Help with new dreads...

Hey, it's been about a month. From a distance i think they look pretty sick, but up close, i don't really know what to do with them. I've been clockwise rubbing and palm rolling, but there are mad frizzies sticking out EVERYwhere... like way too many loose hairs to dreadball, coming from both my head and the dreads themselves. Waxing the dreads doesn't really help either. If anyone can offer ideas i would greatly appreciate it...

 

STOP USING WAX, also, take out all the rubber bands, They will fix in time. Just wash with residue free soap and wear a wool tam if you can get one. Other than that, just wait. Your only a month through. In about a year they will be looking REALLY nice. They are actually looking really good for only a month, but stop using wax and take out rubber bands and you'll be good!

 

oh god.
okay, stop using the wax!
and second, take those rubber bands out, pronto!
to get the wax out you could look back to soaringeagle's icky sticky wax thread, maybe somebody could post the link?
they'll look better and lock faster if you do!

 

thank you for the comments so far..
ok so why does everyone say no rubberbands and no wax?

according to dreadheadhq.com, which is a pretty legit site,

"Week A: Use wax and concentrate on palm rolling. This period will give your knots time to settle into dreads. Use the accelerator sparingly if at all. Don't worry about twisting, rubbing and creating new knots. If you have loose hair that needs to be dread balled do so right after you shower and dry the hair.. Wax after you finish.

Week B: Use accelerator and lock pepper to create lots of knots. Don't add any wax. This is the best time to use clockwise rubbing, finger rubbing and dread balling. Your dreads may look a lil' frizzy during this week but that's normal. As they mature their appearance will grow steadily better.

Switching back and forth like this helps the dreads mature much faster. "

they say wax helps it go faster....

and as for the rubberbands,

"Rubberbands are supa helpful for getting your roots and tips to lock up. DreadHead studies have shown that keeping a snug rubberband at the root of your dread for the first two months, teaches your hair how to grow into the dread and allows your hair to grow right into dreadlock and lock up. Sounds like a good deal to me."

so whats the real deal?

 

dreadhead hq is shit. Plain and simple. They sell all these things so they can make money. Your dreads will suffer bad if you keep using there stuff. Shampoo might be ok, but that all i'd keep. Sell it on ebay. Your dreads will thank you. Search dreadhead hq on this forum and you will see why everyone doesnt recommend them. The final dreads look terrible. Just let time and nature do its thing. Good luck on your journey, and feel free to ask more questions

 

ok word, understood. is there a reason though? it makes sense that wax would help the frizz and rubberbands would help teach the hair to lock. can you explain why this is not the case? also, what can i actually do to help the problem with a zillion loose hairs that i described above?

 

The rubberbands could easily get stuck in your new dreads if you keep them in too long. It prevents movement, which is the key to knotting, which is the ultimate definition of a dreadlock, right? Without knots you can't have dreads (unless you use their money-making wax product, which basically glues your dreads together rather than letting them knot up). After keeping bands in my hair for a few days (just to make sure I had the bits separated), it was nearly impossible to get them out without disturbing the dread process. No more rubber bands for my hair!

And the wax can have very bad long term effects for your dreads. I'm guessing a *little* bit of wax at the beginning stages can't really hurt you, but if you continue to use it your dreads will most likely suffer. I've even read stories on here that people who use too much wax wind up with smelly, moldy dreads after a long time. The wax never fully washes out if you continue to use it, and that leaves residue in your hair. I also know someone who said her hair was a huge lint trap because she dreaded with wax; things would just stick to her hair.

The key to your problem is time and patience, although I personally see nothing wrong or strange about a little bit of frizz. If you give your dreads time to knot up naturally, and you have to patience to wait for them to mature, they will turn out amazingly. I think those look pretty good for only a month, but dreads shouldn't happen overnight.

Good luck, and just have patience. I don't think I've heard a story of a poster on this board who dreaded naturally and was upset with the result/their dreads didn't turn out the way they wanted. Your hair WILL dread on it's own, with little assistance from you. Promise!

 

Roquette put it very nicely. Also, wax will build up in your hair and after they mature it will be nearly impossible to get the wax out of the dread. People have told stories of them cutting dreads after years of having them and even after doing all the wax removal cleanses and such and when they cut them, there was alot of wax builded up in the middle of the dreads.

 

yup. exactly.

 

so pretty much everyone is saying just let them be. is there nothing i can or should be doing to help them lock up properly or to maintain them so they will eventually look clean and well maintained?

 

wool helps, so get a wool tam if you can. etsy.com is good to get those (homemade tams) also, salt water helps them lock... but besides that, dr. bronners and time.

 

when istarted i had preconcieved notions on what they should look like and in what amount of time. my expectations where too high, like most people when they begin. i ended up frustrated very quikly. it's better to have no expectations at all. so i decided to let my hair decide what it would do (i let it go on it's own and let go of my expectations) and now i am in my 7th week and i love my dreads. i don't use wax or anything, i don't do anything but keep them seperated. i have alot of frizz but i notice its going away slowly. i have bumps and loops and at first i hated them but now i like to feel them when i rub my hand down my dreads. my roots aren't locking up fast but they are locking so i don't mind that it's going slow, when i wake up and check them i get excited when i feel some knottiness in them. my ends are thin and not knotted what so ever, at first this disturbed me but now i like it. i have loose hairs everywhere but i don't mind cause i know over time they will knot up into a neighboring dread.

