So, I've been conducting a bit of an experiment lately. I've been rather broke and literally don't have enough money to go buy a new spray bottle. I was using mine for thyme tea, but with as much as people complain about people smelling when they have dreads, smelling like the worlds most Italian pizza isn't on my to-do list. The sprayer got clogged and eventually the spray mechanism didn't work at all so I threw it out. Anyway. I was going to start doing a salt spray, but i thought one day while in the shower, why not create an artificial wash out of sea salt that resembles what it'd be like to swim in the ocean? So I did.
I put about an 8th cup of sea salt in a large glass (I'm sure this could be converted to pitcher measurements, but I only have one so I use what I have), with a few drops of lemon oil (3 to be exact) and filled it with rather warm water and poured it over my dry hair, waited a few minutes to let it soak in my hair and rinsed it all out with warm water. It's a fairly strong mix, so if the water is more transparent than not, you might have too weak a rinse. Now this might seem a tad redundant, the washing it out just a few (3-5 minutes later) but it actually works! At first I thought that my hair was just dreading fast on its own, but I'm almost certain that this is what is causing the crazy looping and dreading going on towards the middle and ends of my only ONE MONTH OLD tnr/bc dreads. So if you have significantly oily/thick hair that seems to unravel easy, join me in this experiment and see if it works for you. I'd love to see people getting the same results as I have.
NOTE: I only do this wash once a week, so let's consider that the standard for use. I don't want anyone's scalp or hair going through too much hell. It shouldn't be the case because of how nearly immediate it is meant to be washed out, but just being safe.
updated by @chris-marshall: 01/13/15 08:54:05PM