Hey guys, I'm new here, and new to dreads too.I have wanted dreadlocks for as long as I can remember, but have never had the patience to grow my hair. Anyway, I am now ready to make this commitment and have been growing my hair for some time now.I am now at the stage of wanting to get my hair locked, but am unsure on the bet way to do this. I had done some research online and found a guy called Dready / Studio Marley, who uses 'natural methods, no wax'. It turns out he uses a crochet hook, which I have been advised is a bad way to do things. Any more thoughts on this?Throughout my research, several people have told me to either (a) let my hair lock naturally, or (b) twist n rip it myself, and stay away from salons. Initially, I am looking for more "perfect" looking dreads, which is probably a cardinal sin as far as you guys on here are concerned. With the DIY job, I am not confident in my ability to be able to do this, and my wife is not confident in her ability to do it either. Neither of us want to cock it up... If I, or she, were to do it ourselves, does anyone have some kind of fool-proof guide on exactly how to do it?Plus, are all salons that bad?!I'd appreciate any guidance / advice / etc, and thanks already to Soaring Eagle, who suggested I post this discussion on here.Thanks...
updated by @mr-nice: 02/14/15 09:38:25AM
New dreads
well look around here u will see many many ppl started out thinking they wanted the so called perfect dreads then discovered that the least perfect dread was the favorite dread and the perfect uniform dreads were just boring and sillythe few ppl who went to salons alll regretted it most started over within a few days or months (most salon dreads are started over within 3 months)crochet breaks so many hairs makes them soo tight and stiff they are 1/3 as thick as they should be and if u dont crochet constantly forever they become fuzzy as hell and if u do crochet they get weak and thinned out and break off\twist and rips soo easy u and your wife can do 1 right this minute and see for yourselfi gotta tell u tho the more u try to get perfect dreads the more u are missing the point u will allllllllllllllllllways be disastisfied working your ass off rubbing rolling smearing on products poking with tools spending hundreds of hours and never acheiving what u wantdreads should be the oposite setting u free letting the dreads do as they pleaseloving the chaosdreading by making dreads u panic the very next day over every single loose hair but if u go natural u love every change as it gets messy as it gets knotty and finaly gets dreadyok so back to t&ru gotta understand dreads 1st..u cannot mess up dreads if u do em yourself section the hair the size u want the dreads but randomly not square just section so the hairs are not goi8ng from 21 section into the other then twist it and split in 2 (random splits not in 2 equal parts diferent sizes each time) pull the 2 parts away from eachotherput back together spilit again diferent place pout together split do that 5 or more times then retwistrepeatnow here is why u cant mess it upcause u are not creating dreads! dreading doesnt start untill u stop doing anything!thats how natural dreads formall twist and rip or backcomb or crochet does is define the sections that wil;l become dreads with a bit of damage caused twist and rip not much at all backcomb moderate damage..crochet severe..the dreading starts later when u stop doing all thatnow wanna know how simple dreading really is?my 1st few dreads were started by slipping beads on straight unknotted hair and waiting a week..no effort nothing but a bead slipped ion..thats how easy dreading is..u cant mess that up because it happens by allowing the hair to get messy!!so u define the sections wit twist and ripit doesnt matter 1 bit what they look like on day 1..because by week 1 they wont look the same by week 3 they'll be dreading beautifully
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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
twist and rip is not difficult, unless u r totaly useless in any kind of manual job... its just a labour..have a look at youtube for twist and rip, focus on the final look of the dread and if u like it, imitate it. also be patient, its a hard work and take long time, but at least its not painful for you, just the hard work for the person doing it.do few a day and dont worry about it too much...its not a rocket science, just a hair of a cavemen..salons... they want to make money so speed the process up as much as possible with different products, ways... anyway why would u pay for it if u can do it yourself, its not gonna be any better there trust me...;)and its a great satisfaction to create something just the way u want it...i would tell u too go natural but if u want a neater dreads, t'n'r done properly will look the way u want... twist once, rip apart about 6 times...but u ll see, just wash properly beforehand, cause otherwise it will never dread...hope it makes sense...good luck!
dr bronners liquid soap, tee tree best... cleans your hair properly, u could use the baking soda/vinegar recipe u find here on site somewhere... but i think for a beginner its easier use bronners... u ll find that your hair after wash is less slicky, less oily.. contrary to shampoo..also great help is salt water rinse before dreads (after wash)... swim in a sea or imitate the sea water and put it on your hair.. than dry it and start t'n'r.... Mr Nice said:
Thanks guys! Just found a good vid on YouTube that shows the TnR process, and it does look pretty simple... This is probably a question for another section of the forum, but as you mentioned washing my hair properly, Mikey, what should I use?
Thanks again =)
thats the sea salt i was talking about... Mr Nice said:
Was just reading about locking accelerator and lock pepper... Are these as bad, and unnecessary, as wax?!
the accelerator costs 10 bucksbuy 2 bucks worth of sea salt and u can make 385 times more accelerator then u get fir 10the peppa is dirt..store bought dirt and dandruff..flakes..pointless comp0letely
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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
