N00b Question about "Partial Dreads"?

Hi My name is Jen, I don't have dreads yet, but I'm strongly considering!I'm the type that researches something until I feel like an expert before I ever actually do it! XD

A few months ago I dreaded my brother's hair. Using the tease, twist, and rip method. 24 hours later his dreads looked pretty badass, but like a novice I did use some wax which actually made it harder for the dreads to stay togetherandwe ended uptakingthem out after a week or so.

Now that I am considering doing some in my own hair I have a few questions.

My hair is of medium thickness with a slight wave. It has decent body and I'm currently wearing it pretty short ( 2 1/2 - 3 inches in the back). Is there a minimum length you would recommend for startingdreads? I'm liking the thinner locks if that makes a difference.

I've seen a lot of pictures where aportionof the hair (around the fringe area or framing the face) is left undreaded. are there any tips from people who have this style aboutmaintainingthe undreaded hair? Iusuallygo 2-3 days without shampoo before my hair looks like an oily mess. I can use baby powder/dry shampoo in between if I have to.

Coloring dreads! I'm a color addict, so if there is any special methods of bleaching or coloring dreads (or caring for color-treated dreads) I could use some education on this subject as well.

Thanks for any advice or encouragement in the matter!!

updated by @jennifer-luke: 01/13/15 09:23:31PM

1 hair needs to be a minumum of 3 inches tho its better to have 4-5 to twist and rip but it will dread itself naturally at 6 natural is the best way to dread

2 comb the fringe thats it

tho u want to wah so your not oily washing lil less often will make u less oily

3 dying too much can be risky especialy bleaching its better to uwe henna if you got to color or just do colorful wraps and beads and not dye at all

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Thanks for the advice. I'll start letting it grow and do a bit of practice neglect until I see some results. ^_^ The majority of what I use is demi permanent. No-lift, conditioning color. I've never used henna, but once i get them going I'll look into it. I'm so happy to have found this board!

The only problem I have with having bangs/undreaded hair around my face is that I often have to brush it out of my face with my fingers and my fingers get caught in the roots of my dreads. This made for some wonky forced looping, root separation, and complete dread unraveling until I learned how to avoid doing that.

A couple strategically placed wraps or beads can help train your fingers to stay out of your dreads when they have to be in your loose hair. And once the roots start to really dread it's not really an issue.

If you are wanting to go natural it might be harder to keep everything in it's own area. I had a lot more hair loose in the beginning as I intended to let the hair near the front of my head dread naturally. That didn't work too well for the reasons I mentioned above. I ended up TnRing a bunch of small dreads to create a sort of border. This let the hair behind the border knot up on it's own really well and let my bangs stay obviously separate.

I personally don't use a comb on my bangs. I used one a couple times but couldn't seem to stop snagging my dreads and that hurt. I just use my fingers.

Research is always a good idea! There's a lot of misinformation about dreads floating around. To avoid snagging, I just use fingers to tidy my bangs. My hair is knotting up much more slowly around the front than at the back, but I think that's normal.