Planning on getting Dreadlocks

Hey everyone,
I've been lurking this forum for a little bit, and for a while i've known that i'd wanted to get dreads so in two or three weeks I am finally doing it. I want to get them back-combed, I think my hair is the same length all around because i've grown it without cutting it for six months from a buzz cut. Are there any salons in maryland that would do back combed dreads or am i better off finding some friends? I am planning on using wax to start it off, one of my friends did it and his hair looks fine, I really doubt my hair would dread unless I was to wait over a year for it to start looking even somewhat dreaded. The only thing my hair does is stick up if I dont flatten it. My hair is probably about 3.5 inches long, here a pic below from last weekend. Who thinks I should wait longer then 3 weeks to get them done? I never really comb my hair so its not going to be a problem to stop doing it, I just usually throw some water and pat it down. Also for the last couple of months i've been using all organic shampoo and conditioner, should I discontinue conditioner use?

http://photos-c.ak.************/photos-ak-sf2p/v308/60/6/115202215/n115202215_30878130_8593.jpg

 

1. don't use wax, you will regret it later. trust me.
2. you don't have to go to a salon, do it yourself or find someone to help you
3. stop using conditioner. conditioner smooths out hair, and you want it to be dry and frizzy.
4. Read up around the board some more.

 

if it lioikes to be wild and stand out all over it'll dread just fine on its own stop trying to force it to behave and let it midsnehave
wear a wool hgat to encourage knots stop conditioners and by sall means get the words salon and wax out of your vocabulary no salon will ever do it right (well 1 in a million might) most salons would fuck it up charge ya hundreds of dollars and in 2 days you'll be combing em out and restarting natiral or backcombing yourself
'youyr hairs short enough that it wont take long to backcomb it yourself but if it acts like u say it does it'll dread just fine if ya leave it alone

try this ok..stop conditioning (do a deep cleanse (look it up back a feew pages baking soda water lemin juice tea tree oil and sea salt) to remove the conditioners rub it fry vigurously with a towel (to get it all knotty) when its totaly dry put on a wool hat for a week wash it then at the end of the weekl with bronners.. feel around and twist it into sections wear the hast another week keeop that up for 3 weeks and see if iits starting to knot alittlke and maybe even hold sections if so just keep at it ripping sections away from eachother so they dont combine now and then
post pics at 3 week intervals it wont be drewads in 3 weeks but will be starting ...if its really not even starting then backcomb (no wax or anything) then go on woith the hat..etc

i bet ya though in 3 weeks to a month 1/22 you'll see it beginning to chanfge and love the proccess too much to bother forcing oiut by backcombing

 

Ok, you guys sold me, no dread wax or cream for me, but im still going to back comb them. I tried it with some of my hair near the top of my head, and it actually stayed in fairly well over night. I had some specific questions about back combing and going to the beach with dreads...

Is there a video or even a picture anywhere of someone doing the hair seperation, i'm confused about exactly how to seperate it into one inch segments.

When you are performing the backcombing should you see any loose hair near the roots or just backcomb the hair to the scalp no matter how painful it might be? And should correct back-combing also leave the tips of the hair knotty or is it ok if the tips are loose?

I'm probably going to get a friends mom and my girlfriend to do it for me today, after that i'm going to the beach for a week, should I take any special precautions about drying it out after swimming, and would it be best to not wash the salt water out of my hair?

Is there any reason why I shouldn't keep rubber bands on them for a week while they begin to form especially with the sea water knocking them around and if I do put rubber bands in them should they be a special kind of rubber band?

Will any department store sell metal combs?

 

id recommend having someone else separate it for you. also, just dry your hair in the sun after getting out of the water. =D

 

Yea someone else is going to do everything for me, but i'm having trouble understanding how it should look and how to keep it seperated before you start the backcombing.

 

Personally I think it would be better to wait until your hair was longer. I started with backcombing when it was a little longer than your, and it stuck up everywhere for months. I wished I would have waited until they were longer in the beginning. But now that the beginning stages are over with and they lay down and look natural, I'm glad I did.

 

Do you mean they just wouldn't lay down? I dont really care too much about that, I like the look of hair that sticks up and out, I used to spike my hair when I was in 9th grade, and liekd that look, woulda kept doing it if not for the hour it takes each morning.

 

Don't know if I'd backcomb now too, you dont have very thick and long hair it'll be hard to backcomb. so you said you used organic soap? stop using conditioner at least until you want to backcomb them and they will start knoting by itself and separating, thats what natural dreads do... dont know why but they find the best way to get separated and grow and congo after

 

I used organic soap and organic conditioner. I'm tempted to back comb now since i'll be around salt water for a solid week, and it seems like that will help them get firmer faster. I don't mind if it'll be difficult since I wont be the one doing it haha. Is there any serious disadvantage that I would be at if i was to back-comb now vs letting them grow out for another three weeks or so, or will it just work better after a few more weeks?

 

how much longer will they be in 3 weeks? a milimeter?
3 weeks wont make alotta differenece but 3 weeks in salt water with no conditioners and no combing might make backcombing unecasary

also ignore those sites that tell ya seperate into 1 inch squars
dreads shouldnt have such exact sharp definitions seperate more randomly just grab a chunk of haitr from an area and go at ot otherwise your left with that checkerboard pattern of exposed scalp that makes backcombed dreads look so fake
natural dreads will seperate wherever they feel like it, and that means they are never perfectly square perfectly 1 inch sections many might be 1/8 inch others 2 inch (id recomend keeping them under an inch to make clkeaning the scalp easirer they may congo on ya anyway and if say 3-4 combine thats a huge area of scalp that u may have trouble gettin your fingers at to scrub.

 

Ok, I've decided to follow your advice, since your dreads are amazing, I just did the deep cleanse, now I need to find a wool hat. I'm going to the beach tomorrow, and I'll hold off on washing it until I get back from the beach and then buy some bonners. Hope all goes well. What kind of wool hat can I wear in the summer without sweating or looking really weird?

 

wool tams or beanies you can get loose knoit ones that wont be too hot
also wool insulates both from cold and heat, ive known ppl who worked in steel mills with the intence heat from molten steel and they'd wear wool to protect em from the heat..

 

I've worn one at 95 degree in the sun and it was freaking humid for a couple hours and no problem haha

 

Well I got my hair back-combed, very very painful process, but they seem to be staying in ok. The beach was nice too got lots of salt water in my hair. For some of the ones that are coming apart should I put beads on the ends? Time to go face my first day of work tomorrow with starter dreads

 

sure beads are good..or if they fall apart they will reform on theyre own over time but beads certainly dont hutrt anything

 

Two quick questions
1) Smart or not smart to wear a wool hat to bed?
2) Smart or not smart to re-back-comb dreads that fall apart?

 

1 ciuld be either although if u wear it to bed be sure to seperate em in the morn or u could get a unidread in just days
2 not smart
backcombing is agressive and dammaging to hair (and painful to scalp, ikt can also pull aloyt pout at the roots
if they fall out thats part of the process they'll reform on theyre own...backcombing IS NOT DREADING its just a pre-dreading step to try to initiate the process
dreading happens all on its own no matter what u do or dont do
dont dotpoo much dammage in the process and youir dreads will turn out beautifuul
be too agressive in trying to speed up thr proceess and the end results could be disapointing and weak

 

1) I do it and I don't have any problems, but separate if it gets together yes

2) No

 

I bought a hat but its 80% wool and has 20% nylon lining, should I get a different one? Whats a good place online to buy a work-appropriate wool hat? I work in an office building.