Aloha!
Introduce Yourself
Hi CloverQu. welcome from sunny South-West England. Soaring Eagles given you all the best advice, just enjoy the experience and hope you enjoy it all.
Did you forget to type anything here?
Heyo.
I'm only like a couple months into the freeform method. It was accidental, I stopped brushing because I hate my straight hair and it would at least get a little wavy the longer I went without brushing. They started appearing and I don't see a reason to brush them out. There's only like four locs back there, but I think they're adorable.
I am hoping this community is a little more welcoming than r/dreadlocks. I've posted there twice trying to get help and support and I think whenever I mention I have straight hair, they immediately dismiss me. So sorry I look different than the typical loc-er, but I hope I'm still allowed to have locs.
Heyo.
I'm only like a couple months into the freeform method. It was accidental, I stopped brushing because I hate my straight hair and it would at least get a little wavy the longer I went without brushing. They started appearing and I don't see a reason to brush them out. There's only like four locs back there, but I think they're adorable.
I am hoping this community is a little more welcoming than r/dreadlocks. I've posted there twice trying to get help and support and I think whenever I mention I have straight hair, they immediately dismiss me. So sorry I look different than the typical loc-er, but I hope I'm still allowed to have locs.
wow thank you so much this is great info
you joined the minute I gave up on sleeping.
Wow that looks like it could be my friend Amy I haven’t seen in ages. Most likely freeeform could be tnr then freeform.
ok with thinner hair I usually say a couple thicker dreads like 1-2-3 a handful of medium and a bunch of thin.
volume, thickness, and fill in fullness. The couple thicker will add volume a lil bit, if all were thick it would look gappy, big thick ones with thin spaces between. The medium fill in and make it appear thicker, all the thin ones fill in all the spaces making it seem like more hair.
in general they will section as they want, but then try to gobble each other up.
I do recommend separating at least the first couple years— they thicken in the maturing process. Once mature you can choose to allow 2 or more to combine or “Congo” I have as many as 6 in 1 all over my head.
my hairs super thick but recently low iron caused root thinning.
now the roots; they should only tighten to about 1/4 inch from scalp more common 1/2. You want room for a finger under the roots to clean, but also so the hairs not pulling on the scalp.
salon “locs” often are super tight causing the blood to the scalp to die, and the hair between dreads stops regrowing.
on separation, some alow total freeform even if one single dread. Dreads much over 1 inch don’t dry well, and start to cause scalp issues, stench, and puLling issues. Unless you have a religious conviction reason or are prepared to take the risks, I wouldn’t let them get over an inch thick
the root area roughly matches dread size, so consider the area of scalp about the size of a quarter (coin) or just slightly over as the biggest to start. If it’s thinner than a pencil that’s ok too.
I had one 4 feet long (now gobbled up) that was 1 mm x 2 mm and that was 3 micro dreads combined!
my thickest are a tad over an inch, and dry slow, and if tangled or not spread apart to dry can ocassionaly not dry enough and get a mustiness. The wet dog smell. Never an issue with thinner dreads that dry easier.
That was actually one of my questions over there that never got answered! I have always hated having thin hair, so I was thinking I should keep them separate as they form, keeping em small and hopefully eventually creating a thicker looking head of dreads? I really don't know how that will work. Any advice on how to do that?
I am also seeing some stuff online about tugging at the roots. I am thinking I need to keep the first few inches of hair un-locked to prevent that? It seems to be naturally happening, but we've just gotten started so I have no idea what shape they might take. I also am wondering if I should/could keep my front sections of my hair free?
I am having a hard time finding reference pictures of what my straight hair might look like with the free form method. Do you think this picture I found could be close? Is this picture a representation of freeform or something else? I actually like how these look very much, but of course will be happy with whatever my hair decides to do.
Ahh sweet, wait, they weren’t doing what? Weren’t giving in to racist hate? Hi there koala that will dread fast
do you plan to separate to keep some control or let ‘em do as they wish regardless of what they want?