Weak hair paranoia

I've had my dreads for about 1 year and 3 months, and they are completely locked and what not. However, for some reason, I am extremely paranoid that the base of my locks are extremely weak. Not necessarily the hair itself, but physically the roots of the hair in my scalp. I will lightly tug on a dread and I will hear ripping sounds, and I am afraid that one day I will accidentally pull a dread too hard and just plain rip it out. I've heard of this happening.For maintenance, I wash my hair once per week with Knotty Boy shampoo (which I know you guys don't support but it has basically the same ingredients as the home made shampoo that SE described i.e. water, rosemary, peppermint, tea tree, aloe), and then I just rinse my hair with pure water once a week. So I get my hair wet 2x per week. I also recently bought a spray moisturizer that is meant for African hair (in an attempt to soften my dreads and perhaps strengthen the roots), but that makes my hair greasy so I'm not using that any more.Am I being unnecessarily paranoid? Feel free to say yes. I just don't want my dreads to fall out
updated by @michael-lacour: 02/14/15 07:16:04AM

9f u didnt interlock crochet felt or obsessivly twist or root rub your fine i wouldnt tug on em all the time but well mine get stepped on wrapped around whhels caugfht in things say t on and are always vbeing yanked on semi hard and only wear and tear i get is at floor level not rootsoh obsessive palm rolling may have added weakness toohad u done any of those?aloew vitamin e and jojoba oil are all good to help make hait stringohg u never said how u started either and at just under 2 years the weakness may have even been from the starting methodsomeone loked it up your whole head of hair should suport the weight of 6 full grown elephants a 1 inch dread should suport your body weightprovided most of the hairs are relativly intact and healthy


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I started with the backcombing method and i palm rolled for the first 5-6 months, but once i felt like my hair was fully locked i basically stopped doing anything to them besides washing.

Could the tearing sound be from the hairs from separate dreads tearing? like separating them?

probably not my locks are pretty well separated. and most of the tearing occurs on the top of my head, which is where they are the most distinctly sectioned.

Common/normal on manufactured dreads.

thanks dreaded shell. your advice is EXACTLY what i was looking for. manufactured or not, this problem concerns me, so i appreciate your advice. i will try the jojoba out ASAP.

Whats your problem? You seem really argumentative and bitchy.I pointed that out because it IS COMMON in MANUFACTURED dreads.Palm rolling for months is excessive and WILL weaken roots.Its not rocket science, keep pulling and twisting roots and they WEAKEN.I don't get whats so hard about that.I point it out so people understand what certain methods do so they can AVOID ruining their hair. The Dreaded Shell said:

actually a friend who went the entirely natural way of total neglect asked my advice on this subject last year.... he found the jojoba with rosemary to be what worked for his dreadlocks so?

Island Mamma said:

Common on manufactured dreads.

I don't think she was intending to be neither argumentative nor bitchy; I think she was just stating the fact that this is a problem on ALL sides of the spectrum (natural/backcombed/tnr/etc). While I do recognize and agree with you that palm rolling and twisting do indeed weaken the hair, the fact is that I manufactured my dreads over a year ago, so at this point it offers me no benefit to know that manufactured dreads are weak. I know this already and there is nothing I can do about it.I, as well as many other people, come to this site seeking advice. And I love this site because I always get advice right away. It's fantastic. Soaring Eagle usually comments within 5 minutes, which shows how much he truly cares and loves dreadlocks and helping people with them. The problem is (which is why The Dreaded Shell has received so much criticism) is that often people don't offer advice. Instead, they quickly adopt an elitist attitude towards the natural method and simply say that "manufactured dreads are weak" or that palm rolling "destroys" hair. This doesn't help me at all. While some people believe that natural methods are the best (and to each their own), other people desire more straight/sculpted looking dreads, while simultaneously keeping them as healthy and natural as possible. I personally fall into the second category, but I still turn to this website because I love experienced advice quick responses. So instead of simply saying "common/normal on manufactured dreads...manufactured dreads are weak," which I already know, it would be more beneficial to offer advice to the question I posed instead of criticize me for something that I did over a year ago.Please don't get defensive or offensive in response to this comment. I just want to point out that people have different beliefs about dreadlocks, and all I want is help based on my method of choice. Island Mamma said:

Whats your problem? You seem really argumentative and bitchy.

I pointed that out because it IS COMMON in MANUFACTURED dreads.

Palm rolling for months is excessive and WILL weaken roots.

Its not rocket science, keep pulling and twisting roots and they WEAKEN.

I don't get whats so hard about that.

I point it out so people understand what certain methods do so they can AVOID ruining their hair.

The Dreaded Shell said:

actually a friend who went the entirely natural way of total neglect asked my advice on this subject last year.... he found the jojoba with rosemary to be what worked for his dreadlocks so?

Island Mamma said:

Common on manufactured dreads.

island mommas right overworking can be the cause and most likely is i mean i get mine steped on and stop me dread in my tracks or yank mt head into mt knees just to show u the force and nevrr have tearing sounds jusrt the ends that ger stepped on alot show wear n tearu shouldnt have that weakness but the treatment was sound jojoba etc it will help as much as anything can help wealker ends peobly wont break till theyre longerbreakage usualy comes from overtewistng felting interlocking and crochrtting anything with tools odviosly over palm rollings probly not gonna cause u to berwak in just a year or 2dont over seperate if a root feeks weekened let it combine how long ago did u stop all the rolling?use the oil and get s few incges growth and they'll be fuineunless yoir really harming the roots weaknesses usua,y end up being towards the ends after yearsbut your on the right path to keeping em strong and healthy from herre on and the d


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1