More Waxy Stuff

Ok, in further response to you, Callie...

I was waxing after each wash until week 10 when I decided to give waxlessness a try. Here are my blog posts from that period (omg they contain a lot of bollocks):
http://dreadblog.amykristiansen.net/archives/55
http://dreadblog.amykristiansen.net/archives/56
http://dreadblog.amykristiansen.net/archives/57

Now some pics.

Length before backcombing:


After the first wash:


End of week 2, after the second wash:

It should be noted that this wash was extremely vigorous because my dreads were filthy. They were full of wax and the grime of a camping trip and they stank from all the humidity and damp nights. They may look loose and floppy here, but you can tell from the length compared to the before shot that very little unravelling of backcombing had occurred. I think if I hadn't have kept restricting them with wax they'd have matured at a startling rate.

This is the transition of week 3 into 4. I had already got through a whole pot of DHHQ wax and consequently had only a very tiny amount to apply on this occasion...next to none infact. I think these dreadlings look pretty fat and sturdy for their age...I swear they'd have matured in another fornight without wax...

Yet, because of the mindset KB and DHHQ's sites had given me about the way dreads ought to be, I actually thought this stage showed a worrying lack of wax. I actually thought the state they were in in this photo was some kind of problem. When I look at that now I'm wtf?!?!

As I said previously, the dread-product companies don't have to say the words, "You must use wax" in order to leave a very clear impression upon you...especially if you are cluesless on the matter to begin with.

Ok that's my pic limit for this post apparently so I'll continue in the next one....

 

Ok.

My dreads at one-month-old before applying any wax:


Later that day, after waxing....

By this point I was using the Knotty Boy wax. I found that a small amount went a lot further than DHHQ's, and was applying it a lot more sparingly (e.g. no longer following the instructions). When I look at these two pics now, I cannot see what it was about my dreads in pic one that was any less "desirable" than how they look in pic two. In fact, they look much nicer in the first one. I was looking at them entirely through marketing-tinted spectacles.

Now, I'm a fairly cynical person. I'm not totally naive and I'm not an idiot. I simply knew not one single thing about dreadlocks, then I Googled them, found two very professional-looking websites, with people who seemed nice enough telling me I needed this set of products for my dreads to turn out right. The companies are smallish, one of them actually run by a man with dreads, plus dready-types are surely a bit alternative, not all corporate liars; it never occurred to me that anything on those sites would be intentionally misleading. This is the main problem I have with all this.

Anyway, a couple more pics for this post....

Week 5 before wax:

I remember loving how they looked and felt here. They had this amazing combination of softness and sturdiness.

...but I was still programmed to wax wax wax....here, week 5 and waxy again:


I look at these pics and really don't know what I was thinking.

Just one more of these posts I think....

 

First ,you are just way too cute!
Second, I am just not convinced that my early backcombing would of survived without the wax. But I guess I will never know
Third, what a great ideal your dread blog was

 

By this point, here's how my dreads were looking straight after washing:


They weren't coming undone....but each wash had to be so vigorous due to the wax, which itself had melty slidey effects, gradually dragging my dreads down. This is the point where I think you can see the wax was hindering my dreads' progress. In the unwaxed photos, they always seemed to have a desire to go upwards, to contract and knot, but the wax was gradually dragging them down. All skinny...
The ones which had been massively fat initially were dead skinny, and the ones which had started out skinny were going nowhere, so I had a big dread-joining session (yeah I know I used elastics, but I found them to be GOOD so ner!) Week 9 joined up and waxed:


The end of waxing.

Here they are at week 10-11, springing into action after I washed them and did no waxing/palm-rolling or anything:


Week 12:



Ok, one more post after this! Sorry!

 

Just a few shots to show the quick maturation that followed:

Week 14:


Week 15 (post-dye):



4 months:



In terms of their central knottedness, my dreads were pretty much "done" at week 14...the rest has just been the gradual drawing in of stray hairs on the outside.

Without wax, I really believe my dreads may have been at 2.5 months where they were at 4 months.

