Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Catherine on January 4, 2012 at 2:20am

Am I correct to assume you done them your self? They look very braidy, hence they may take a while to knot up. My suggestion would be to let them dread naturally. If you are not happy with them now you definitely wont like them when they are teenagers and they seem intent on ruining your life, lmao. From what I have seen teenage manufactured dreads are a lot more wild then naturally formed dreads..You have all lumps and loops popping out everywhere where the hair was "made" to sit instead of allowing it to find its own place...If you know what I mean. How much research have you done? How many stories have you read about others experiences? I recommend reading everything you can read on this site...copy and paste anything you find valuable and make your own little booklet that you can refer back to whenever you need to. Don't rush into anything that you are not 100% sure of. Good luck with your journey and I look forward to seeing the results in a few months :O)

Take care

Cat

bands and musiciansPermalink Reply by Janice on January 4, 2012 at 10:51am

Hi luv

I did TnR myself.  Mine didn't look like braids, though.  In fact, at first they just looked like separated strings of hair!  It was a bit discouraging, since it took so much work.  Then I did massive palm-rolling for a couple of weeks until my hands ached.  I shake my head at this now that I know dreads really don't require work and will form on their own. 

I will try to attach a pic of me now, about 2 mo. in.  They do plump up and get EXTREMELY loopy and some parts of my hair now feel/look very matted - but I understand it's all part of the process.  The main aspect of dreads I think folks struggle with is PATIENCE.  It is a very spiritual process in this regard.  You are not going to wake up tomorrow or even in 6 months and have "awesome looking dreads" in any sort of movie star way.  But if you can just relax and laugh a little at how they look as they develop, they are awesome enough!

Soaring Eagle is not a big fan of rubber bands.  They can get stuck in your dreads and incorporate into them, which is kind of icky.  I used them myself until I got to the point that I embraced all of the looseness as just part of the process.

Good luck on your journey!  The pic of me playing didge is when my babies were brand new, about a week old.  The other pics are within the last couple of weeks as I approach the 2 month mark.

Attachments:

• DREADful2 001.jpg, 3.2 MB
• DREADful2.jpg, 3.2 MB
• DREADful2 011.jpg, 3 MB

Permalink Reply by Monica Wittig on January 4, 2012 at 11:48am

Yeah I did them myself with the help of one other friend. We both learned from YouTube haha. I did a TON of research, but I had a hard time finding personal experiences.
Catherine said:

Am I correct to assume you done them your self? They look very braidy, hence they may take a while to knot up. My suggestion would be to let them dread naturally. If you are not happy with them now you definitely wont like them when they are teenagers and they seem intent on ruining your life, lmao. From what I have seen teenage manufactured dreads are a lot more wild then naturally formed dreads..You have all lumps and loops popping out everywhere where the hair was "made" to sit instead of allowing it to find its own place...If you know what I mean. How much research have you done? How many stories have you read about others experiences? I recommend reading everything you can read on this site...copy and paste anything you find valuable and make your own little booklet that you can refer back to whenever you need to. Don't rush into anything that you are not 100% sure of. Good luck with your journey and I look forward to seeing the results in a few months :O)

Take care

Cat

Permalink Reply by Monica Wittig on January 4, 2012 at 11:52am

Thanks, Janice :) Your dreads look great in these photos! How many do you have?

Janice said:

Hi luv

I did TnR myself.  Mine didn't look like braids, though.  In fact, at first they just looked like separated strings of hair!  It was a bit discouraging, since it took so much work.  Then I did massive palm-rolling for a couple of weeks until my hands ached.  I shake my head at this now that I know dreads really don't require work and will form on their own. 

I will try to attach a pic of me now, about 2 mo. in.  They do plump up and get EXTREMELY loopy and some parts of my hair now feel/look very matted - but I understand it's all part of the process.  The main aspect of dreads I think folks struggle with is PATIENCE.  It is a very spiritual process in this regard.  You are not going to wake up tomorrow or even in 6 months and have "awesome looking dreads" in any sort of movie star way.  But if you can just relax and laugh a little at how they look as they develop, they are awesome enough!

Soaring Eagle is not a big fan of rubber bands.  They can get stuck in your dreads and incorporate into them, which is kind of icky.  I used them myself until I got to the point that I embraced all of the looseness as just part of the process.

