this technique works way better than backcombing!!

found this today, and decided to try it on those places in DD's hair that just keep coming untangled... but I did a gentler variation, without tieing knots at the end of the process (I used beads instead to hold it all together). Doesn't look as nice as backcombing does, but I think this method will make dreads much faster, since the tangled locks are looser and fatter, but it doesn't seem like they are going to come undone like the backcombed locks did... hard to explain, you just gotta try it yourself. Let me know what you think!

http://www.lionofzion.com/faq/78da334c020000c60094/How+to+Dread.html

 

that sounds like twist and rip...

 

never heard of that before now. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong places for information (seeing as how I've learned so much more about dreadlocks here than anywhere else before I started posting here)

 

yup thats the twist n rip method. thats what i use to start dreads off. it makes for much more troom for the dreads to do their thing. you right it works a hell of a lot better, its the closest to natural you can get without going natural. It doesnt look anything like dreads when you do it... just big fluffy sausages. thats what i used on both dandelions and hippyfreaks hair. but i dont put anything on the ends ever. just grab sections and rip. you dont even need to do he rubbing really, just grabe and pull appart over anbd over.

 

LOL


Yeah, I really have to recharge my camera batteries. DD has these big hair poofs sticking straight out! They look so funny right now, but I'm convinced it's gotta be better than backcombing (which did not work so well at all on her very fine, straight, red hair), and will look much better in a few weeks or a month or two.

 

yea you got to let the rip method alone though. if you kep playing with it it just wont lock. just rip n let it be and it will lock up itself. i know thats hard with a little kid though.

 

it's when I leave her hair alone that it comes unknotted.... some locks are really dreading up nice and tight, and some are completely undone. It's those that are nothing more than loose hairs that I did this "twist and rip" variation to. This really seems to be working much better than backcombing did, at least so far...

 

they will unravel. they need to. for the hair actually lock it has to unravel and knot itself. i guess in the end it doesnt matter as it will all knott naturally at the roots

 

i backcombed most of mine but a big one in front i used that method and it worked alot faster but did not knot as evenly but it dosent really matter unless you are looking for sometihng very tidy

 

she is getting so many compliments everywhere we go. What suprises me most are the little old ladies that just adore her hair! The young people, I expect it from them. But the old people, they love it too. People always ask where she got the idea. I just realized today, that it must have been Whoopi Goldberg who first inspired her to want dreadlocks in her hair! LOL

I'm not too worried about how messy it looks anymore (at first I was..) She has her entire life ahead of her for her dreads to knot up good. She likes it, that's all that matters. I try to leave it alone, I really do, and it comes undone, then I mess with it some more. She has a couple places along her hairline that just will not stay knotted, no matter what I do to it, but other places are forming into nice tight dreads already (we have just passed the two month mark). Mostly I just make sure to keep her hair clean, twist it when it's wet, and put more beads in when they fall out.