A few questions! Important to my dready journey. :)

Sorry, I think this is a little long... But help is always appreciated!

1) When I'm sectioning my hair, should I measure out spacing for where I'm putting each dread? Hmm.. this is hard to explain. Well, like DH HQ would explain sectioning. I don't believe this is necessary, and if it is not, then how would I section my hair? Maybe you will say, just go for it! But I will unfortunately need a LITTLE more advice than that. Sorry.

2) My hair has not grown in the past THrEE YEArS! (sorry, r key broken. no caps.) as many times as i have trimmed it and razored it and done anything possible to make it grow. I was wondering if dreads help hair grow more, faster, or at all? I'm hoping so, and maybe this is a silly question, but I need an answer anyway. ^^

3) I LOVE my pomp (that rockabilly pomp, if you don't know what I'm talking about). It's not that I AM a rockabilly, but I love the way it looks, especially in my curls, haha. When I dread my hair, will I be able to clip up a pomp, through the knots? Or will it be completely impossible?

4) Another bangs question, hahaa. My mom says it would look ridiculous to keep my bangs out of the dreads, but like I said, I still would LOVE my pomp. So even if I stop wanting my bangs, could I knot my bangs into the nearest dreads, throughout any knotty stages?

THANK YOU so much. This is all really helpful. After all, it's dreading season! (I don't know why, but this time last year was when I dreaded a few and then sadly changed my mind - which was good because I was using wax! ) I'm not sure why I feel spring to be a good time to bring dreads into the world. Haha.

 

well, dizzy miss lizie....

you are in luck! there is no wrong way to do dreads! and especially with curly hair, you'll lock right up without too much trouble... all you have to do is stop using conditioner, use a non-residue leaving shampoo (pretty much any organics clarifying shampoo is perfect, or suave clarifying works, lots of people use dr bronners, you'll find what works for you), and never brush your hair! dreads will form.

but if you want to backcomb and section off (i did, and i am not unhappy that i did, as i have mostly straight hair and the knotting process would have taken MUCH longer, and looked MUCH worse in the process... not that i care what i look like, but at this point i need a job for income lol), you can do that too.

i didn't measure out sections or anything, i just grabbed chunks of hair and tried to keep them somewhat round/squarish shapes at the skull part. then i spritzed my hair down with nasty dreadhead hq stuff (sea saltwater with a little lemon in it works way better) to make it knottier, and combed each strand backwards until it was a knotty birds nest at the top of my head. then i waited. and waited. and that's pretty much how it goes.

wash every 3 days to a week, or whenever your head starts to really really itch and get gross.

and yes, you can certainly leave your bangs out, lots of people do. later on if you want to dread them you can take strands of hair and loop them into the nearest dreads to get them to join up or you can just let them formulate into their own dreadlings. shouldn't be too hard.

and you should be able to get your bangs to "pomp up" even with the dreads. if you're clipping the bangs back with bobby pins or something, just pin around an entire dread so you don't lose the bobby pin or barette completely in the knotty mess lol! if you did little bitty dreadies, you could probably put them into a pomp too... just an idea.

but be prepared for a lot of hair shrinkage, because the dreadlings will cause the hair to shorten up as it tightens. i started with just past shoulder length hair and it shortened up to my chin, and now 8 months later i'm finally almost back down to shoulder length. so just a disclaimer. but dreads helped my hair grow faster. my scalp likes me putting less crap in my hair i guess. prenatal vitamins really help the hair grow well too. at least they do for me.

good luck... rock those dreads! spring really is a good time to dread up i think!

 

luckily, suave is the only shampoo my mother buys. ^^ and it's tonight that i stop using conditioner! hah. although, i have been so excited about the backcombing part of dreadlocks for quite a long time, so i'll have to do that. of course, i think i'm only going to do one at a time, so the sectioning seems easy enough!

i thought about the dread pomp, but i also want to make the bangs a rainbow... if you can imagine a rainbow stripped poof of hair over someone's dreads! haha. it seems amazing to me... then again, that's why i'm doing it, right?!

haha, my aunt said to put ladie's rogain on it. >.<;; but hey, if they will at least grow in the long run, then i'm quite alright with that. they can shrink if they please.

oh, man, just thought of two more questions....

-- i go to the beach quite often in the summer. is the salt water going to make my hair moldy? or hurt it in any way?

-- if the dreads DO get too long at some point, is it possible to "trim" them? in any way? possibly comb out the ends, trim, and then knot the ends back up?

haha, sorry for more questions, i'm just very curious. >.<

EDIT:: i almost forgot to say that your dreads look VErY awesome!!! love the decorations.

 

You're actually doing good!

 

ya said u trimmed and razored to get your hair to grow
when u dread u dont trim n razor n your hair will just grow..

 

i have bangs, i didnt intend on it though, they just sort of happened im hoping someday they will dread up, but its been a good three years and they havent done a thing.

i agree that spring is the perfect time for birth

Good luck lady.

 

I still have my bangs, i need to trim them soon though, they are getting long again!

 

Well, as it goes, my mom started them, and got ONE done. But then my grandma yelled at me and made me wait until my hair is blonde again.. which she is taking me to fix tomorrow. But here's pictures of the one that I have now!





Just thought I would share.... ^^

 

it looks good
cant wait to see the rest

 

Thank you. ^^ Neither can I.

 

that one looks rockin! and i think rainbow bangs would be quite magical.

saltwater will be AWESOME for your dreads!!!!! it helps them lock up a LOT. just make sure you rinse every once in a while so your dreadlings don't turn white from the salt... and don't bunch 'em up all together while they're still wet, or you might have a mold problem. but as long as you don't use wax and let them dry properly everytime you get them wet, i wouldn't worry too much about a mold thing!

and i've heard that you can trim the dreadlings... mine aren't long enough to find out, but i've heard it's best to just cut at an angle to help hold the knots there, and don't worry about combing them out first. does that make sense? i know it's sad to cut off pieces of your dreads, but i'm sure i will eventually trim mine up, as i can't stand the thought of stepping on my dreads, and i imagine it will eventually get so heavy i can barely hold my head up. but only time will tell for that!

 

Awesome! ^^ Well, when I dye whatever I dye I'll show.

When I first washed my hair, I used a blow dryer for the dread, because I hear a lot of people use them.. Would that be a good way to keep mold away?

I know what you mean though! As much as I doubt that they'll grow this long for a very long time, my knees is the farthest I'll let them grow.

 

^^ yeah man, a blow dryer will work wonders if you need to get them dried pretty quick, or if they take a long time. if i sit in the sun for a while or am in the wind, it doesn't take too long, but if i'm just sitting in the house after i wash, they take something like 5+ hours to fully dry. so i often start them out with a blow dryer to get some of the moisture out. but really, unless you're sticking sopping wet dreads under a tam all day and night, you probably won't end up with mold. it is a concern, but it sounds so gross i definitely freaked out about it for a while, but it really isn't THAT common, especially if you use NO WAX!!!!! wax is soooo bad... but i'll get off that soapbox.

 

i never wear a hat over wet hair, anyway, so that won't be a problem. i'm not that worried about mold, mostly because i found that deep-cleaning concoction that soaringeagle was talking about at some point (thanks!). so i figure as long as i do that about once a month, then i'll be good with cleanliness (on top of the weekely shampooing and such.).

i know! i'm so glad i didn't do them last year, in which case my hair would be moldy and waxy and very icky. but luckily i took them out. and thanks to lurking in this forum for a few months, i started to figure things out. ^^