My hair is the same way. It never dreaded naturally after 2 years of trying. I also had to cut out the BS because it just stuck to my hair.. never really rinsed out. I now use an all natural vegan bar shampoo, which solved all my dandruff issues. I plan to do something to "start" my dreads. Because other wise I know they won't dread up.
Thank you sooo much for all your help!! I really appreciate it!!
I don't really brush right now as it is. Just smooth out the top with a flat palm. its short so it doesn't really need much right now.. but I'm liking the idea of starting my dreads from super short hair.. can you imagine all the time spent with them once they reach the middle of my back (my goal is to my waistline).
I've been using Chagrin Valley all natural vegan shampoo for almost 2 years now and its amazing. It leaves my hair somewhat dry feeling (no oily residue, kinda rough to the touch). Do you think it will be good to keep using it?
So as I stated in my introduction I use to have dreads several years ago for only 6 months because I was misinformed. (you can go there for my full story) Now its time to start over but I have a dilemma. My hair is now to super short! Its about little over 3 inches on top, about 2 inches in the back and only 1 inch on the sides.
I'd like to freeform them, but after seeing the requirements I see I can't. I already wash my hair once a week, and never really comb (just push it over with my hands so the top looks neat).. and my hair still falls straight and flat. They don't naturallyseparate(specially right now since its so short) never have.. so I'd have to go with the next "safest" method, twist and rip I guess.
I'd like advice on how long my hair needs to be to start. I kinda like the idea of a dreaded mohawk, as thats the way my hair has been for the last 8 months, until my sides grow long enough. And also, since my hair is so straight and resilient on doing what it wants no matter how hard I try to do ANYTHING to it...should I go to a salon to get it separated with rubber bands, twist and ripped, and then let it naturally dread after that -- to me it seems like the best solution since its I can't get it to do it naturally.
Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks!
~~Gypsy~~
Thank you soo much for the advice and link I can't wait to keep on reading and learning from this site!! I've already learned soo much!!
Hey guys!
My name is Melinda, but most everyone calls me Gypsy. I'm 26 and live in northeast Alabama. For most of my life I've always been drawn to dreads. Several years ago I thought I'd attempt to dread my own hair - but being impatient as I was I did it with lack of true information. I used wax and crocheted the hell out of them. They turned out 'decent' (in the sense that they weren't to damaged because I was able to comb them out) but were oily as hell! They were so tight that they stuck out the entire six months, even with laying on them with full weight (didn't prop up).
I still want dreads, so I decided to weight for my hair to heal. Its been almost 5 years now, I've put it off from time to time with job changes. I'm settled in right now and believe its time to finally get dreads again. The problem I face right now, is my hair is super short after deciding to cut my hair (and I only cut it because I was desperate for a change -a complete mistake that I regret wholeheartedly because my hair would be almost to my waistline right now!). I had a mohawk, so my sides are shorter then the top and back at the moment. BUT I was thinking of going ahead and dreading while its short, so that it wont take as long to dread the full length of before (past my boobs) so it wouldn't take a full weekend. Would be faster for work.
The only thing I'm worried about it how short is too short. I've heard varied lengths.. right now the top is almost 4 inches, but the back is about 2 inches (and the sides are exactly 1 inch). I was planning to grow it out more before I dread so right now I'm in the weighting period and here to find out all I can before I redread. I'm still not to sure how I should go about it this next time around, but that's where this site comes it. I want to learn all I can and if anyone wants to friend/email me to share your experiences, please do! I'd greatly appreciate it!
Thanks,
Gypsy - Melinda
I really like this start. Although i'm a girl, I have a short boystyle mohawk that is similar to this length right now. So its pretty awesome to see someone else starting their dread journey with this short of hair as well. I'm not alone, yay! 
Good luck on your journey. Looking forward to more pictures.
This is the shampoo I started using after taking out my dreads (to start over) to heal it before I tried to dread again. I've used 3 different types by them and they all leave my hair somewhat dry but feeling clean for sure! I LOVE their products too! Even the pet paw salve.
But like you I wonder if this would work good for dreads.. I haven't tried it yet because my hair is to short to dread right now.. but if anyone else has tried it on their dreads please let me know if it works well (doesn't loosen them).
