HELP?!? Dreads fell out!

-The Situation: I am a 17 year-old African American female who has had dreadlocks since I was about 5 years-old (about 12 years). My dreads started thinning at the roots and falling out around (the back of my head) 8th grade. I didn't worry or think much of it. I am in the 12th grade now. My hair is growing REALLY slowly. It has now gro wn into a very small afro over the course of 3-4 years. When I wash my hair (once a week) my scalp where my hair fell out itches terribly, ESPECIALLY when I get out of the shower. I can not help but scratch it. I retwist my hair about 6 times a year. I am currently taking biotin and multivitamins to see if that will help up my hair growth. I'm a vegetarian by the way. (:

-MY QUESTION: Should I cut it off my hair? Or just wait to see what happens? Any ideas, comments, tips, ANYTHING would help. I don't know what I did wrong! I am desperate for help at this point. I am thinking about getting dreadlockextensions or simply cutting them off.

***PRODUCTS I USE: I wash my hair with black soap orSuave Professionals Almond & Shea ButterShampoo. To condition my hair I leave in a mixture shea butter and olive oil.

~As you can see in the picture, the middle of my hair has fallen out. That is why the dreads are so short in the middle compared to the others. Luckily, those have grown back. But, the bald area does not seem to want to grow back.

****BY THE WAY: I have cut my hair over the years. And my sister just cut them recently, that is why they are uneven and are at that length.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO COMMENT ON MY DISCUSSION! :D I REALLY DO APPRECIATE THEM!

updated by @miss-anonymous: 02/14/15 03:51:52AM

ok you definitely need panterra and steffani to look at this but i will give u my best instinct advice

1. massage the scalp daily to stimulate bloodflow
2. biotin daily without stopping and starting ot takes tome to become effective more time to see effects happening in a year u maybe surprised to find significant growth
3. strip the buildup from such heavy conditioners and residue laden shampoos use a clarifying or anti residue shampoo then
4. switch to the www.deeadlockshampoo.com bars the teatree rosemary bar at 1st then u can try a more aromatic one after a few months of improvement
5. using that bar your scalp itch should improve, you should require lil to no added consditioners but if u do need any use pure aloe (straight from a plant, or if bought should have no other ingredients but aloe u want food grade ..or u can use a small ammount of jojoba oil
6. read jay simmons call for help with a simular situation and study panterras advice do every thing she told him to do
7. wear your hair up in a loose confy bun or tam keyword loose no tension on the scalp at all
8. just to be safe get a nutrition test to check for deficiencies ive been vegatarian 28 years and mone grows like crazzy but if u dont hget the roght vitamins or proten it can affet haitr growr=th as well as hormonal imballances so have a dr give u a checkout and twell them buout your issues so thet know what to look for

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

And don't retwist. There's no need for that. Actually, it can be damaging.

actualy thats the cause of the issue she retwisted and palm rolled for special occassions, wich was about every 2 months

so the pressure to neaften up the dreads made the dreads fall off and look a mess

if she just let them be and ne er retwisted once shed have an awesome head of dreads

and she will again when they regrow

she hated retwisting and how unconfurtable it was but i guess felt she had to to please others ..at the severe risk of nt being pleased with herself to look good for a day she risked looking bad for a year but we are getting her straightened out and on the right track

Rainbow Fortune said:

And don't retwist. There's no need for that. Actually, it can be damaging.

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Exactly! Thank you for your help and comments! (: I'm going to try to do what you advised and ask my mom if I can buy that bar for my hair! :D

soaring eagle said:

actualy thats the cause of the issue she retwisted and palm rolled for special occassions, wich was about every 2 months

so the pressure to neaften up the dreads made the dreads fall off and look a mess

if she just let them be and ne er retwisted once shed have an awesome head of dreads

and she will again when they regrow

she hated retwisting and how unconfurtable it was but i guess felt she had to to please others ..at the severe risk of nt being pleased with herself to look good for a day she risked looking bad for a year but we are getting her straightened out and on the right track

Rainbow Fortune said:

And don't retwist. There's no need for that. Actually, it can be damaging.

Thank you, I won't be retwisting my hair anymore! :D

Rainbow Fortune said:

And don't retwist. There's no need for that. Actually, it can be damaging.

i hope others will learn from this b4 getting this bad too

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I really doubt this is an issue of shampoo and/or retwisted. This may have made it worse, but if this was truly the cause all of the dreads would have fallen out 1 by 1 or atleast some spread over the head and new dreads would have no trouble forming.The fact that your hair isn't growing back means it's most likely a medical issue, either through not getting enough of certain nutrients or some sort of illness. Nutrient deficiency could be diet related but usually it's because of a problem with absorption.I could make some diet suggestions, but I would say you have to see a doctor anyway so I don't know if you want to go through the trouble of posting your general diet here. If nutrient related it's most likely an iron shortage (since you have a few of the risk factors: vegetarian, female). I wouldn't take iron supplements since it can be quite dangerous and I think natural food would be the best solution if it's a nutrient deficiency unrelated to malabsorption issues. Still, see a doctor and tell him the issue of your hair falling out and not growing back in that area.

well i think thats possibly a cause fpr the slow regrowth the original loss of hair i believe is clearly from the retwisting

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

My previous post should be taken with a grain of salt. I did some more reading here and I stumbled upon some threads about traction alopecia. I seriously did not know that even existed. I knew excessive pulling of the hair could cause it to fall out but I never thought it could ruin growth and all.I still suggest visiting a doctor because there is certainly a possibility that it's an illness or nutrient deficiency, but I think the most likely cause is actually traction alopecia and that the best thing is to promote bloodflow to the scalp. I didn't know that this condition led to partial baldness in such a pattern, as such I assumed it to most likely be different problem.Now I'm going to be way more careful when drying my dreads. I'm normally quite rough but now I'm going to be real careful.