New dreads/tips/recommendations, are these achievable?

Hello before I ask questions I'd like to thank everyone for the amazing posts that I have been reading for quite sometime,(since I have been interested in getting dreads). I love this community and I have read many posts on how to make dreads but I have a few questions.

I would like to make my dreads myself and maybe have a friend for the back if I can't get it. I would like to have a few opinions on my hair and if anyone knows if the hairstyle that I want is achievable or if maybe another one looks better for me. My hair is roughly 8+inches in the front and about 12inches in the back. If I need to I can go to a salon, I have no problem with paying a few hundred dollars for my hair to look the way I want, I just really don't want to sit 5+hrs with a stranger talking about my or theirs life story, lol. I have been to a few barbershops and salons that said this hairstyle in unachievable but I like to keep my head up, they were all African American salons that maybe only specialize with one hair type(I didn't ask). Please kindly let me know what you think I can do with my hair, I am trying to go for a clean look and small dreads(maybe about 100) and I will probably not let them ever grow longer than my shoulders. The bottom picture is exactly what I would love my hair to look like, I think it looks tough, clean, smart, playful, happy, and everything else positive in one hairstyle.

I would love your opinions on other dreadlocking mothods as I have fairly thin hair maybe a different look is more for me, please be detailed if you have any information/opinions, thanks.




http://postimage.org/image/ffix73amx/
http://postimage.org/image/dc8hzfau1/
http://postimage.org/image/hitceraft/

 

First of all: I don't see any images so I can't tell exactly what you're going for.

My opinion: Making thin dreads out of thin hair probably won't work out how you are hoping...

Edit: I see the images now and I think you're not going to easily get what you're looking for. Basically the verdict is the same as your last thread :biggrinjester:

 

I don't see any pictures, but first off I'd say that going into the dreadlocks process with an exact outcome already in mind probably isn't a great idea. Dreadlocks are very messy, loose and frizzy at the start, definitely not what most would call smart or clean (even if they are incredibly clean). All dreadlocks go through this messy phase and there is very little that can be done about it other than wearing a hat and being patient. I would also say you'll need to have very thick hair to sustain 100 dreadlocks, Caucasian hair different to afro hair and difficult to get very thin dreadlocks into Caucasian hair.

Without seeing the pictures, that's all I can say. I just hope you're prepared for them to be messy / loopy and wild for the first 12(ish) months and that in order to keep such thin dreads as thin dreads, you'll have to do a lot of ripping to stop them sticking together. You'll probably have to rip them after every wash.

 

Are you aware that you asked this same question about a year ago?

http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?p=7108317#post7108317

 

I know I have asked the question before but I would like a new perspective and I also posted pictures. I would like your opinions on a method that could achieve these dreads as I do not like the look of any other dreads(that I have seen so far). I apologize if this is making some of you angry but it is not my intention, I would love a new hairstyle and I found a picture of exactly what I want, I hope that I can get it. If you have any recommendations please post a pic of what I could get instead of these dreadlocks. Thank you for understanding me and thank you for your help

 

Your hair looks a bit fine. It is easier to get dreads on thicker and curlier hair. By the time it dreads it will become much shorter. What kind of dreads do you want? One Rastafarian that I lived with told me he made his dreads into the thinner snake like dreads by working his fingers through his hair and twisting the pieces into thin dreaded strands. His hair was a lot like your third image. Another Rasta in the same house had a huge fat dread in the back of his head. There was one point where they got lice. The guy with the thinner dreads had no problem getting rid of the lice. The guy with the thicker dreads ended up having to shave his head after months of struggling to get rid of the bugs.

 

You asked before and since you're still white and still have Caucasian straight hair, it's still not possible. Caucasian hair does not dread like that, most afro hair won't dread like that. It is not possible to get dreads that thin and curly out of straight Caucasian hair.

