Hey everyone, my name's Amanda, I'm from Birmingham, England and have spent the last year and a half researching and thinking about getting dreadlocks. I recently found a salon near me that does them, but I'm slightly suspicous of some of the things they told me: 1) They said bleaching/perming hair prior to dreading was something they often do to help the process 2) I have to sign an aftercare contract to come back in and have them "tidied up" 3) Once sectioned off, they would remain in a square formation for a few months afterwards It all seems a bit "Hmmm..." to me, what do you dreadheads think? I don't want to really pay £200 for them either, and I don't feel confident enough to do it myself. I'd love to find some friendly dreadhead to do it for me, anyone willing to help me? Much love xxxx
Heres what you do: Wash your hair with organic, residue free shampoo from now on. No conditioner. Stop combing your hair. If you really feel the need, backcomb them, but dont use wax. Wait. You will have beautiful locks. Or you can go to a salon, get ripped off, and have candles instead of dreads.
Dreads are free, dreads are a journey and an expression of who you are, and no salon can ever come close to that. Stop conditioning and combing/brushing your hair. They will form naturally, and look much better then any salon could ever do. Plus..Sign a contract?! Wtf man, thats crap.
I totally agree, however, I would like them to be even and tidy looking and I think if I just stopped brushing my hair it would worsen my situation. My situation being - my Mother. She hates them and goes on about all the crap you hear about dreads - "they're smelly, dirty, trampy, disgusting". I want to prove to her this is bullshit and they can be clean, tidy and look awesome. But paying £200 for the priviledge = ripoff and signing "tidy-up contracts" = bullshit.
I would be wary of anyone who wants you to sign a contract. That sounds like bull to me. I know you said that you don't feel confident doing them yourself but that would be best IMO. The salon will want to use wax which will screw up your dreads and cause all sorts of icky problems. Just section your hair and start backcombing. If you work on them (ie. palmroll, use salt water spray, etc) then they should look fine. You can even use a felting needle to keep them really neat if you want to. Just to let you know, dreads rarely "look great" starting out. It takes months, and sometimes years, before they look the way you want. Even with a salon tidying them up. Good luck hon!
I know. It's stupid really. But since I live in her house, its kinda like obey by her rules, if you know what I mean. She has the right to chuck me out or whatever, which is something I'm hoping to avoid by dispelling any myths she got stuck into her head. .... plus, when she was my age she had loads of crazy hairstyles including a 1 inch crew cut. Dyed white. Kinda hyprocritical to judge me when she herself had crazy hair!
wow that salon sounds so sketchy. Aftercare contract??? I'm in total shock. Do yourself a favor and take the advise of everyone here. As for nice neat looking locks... that usually takes some time but you could always wear a hat
hun get on the train, come to somerset and i will do em for free! IF you want them/need them tidied up after a while, come back and i'll do that too
That's very kind of you! I've just decided to buy some kit for the job and am going to dread without the aid of some shitty salon. If I could get to Somerset, I sure could use your help! I don't think any of my friends would be willing to help me!
you can buy the kit hun, but a metal flea comb is all you really need if you want to backcomb cheaper too
I live in Nottingham. i don't mind putting them in for you at some point if you get stuck doing it on your own
I've managed to recruit help from my boyfriend, and we're dreading my hair next week. (Thanks for all the offers of help though, so kind I discussed it with my Mom, and although she's not happy, she isn't going to threaten to disown me/throw me out. I'm really excited now. Been waiting for this for the last year and a half. Expect photos of the finished result!
Here I am, looking a little insane but I'm just so happy with my dreads! They are a few hours old, a little poofy, but in time, they will look supa!
