Hey all

Hey all, I wanted to introduce myself. Over the past two years I've had many significant changes in my life, but I think the easiest way to explain it is I finally found the courage to cut ties with my 'old' self. I quit my desk job and am now a (struggling) musician. I meditate daily and strive to be fundamentally content; most importantly I don't let others' perceptions of me bring me down.

I think I am finally ready to grow dreads.

After a lot of research I was ready to got to a salon that specializes in backcombing in Los Angeles (Taka Hair Salon), but after discovering and reading many of the posts on this forum, I'm not so sure about that method anymore. I want to try natural dreading but I'm afraid I still don't understand the process (as simple as it seems). My indian and middle eastern heritage has given me thick, naturally wavy hair that grows out in curls if I don't hold it down with a hairband or bandana, and makes me look like the boss from Dilbert Is natural dreading really just as simple as shampooing with residue-free shampoo and then air drying? Is it ok to wear bandanas/beanies during initial months or will that stifle the natural locking? What about conditioners, as my hair is also unfortunately very naturally dry.

Thanks for reading!

updated by @shanti: 01/13/15 08:31:34PM

your airs perfect for dreading naturalycondition if you need to only wen really dry probly aloes bestbut u want some dryness to dread fasto and wraps bandanas are fine wool rtams bettertry it 3 weeks wash dont comb sake em out let dry feel for sections seperawte em from eachoter wear a tam ..3 weeks and see what happends b4 decoidint to go on natural or twist n rip


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

welcome, and your hair will dread just fine. sea salt spray can help it knot up faster.

"My indian and middle eastern heritage has given me thick, naturally wavy hair that grows out in curls if I don't hold it down with a hairband or bandana, and makes me look like the boss from Dilbert Is natural dreading really just as simple as shampooing with residue-free shampoo and then air drying?"Yeah it's that easy, especially for someone with your hair type. You're the kind of cat who cant run his fingers through his hair without finding a tangle in their some where, a lot of people in the dread community may even refer to you people as "lucky bastards".

Vinny said:

"Yeah it's that easy, especially for someone with your hair type. You're the kind of cat who cant run his fingers through his hair without finding a tangle in their some where, a lot of people in the dread community may even refer to you people as "lucky bastards".

True that, my friend. I used to hate it when I was younger that my hair became a tangled mess no matter what, but now I'm feeling a lot happier about it! Thank you all for the kind welcome. Yesterday I went out and bought a bar of Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree soap. I did some reading of other posts, but I'm still not sure what is the correct method to shampoo the hair at this stage. I lather the bar in my hands and apply it with my fingers to the scalp? I'm concerned I might break up the tangles...I took a photo showing what my hair looks like on Day 1 of the journey:

taqt will dread like crazty just use fingertips to scrape scalp dont mess with hair at all then rince it tru


--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Um what I would do is get the soap on my hands and use my whole hand (fingers together) to lather it in, as appose to using my finger tips. You dont want to comb your hair (obviously) and dont forget that most people tend to subconsciously comb with their fingers, so it might help if you refrain from doing that while washing as well. You could honestly probably get away with just rubbing the soap bar directly on your scalp though. Shanti said:

I did some reading of other posts, but I'm still not sure what is the correct method to shampoo the hair at this stage. I lather the bar in my hands and apply it with my fingers to the scalp? I'm concerned I might break up the tangles...

I took a photo showing what my hair looks like on Day 1 of the journey: