DIY dreadlocks

[Sage]

use this kind of soap to wash the hair, it will dry it and make it less "oily", you dont want to leave soap residue in the hair, you just wash it completely.

What kind of soap is that?

 

[Sage]

Like those hemp/wheat,etc ones?

 

[RnJ]

I had a friend put in three dreads a few days ago. Two were done at the top of my head, kinda where the hair splits. I took those out because they just looked so awkward, sitting like turds off the top of my head, on top of the rest of my hair. I kept the one that is right in the middle, in the back, tucked underneath my other hair. I think it looks a lot better.

Anyway, aparently I have very straight and thin hair, making it hard to dread. We used a bit of some beeswax-based footbutter to help it stick. The dreads were very soft after we made them. I understand I'll have to leave them for two weeks, and twist and backcomb them some more. It's been 2 days of such, and it hasn't seemed to get much better. Is this normal? She's not a pro, so I'm not confident it's gonna form as it should.

 

[RnJ]

So I took that one out too, and redid it myself in the back right corner of my head. It's a little tighter than the first fiew and am gonna soak it in salt and lemon juice tonight...maybe even put in another one once my hair dries.

Everybody keeps mentioning wool hats. Is a cotton toque/beanie fine?

 

[Smallredbox]

I used this site back when I was doing my old set, it showed me the way:
knottylocks.tk

 

[angelenesdreams]

i've been a dreadhead for almost 2 years now (plus i mod a dreadlock forum) and i can tell you:

1. NEVER use wax. it collects dirts which sticks to it, and yes, moisture can become trapped inside and grow mold. you do not need to buy any products to create dreads. they are free. you can do the wool hat thing, or just leave your head alone and in time mats will form. rip them apart to form sections, and keep them ripped to avoid growing a giant "beaver tail". beautiful dreads don't happen overnight...it takes time. =)

2. you can wash when you want to, no need to wait for x weeks. i myself only wash them once a week, perhaps every 10 days. you can use ordinary dish soap, such as Dawn, watered down. no need to buy any special shampoos.

3. dread aren't always permanent and you don't have to shave them off. some are able to comb them out with conditioner as stated above, and if not, you can cut all but 5 inches off and easily comb the rest out. no need for baldness.

4. you don't have to shave to remove lice.

many ppl have taken something that's totally free and made it into a big business with useless products. on the internet, you are made to think you have to wax and use special shampoos in order to have dreads when in fact that shit can ruin them. don't be one of the suckers. it's a hairstyle as old as the human race. =(

 

[Mr. Expendable]

Let me tell you a short short story about my last set of dreads (It's very sad, so for fans of dreads, you may want to cover your eyes.)

... Arow... that's a horrible story... I have a rat tail thats more than a foot long and i've had it for a very long time so just thinking about that scares me... but I'm not content with the end of your story is spray paint what the other guy used and wouldn't all his hair fall off too and those are probably answers you couldn't answer but it did make for a great(but sad) story....

and as to whom posted this all I can say about dreads is my rat tail took forever ad was a bitch to dread... I originally had it braided and just left it alone for a long while... then as it began to grow out the top dreaded eventually i decided to dread the rest and became horribly frustrated... tried every way but my hair was just too stubborn... eventually i just tied it off and waited for it to dread it's which ,with a lot of patients, turned out beautifully...

