling damage, with the hair just growing out again... could this be a problem?

Since this isn't something that if I mess up on I can just try again (without waiting a couple years) I'm considering flying out to the Knottyboy salon and getting them done professionally. It will be expensive but time is much, much more valuable in this situation. I'm guessing lock peppa will be necessary to get them as thick as possible...

I might be able to get some crappy cell phone pics if necessary...

Any suggestions? :hat:

 

Alright, first you need to realize that dreadlocks don't happen overnight. It takes YEARS to have true locks, NO MATTER what you do to get them.

Next, DO NOT use any WAX or other dread products in your hair, "lock peppa" included. If you do you'll be on a fast track to shaving your head in a few months. You really have 2 options:

1. Go all natural- Buy some residue-free shampoo like Dr.Bronners, never brush your hair, wear a wool hat and chillll. You WILL see results if you are patient.

or

2. Backcomb and then go natural- You could have a friend or two backcomb your hair(I strongly advise against going to the knotty boy salon). This will be painful and for the most part unnecessary, but your hair will look sorta like dreads right after. Then you can continue by following option 1.

 

I know. If you're referring to my "waiting a couple years" part, I meant if they don't turn out how I want them and cut them off, it'll take years to get back to this length.

Any specific reasons?

 

It will be a waste of money. They will try to convince you to put wax and other sh!t in your hair that you don't need. Dreadlocks are a natural hairstyle, nothing man-made is going to help them. The only way to get great looking locks is to be patient, plain and simple.

 

do not go to or use KBoy products!!!

the only thing i do use by them is the peppermint spray, but thats it.

 

Agreed. Save your money.
Knotty Boy will NOT help your cause.

I've had dreads for just over a year now, and *finally* they are starting to resemble actual dreads.

The old saying is true - patience is key.

 

This kid wants uniformed dreads like Lil Wayne and people are going to tell him to do the natural method. Lawlzy lawlzy. Does Lil Wayne's hair look natural to you?

If I was the OP I would find a friend who was good at sectioning and then have them backcomb the hair. I'd use aloe juice to keep the frizzies away.
BUT sometimes people have friends who suck at sectioning. So worst case scenario go to a ethnic based salon and ONLY have them section the hair with elastics. This should cost like $5 and take 20 minutes max. Go home, backcomb the hair yourself, and then cut off the bands.

 

if your hair is weak you may want to grow out your hair again and load up on the right nutrients. the hair you have now will be the foundation of your locks. weak locks can break and fall off, you dont want that.

if your hispanic you are going to have big loopy curls right? it is hard to have thin straight locks like you can get with afro hair. natural could wrok if you helped section your baby locks, but it coul be trouble getting a specific pattern on your head. you may need to backcomb over the course of a month which should be less stressful on your weak hair and it will give you plent of time to create and manage each lock as you see fit. be warned though, big loopy curls like to lock but they lock in posisitions as they please. you will not look like lilwayne, but you will have your own set of locks and you will look awesome.

so get hair healthy
wash with residue free shampoo/soap
backcomb (for thin locks like his, otherwise try natural) over a period of time
rip the locks daily to prevent joining

 

Just try to go natural for a few months, and see how your feeling about it. Then you can try the backcomb option. But NO KNOTTY BOY!!!

 

there's a video on youtube of the knottyboy salon, and they showed this chick backcombing and waxing some kid's dreads. the thing was she didn't even backcomb them really well at all...she just rubbed a fistful of wax onto 'em. that really doesn't work...

 

I was actually going to say to don't bother posting if you're only going to recommend the natural method in my OP, but didn't want to come off as an ass.

Would deep conditioners/vitamins help, or is it too late?

lol, that video is what made me consider going over there. I had thought she did a good job...

 

well, she backcombed them only so they were all puffy...
and then the wax she caked in there is bad enough, not to mention how much she used
really, i highly recommend not to head over there, cuz all you'll walk out with is a waxy mess, which actually might look good at first, but after not too long it'll get all dirty and sticky and annoying...
if you want uniformed dreads that's cool, but using wax wouldn't be beneficial in the long run. backcombing and palm rolling would be sufficient enough for that, and this guy's dreads you want do seem pretty small; as I find smaller dreads a hell of a lot easier to backcomb then bigger ones...so you're in luck
just remember to be patient :cheers2:

 

Nah, you wouldn't be an ass but even if you said that some little purist will say go natural anyways.

 

Oh, and take vitamins to help more hair grow in thick and healthy. As for the damaged hair, once it's damaged it's damaged. Deep conditioning temporary works but if you definitely don't want to cut it than rub shea butter into it.

 

moondoggie has all the nutritional info you will need.

 

I like comb coils with aloe vera.

 

what are comb coils?

...and to the op... lil wayne's dreads look as though they were originally twisted... but I don't know for sure because I really don't know anything about that method for creating dreads except that it works best with very curly/coarse hair. I'd imagine the most important aspect of creating perfectly uniform dreads would be to take a lot of time with sectioning first. Do you know anyone with dreads that you like who could help you?

 

The "Something to Think About" thread is mine and it has a video where the chick does a comb coil very first thing.

Really good sectioning will get you Lil Wayne dreads. If you have sorta straight hair it's going to be hard to get the exact same results as Weezy.

 

Ahh, I see. Thanks for the tips :cheers2:

Which vitamins? Might massaging my scalp help?

Nope, none of my friends have dreads : (. But MoonDoggie mentioned getting them sectioned at an ethnic-based salon, which sounds good.

I watched that video before making this thread :cheers2:

 

One a day vitamins should do, but if your willing to take more than use calcium, fish oil, and biotin tablets. All can be found at your local pharmacy.