Baking Soda and Sea Salt ratios
Dread Maintenance
Spraying with sea salt? Washing with baking soda? How do I make these solutions??? Well I am a pharmacy tech and I can tell you whats up for wonderful clean and tight dreads.
Na HCO3 Sodium Bicarbonate or Baking Soda is naturally occurring in nature and is found in the oceans and our blood and is used often in medicine and the ER to correct life threatening situations. As a matter of fact there is a specific solution or ratio of water to baking soda that should be used when washing the hair based on the biology of the body and it's PH. After all your hair is living and part of your body! This solution will clean your hair, wash out residues from from previous shampoos after a couple of uses, help baby dreads from, help with hard water, and clean and balance your scalp and is suitable for all hair types.
In metric you would use 1 litre of water to 84 grams of baking soda. In English that is about 1/2 cup of baking soda to 5 cups of water.
Directions: Mix warm water and baking soda (double the amount of each for more hair!) together in a suitable container. Pour some over the hair, get into the scalp and massage it in, repeat until finished. Wrap your hair in a towel for 10-20 mins, then rinse thoroughly with warm water and a cold rinse. Follow this once or twice weekly, or if you are new to dreading your scalp will be going through some changes, and itching will be the result. Use the itching as a guide to rinse your hair (as part of your bathing routine) with plain warm water or the baking soda wash.
Conditioning is based on your hair type and how quickly it dreads and how old the dreads are. You may want to use Aloe Verra gel (with out alchohol) for new dreads or small amounts of jojoba, coconut or almond oils for established dreads. Feel free to mix in a few drops of your favorite essential oils to the above mentioned. Check and see how your hair type reacts to Apple cider vinegar. It is safe to use in small amounts about a table spoon to 1 quart of water as a rinse and a few drops of any of the essential oils that you like can be added to the vinegar before adding the water. Pour over and let sit for 2-5 mins and then rinse.
Sea salt as an accelerator is useful for hair types that do not dread quickly. Sea salt for the table is expensive over time. I would suggest going to a well stocked pet store or aquarium shop to pick up a box of aquarium salt that when mixed properly with water has a specific gravity of salt and nutrients found in the ocean that are equal to the sea to help hair lock up fast, if you do not have regular access to a beach.
Get a durable quart size spray bottle, make a funnel with an index card and stick it into the opening of the bottle add 2 tablespoons of the salt. Add about 1/2 cup of very warm water and swirl the bottle around to dissolve the salt, then add more water to the quart line. Spray your hair to almost dripping and let it sit for 10 to 20 mins followed by a good rinse of plain water or baking soda wash.
Hope this helps and is a good review
updated by @baker-street: 04/04/22 05:32:40AM