I don't believe wax has ruined the current maturity of my dreads, but I do think it slowed the process. Hair type has a big part to play here, in terms of how fast it would have knotted without wax. I think my hair definitely wanted to be in tight contracted locks of knots, and the wax kept hindering it.

I have done so many very hot thorough washes, and two of the deep cleans. I have no idea what the inside of my dreads look like. They feel great, I'm happy with how they look and I do not currently feel like I'm suffering from any wax-related problems. I have no idea how things will be later on...but I'll be sure to come back to this thread and update it if anything bad happens as a direct result of my wax use.

Overall verdict....dread wax is not necessary.

 

I really puzzle over this concept, and never fully get my head round it. I do know what you mean. A freshly backcombed but solid and waxy dread, compared to just a poofy unwaxed one seems like it would have a greater chance of surviving a washing scenario. I can't actually visualise or physically imagine washing an unwaxed newly backcombed dreadling....it seems like it would just flop and fall apart.
Then again, the waxed one is exactly that same fragile sausage of frizz, but with a layer of wax you have to wash off it...wax which lubricates and facilitates the sliding of hair, whilst repelling water and requiring quite forceful washing.

If I was to begin my dreads again, with backcombing, this what I'd do:

Straight after the backcombing was finished I'd spray them with salt-solution, avoiding my scalp, because I know how my hair contracts when wet, so I think this would tighten them up a bit from the start. After a couple of days I'd wash them very gently...perhaps by spraying a Dr. Bronner's solution over them, putting a stocking over them, then letting water just run through and rinse them. After washing I'd salt-spray them again whilst damp, and palm-roll a little. I'd probably continue like this for a few washes until they seemed able to stand up to normal washing.
Between washes I'd control any really bad frizz with aloe gel. By washing them regularly to begin with, I'd be making it possible to wash them very very gently because there wouldn't really be anything to wash off them, whilst taking advantage of the knot-speeding effects of washing.
Again this is very hair-type dependent I guess. I think my hair would only need a couple of weeks, or less, to get its act together.

I think the tightness of the backcombing plays a part as well. I know it is damaging to the hair...but it's only once and the damaged hair is just gonna be stuck in a great big knot anyway, whilst new hair growth dreads itself in unharmed....dunno, just never fully figured out why damaging your hair a bit with backcombing is that bad...(cue soaringeagle rant )....mine was extremely tightly backcombed, as you can see from the before and after lengths. I've seen several photos of people, before and after backcombing, with no change in hair length. Maybe that's why it all comes out in the first wash...which makes me wonder, why bother?


Umm...not sure if any of that shed any further light on the matter, Callie...?

 

thats very indepth and goooooooooooooood! the week 5 and waxy pic, with them all sticking out straight behind you, thats what mine were like =[

 

God you're seriously good looking, wax or no. You probably already know that though

P.S. I'm planning on putting my own input into this thread at some point!

 

What was your reason for using so much wax? Did you like how your dreads were before you waxed them each time? I swear I just kept on waxing like some sort of robot.

 

That last Q. was to Smelly btw.

And thank-you! To be honest, joining this forum has brought the first battering with compliments I've had in a looooooong time... my self-image has had a bumpy history...
So yeh...each one comes as a genuine pleasant surprise

And yay to your pending imput

 

i used so much wax because i thought i had too.

i HATED how they looked/felt after waxing.. for example, when id washed them, id think 'oh noooo, dont wanna waxxxx' because i hated the process of doing it, and the smell, and the texture

i had gotten to the stage where if there was a dry bit of dread.. as in.. tight waxy, then loose no waxy, then tight waxy, id think 'shitshitshit its coming undone it needs wax' and id go plonk a load of wax on it..


of course with hindsight i can now see:
1) that wax isnt necessary at all (but i totally understand why people would use it to keep newbie backcombing together)

2) i was totally misinformed - or i took the information the wrong way. KBoy website became like my bible, and i was forever emailing the salon asking Q's and theyd tell me to apply more wax, its all good, theyll happen, dont worry etc

