Straight Hair
You don’t have to shave your head. There are a couple ways to get dreadlocks out, if you haven’t used a dread perm
1. The Easiest way: cut your dreads off a little below root and have about 2 inches of hair. You won’t have to spend hardly anytime with this, and if you are not partial to your hair then this is a good way for you to do it.
2. Cut the first half of your dread off, from the tip of the dread to the middle. Then soak the rest of the dread in conditioner and comb the dread out. This will take some time, but you will have cut the strongest part of the dread off, so it will be a lot easier to comb the rest out.
3. You just love your long hair and don’t want short hair: I can completely understand this, this is probably the way I would choose if I were ever thinking about cutting my dreads off, but I’m not so I don’t have to think about it 🙂 Soak the whole dread in conditioner, and comb the dread out. Let me warn you that this will take a lot of time, probably 4 or 5 times longer than it took you to put them in, but if you love your hair, it’s completely worth it. Some people will say that you can’t do this, but you can, I know a person who did this, and I helped them take some of them out. I didn’t stay the whole time, but I know when I came back the next day, they were still working on taking them out.
And if you have chosen the silky dread method all you have to do is take out the extensions.
It can be depending on what method you choose. If you go with the twist and rip or neglect method you will probably have a lot of problems getting the dreads to form and lock up, but if you go with backcombing method you will not have many problems with getting your dreads to lock up.
Actually there are. Here are a few tips.
1. If you have really straight hair you can give it more texture by braiding it for a couple days before you dread or getting a cheep perm from Wal-Mart.
2. Don’t use conditioners on it for at least a week before you dread.
3. Get the items you will need to dread a head of time; you never know what could happen at last minute.
4. Bleach or color your hair, but don’t use the conditioner that comes in the box. This will make your hair holds the knots better.
It depends on which method you use. Check out the methods section in FAQ Part 2 to find more information about the method you want to use.
It depends on which method you use. Check out the methods section in FAQ Part 2 to find more information about the method you want to use.
It depends on which method you use. Check out the methods section in FAQ Part 2 to find more information about the method you want to use.
I personally think this is a painful time consuming way to make dreads. Not to mention it is not very effective.
I don’t recommend them, because it ruins your hair, makes it brittle, and break, but if you want one you should talk to the hair police they do them and they have tours.
A dread perm is when a salon puts all these chemicals on your hair, (fries your hair) and then they just twist the hair, put wax and rubber bands on it and eventually the hair will dread.
Yes, you can let your braids turn into dreadlocks. And yes, it will work, but these are some things you should expect and know about before you choose this method.
1. The dreads will not be as thick as they would if you were to use another method such as backcombing. When you backcomb the dreads the hair is teased up and down and across and every direction, so it makes a thick dread because the hair is scattered everywhere. But when you let the braid turn into a dread the hairs will be side by side, so the dread will be a lot thinner. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have thin dreads if you use the backcombing method, because you can, it’s just another way to have thin dreads.
2. The dreads will probably have a lot of loops, lumps, and bumps. The hair is side by side, so nothing is holding them in one place, so one side of the braid my pop out of the dread and cause a big loop or bump.
3. The dreads will probably never look smooth. I’m not saying all dreads formed this way will by wavy and lumpy and loopy, you may have dreads that have formed this way and they look great, good for you, but most people who make dreads this way will have a big problem. You will be able to see where the hair is braided, because the only way to cover up the braided part is to have the loose hairs knot and dread over the braid, and you probably don’t have enough loose hairs to cover the entire braid.
Salons usually charge between $100 & $400 to make dreads. IMPORTANT! Many salons say that they do know how to make dreadlocks, but few really do. They will just put your hair in twist and cover it with gel and call them dreads and charge you $200. The best thing to do is decide which method you would like to start your dreads with, print it, and call around. Just take the directions to the salon and tell them THIS IS HOW I WANT THEM DONE! and see if they can do it. If not, try another salon, you will be able to find one that can make the dreads the way you want them.
It is OK to have your dreads made in a salon, many people will say that they are fake dreads, but I do not believe this. I believe that if there were fake dreads are made by using dread perms and bleaches, because the dreads are not matting by themselves, they have had chemicals put on them, to damage the hair so it will mat easier. Let me just say that even though I believe this, I have nothing against dread perm dreadlocks. Your dreads are your own thing, you have the right to make them however you want, and anyone who scolds you about it is just bitter because they made their dreads by doing nothing to their hair because they didn’t do any research to find other methods of doing it, and they’re upset because they have been working on these dreads for about 6 years and they still look like crap and you just walked out of the salon and your dreads look awesome.