First off your head could not sustain that many dreadlocks, your hair is of a different texture to the one you want and isn't thick enough to get so many thin dreadlocks. Most Caucasian dreadlocks are atleast 5 times thicker than the ones you want and this isn't particularly because those people want dreads of that thickness, it's because that is the thickness that Caucasian dreads will sustain. I'm not sure how best to explain it, usually dreadlocks will be sectioned into 1 inch by 1 inch square sections. The dreadlocks that actually grow out of those sections are thinner than that because the hair in that one inch square is squeezed into the tube of hair that is the dreadlock. If you go much smaller than that then it's not all that possible to work with the hair. For instance if you halve the size of the sections to get really thin dreadlocks, there won't be enough hair there to actually backcomb into a dread, it'll just ball up.

If you do finally get some relatively thin dreadlocks backcombed, by a professional (-backcombed because if you T&R they won't last past the first wash if they're that thin, they'll all mat together and by a professional because it's going to take some serious work) then you'll have to work on them pretty much every day just to stop them sticking themselves together because they're so thin.

Then, after all that, the hair will still be blonde and straight. So you'll have to use a curling iron every day. Oh and they'll be much much messier than you want because that's what happens when you try and make impossibly thin dreads in white hair.

Hopefully now you will understand that it is not possible to get that hair on your head. Or maybe you'll just ask again in a year.

 

I agree with Bubbletonic to a certain extent. I have seen Caucasian males with thick dreads but not with the fine ones that my one roommate had. Have you considered getting a few hair wraps instead? Your hair really does look to thin for dreads. I once had a hair wrap that I beaded it lasted in my hair for 2 years before it fell out. It was a thinner wrap then the ones I usually see online.

 

I've got Caucasian hair and have 80 dreads, because I didn't neatly section they vary in size and some of them are extremely thin, thinner than that photo, and locking up fine. My hair has a similar texture to yours but is a bit thicker, the individual hairs are quite fine though so probably the process wouldn't be too different. I used twist and rip, and rebackcombed the ends a couple of times.

However your hair will not, most likely, lead to squiggly looking dreads like the man in that photo - you can tell from his wispy tips he's got curly hair. You may get a few interesting loops (though thinner dreads get less loops in my experience) but you won't get that uniform wave that he has.

I think, seeing as you've got a very particular look in mind, you'll struggle with the journey. I'm a control freak by nature and it's been hard for me to relax and let my hair do it's own thing, so I think that's something you will need to think hard about before you start. Even if you could guarantee the end result would be what you wanted there will be long periods where your dreads are really annoying and won't do what you want. If you don't do maintenance big chunks will unravel, and if you do do maintenance there will be times when you screw up and wish you'd left it alone. It teaches you a lot of patience but it's definitely not for everyone.

However, most dreads (as long as you don't fill them with superglue or something awful like that!) are reversible, so there's no harm in giving it a shot! If you want 80-100 skinny dreads you will want to section your hair (in rubber bands or braids) before you get started, and you will almost certainly want to enlist a friend or several to help because it will kill your arms. Twist and rip or backcombing would both work well on your hair texture. If in 6 months time they're developing in ways you don't like, or if you just can't stand the process, all you'll need is conditioner, a comb and patience and you can get your hair back to normal

EDIT: Forgot to mention, my hair was bleached when I first started my dreads which I think helped it lock up as it roughens the hair cuticle. Bleaching is damaging so maybe not the best plan to do purely to help it dread, and it could cause breakage later on if you keep redoing it, but if you were considering changing your hair colour any time soon it might be worth doing a few days before dreading to get that benefit

 

On a more positive slant, Rollin your hair is long enough to start a decent set, you can always try rip and twist or backcomb some small ones and see how it goes.

With thin dreads you'll get more breakages when they are old and long and heavy.

With thin dreads you'll be ripping them apart 4 times as often as thicker ones. And by doing this you might break some accidently.

I agree with the others, Don't try and have a "I want them to look like this" attitude because dreads are arrogant and will do whatever the hell they want!

 

I feel like super skinny dreads loop up really bad. So if you have someone make like 100 dreads out of your thin, fine hair, you will probably lose a lot of length as they tighten. I don't know what these ppl are talking about though... I've seen caucasians with tiny dreads like that. It can happen. Why not just try?

It won't look like anything approaching decent for at least 1 year to a year and a half however.