P.S. this is off topic but recently i decided to cut off all my hair which can be seen in my avatar thing and found out I was completely infested... I had a whole colony of ticks and lice... it was weird because i never noticed them till all my hair was on the ground swarmed with those fuckers.... someone freaked out when they say them and I just laughed... I mean they didn't bug my and I didn't notice them so they must have been some smart little squatters

 

[angelenesdreams]

some hair-types seem more stubborn to dread then others. like i said, i mod a dreadlock forum, so i hear all kinds of stories and learn so much. it seems thick & silky hair-types take much longer to dread then thin and frizzy/curly hair-types, which tend to dread up much more quickly. but you are right...in the end, you have to have patience. =)

 

[RnJ]

I have fairly thin hair, and it's very straight. I've put in a total of 6 or 7 dreads, only 2 of which are still in, because they typically just fall apart. And even those are kinda frizzy on the outside. I'm pretty close to giving up with putting any more in. I just feel like I'm having to try to hard. Or I'll just wait til I meet someone who knows what they're doing and won't charge a hundred bucks. Actually, if I don't dread it, I'm thinking of just cutting my hair and looking "respectable" again. I'm getting slightly bored with my shag.

 

[JonnyDrainpipe]

Dunk your head in salt water then when it's almost dry rub in some fine campfire ash, it's good for fine, straight hair that doesn't "frizz" easily.

 

[MiztressWinter]

I have actually been giving this some serious thought. I have very VERY long black straight hair. It's about 2 inches from the start of my ass crack now. I'm leaving thursday to hit the road indefinately. And I'm wondering, how in the world am I going to keep up with my freaking hair on the road? My hair gets oily easily after a couple days of not washing it. It also matts up really easily. I know that on the road I would end up having to keep my hair in a permanent bun because it would get dirty oily and nasty and the only way to keep the tangles out will be to brush it all out and forever keep it in a bun. Which makes me feel like..what is the purpose of having all this damn long hair to have to tie it up in a bun ALL the freaking time. I've been concidering dreads because once they were in it would be so much easier for me. And I could leave my hair down all the time =) I've sported synth dreads many times and liked the look, so why not real ones? And honestly I like the fuzzy unkempt look of real ones better than the perfect look of synth ones.

i'm wondering how long they would be due to the extremely long length of my hair? I'm also just torn on how to start them. I'd thought about the wool cap thing, but my biggest fear is ending up with HUGE massive matts that I couldn't get to rip apart right, and instead of having nice seperated and formed dreads, I would have big massive clumps in my head, which I personally don't want. I don't expect them to be perfect like fake ones (all the same exact size etc) but i just dont want super HUGE ones or really oddly parted ones. I'd personally be happy with lots of smaller ones, that were nicely seperated.

Any advice? I'm clueless. Also, I have bangs. Obviously I'll be keeping those. Betty Paige with dreads? yep it's possible!

 

[wildboy860]

the grease / oil will neutralize in your hair after about a week of not washing it. the wool hat method is prolly more preferable for people with shorter hair. your gona want your hair sectioned of by combing it into equal squares then backcombed, ripped and twisted. then backcombed again.

 

[MiztressWinter]

Alrighty that sounds good. Yeah I've got a LOT of fucking hair! This is gonna be a JOB! I need to find me some hippies in New Mexico to help me

 

[carnytrash]

Here's a link with all sorts of useful info, tutorials and photos.

 

[angelenesdreams]

whatever you do, please please please don't use wax in your hair. some ppl swear by wax, some ppl have had their 'locks destroyed by it.

washing dreadlocks everyday isn't practical because the more they mature, the longer they take to dry, and if they remain damp in the centers for days and days on end, they could mold. my locks are 2.5 years old and about as thick as fingers and they take allll day to dry, so being out in the sun is very healthy for them.

what you could do now is start training your scalp to stop producing so much sebum (the oil) by spacing your days out until you can easily go a full week or two without your scalp becoming oily. yeah, the first two weeks are always hell, but it DOES remedy itself. some ppl swear off soap/shampoo forever, only water rinsing (and swimming helps too) and they claim their hair has never been so healthy in their whole lives. now i'm rambling, but read this thread, lol.

you could backcomb/twist and rip as suggested, but if your hair tangles so easily on it's own, why not consider the patience method? just stop brushing and allow your dreads to form on their own according to the natural lay of your hair, but keep them ripped apart from one another so they don't form one solid dreadlock.