 

haha... did you read anything on the site before posting?

 

dreadheadhq is not a legit site they arte a scam to sell you crap and methods ya dont need..

my dreads have never had any rubber bands in them (except i used big ones to tuie em back a few times then regretted it) or wax

ever



all that rubbing dreadballing clockwise whatever crap is all bs too its not necasary
yopur hair will dread if you leave it alone
if your treally vane or impatient you can backcomb...once and only once but noything else
the rest time will take care of
as long as u dont gunk em up with wax...
wax is the destroyer of dreads
80% get cut off the rest combed out or manage to do extremeluy agre4sssive cleanning to get the crap out..its evil
dreadheadhq isnt interersted in making dreads they want to make proffits and thats all

look through theyre pics and youy'll see only new 1st week dreads with rubberbands..i doubt anyt of those dreads lasted 3 years

 

i got duped into dreadhead hq at first too. and i really thought i wanted non-frizzy, perfectly straight round dreads. so when i found out wax was bad (right after i put it in and it was GROSS) i washed it out, and started over. but i worked and worked and worked on my dreads, using sea salt water and palmrolling the shit out of them and clockwise rubbing all the time and stuff.

but the thing is, 8 months in, they looked very "perfect." and they were BORING. so i ripped em up a bit, made 'em smaller, and let them be. and now they're wild and crazy and sometimes frizzy, and tomorrow they'll be a year old!!!

dreads are a labor of time, love, and patience. especially PATIENCE. and TIME. just don't expect them to look like soaring eagle's dreads after a couple weeks. don't worry about getting them to lock up faster. love the stage their in right now. they're like kids, they grow up too fast. sometimes i miss the fuzzy half-dreaded phases... but they're gone now.

so take out the rubberbands, wash wash wash with tons of HOT water to get that icky wax out, and let them do their thing. they will thank you, by looking ROCKIN' AWESOME and like they fit YOU.

 

srry 4 the 2nd post but ok again i'll say it use none of the crap or methods on drewadheadhq
dreads are natural they form naturaly and anything u put in em shouldbe natural
frizz dreads frizz because theyree clean if frizz is too extreme use 100% pure aloe gel diluted sparingly works like wax but rinces right out
lock peppa only makes flaky dreads accelerator well what the jhell is it? if its sea salt water kinda expensive for salt water u can make yourself right? just use sea salt and water make youer own accelerator
palm rolling rootrubbing dread balling ..wrf? dreads are almost no maintanainsce how can u justify choosijng a no maintanaince hairstyle then spend 10 times the ammount of timer maintaining them?
all u need 6o do is keep emj seperated so they dont congo outta control
thats it
over rubbing weakens dreads
dreadballijng prevents new dreads from forming, all that loose hair between dreads u dreadball and tuck into roots would over time become new baby dreads
alsio forcibng hairs intoi dreads they dont wannba vbe in will cause combining of dreads more often
rubber bands
well within a week they can get swallower..when inside dreads they dry rot, or melt
becomminmg a sticky rotting mess thsat cause all sorts of probs
but dreadheadhq is all about sticky ick=y drewzds that dontr last hell if your dreads get cut in a year you maybe dumb enough to use theyrwe crap again second time around so repeat businbess..they sell new drewads made ez..not made right not dreads that become old dreads they sell yopu lies and crap u dont want
b4 the dreads become old dreads they become grosdss and get cut..repeat the process and they get rich off false info..they are only legit because they come up high in search engines,..,lol
they have fooled a hell of alotta ppl tho...too many
and they are responcible for the myth of dirty smelly gross dreads
wax traps crap dirt moisture grime the polution from the city dusty u namer it it gets trapped in wax.my dreads are extremely clkean even afeter having them cakeds in mud to 3 times theyre thickness cause mud comes right oiut with nithing to trap it..
waxy dreads will trap anything they come in contact with..now imagine your dreads do survive and get as long as mine
then they literaly will trap crap whenever ya sit on em and in time they will literaly smell like shit and ya wont be able to get em clkean...ever

do the wax removal get rid of the bands
throw out all that dreadheadhq crap
make a trip to the ocean
or make a bottyle of sea salt water
use bronners
sit back and relax dreading isnt a full time job its a lifelong journey but its not something you need to work at its something u needto let happen

ok i'm doine

 

http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=315924

read that

 

Just like the others said:
1)don't listen to KnottyBoy or DreadheadHQ, they are businesses and want your money.
2) read up more around the forum
3) take the rubber bands out
4) stop using wax!

And remember, TIME is your best friend!

 

you guys have convinced me, and thank you soaringeagle for your thoughts. luckily since i was frustrated i never waxed my whole head, i had just worked on one dread to see if it helped, so i only have to deal with getting wax out of that one spot. as for the bands, i was afraid they would fall apart without them but i started taking them out like you said, and they seem to be looking good so far. i'm washing them tomorrow so hopefully they don't fall apart.... also thankyou treehugger for that metaphor..
"love the stage their in right now. they're like kids, they grow up too fast." that is a really cool way to think about it.

thank you all

 

when ya wash em thats when they dread the most
they will loosen lil b4 they tighten but thats ok its psart of the process