lumpy ends and persistently blunting tips

Hello,

My set of natural/ neglect dreads are now 18 months, they have shrunk from the middle of my back to some about 3 inches long, and with some hair still undreaded. I will try to take some photos to show how crazy it is at the mo.

What is really getting me down is how the ends have turned out. It feels like there is about 12 inches of hair dreaded in the bottom inch of the dread while the rest is skinny with only a few lumps and bumps. I really wanted loose ends but they persistently fold over on themselves creating bit fat lumps with blunted ends. I have unravelled several ends and put beads on but they still manage to blunt again. Its not so much the blunting that bothers me if thats what they want to do, but the fact that they fold over and over to create big lumps on the ends.

Has anyone else experienced this or have any suggetions what I can do, or does it somehow all work out in the end? I try to have faith that they will all work out eventually but its so hard having a' bad hair day' for 1 1/2 years, now I have this crazy lumpy mullet going on. I will try to take some pics so you can see what I mean.

Thanks for any suggestions

updated by @jodi: 01/13/15 09:55:55PM

I totally hear you. Mine are 14 month old and i have many like this too with massive lumpy tips that have blunted and then loopy lumpy middles. I rekon it must be fine the rest of the dread will catch up. I guess we can always un blunt the tips when its matured if we,re not into it. Pics would be good to share too. I really need to update my timeline in a big way.

Thanks Christina, it seems like this happens to quite a few people I wonder if its a hair-type thing, mine is very fine and wavy. I don't have time to take my dreads out ( which I feel like doing every now and then) so I guess I'm just going to have to hope they will work out. This whole journey has been a test in patience and letting go, my hair has been a crazy mess for so long I'm just longing for the day I finally feel like i have dreads and not just ugly hair. Will try for those pics soon. All the best x

well we are both on this journey together! I in fact had one of those days yesterday we're I wanted to comb but its all good now!! (all because I was worried about dressing up for a friends wedding!) Its annoying when you get the niggle though -_-

So. New day today!! :D My dreads are shrinking up loads just now and I feel like their gonna be that way for a while. I had really thick curls before dreading and hair grew slowly. But as we're in this for the long haul we will rock beautiful long locks one day. we gotta just take one day at a time. I will really try and post some pictures soon and you will see for sure that you are not alone in this!

Peace x

OP -- Hmm, is your hair shoulder-length, by chance?

Yours looks shoulder-ish length, Christina.

So maybe the ends just hit your shoulders so much that they tend to knot like that?

I'm just brainstorming here.

My hair was down to my lower back and shrank above my shoulders. So about 2 feet or more of hair ended up in really short dreads. I think out of all of my dreads 2 of them did not blunt. They got these really flat medallions on the tips. The sides of the medallions started to curl around and eventually became rope like. My ends are still thicker than the rest of my dreads...but they do blend in. I have many many baby dreads that are all forming in the same way...little balls on the ends. It is just part of the process for some of us. But I promise it does get better over time.

Mine have blunted also, all on their own. Those nice fat balls on the end, with like you said, inches of hair in those ends. Our dreads are unique and do what they want, In three years time we will barely notice them fro the rest of the hair. I figure the ends will lock up when they are good and ready, lots of hair in there to tighten up.....be patient, I do know how hard it is sometimes.....peace

Thanks for all your support, it is good to know that this happens to other people too. Its easy to see pics of peoples hair a few months in and it looks amazing and just get really disheartened when i look in the mirror. In response to Laura - my hair was at my mid back,- and just seems to dread by forming a ball on the end and rolling itself up!

I don't even feel like I have dreads yet as my hair is still pretty loose at the roots with just the ends knotted up, over and over again on themselves, I get sad as I haven't really enjoyed them yet, its a struggle to get it looking halfway decent and I still don't know how I will look 'with dreads' and yet its 1 and half years in. Ah well, I have a young son so absolutely no time to sit and take them out which is perhaps a blessing, I will just have to learn more patience! And Faith! Thank you for responding, it does help to share experiences, and like Barrellady said, in a few years I won't care what the ends are like so much anyway. Much love x

yeah this is happening to me also ,

one day you notice that you have long natural dread, and after a week you find that the tips have just folded into themselves leaving you with a shorter dread and a funky tip. haha well it doesnt really bother me other than the fact that i have lost several inches because of this i actually think it looks pretty cool.

the same thing also happened to one of my TNR dreads, the tip just folded in themselves now it looks like a neglect dread.

some pics would be nice so we can see your process

goodluck!