I appreciate everyone's advice, thank you. I know that I tend to be over-critical of my own dreads, and as this is the third set, I really want them to be "perfect". lol. But they aren't, and I'm accepting that they can still be beautiful. I do have one dread that for some reason, you can see the square all the way around it. Maybe in time it'll go away.
I am pretty sure I'm ripping them like you said... I just hate that you can see tiny specks of white. Is that never going to stop? Or is it abnormal for that to happen? I'll see if I can use a finger to pull out a few hairs at a time and see if there's any difference. Might end up with more loose hairs though.
I searched the forums on this subject and couldn't find the exact topic. Every time I separate my dreads, which I usually do after I wash them, I hear a lot of ripping. It doesn't feel like the hair is ripping out of the scalp, but I can see tiny white specks (broken hair follicles) all around the bases of my dreads, which are dark brown. It worries me that I'm doing it wrong, that I'm ruining my dreads, and it makes me look like I'm covered in dandruff. I've had this set of dreads for a year next month, and if I'm doing something to harm them, I'd definitely like to know now so I can stop!! Should I be separating IN the shower? Should I put anything on the roots? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
I'm on my third set of dreads right now, all of which were backcombed (because I didn't know of any other way). All of them had kinks and character. In fact, my last set, which I had for a year and a half, I combed out because I was tired of them looking so untidy! Silly me, if I'd left them alone, they would be so beautiful right now. I'm sure over time they will look more natural and gain more character. Just wash and separate, as stated before. Best of luck on your journey.
In my experience with dark brown hair, it just fades over time, not even very long. So if it were me, I'd just wash and wash and it probably wouldn't be long before you could dye a red over it. It'd look vibrant in the sun but nice and dark inside.
Washing your hair with baking soda will help them tighten up, and doing a apple cider vinegar rinse. The tips will almost always take the longest. It's up to you what you do with them, but I really like how dreads look with wispies. There's more exact information about the baking soda/acv rinse in the maintenance pages. Best of luck to you! 
After two washings with De Solv It followed by a baking soda soak and apple cider vinegar rinse, my hair feels MUCH better. And the coolest thing is, it's starting to get it's personality back! Every one of my dreads is super kinked and loopy, whereas before they were all straight. I'm starting to like it. ^_^ When they grow out a few more inches I may run that stuff through them again to see if there's still more wax in them, but for now, I'm just happy they're better off than they were.
A few months ago (a month or so after I started my dreads with wax) I went to Wal Mart looking for De Solv It, and they didn't carry it. So I ordered some online. The bottle sat on my shelf for a few months, and I thought "I only waxed them a couple of times, they're probably fine". Which brings me to this morning. I decided it was time to get rid of the nastiness, and Iused almost a whole bottle on my hair. It really did a great job of loosening the wax, but it was very a disgusting process, and I ran out of the spray and hot water in the shower before I really felt I was making progress. I ran back to Wal Mart hoping and praying that they'd have more, and they did! So I bought two more bottles for less than I paid for one online. Tonight I plan on finishing the job, and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm really upset at myself for spending so much money on DreadHead products, and so much time doing unnecessary maintenance damage to my hair, but I won't give up!
That rope video was so helpful! Thank you!
