Crochet to Natural...Questions :)

Hey Guys and Gals! Jaco from Cape Town, South Africa here. Greetings in love.This is my first post, just created the account after seeing this is by far the best dreadlocksite on the web. Big ups to all involved.Here's the situation/question..I started my dreads almost exactly 5 months ago by crocheting them. So from no dreads to a head full of crochet dreads. Like most people I have read about I only find out after that was a horrible idea haha. So i left them...Almost 5 months since the 1st and only crochet session. The reason im posting is because I have ALOT of loose hair and they look a bit more than a mess than dreads. At my roots and on the body of most of the dreads i can feel them knotting up nicely, but allover and at the tips i have loose hair, and alot! I included some pics. You maybe cant see from the pic but I have 40 of them... so do I just continue on the current course of leaving them? I palm roll with Aloe gel occasionally, but not much at all. I know time is the magic ingredient but I want some advice from fellow sojourners through the stages of the dread path haha.Much love and thanks!Hope to hear soon.
updated by @jaco-rossouw: 01/13/15 09:38:43PM

Loose hair is normal, it will eventually suck up into the dread. Loose tips are fine. You don't want blunted ends. It make drying time longer, which is a pain and can cause mould. Don't bother palm rolling. Any changes from that are only temporary, and the aloe gel may be preventing hair being sucked in, due to how conditioning it is.

Also, be sure toseparatethe dreads so they don't grow together!

They look exactly like they should. The blunted tips will give you some issues later on, though/ Blunted tips can take twice as long - 5 times as long to dry.

There should always be loose hair at the roots. That is what snags and tangles with new growth to create a solid support structure for your locks. tightening them thins out the root and weakens the whole lock.

So, just let hem be, and separate as needed.

Palm rolling doesn't do anything if you don't do it a lot. And if you do do it a lot, it destroys your locks. Check out my video to see what only 2 weeks of palm rolling did to my locks. 6 years later ad I'm still trying to fix the damage

crochet recovery takes bout 6 months your 5 months in they are nearly recovered and about to the stage theyd be in at 1 month if u went natural or tnr or backcomb

..but...with even more loose hairs from all the broken hairs crochet caused

4 months from now they will be looking better 9 months from now..great

its unfortunate but that 1 technique that everyone thinks gives them instant perfect dreads ends up giving them a long lasting mess instead unless they want to crochet over and over and over fir life (or death when their dreads fall off)

i would stop the palm ri[olling and aloe

aloe speeds recovery by helpi9ng them loosen it loks like they loosened plenty palm rolling will only add to te damage

start using sea saltto get them to tighten back up

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Thanx for the quick and encouraging replies!!

Awesome...then its just a matter of time

As for washing, Im currently cool washing once a week with a herbal shampoo with no conditioner orfragrances etc. Do i justrinsewith water mixed withsea salt?

Thanx

Use a sea salt spray up to a couple hours before you wash. You don't want to leave sea salt in for more than 2 hrs. It'll dry your scalp horribly and dry out your hair. Check the shampoo, you don't want SLS in it, that would be the second or 3rd incredient. You also want residue free. The liquid shampoos and bars from dreadlockshampoo.com are incredible. Try them if you can. There's also baking soda/apple cider vinegar rinses. That works really well too. They'll all help tighten up.

Thanx guys!

Next post will be about my awesome locks!

Much love and blessings from South-Africa

Peace