Starting dreads in thick curly hair

This worked for me:

I started with very clean, unconditioned hair, and have not used any products/wax etc.

Although i wanted to go as natural as possible I needed to make some kind of sections or I would have had mad congos/beavers tail/big birds nest, as I have very thick, almost like afro hair. I was careful not to give myself a middle parting too...

My friend helped me with the back, but we didn't use a comb or anything, we just grabbed bits of hair about the thickness we thought was right for medium sized locs. Then we split each section in 2 and wrapped the two strands around each other, not very tightly, like loose twists. Then we put rubber bands in the ends, but that was a mistake and i took them out after a few days -dont use rubber bands!!

Anyway, i thought that the twists we did would dread up and form locs, but what has actually happened is over the weeks almost every twist has come un-done, but the two strands have kept their form and locked up-so each twist has now formed 2 baby dreads. I think thats partly why my hair is locking so fast, some of them are about 40% dreaded after just 6 weeks and they are pretty tight.

i'm guessing this won't work so well on straight hair, or that you might end up looking like you used one of those crimper things...but it seems to work for hair like mine.

the washing and drying makes a huge difference in my opinion. I use the BS & ACV method with essential oils. After each wash my hair gets tighter and changes a bit. I don't touch it when wet so as not to disturb the natural sections it wants to make, and the same with drying, i let gravity do its thing and never squeeze water out or use a towel to rub it. My best tip for drying your dreads - go do some gardening.

I keep being asked where i got my hair done lol

updated by @rachel-nattydee: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM

it would have made natural sections and dresded up just as easily without doing that

but u might have had to seoperate as they started to dread alot

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

you don't think the time that the twists did stay together helped the 2 strands to lock up? I guess i'll never know cos I'm planning on keeping these ones! My theory is they had a bit of time to compress before they came undone. Like after my daughter has braids taken out of her hair it stays in the sections for a day or two, until she washes it. But I'll take your word for it ; )

I do think it has helped to keep them 'neatish' and maybe prevent it forming one big congo. I'm very happy with the result :D Thank you SE x

soaring eagle said:

it would have made natural sections and dresded up just as easily without doing that

but u might have had to seoperate as they started to dread alot

yea it might have but i do think it was unesacary to the process and they woulfd have sectioned themselves and compressed just the same possibly in a weekk

its the "i needed to" part that i disagreed with

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

actually on reflection I would advise others to be very cautious about sectioning, as it can go very wrong! And although I'm happy with how mine are coming along, I agree with SE; it's not actually necessary.