Starting dreads Short vs Starting them long

I used to have real long hair(about 2ft) and I ended up cutting it before I got dreads, always regretted it, and right now Im on a journey to grow dreads, but idk if I should start them now(at 5 inches of hair) of wait till I have past shoulder length hair. whats your opinion? Pros and cons?
--Later On

 

Depends on what method you'd use to get the dreadlocks. Your going to lose length, how much length depends on the person and the method but up to 2/3 of the length if you had long hair to maybe 1/2 length...but its different with every person and every method.

Dreadlocks grow slowly, much slower than straight hair, so that combined with shrinking means your going to have short dreadlocks for a long time.

But obviously the sooner you start, the sooner your dreadlocks will have matured, and even if you wait for your hair to grown longer before starting they'll still shrink.

 

dreads take longer to form in short hair because their is not a lot of hair to create a lot of friction. If you really want to start them now...Id say go neglect....because chances are the other methods will just slip out anyway. Once your hair is longer you can backcomb or T and R if dreadies havnt formed yet.

 

It'd probably be quite nice to start them short, as once your hair is long they will have matured a lot and you will not go through the awkward birds nest and frizz stages like you would if you started it with long hair

 

I'd think that it would be way easier to take more control of your dreads, if that's what you want, if you start them short.
I just started mine and my hair is about two feet. It's hard to keep track of them

 

Your not going to make hair any faster so if you get dreads short they will take ages to grow, if you dread long hair it'll shrink back like crazy (mine shrunk to about 1/3 it's starting length) so either way your going to have to put up with having less hair than you'd like for a while, it's just a case of which way is more tolerable for you.

 

What do you want out of your "journey"? A destination or an experience? Some people say they're after a journey, but then don't really dig what they find along the way... If you're open to the whole experience, I say just stop combing and using the residuepoo and see what happens. Otherwise, I don't really have any advice for you.

My understanding is that they grow slowly because as the hair grows out of your head it is "straight," but then as it knots it shrinks. Just like when the body of the lock matures and tightens it will shrink. Is this what you're talking about?

:iagree:

 

the straight hair gets squashed up into the dreads causing the shrinkage, then the new hair gives the impression its growing slower than it normally would because instead of growing straight outward it grows into the mass of matted hair.

 

So that would be a "yes"?

 

if you are going neglect, short hair will produce thin dreads. longer hair will tangle up more, creating bigger locks (and possibly a big fat nest if you don't rip).

i started my last set from about 5-6 inches and my locks turned out tiny. i'm letting it grow out this time, hopefully i'll have just 3 or 4 fatties

 

I'm definitely gonna backcomb, with my job I can't do neglect cuz I have to look somewhat reasonable, also my hair would take ages to knot up naturally, it's tooo straight. So I guess the real question I was asking was, is it easier to maintain the short dreads and shape them in to long dreads, or to deal with the hassle of maintaining already long dreads?

 

long locks are probably better for maintenance

 

im playing paintball really seriously, i want dreads real bad but im not sure how good that would be to have them in tournaments.
i cant put it up like a palm tree because they will be stickin up above the bunker and people will shoot them, and the balls could break, not sure if they would or not....havent shot a dread before.
playing Orlando on sunday, shits ganna be tight as fuck.

 

This is my 3rd bunch of locks ... I always start from short hair, like as in sheered short.

To add, starting with short hair produces more locks than longer hair does.

One Love!

 

Just play call of duty, it's cheaper.

 

I can only share my own experience, of course.

I started my dreads 16 months ago when my hair was quite short (above shoulder length). For me, my hair has grown extremely fast (just as it did pre-dreads). Even with the shrinking, it's below my shoulders now and I'm pleased with how I've been able to maintain it. Besides, new hair grows in all the time and that's short, so I guess no one's hair is only long all over, anyway (if that made sense).

I vote that you go for it. Without further hesitation :hat:

 

My hair was a bit beneath shoulder length when I backcombed. I had the shortest stumpiest lil dreads you would have ever seen. Now my dreads at 16 months are close to touching my shoulders, and theyve thickened up heaps. Also crankin fat congos all over the place too.

 

here's your answer: take a really short piece of string (1 "). try to tie it in a knot. take a long piece of string try to tie it in a knot(6"). which was easier to tie?

 

But tournament paintball is infinitely more exciting I've played ghetto field speedball for like 4 years now: it's a good ass time, let alone on an actual tournament field. It pumps me up that seth plays.

As for the OP, I would start now using neglect method, but whatever floats your boat:cheers2:

 

i started neglect dreads at, umm, about 3-5 inches. i end up with quite a few very thin dreads. it was very easy. and there wasn't much shrinkage because they matured really quickly.

after maybe 6 months i had tight dreads and i was already getting length.

if you start short, youll have thinner dreads, but theyll stop shrinking sooner and theyll start to grow in nicely after a short amount of time. for fat dreads you can combine them later.