dreadlocktruth has many tutorials and links to videos that you might find useful. =)

 

[RnJ]

I'm wax free, and even with the palm-rolling, my 5 half-decent dreads I've got so far are a little frizzy and not very tight at all. And yet, I prefer this to the feeling of waxy hair. I wash my hair on average about once ever 4 or 5 days, more often when I'm working full days in the sun and very sweaty. I rinse my hair with about 2 tsp of baking soda in a container, which i fill with about 2 cups of water in the shower. This leaves my hair tangly when wet, but not tangly when dry. Unless you put it in a hat, in which case it tangles up nicely reader for dreading. I'd imagine if you didn't have as straight of hair as me, that it would probably help the natural dreading process. I still need to back-comb, because the only part that naturally tangles for me, enough to start locking, is the back of my head, and not in a way in which I can pull my hair apart to form dreads.

I've never experience problems washing my hair on a regular basis with baking soda, even from the start. It's probably the added stuff to shampoos that is not good for dreads. If you want to do the baking soda wash method, and DO want to keep your hair smooth and a little more "conditioned," I've heard that you can rinse with Apple Cider Vinegar, but I've never tried that. Just make sure to rinse the soda our first, because, well, baking soda and vinegars kinda react...and I have no clue what that may do to your hair.

 

[angelenesdreams]

sure, you can mix baking soda and ACV, and even throw in a few drops of tea tree oil and lemon juice, if you like...rinse well! =)

some ppl like using a salt-water spritz as a locking accelerator. it lightly coats hair and the tack causes friction, and in theory, allows hair to dread faster. i dunno if this really works or not, though. i personally hate the salt on my scalp because it's so drying, so i have used aloe juice (not aloe gel) instead. spray lightly and allow to dry, and it won't irritate your scalp, or so they say. =)

i love dreadlocks.

 

[ShadyShaw]

Guys/Gals dont put any of that crap in you hair!!!! none of it! do what myself and my friends do, 6 egg whites in a bowl and some honey (just feel it and guess when the honey is thick enough to hold in place. apply it 2 your head( i dont suggest doing this alone because it gets messy) then twist and keep twisting and twist some more.then let it chill for a week. and hop in the shower. iv done this too my hair plenty of times, i have hair straighter than any1 i know... its so straight all the highschool girls are jealous and wanna know where i get my striaghtner, i use that stuff and it turns my head into a work of nappy art, that i can only get rid of by buzzing my head..

1) 6 egg whites ~ honestly dont know if thats right, but it is how i did it!
2) Honey ~ i used organic honey not sure if it made a differnce or not.
3) mix apply to head
4) immediatly start twisting your hair
5) when you head turns as hard as a rock in a week , hop in the shower and Boom theres your dreads~ if it dont look right you didnt twist enough

 

[BrittanyTheBananarchist]

when u are going to dread it before doing so u should take some baking soda add sum water to it make sure its not too pasty. just enough to let it run thru ur hair . put in on ur hair let it sit for about 5 to 7 mins and it will take all the build up products out of ur hair. this will make it so ur head is lighter when u get dreads.

 

[Shark]

okay well since everyone else is sharing there dread stories mine aswell share mine. Just tried dreads last week, I got some crazy curly black hair that'd be perfect for dreads. Its about 4 inches from my ass crack as of now. Havn't had a haircut in 4 or 5 years by now. Wanted something new and I wanted to get dreads. I had my bro section everything out and we went and bought some dread "butter" and backcombed and palm rolled the shit out of 19 of about 26 dreads. It took over 8 hours to just to get 19 out of 26 sections. I didn't like how they were coming out. The ones on top got really thick and didn't look right and I was already missing my old hair so I was just gonna get it shaved but with alot of conditioner and untangler they brushed right out. I'll try again but I'll do it naturally next time. But hey, if you don't like them after your done you might be able to save your hair like I did. I still kinda wish I would have just kept going. Oh well.