Heya, new here been lookin around for a few days.. Anywho, I used the kit thingyjobber from dreadheadhq.com and backcombed, but didn't use the wax. We sectioned wiff rubbers and backcombed then put rubbers on the ends. This was fine until I went to palm roll and stuff and noticed my dreadies we're coming unravled at the roots, so I hurredly put the rubber back on the roots while palmrolling. All good right? HELL NO!!! couple days later I began to notice the rubbers disappearing into the dreads!!! Freakin out!!!! Anyway, I went through and one by one cut out the rubbers and took strips of cloth to wrap around the dreads and then put rubbers on that, both at the roots and on the ends. So I think I have that sorted for now. I wanted to make sure I rolled and fiddled with every dread everyday and realized by using 2 different colors of fabric I can keep it all straight now!! Yipee!!! Now, I did use wax on like 5 dreads up front before I decided I hated wax. It seems to keep me from notting up any dread that has wax on it. Maybe I used to much. Either way, I have some Aloe gel stuff from knottyboy on the way, we'll see how that does... I know, from reading, that most of you think what I have done is wrong (using the kit and the backcombing bit), but its too damn late now. I'm way to impatient to wait a whole year for decent looking dreads and I wanted SOME uniformity to my locks. I wanted lots of littler locks as opposed to a few phatty locks, so I went with the backcombing method for the control. They aren't all the same and I didn't have a perfect grid on my head, but they I'm happy with how they look so far. I also wanted to have semi decent dreads before burningman. I know it'll take a while before they are all locked up and stuff, but I wanted them to be on their merry little way by the time I left for Reno. (92days as of right now). So I have a few questions that hopefully you'll be able to help me with. Is it ok for me to wash these babies this weekend? That activator shit from dreadheadhq has given me a major case of the itchies! Does anyone have a better suggestion for keeping them all sorted while they are tightening? (vs. the cloth and rubbers thing I'm doing now.) thanks in advance for not bashing me against the eWall for not going au natural (hint hint). -ele
Right on, but man, burning man is the perfect place to let your hair naturally dread.. ha! take out all rubber bands and live you life.. just leave them use some hot hot water to get out the wax in the front if you can... if you want u can play with them but trust me crazy dreads would be great for burning man
TAKE IT ALL OUT!! yuck get rid of it!! all the bands the wax the products all of it!! YUCKY YUCKY YUCK!! ive learnt there is NO way to get dreads that you WILL BE SATISFIED WITH quickly. Patience and time is what you need. I back combed because like you i wanted smaller ones as i have thin hair.... but i left it after that. I did a bit of rolling i found that it really doesnt help all that much at all. If you want them to knott up naturally, sea salt water (1 salt to 2 parts water) sprayed on... oooor lemon juice and water (same mix) ...but be careful the last one also bleaches the hair.
well disaster struck... I washed 'em and cause they were so long and so many I didn't have time to palm roll them all so about half ofthem fell out! On top of that my head was itchin so bad I was seeing spots! Whuta pissa! So I spent yesterday washing and conditioning and soaking and undoing them all. Give up? HELL NO, ME HASTA HAV 'EM! So I'm gonna con some of friends into sectioning again (btw I switched to ouchless hair ties and them's the shite!). I'm going with about a 1' square this time, last time was 1/2" and some of em were nigh on wispy. I figure they'll be easier to manage when they are fewer and a bit bigger. Gonna take the backcombing slow and make sure they get really really notty, I'll braid the rest until I can get to them all (undo the braid, wash, backcomb, bind). Might take a while to get them all done, but damit I am determined. I'd go the more natural route but I have conservative employers and the less waves i make the better... and I like the more "uniform" dread look better. So yeah, instead of the wax I'm gonna use Knotty boys gel, cause that stuff was pretty kewl for the couple of days I used it. Btw, using the cloth under the rubberband was kick ass on the tips. Looked pretty good and when you take them off the tips are all stuck together. When I rolled the tips in my palm they would unravel and knot up real good. So ouchless on the roots until the start holding together on their own and cloth and rubbers on the ends until the dreads start locking real good. I'm not after perfect dreads immediately but I do want to be able to tell they are dreads. 1st time around I didn't wax or anything and the thinner ones fell apart and looked crappy. Nothing was bringing them together. Thicker and taking more time on teh backcombing to get them tight to start with I think will work well. I'll take pics this time around too. thanks for the tips!
