Just started last night

Hello everybody, 'been a lurker around these forums, reading all the good tips and using them to the best I could, especially all the moral support! WELL, I'm so happy because I started my dreads last night, but I wanted to ask "Did I do it right"

I like the look of the tamed-ish style of thicker dreads, so what I did at first was section off my hair in 1-inch squares at the back (Well, more like a brick pattern) and went more random as I went up, so I don't have a split in the middle, and then I started backcoming. Well the backcombing wasn't working so well for some reason, it didn't seem like it was doing much and it poofed out, like it was gonna come undone. I have rubber bands on each lock of hair at the roots, and one at each tip of it

So then a black friend of mine with dreads told me mine will fall out, and try the 'double twist' technique. It's looking better, and since I woke up the roots of my locks are getting more fuzzy and locked up more which is good, but I'm mainly worried if my dreads will be curley, like I got a white person perm (Curly for straight hair), or they won't be like I imagined in some months ahead. Also, when should I wash my hair, and take the rubber bands out? I heard they 'Come out on their own', aswell as 'They melt inside your dreads'

Ty!

 

They will poof out. That's normal. Don't know what you mean by 'double twist' but if you leave the bands in longer than three weeks your hair will start eating it and it'll turn to goo.

:smilielol5: These were started last night right?

 

Haha, well not 'tighten and lock up', but it's getting more dense than it was, so it's good.

What I mean is this - I sectioned, backcombed, then I took the lock - split it in two, and twisted the two together, like a cord. So the hair should lock together quicker, than being a fuzz ball, and connecting with other hairs. Don't want no congos :3

PS: Don't laugh if I sound like a goofball, sorry lol. Try and help me with some wrong terms

 

Got any pictures? Sounds like twist n rip.

 

No sorry, I don't
It's not really ripping anything, just making two ropes out of one lock of hair, and twisting them together, and putting rubber bands on the root-end and the tips. It's working better than straight backcombing for me I guess

Also, my tips will not go together, I know, but I've been trying to rub them into my palm, the ones I can grab, but will I have to cut them off? I was thinking of leaving the rubber bands in for about 2-3weeks like you said (Before the 'hair eating my rubber bands time), but I don't know.

And sorry about the 'locking up' comment, I guess I was in denial, and forgot about the time and dedication it takes to earn the dreads. It's just poofy and chillin' up top. I'm about to go out and buy a wool hat (I don't know the name, but like a 'dread hat')

 

No if you just leave them alone eventually they'll lock up on their own accord. Well I had rubber bands in when I first started I took em out after 3 weeks. Most will say that they are completely unneccessary though. The dread hats called a tam . Oh and your dreads might all fall out after a month but that's expected.

 

Sounds to me that the only reason these twists of hair are staying together is because of the bands you have at the bottom. I could be wrong tho, I've just never heard of a white person using the twist method before.. just Twist N Rip.

As for wanting fat dreads.. that's something you'll get over time. Sunflower gave me hope with that when I saw how skinny hers were when she started and how much they've thickened up in the last year +

 

1 inch squares probably won't be very 'thick' once they tighten.

 

Yeah I know, but I didn't want pencil ones, or giant ones, and I heard that 1inch is pretty good. Well, I went to a really cool rasta shop in my city today, I was talking to the lady behind the counter about various things, one of which was the twists, and she told me it's mainly for black people, not whites. Lo and behold, a black person told me to twist, lol. But yeah I got a tam hat, but I don't look good in it

So I'm gonna take the twists out, and back comb some more, and palm roll it. After that, no more combing, I'm just gonna let nature do it's thing (Not neglect though). I feel that I'll be happier that way, because now I look like a white kid with fuzzy braids..

Also I cannot buy Residue-Free shampoo anywhere that I've looked, all she had at the shop was Shea Butter with some kind of conditioner in it (Again, not for whites as I was told). I heard dish washing liquid worked, but I'm scared. Also, I have some non scented, cheaper VO5 Shampoo, can I use that aswell?

 

Dish washing liquid is a huge no no from experience. Try Bronners or a clarifying shampoo. If you can't get hold of any in your area try online.

 

www.dreadworx.co.uk

Or look on amazon ^^

for teh bonners

 

Yeah I was gonna look on Amazon & such for the shampoo, but thanks for the other site, it's cool!

So, are there any dos and don'ts at this stage I should know about? Can I backcomb (I'm gonna do it alot this time), and leave rubber bands OFF the ends and roots? I want nice maintained looking dreads (Those 'waxed' looking ones on DreadheadHQ and such), I have two rubber bands on each lock, one at the root and one at the end.

I was told I should wait a week or so to remove both, maybe two. Can you guys help? And when I get a camera, I'll post pics!

 

learn to use the search function, everything your asking has been asked 10213213 times before

 

You won't get DHHQ style maintained dreads unles you spend an hour every single day putting loose hairs in palm rolling waxing etc. Which is totally a waste of time imo. When I started my dreads, I wanted the slick maintained looking ones. But in my journey I realised the curvey frizzy messy dreads are prettier than those dhhq ones. Its like the more naturalish ones are hand crafted arts of work, and the maintained 'perfect' dreads are like cold manufactured products. Yay for arts and crafts essay xD

 

Without pics it's hard to give advice

 

the double strand twist method that your friend told you about will not work on caucasian hair. twist & rip, however, is a similar method. but, sorry to break it to you, your hair is gonna look like crap for about 6 months, no matter the method. and if you want the ones from DHHQ, i would go to there website, and stay out of here. we don't take kindly to that kind round these parts.

 

by twisting the strands and letting them twist together like rope, you're making it so the hair can't do a lot of moving... kinda like if you braided it. My opinion is that your friend has no experience with caucasian hair and probably just told you some half-assed thing that they heard from someone else. I would have just left them alone after you backcombed and not split them in half. (if you really backcombed, you would have had to rip them to split them.) And I'd personally lose the rubberbands if I were you.

 

Thank you, but just because I like a certain style of dreads, doesn't mean I should be banished from here. You don't need to be so hostile.


@Tenshi - Oh okay, I didn't know that (About the hair not moving), and I agree about the friend part, lol. Well I took the rubber bands off the tips so my hair can move around more (And so I get less snags when I put my tam on, god that hurts so bad). So, like the roots of my locks are getting fuzzy and starting to tangle slightly, so do you think I should take out the twists, and start backcoming again, all the way? It's already kinda knotted, and I don't want my hair to be shorter. Btw your locks look really really good, I like yours better than the DHHQ ones tbh, is this the method (That you told me) what you did?

 

Then why don't you use wax? That is the look you want. Seems silly to be trying all these different types of ways of getting dreadlocks when you know what you want.

 

True, though I don't like how some of them look in the longrun, and kind of letting nature run its course is starting to grow into me, you know? Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

Mine, I'm really starting to like them because they're mine, not that guy on DHHQ's, you know? They don't look exactly like the ones I wanted at first, and thats good. I don't wanna try to do something that I can't so it's all cool
Also, when I was getting them started, it didn't seem like there was enough (I wanted a full head of hair of dreads, but oh well) and I felt all sad, but as the days went on (Two days) they're starting to really look good on me, even though they're still babies. Took the rubber bands off the tips yesterday, and palmrolled a little a few minutes ago. Gonna take the bands off the roots this friday, and get some beads on the parts that need it