The dread braiding method

Yep that's what I mean. But I'm a she by the way.

After thinking about it I've decided it would be better to go natural and let my hair do what it wants, seperating into sections as I go along. The guy that served me in a shop today had dreadlocks, I go chatting and he said my hair would be ideal for dreading. So that cemented my decision to go natural.

So all I need to do is buy a few tams (is that the right word for them?), hopefully I can buy them locally, and try and hunt down some Dr Bronner's or similar. I'm hoping to stop brushing my hair in January. Might take some photos along the way to post on here.

 

that's the thing, we think the locks look pretty neat through all stages of life, but in society's eyes, it can just be messy hair. the society we live in says you have to comb your hair to keep it from looking messy and knots. we do the exact opposite, we stop combing and encourage knots. if the majority of people in everyone's community accepted their hair as locks and not as a mess that needed to be tidied, we wouldn't have silly things like salon locks, braid locks, wax locks or backcombed locks. these are all things that attempt to make your hair more like locks and not like messy hair in the beginning. it usually just skips messy hair, but turns out to make messy locks (locks with frizzies and lots of loose hair), and that is why i say all stages will have their untamed times.

even after your get through the messy hair part, your hair doesn't look like text book locks, the ones people are used to seeing.

the messy time is different for everyone, i just thing crappy is the wrong word. maybe messy can be a good thing?

 

very true, and thank you for pointing this out. i get kinda pissy about the whole bronners thing, because i've seen so many dread newbies (myself included) freaking out because bronners is just not working properly, and a lot of people make it seem like bronners is the only thing that you can use on dreads if you want them to turn out ok, whis is SO not the case, lots of things work. i love the bronners bar soap for hands/body, and i bought some liquid to try on my hair, and it just sucks. so i'm using it on body until it runs out. but quite frankly, i just really don't like it when a dread site/forum/whatever is nothing but a thinly veiled advert for dr bronners, and the various methods for doing dreads aren't discussed, and the natural neglect method is pretty much touted as the only way to have "real dreads."

i love this site, but i go through spells of not coming to the dreadlocks forum, because some of the members can get pretty hardcore about their way being the only way to end up with dreads, which i think doesn't serve helpful to anyone.

to the OP... cool, i'm glad you got the kinds of info you were looking for, and have decided on a method to use to start your dreads. the thing is, with dreads, there are many many ways dreads can form. they form on their own if you leave them alone, or they can be helped by a bit of twist and rip, or backcombing, or a mixture of all of the above methods.

the only thing really to watch out for is wax and other conditioners that will unknot your knots, or create a water trapping residue that keeps your dreads from getting clean and healthy.

like i said, it's really easy. you can do nothing, or you can do some maintenence, or whatever it is that feels right for YOU. every dread journey is different, and until you're in the middle of it, you won't necessarily know. but learning as you do is the best way, and really, with dreads, the only way. experience is the best teacher, and it's really hard to irreparably destroy a dread attempt. if things don't go exactly as you imagined or planned, talk to people, get advice, figure out what will work, and go from there.

it does look a little messy for a while, especially with neglect (makes sense, huh?) but in no time your dreads will be all dreadied up and you'll look back on the stages you've been through and feel a sense of accomplishement. at least i do. it's been more than a year since i've touched a hairbrush to my head, and it feels great!!!

 

my apologies, ma'am. hope i didn't offend

 

nakedtreehugger - thanks for your posts, I've found them really helpful.

snoopyknots - no offence taken, I didn't say I was a woman in my original post.