i'm worried :(

ok...so i have a dread that has an arch at the base...like, it's super thick and knappy until you get to the root, where there is an arch shape that reaches down to my head i can stick my finger through it...so i don't know if it's something to worry about, or just something that will fix itself in time...please let me know what you think. i've had my dreads for almost a year now, and i'd hate to have it fall out of my head or something drastic! has anyone else had this problem? if anyone has advice, please let me know

updated by @amanda11: 01/13/15 09:29:21PM

hmmmm can you post a picture? I'm having trouble visualizing what you describing

u mean a loop?

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Not a loop...literally a hole in my dread. Just at the root...thats why im so scared. The base of the dread is hangin on, i just dont want it to get wprse and fall out! If you could see it (mu camera is broken) it would lookike a healthy dread: round and firm, it just has a hole that looks like an arcch near the base almost splitting the dread in 2. Ive been babying my locks for quite a while now becausw i backcombed my locs in. But this still happened!

typicaly its from forcind-=g sections instead of going with natural sections tho ift can happen to natural dreads too it should self heal u can try wrapping that area or use a peyote stitch or something i wouldnt worry too much but if its a real thick dread it just wanted to be 2 dreads

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I'm assuming you never interlocked your dreads?

What SE says is true. I've also noticed that same thing happen when a dread was twisted when formed with one of the starter methods and then as it starts to relax a bit the hair on the outer most part of the twist just forms a loose loop.

If you lightly twist it, does the hair close together?

I had a couple of dreads do this. What I did was slide a bead up it and pull the looser side of the whole to the bottom. After a while it started to dread together and there was just a nappy bump.

From what I can picture, it sounds like it's made up of the loose hair at the root? Is the other side that attaches to the lock loose hair too? This could be that the section of this lock naturally wants to be 2 locks. Sometimes with starter methods your hair wants to split into 2, but your are forcing it into 1. I have one like this and my locks are 6 years old. If they are not mature, you could rip it apart. If they are more mature, then it will fix itself. There may be a little bump there, but in time it will get sucked in. what part of your head is this particular lock on?

I think it wAnts to be 2dreads...because it's splitting from the root down. The question i guess is a) should i fix it? And b) if so, how do u do so carefully? Thank you for all of your advice! I rlly appeciate it Especially because i dont have a picture!

so that one's a year old. best bet is to get some jojoba oil or aloe (from the plant), and massage a small drop of it into the part that is connecting them. Then try to rip them apart. when they stop ripping, massage a little more oil at that point. continue doing this until they are separated.

You can try and snip 1 or 2 hairs at a time and se if this works. But that is a last resort, because if you snip the wrong hair, you can really mess them up and have one lock that has most of the lock attached to it and the other is left as a little stub. Cutting them apart has to be done with surgical precision.

If you don't mind how thick the lock is, and it doesn't cause any pain or discomfort when you sleep or wash or tie them up, or just leave them hanging there. DOn't worry about it. It will just stay forming as one lock. The root will always feel like it should be 2, but as it grows out, it will keep growing into 1 lock.

It's up to you

I sepArated itlast night...very succesful! Again, thank you for all of your advice...ans so speedy, too!i now have an even40dreads... Yay!