Good luck on your journey!  The pic of me playing didge is when my babies were brand new, about a week old.  The other pics are within the last couple of weeks as I approach the 2 month mark.

bands and musiciansPermalink Reply by Janice on January 4, 2012 at 12:33pm

That's kind of you.  I have about 40 I think.  If the loose hairs are driving me batty I just wrap them around the closest dread and stick a bead over top rather than an elastic.  And it looks cool, too! hee hee

Permalink Reply by Monica Wittig on January 4, 2012 at 2:03pm

Nice! I don't have very many, and I think that's the reason there are so many gaps in the back. I think I might split each dread into 2 and maybe backcomb instead of twist and rip (or twist and rip with some backcombing)... Haha I hate to say that 'cuz my friend was at my house yesterday for 12 hours working on them with breaks for meals and stuff, but I really don't like them the way they are now... When I look at others' dread photos I tend to prefer those who have lots and lots of really small ones.

Janice said:

That's kind of you.  I have about 40 I think.  If the loose hairs are driving me batty I just wrap them around the closest dread and stick a bead over top rather than an elastic.  And it looks cool, too! hee hee

vip supportersPermalink Reply by elke.in.alaska on January 4, 2012 at 2:10pm

Welcome Monica :). I did TnR on most of my dreads as well. It's really hard to tell from a picture, but I would agree that yours look very braidy. It looks like there was minimal knotting while you were doing the "rip" part. I found that it was necessary to hold the strands of hair closer to the bottom and a little bit loose so that when you pulled the sections apart, the looser strands of hair could be pulled up and tangled. Also you can pull apart several times in the same section or just split it a tiny bit differently rather than a full 90 degree turn before ripping again and that will decrease that braidy look. If you do this by the time you get to the ends it has a very tapered look. Those scragglers you can leave whispy or palm roll into the dread. Varying opinions exist about that. :). Of course if you leave yours they way they are eventually they will dread. It'll just take longer and when you take out the bands it's more likely the bottoms will untangle because of the lack of knots. Welcome to the journey :)

Permalink Reply by Monica Wittig on January 4, 2012 at 3:21pm

Thank you! I feel like I'm definitely gonna learn a lot of valuable lessons involving patience on this journey :)

elke.in.alaska said:

Welcome Monica :). I did TnR on most of my dreads as well. It's really hard to tell from a picture, but I would agree that yours look very braidy. It looks like there was minimal knotting while you were doing the "rip" part. I found that it was necessary to hold the strands of hair closer to the bottom and a little bit loose so that when you pulled the sections apart, the looser strands of hair could be pulled up and tangled. Also you can pull apart several times in the same section or just split it a tiny bit differently rather than a full 90 degree turn before ripping again and that will decrease that braidy look. If you do this by the time you get to the ends it has a very tapered look. Those scragglers you can leave whispy or palm roll into the dread. Varying opinions exist about that. :). Of course if you leave yours they way they are eventually they will dread. It'll just take longer and when you take out the bands it's more likely the bottoms will untangle because of the lack of knots. Welcome to the journey :)

Permalink Reply by Monica Wittig on January 7, 2012 at 2:33pm

Just wanted to let you guys know I ended up combing out each dread and splitting it into 3 smaller ones. I'm liking the results much more! I also bought some beads and they look awesome! This is a picture of my new dreads the first night I did them - I took out most of the rubber bands (I still have some on a few tips), and I haven't used my salt spray for 2 days so they're not so dry anymore now.

bands and musiciansPermalink Reply by Janice on January 7, 2012 at 4:23pm

Lookin' good!

Permalink Reply by Ethon O'Brien on June 1, 2012 at 10:46pm

i assure you they dont stay that way. just leave them be and they will fatten up all on their own. dont mess with them too much. dont make the mistake i did of trying to combine them to thicken them. give them some time, i assure you theyll look amazing and bumpy and full

Permalink Reply by Earth Artisan Rasta Mama on March 15, 2013 at 5:53pm

 I did Twist and rip finally on my whole head on january 12th this year and mine to look stringy but not like braids. Did you wrap your loose hair around them?

They will get better you kinda just need to leave them alone. I dont palm roll mine I do Add Shea butter to them once a week to keep them hydrated and I do seperate them also as they try to grow together. The locs I have in the back of my head are 3 years old and at first I was like oh goodness they look terrible but the mature on their own.  My only oh no now about the new ones it the way they frizz up..

My locs have matured fast as I think the fact that I do not show my hair at all except when I am home makes a difference and has helped them...  

Be patient they will work themsleves out :)

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