could i pull off having dreads?

i reallly want to give it a shot but i have no idea if i can pull it off without looking like a dumbass. and i mean im not too sure about the whole thing like all the diluting shampoo and different shampoo and things you use is sooo confusing.

and a quick question. when i start making them do i take sections and back comb them then rip them up? my hair will not do it naturally i need to give it a push. im so confuseddddddd

i just don't want to ruin my hair haha

i have pics in my gallery that show my hair pretty good.

i'd want dreads like KnottyRye's hers are amazingggggg

 

Mate, Dreads look great on Everyone! But you would loose a lot of length. The whole diluting shampoos isnt that complecated at all. You only have to dilute if you use Dr Bronners. If you dont want to use that you can use natural soaps (that you buy from market stalls etc) or any shampoos with natural ingredients, just look on the back and look out for Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and all those sorts of yucky things.

My hair wouldnt knot naturally, as I have thick, slippery asian hair. For Backcombing, what you do is section (but not like a grid, I heard sectioning into a hexagonal pattern works? But thats pretty confusing). And then Backcomb from the back of your head to the fron. That way, by the time you get to the front, your getting pretty good at back combing. But please remember, the majority of your knotting doesnt happen in the back combing process, but rather the next 6-12 months after.

Ripping is what you do if you dont want your dreads to join together (congo). This isnt done straight after the back combing. After a considerable number of weeks youll notice they start joining to the dreads next to them at the roots. You rip them apart and you get heaps of loose hairs.

Aside from all the "amazing product" Bullshit, Dread Head HQ has some really good info on how to backcomb. But dont use wax!!!

Good luck, hope I didnt confuse you more!
Peace

 

i just dont want to do anything wrong haha

 

the thing about dreads, is you can't try to control them. get the notion out of your mind that you can "do" them wrong or right. you can only set the stage and let your hair do its own thing, and it will, and it will be marvelous.

 

ok =] well now im confused about how to section them off? and how to shower with them when you first start without them coming out

 

any hair will dread naturaly unless its exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxtremely thin\ but it may take awhile
sectioning wait a few weeks feel yopur hair for clumps formimg & seperate 1 from another..simple & washing if u do backcomb u want them to fall out or they wont dread
the dreading process happens about 80% in the time right after u wash so thats when u want them to loosen & move & slowly form real dreads

 

i don't know i guess i feel overwhelmed if you can understand can anyone give me like a step by step?

 

hello, a step by step on getting and keeping dreads you mean? if so id love to tell you how ive done it in the past 11 months

 

please! could you? and is there another alternative if i can't really afford dr bronners shampoo? oh and if i ever didnt want them anymore would i have to shave my head? =[

 

you would look awesome with dreads and youre really cute
for sectioning, what i did was not brush my hair till it sorta sectioned itself off. if your hair doesnt do this on its own, just get it wet or damp. i just picked up a section (or what felt like one) near the tip and tied it off with a rubber band near the root. i did my whole head like that then tackled the backcombing and such. theyre not equal sizes but i like it like that
you could also just take a random piece of hair next time you have nothing to do and start working it into a dread. just keep it up whenever you can till you have a head of them. i wouldnt get all complicated with the sectioning thing, just go with what your hair naturally wants to do.
and have fun with it! its a process and they wont always look pretty, but with time, they will be totaly sweet

 

is backcoming all i do? then eventually they will be better and knot more on their own?

 

just to add-
you dont have to shave your head. your hair is short so within a couple months you could probably comb them right out. i had really long ones the first time and had to cut them, i ended up with about 4 inches of hair and it could have probably been more.
dr bronners can be expensive (it does go a long way though) and what i did for ages was just wash em with a nice bar of soap. make sure its real soap (lye and oil, NOT sodium lauryl sulphates or other artificial surfactants.) and has no crap in it like preservatives or fake fragrance/colour. you sould be able to find a good bar or liquid (nice cause you can add your own essential oils) soap at a health food store. just lather up your hands and apply to dreadies

