share your dreading mistakes so others might avoid the same dreadlock mistakes you made

everybody makes mistakes when dreading especialy the 1st time around.more and more these days opeople make dozens of mistakes because so many sites and people tell them its the right thing to do.lets share our mistakes so others hopefully can learn from them and not make the same mistakes we made.my only mistake 1st time around was not knowing i should rip to avoid congos, so in a few months i had a flat pillow behind my neck and 2 horns sticking straight upnot really a mistake cause i loved em, but if i knew then i would have ripped to have dreads more like what i have now.when i started dreading all i knew was dreads happened if u stop combing.. so that was all i didi believe in next to no maintanance still but some control over the process can be helpful

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
updated by @soaring-eagle: 02/14/15 02:14:24AM

ok you made most of the common onesactualy alotta them are even being discouraged by the average idiotwere you also told to leave rubber bands in for 6 monthsalotta times when i try telling people about the dammage some of these things do they want to defiantly deffend them, even going as far as saying dreadlocks are dammaging no matter what so it doesnt matter how much dammage you do (i had 1 girl take macro pics of her dreads and they were completely covered in ugly white skin tags that wrre the roots which were yanked out during agressive backcombing)she refused to believe my dreads wernt covered with them toobut i went over every inch of every dread with a magnifying glass and found only 2 hairs with very mildly split ends none at all with roots dangling all over and the only dammage at all was from being stepped on near the endsdreads normaly if u do nothing dammaging to them are far more dammage resistent then normal hair thats how some dreads get beyond 20 feetsand the strength of any fiber rope comes from the length of the intact fibers thats why hemp is so much stronger then cottonso odviosly dreads without broken dammaged hairs are going to be far stronger then dreads with massive internal dammagekeep it commingyour mistakes can save many others


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

All the same things Beksta did. I don't agree with the soap thing, normal soap and shampoo is fine as long as there isn't any exessive added conditioners...I never had a problem with suave and I use normal bar soap now.My ex put superglue in her hair...big no-no...it had to be cut out.Re-backcombing....I kept backcombing until it stayed tight to the scalp....never felt comfortable and became really uncomfortable when they started tightening up.Cutting down the middle of a dread that is too thick, might as well if it's uncomfortable but if it's just visual then you might as well leave it since they fall most of the way apart and will reform a little funny looking. Not to mention that if it's for visual reasons they will probably look too small afterwards for your liking.

looping thru is not s good ideaespecialy if u do it tightif i got loose hairs that are blowining in my face on a roadtrip i might tie a knot in the end then loop it through in random directions 2-5 times just very loose to just holed em together and from there it dreads nicely on its own..but to do it to tighten dreads is asking for trouble


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

so mistakes aren't what i like to call them anymore i like to think of the things I've done to this set(#2) of dreads as learning experiencesso first off I should of went all natural the ones in the front that are mostly natural look the best out of all of themsecond messing with them only hinders the process I still play with them a lot though i can't help itthird it takes time and thats all there is too it between 7-9 months i thought my dreads were going to look like crap for a very long time but they've done nothing but improve fourth never listen to dumbies that tell you how to take care of YOUR locks my main fall through was letting this black chick mess with my dreads (her and her family lived her for a bit) she was constantly twisting my dreads and trying to put wax in them and got a few before i couldn't take it anymore I washed immediately#5 beads are your best friend learn to love themand imo smoking weed helps too

definately agree goin naturals the way to go


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

"but it really depends on hair type and your environment"True, I'm sure even the conditioners in suave and other generic brands can have a bad effect on locking and it's almost dishwashing detergent. XDAs for environment I forget, but people that come from other less humid places always complain about what happens to their hair (roflmao!). Also why I fear mold so much....=/ Just part of living in a fishbowl.... I've at times gone to bed with it wet and woke up with it wet. Blowdryers are my friend. XD

mine takes 48 hours to dry 35 if i blow dry for hours on end15 minutes in the hot sun does way more to dry then hours of blowdryingbut even if i have em damp for days u can prevent mold by using a white vinagar rincer with lavander oiland u can make a strong thyme tea and spray it on Puppy said:

"but it really depends on hair type and your environment"

True, I'm sure even the conditioners in suave and other generic brands can have a bad effect on locking and it's almost dishwashing detergent. XD

As for environment I forget, but people that come from other less humid places always complain about what happens to their hair (roflmao!). Also why I fear mold so much....=/ You'd expect the heat to dry my hair out quicker but when living in a fishbowl it doesn't. I've at times gone to bed with it wet and woke up with it wet. Blowdryers are my friend. XD

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I'd like to not call them mistakes, more like learning experiences, cuz none of my mistakes have yet to result in the loss of any of my dreads, nor will they now that I know better.If you go to my profile and look at my dreads when they were short and young, you'll see a ridiculous amount of stitching with a crochet hook. I mean, to the point that they look braided or something, super tight, and just bad. I over maintained for the first 3 months, so anal about how they looked. Then I started reading more and decided I was a dumb ass and just let them go natural. I've all but lost the super stitched look by now, but it was really bad for a long time.Rubber bands..... enough said.Never really got into wax, thank knowledge.I did try to bleach my dreads back when they were really young, and it didn't work out well. It damaged my hair more than I had expected, and they didn't really bleach, they were lighter, but not like I had wanted. At that point, color became a non-issue and their health became top priority.

Ahh, doesn't take 48 hours for me yet. I'm thinking today will be around 6 hours, it's been 3 already. The AC is set perfect and I have a fan blowing on me so it may take a little less.