The importance of daily hot water rinses

ok so i really aint a real expert on this. im just using my knowledge of water's effect on the hair and a lil bit of experience (errrrrr 5 day tehehe), so dun b rude or act like a smart ass cuz i know im not an expert.the dreading of hair is due to the cuticles of the hair interlocking with eachother. when water touches the hair, it actually breaks down the hydrogen bonding in hair (making it more permeable especially in African (nappy) hair, and those bonds usually reappear as the hair dries. hot water opens the cuticles of the hair. this is true. now what im thinking now. if one does a daily hot water rinse in the shower, it could possibly help with the dreading process because you are opening the cuticles, allowing movement in the hair (the hot, not burning, water) and when you leave the shower entering the cooler air , the hair would be a lil more closer together, allowing the cuticles to slightly close on each other, making the dread a lil bit faster. that is my hypothesis. oh and dont forget that wonderful gift of shrinkage (yay nappy hair )ive done it for a couple of days now, and my hair seems to dread a lil faster because the ends are closing up and rounding up (i started my dreads with braids); it seems like good results to me (just look at my pics). im gonna test out this experiment even further and ill give updates. what do you guys think about this. i would say give it a shot. the science seems to work in your favor. it wouldn't really hurt and there's no permanent damage, as long as you moisturize. it just might work!!!! especially if you have a lot of shrinkage like me :P . feel free to give your thought on the matter. i would love to hear em.
updated by @kathleen1: 02/14/15 05:45:43AM

I agree with this, I don't have african hair, I actually have very very straight fine hair, but I swam a lot in the summer and I take super hot showers, and after each shower my hair locks up more (also congos more) and I have mega mega shrinkage. Some of my dreads that were down past my shoulders are now just past my eyes. That much shrinkage, like 75%, and I haven't done salt water or crocheting or rolling or any other maintenance besides ripping apart congos.

yay.... someone make this thread public.THE PPL MUST KNOW!!! O.OGOD I FUCKING LOVE SCIENCE. >.> <.< >.>sorry but science is so awesome you guysok done being off topic continue with teh feedback :P

Yeah when I swam every day my dreads were new, so they were barely locked, but as time goes on they are taking longer and longer to dry. I don't get my dreads wet every shower now that they're tighter, only about once a week now, and as they get even tighter I'll probably have to go with once a month. But at first when they were first forming I noticed the same correlation Kathleen did, that they were tighter after each wash or each swim.Prior to dreading it was when my hair was wet that it tangled the most, and if I didn't get all the tangles out before it dried it would be a crazy mess and would get even tighter tangled. One of the reasons I chose to dread, no more time wasted brushing hair that clearly loves to tangle. LOL

Knottysleeves said:

Washing does help locking -- I always have to rip & separate my dreads afterwards!

However, daily washes/rinses is NOT a good idea. Moisture is what leads to mold and dread rot... and if you get them wet every day, they won't have enough time to thoroughly dry inside. Just because they "feel" dry doesn't necessarily mean they are, especially once your dreads thicken up and start to mature. You'd be surprised how long it can take for the dense cores to get totally dry.

well the cuticles really have nothing to do with locking if you exacmine a microscopic view ith cuticles when open barely protrude and really have no place in the locking process the locking is knotting which washing does help so when wet they do knot up easier its not becaue of the open cuticles thoughopen cuticles alow oil penentration and cold rince will close them sealing in oils making the scalp not over produce to compensate for oil lossso the opening and closing norishes the hair, but the open cuticles dont interlock at all they cant they dont protrude enough and when closed theyre smoothnow with nappy hair wetting it the water weight draws it down making it longer and gets more tangled in the process then when it dries it curls back up tightening as it does making the knots tighterok if this is a greatly magnified haitr folicle witdth |--------| with open cuticles its like this \-------/ and they cant rerally interlock with anything unless theres the highly unlikly event of a har thats twisted 180 degrees so the tops facing the scalp and rootrs facing the tips and totaly parelel and in very close proximity so the cuticles can interlock like this \-----\/------/ (the \ amnd / forming the \/ are from oposite sides interlocking)also when backcombed all the cuticles are damaged and stuck open


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

soaringeagle said:

well the cuticles really have nothing to do with locking if you exacmine a microscopic view ith cuticles when open barely protrude and really have no place in the locking process the locking is knotting which washing does help so when wet they do knot up easier its not becaue of the open cuticles though
open cuticles alow oil penentration and cold rince will close them sealing in oils making the scalp not over produce to compensate for oil loss
so the opening and closing norishes the hair, but the open cuticles dont interlock at all they cant they dont protrude enough and when closed theyre smooth

now with nappy hair wetting it the water weight draws it down making it longer and gets more tangled in the process then when it dries it curls back up tightening as it does making the knots tighter



ok if this is a greatly magnified haitr folicle witdth |--------| with open cuticles its like this \-------/ and they cant rerally interlock with anything unless theres the highly unlikly event of a har thats twisted 180 degrees so the tops facing the scalp and rootrs facing the tips and totaly parelel and in very close proximity so the cuticles can interlock like this \-----\/------/ (the \ amnd / forming the \/ are from oposite sides interlocking)

also when backcombed all the cuticles are damaged and stuck open

ahhh i seee.....ignore that part i said about the cuticles then.

Knottysleeves said:

Washing does help locking -- I always have to rip & separate my dreads afterwards!

However, daily washes/rinses is NOT a good idea. Moisture is what leads to mold and dread rot... and if you get them wet every day, they won't have enough time to thoroughly dry inside. Just because they "feel" dry doesn't necessarily mean they are, especially once your dreads thicken up and start to mature. You'd be surprised how long it can take for the dense cores to get totally dry.

i understand that. but seeing that my dreads are still in the baby stage i can probably continue to do it every day, since they dry fast. i might continue to do it for the next couple of months and then change to wetting my hair every other day, and so on and so forth...

well u were right about washing wetting helping which is why i think its really insane how alotta salons especialy those catering to nappy jhair tekl u not to even wet your head for 6 months even a year and how some ppl omly wash ttheyres when they have a loctician wash em for em..just proveds the average loctician knows absolutely nothing abiut dreading


--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I did a lot of water rinsing when I first started locking. It does help speed up locking (for me) and I agree that in the baby stages, it should be fine.My hair is fully locked now and I occasionally just do a water rinse but I no longer feel the need but I do wash my hair every other day (any longer and my scalp itch/flaking is insane) and do wonder about my hair getting dry inside between washes. Where I live it is hot as hell in the summer so I don't worry too much about it too much then Either way you should go for it!

thanks alot for this post, didnt really look at it that way...being in the start of my dread journey i will def use this to my advantage while my hair drying time is still short...Bless*