hi there! i just joined after reading loads of the posts on here, it seem like a chilled out place to be! i dont know if i ought to be here yet though as i am not officially dreaded yet i am about 1/3 dreaded at the moment, but love it like i couldnt believe already! i had my friend braid my hair for me, and slowly but surely i have backcombed them into dreads. the ones at the back feel like they are beginning to dread themselves from the roots so hopefully we should meet in the middle somewhere! i have grown my hair for nearly 2 years so i could have dreads, decided ages ago that i wanted them. then i went though a period of depression/stress/ocd dunno really and didnt do it. homeopathy, reiki and councelling got me out of that hole and i handed in my notice and got a new job. i went from being a lab tech to being a kerbside recycling person and havent been so happy in ages! then one day i woke up and thought pooh to it all, i'm gonna have dreads! bugger what anyone else thinks. woo hoo! i confess to have used bands on the ends, but as soon as they have begun to lay down i will cut them off. i spent hours making beeswax and hempseed oil wax for em, then found this site pheeeewwwww! i keep it on my windowsill and sniff it every now and then cos it smells nice i have stolen my dogs shampoo (fear not its dr bronners castile soap, which incidentally if you lather your dog up really well and leave the suds on and work em in for 10 mins, it kills fleas - hooray!!! poor tikki cannot have any chemicals near him so i found him this stuff, which i now share lol!) anyhoo, i still get a little twitchy about stuff, so i thought i would just ask anyway...... do dready hold in dirt/germs more than boring hair? i empty foodwaste bins and they can get a bit funky! (the bins not my dreads!) i try to keep my new babes covered, and wash em about 5 times a week. is that ok? they arent very long so they do dry fairly quickly. and they havent unravelled much at all. can i keep going or do i need to get a grip and not wash them so much? any advice will be fab (or a good face slap for worrying too much, either is cool) thankies everyone oooh by the way, i'm donna!
hey, welcome! im sure im not alone in saying that id love to see a picture of your dreads. i would wash them less often. i wash mine once a week, sometimes twice a week. not to freak you out, but you really dont want mould. water can chill in the middle of your dreads and if they never get the chace to dry out, bad things may happen. as long as you dont put crap in your hair that attracts yucky stuff and breeds the evil germs of which you speak, the dreadies will love you and not infect you. good luck
thanks for that, i will try and wash them less. i fourtunately have only used a weeny bit of wax on 2 dreads after i made it, before i found this site and it has been well and truly scrubbed out!! so it is now just me and my dreadies i will get some batteries for my camera and get a pic to show you all. they arent much to look at yet as i havent finished them all. taken me a month so far........ its gonna be a long haul lol! must go down to the sea soon, i havent been in ages and from reading here it seems like a dip in the ocean will do wonders for them! thankies! love donna
that's really bad advice, you need to wash them. don't worry about mold, as long as your not using wax water shouldn't get trapped in them. Just squeeze all the water out of your hair real good when your done. Washing your hair helps it dread FASTER, the whole washing less thing is a myth, wash like normal, just use a residue free shampoo (like doc bronners) in fact, doc bronners tea tree oil seems to help knot up faster
ooer i is confused now! so it is ok to wash them that often? i dont wash them at the weekends as i rarely do anything to get my hair dirty then, so week day washing is ok? i have the dr bronners plain liquid shampoo, can i just bung some tea tree and lavender oil into that? i would rather add the lavender as i'm not to keen on the smell of tea tree on its own. i make sure they are dry before i go to bed, but i am outside alot walking my dogs so they get a good blow through by the wind. should i get a hair dryer? oooh and can i start putting beads and twinkly things in them yet? sorry for all the questions, i am just a tad excited and want to do everything to make sure i can keep my baby dreadies for many years!! thankies love donna xx
wash as much as you want. I have no idea if adding your own essential oils will produce the same effect but I can't imagine it hurting, alternatively you could get doc bronners tea tree and add the lavender to that, but even if you didn't it doesn't smell like anything after its rinsed out anyway...i mean tea tree is not a necessity, i don't even know if it would make a difference for you, i just know I use it and I believe it had a beneficial effect on my dreads, they are always tighter after washing with that than with anything else. as far as the blow dryer thing goes i don't feel its necessary, I haven't had a blow dryer touch my head since I was a child and since then i've found out heat can be damaging to your hair and cause breakage...i don't know about putting beads in your locks before they knot up...it would seem detrimental to me because it keeps your hair from moving freely but you should wait for someone more knowledgeable in that area to respond, I never put anything in my locks till they were established. Just remember, ALL hair will dread if left alone, the only thing that creates dreadlocks is time...they will come to you when your ready
thanks mate! i like the idea of the tea tree, as i know it wipes out germs (twitch, twitch lol!) i'll go to glastonbury in the week and get some of the dr bronners with tea tree then as it'll probably not smell as strong as it would if i make my own! i love how they feel when they are washed, all fluffy and cute! i think i will actually miss that when they are all tight and growed up! now then i must go find some batteries for my camera so i can show my babies off thankies! love donna xx