You can try posting on message boards to see if there is a dread head in your area that would be interested. And if you are interested in helping someone out with their dreads email us and we will recommend you when people email us. You can also check the salons section in the links section for salons in your area.
It’s all preference; I found the backcombing method to be the best for Caucasian and Asian hair types, and the twisting technique to be the best for African hair. But if you have your heart set on the twist and rip technique go for it, if you aren’t happy with it try a different one. I can tell you this, if you want your dreads to happen and you want to know that they will turn out, use the backcombing method, you won’t regret it.
It is best to use a shampoo removes residues and leaves no residues behind. This is a proven technique that is known to be the fastest way to tighten dreadlocks.
There are two types of thick hair
1. Thick strands- usually Asian people have this kind of hair, it is harder for this kind of hair to actually lock up, but if you use the backcombing method with a good wax, you won’t have many problems. Neglect, and twist and rip will not work well with this hair type.
2. Lots of hair- people who have curly have usually have lots of it. The stands are usually thin or normal size, and the dread great. A person with this hair will have no problems getting dreads, with any method.
It depends on which method you use. Check out the methods section in FAQ Part 2 to find more information about the method you want to use.
Wearing a helmet will not hurt your dreads. Your dreads may be a little flat after you take the helmet off, but they will poof back up after you wash them. You may need to get a larger one that your dreads will fit in.
It depends on which method you use. Check out the methods section in FAQ Part 2 to find more information about the method you want to use.
Wearing a helmet will not hurt your dreads. Your dreads may be a little flat after you take the helmet off, but they will poof back up after you wash them. You may need to get a larger one that your dreads will fit in.
Yes, actually your hair will dread easier because the hair has been damaged, so it will hold knots a lot easier. You can use any method and the dreads will lock up.
The best way to have thin dreads is to make the sections thin when you start them. There really isn’t a good way to thin them once you have already put them in. You can tie string around the roots and make them grow in thinner sections, but if cut them or pull them apart it really tears up the dread.
Dreads do get fatter with time, because the hair that would have fallen out, builds up inside the dread. This is what makes the dreads become hard after a while. But if you want really big dreads and you haven’t started them yet it’s easy to make them fat, just make bigger sections. And it’s pretty easy to make the bigger if the dreads are only about two months old or younger, just rubber band them together and palm roll them as much as you can. But once they are hard it’s really hard to connect them, you can still rubber band them together, but you take a chance of having folds or creases in your dreads.
Well that depends on what wax you are using, if you are using a pomade wax (like Murray’s beeswax, which I do not recommend, it is greasy and they will make your dreads fall apart) you will have to use a lot because it does not hold the dreads together.
If you use the Dread Head, or Knotty Boy you will be using a finger full of wax on each dred (depending on how thick the dreads are and how long they are).
There are many different products out on the market that say they are intended for dreadlocking hair, but that does not mean that they actually work. Any wax that has the ingredient of petroleum is bad for your dreads, it will make your dreads feel nasty and it will make your dreads fall apart. There are 3 waxes that are appropriate for dreadlocking hair:
1. DreadHeadHQ wax
2.Knotty Boy
1. DreadHeadHQ – this is my favorite wax. It has a really strong hold but it’s not overbearing or greasy and it washes out in warm water.
2. Knotty Boy – this wax is pretty good over all. Decent hold. Its main problem is that it’s greasier than it needs to be and the hold, while long lasting, isn’t that strong. I also think the smell of their wax is a bit much. At first I was like mmm yummy, but after a week or so I was like sick to my tummy.
It depends on which method you use. Check out the methods section in FAQ Part 2 to find more information about the method you want to use.
Well there are many different ways to make dreadlocks, I personally think that the backcombing method is a very easy, clean, and effective way to start dreads. This method allows you to make nice clean sections, so the dreds will all be the same size and you won’t have any problems with some of them having to much and some of them not having enough hair to lock up.
But there also many other ways to start dreads. Some people start dreads by not combing and washing their hair. They call this the neglect method, for those of you who have not started your dreads yet and are considering this method, let me please say that this is not a fun or rewarding way to make dreads. Your dreads will not be in nice sections, some will lock up and some won’t. The dreads will itch and they will probably smell bad.
1. DreadHeadHQ wax is the best for Caucasian straight hair.
2. Knotty Boy doesn’t have a very strong hold, so it doesn’t always work on all straight hair types.
3. Knatty Dread cream is great for African American straight hair.