okay. i've had my dreads for a couple months now. i sectioned beautifully and backcombed and hand-rolled. Now I've got 3 or 4 sections on the back that are all matted together near my scalp, and no matter how hard i try, i CANNOT rip them apart! I DO NOT want these things growing into congos!!! I want my dreads to stay on the thinner side. help! what do i do? the only thing i can think of is getting someone i trust to take their time in examining the bunches, and taking some scissors and making a few snips to separate the dreads, then taking some thread and wrapping it around the dread? i don't know. i'm new to this, and after 2 hours of searching n this board, i haven't found any useful answers to my plight. help!!!!!
Yes you can cut them apart with scissors if you can't rip them with your fingers. I'm surprised they're congoing that badly after two months. I've separated congos on numerous occasions before with scissors. You do have to be careful though that you do it properly otherwise you can end up with a very thin root. It's best if you get someone you trust to do it for you, particularly if it's at the back of your head. What do you want to use the thread for afterwards?
Only if u really cant rip em apart, cut JUST A LITTLE with a scissor, then try to rip again. If it still doesent work cut a bit more and try to rip again. Scissor is the last resort.
Yea I tried cutting one of my siamease dreads in half, just ended up cutting the dread away in the wrong place, so one half is hanging on by a few hairs, and up top its a little thicker up top so I defo did wrong!! I'm trying to sorta bind it to another dread with beads, so I'm giving the little guy a chance xD Instead of cutting the whole thing in half at once (like I did), if you can, get some small sewing scissors and get a friend to cut away a few hairs at a time then try pulling them apart. And also, if you squish the dread in our fingers and sorta roll it around, try and feel where the two dreads are connected, if you can feel a sorta thin gap then cut down there Avoid going straight in without knowing where one dread ends and one begins!! This'll give the dreads that are matted together a little more chance to live on their own instead of being taped to other dreads for life support!! Hope this helped ^^
Sometimes ripping after a shower works better, I know I had to do that to two of mine when they had completely joined together when I wasn't looking. If you haven't tried that I would do it before the scissor thing.
if you use scissors, the potential risk of cutting your dreads off stand. try nail clippers, they'll force you to cut smaller.
when you say matted together near your scalp, how close to your scalp do you mean, there's a bit a a web of hair connecting adjacent dreads within say 1/8th inch of my scalp that I don't bother with, it's only when they are rippable do I rip them, I wouldn't worry about really tight to your scalp hairs. I found if you do need to cut them then I would pull them apart so the offending hair was taught , then gently run a craft knife through it, it will only tend to cut the taught hairs and leave the rest alone.
I've tried, and lemme tellya, no pulling is working. I've gotten a firm grip on both dreads near the back, and pulled as hard as I possibly could, like, HARD, and yeah, they're locked in like a mother. I'm going to have to find someone i trust to do some cutting. EEK! I'll keep you guys posted! If possible, i'll also take some before and after pics.
cut just a bit. i have a friend who made the mistake of cutting sections instead of ripping to separating them and now his locks taper towards his scalp into these tiny roots. im sure you could rip them with the right grip around the index and thumb and palm. people can rip apples, decks of cards and phonebooks with the right grip.
screw siccors thats not good advice if u cant pull themj in opposite direcyions and rip u can work your fingers under a few connecting hairs at a time and poull out away from the scalp till they break..repeatting till u brealk all all the way to the scalp this way is safe..and only breaks the hairs between dreads not ther hairs at the roots
I'd say entrust a friend to do a little snipping If you can't rip them with your fingers, id get the scissors out. One warning about the scissors though, just snip one or two of the problem hairs, rip, then if needed snip again... Do NOT snip the whole matted area!! I did this and I now have two very thin dreads!! So remember, snip a little rip alot snip a little rip alot
Ripping them is gonna hurt less than fucking backcombing does anyway, so just do what eagle says and go from under and rip them that way.