 

you all are so much help im getting a little less nervous haha <33

 

ok my mom backcombed for me. i wanted my dreads to be random sizes and shapes and lengths, so i had my momma just pick up random spots on my head and backcombing them, but if you want yours the same size and to be nice, you should get those tiny black rubber bands and put them in different ares of hair. just grab a bit, add more remove some or whatever til you get how you want it. do this for your whole head, and as you (or someone else) goes to backcombed, remove the band, this is very very important, i found out the hard way that if you leave a rubberband in too long, it will melt in your hair and never come out.

now for the backcombing, just go to a pet supply store and get one of those metal flea brushes or something with reaalllly close teeth. as for the actual combing, (there is probably a place that better explains it but ill give it a shot), you take a part of the hair you sectioned off, remove the band while holding on to it, put the comb in about 1/2 to an inch away from the scalp and comb down to knot it up a bit, now do the same thing about another 1/2 inch to an inch from the last spot, just keep doing it and doing it on every strand til your whole head is a giant knotty mess.

most people will tell you that its alright to wash it the first few days, but i didnt want to risk them coming undone since it took me and my mom 6+ hours to finish it, i actually waited around a month before i washed it, didnt smell terrible, but i missed the feeling.

after a month or so of being really careful ith them by not touching em and showering very gently, i started to play around with them more, playing is very very good. i notcied they knotted a lot faster when i would play with them. and after a little while i found out about palm rolling, which is where you jsut take a dread between the palms of your hands and just rub back and forth. palm rolling tames the stray hairs to a local dread which will make them look a lot better.

i also tried something that helped quite a lot in early 07. if you are crafty and have a lot of time and a few older shirts this is a great technique. i thought of trying it after i had a bead on one of my dreads for a while, the place where the bead was was incredibly developed and it was because the hairs only had a limited space to mingle in, but it wasnt constricting as to halt the development of the dreads. so i decided that i would cut up a bunch of shirt to make little sleeves for each one, they were tight enough to stay on but loose enough to let them do their thing. i left them on for about a week straight (bad idea to wash them in that time period, you could take them off but i was too lazy). and i found that that helped a lot and if i wouldve left them in longer, that it probably wouldve done wonders.

after awhile, i heard of the crocheting method which i still use to this day. its simple you just get a crochet hook, stab it through a dread, round up some strays and pull them through, this also works (early on) when you want two dreads to join, more popular ways are beads at the roots.

finding shampoos shouldnt be terribly hard, find a health food store, and just look at the ingredients and dont go for the chemical sounding stuff, looke for things with like teatree oil and aloe and all of that. usually you can find it pretty cheap. like just a few weeks ago we bought a buttload of burts bees small shampoo bars are creams and all of that. burts bees is great from what ive experienced, no diuting, just rub it on your dreads and scalp. hmmmm look around here also for some cleaning and unsmelling ideas, there is an old thread thats up and it has some stuff for a deep cleaning concoction, i havent tried any of these but from what ive heard they work, so just keep an eye out.

uhhmmmmm wear a wool hat whenever you can, or rub some wool on your head (not a lot of fun and it isnt that attractive, and it hurts a lot, but it helps), just find some way of getting in contact with wool if you can.

as for your cutting question, hmmm well i definitely know within the first few months you can easily comb them out with some conditioner, there are also intense deep conditioners that ive heard help remove mature dreads, but if you dont want them im sure youll know within the first few months.

what else what else....welll if you do get dreads you will get discouraged and feel like they are never going to work, dont worry im pretty sure that it has happened to most if not everyone on this board, but stick with them, they will eventually do their thing. if you get discouraged, come back here, this place has cheered me up about mine countless times....buuuut yeah thats all i have, sorry if its too much or if it doesnt make sense, i just kind of typed as things came to mind, but good luck hope you decide to go for it

 

ooh nooo you helped me so much that cleared up pretty much most of my questions thank you sooooooo much!

 

anytime, i love it when im not a complete waste of space

 

oh wow, thank you so much! that's the best compliment i've received so far. i feel like my soul is glowing

 

Soaring eagle you look like such a beautiful person. I look at your photo and you make me smile. You have such a good aura about you, you just oooze nice!

 

there have been reports of dreads being pulled off.but you will always look like a dumbass pulling off dreads.

 

Soaring eagle you look like such a beautiful person. I look at your photo and you make me smile. You have such a good aura about you, you just oooze nice!