3) my dreads were fucking awful!! until about august, i was quite happy about them.. but slowly i started to realise it was all wrong. then i went to artsfest (a free fest in birmingham every year) and i saw soo many bootiful dreadheads, and i was actually embarrassed to be seen with my candles. really. some kid came up n asked me how to get dreads and i was just like 'whatever you do, dont use me as an example'

rubbish. is all i will say.

so this lot of dreads im trying to do it all natural (in the sense that i wont use any products) yes, i backcombed them to start them off, but i wont wax, i wont use lock peppa, i wont use anything like that, and ill see how they turn out.

:cheers2:

 

Well keep your thread well-updated with pics; I'm sure it will be really interesting and useful to people. Your new dreads will turn out fine.

And omg I know the embarrassment thing...when my dreads were just a few weeks old and caked in wax I went to the wedding of my cousin to a guy from Trinidad&Tobago...one of whose friends had "proper" dreadlocks. This guy was about my age and the dreads were already near floor-length, and there was me with my waxy mess. Lol he must have thought I was such an idiot white girl

 

yeah when i was at artsfest i was talking to a bassist from a band, and he had dreads down his back, and you could see him smirking, but trying not too, at my mess =[

 

Aww...*cringe*

 

Gonna post these with links to the full-size so you can have the full waxy experience....

(I acknowledge that I used far too much wax here, but would also like to point out that I was following instructions.)

Middle of week 2, on a hot hot summer's day, melting away:

http://flickr.com/photos/amybird8/3148347886/sizes/o/in/set-72157611793257049/


In the next two, you can actually see the bits of dirt if you view the full-size images. This was when I got home at the end of week 2 after our camping trip. Omg the smell....

http://flickr.com/photos/amybird8/3148348568/sizes/o/in/set-72157611793257049/


http://flickr.com/photos/amybird8/3148349126/sizes/o/in/set-72157611793257049/

 

i started a new thread for my piccytures

 

to calliue4strings
on the subject of how will newly backcombed hair survive the 1st washing well the only answer i can give is..it doesnt have to..lol backcombing is not nesacary the hair must move to knot, and if that means unknotting to reknot so be it it will still happen
now on the subject of washing, i really dont think i was ever gentle washing mine in the early stages moving the hair helped it tangle
but amy did have a good idea if your worried bout backcombing comming undone in the 1st few weeks just put a stocking over yoir dreads and rub gently thru that..ofcourse it wont be too easy to scrape the scalp clean this way but it'll be ok for the 1st couple weeks
and any unraveling that does occur isnt a bad thing, its just hair moving settling in and after the next wash will reknott
even if it comes out entirely itsnot a big deal since ther hair will dread just fine if u simply do noything


and amy..on the subject of dammage..the average backcombing session doesnt do extreme dammage, but can do enough to weaken or pull out quite a few hairs..once as long as u arent too agressive trying to get it way too tight wont cause enough dammage to really harm the dread (except perhaps cause a week sp[ot at the current roots if many are yanked iout) but the frayed hairs are likl weaker, not sigbnificaintly though..if u do it once
but multiple backcombing can do alotta dammage, and then if u backcomb, agressively palmrol;l go around poking holes in em (crochetting) twist em root rub tip rub rub a dub rub wool rub and so on the dammage adds up
odviosly your hairs at its striongest when totaly undammaged
some dammage will weaken it slightly but not enough to worry abouit..but adding dammage to dammage to dammage well eventioly you reach the piont of destroyed

a car with a dent will still drive..but a car thats smashed to peices wont get ya nowhere

same thing.. lil dammage may not look perfectly pretty but can be easily overlooked and wont really affect the lifespan of the dread, but the more u do the more it adds up

 

Fair enough, makes sense

 

Hey, link it in here, incase it disappears into dready thready history and people find this thread and wonder what you're talking about. Or just add the pics here too if you want. This could be turning into a handy resource for anyone wanting more waxy answers.

 

http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=350952&f=209

ta-daaaaaaa