Newbie ~how to best dread my tangled head?!?

Hi there!!! So I recently went to a festival and my long thin strait hair ended up a lovely tangled mess. It sparked the desire for dreads, or rather brought it to the forefront! Upon researching how for the past week I ended up reading the dread 101 page here and know this has got to be the best place for my questions.

The big question I have right now is should I separate my mass of tangles into manageble dreads and go natural, or should I brush it out and do the twist and rip method?!? Can I possibly do a bit of both?!?! I had imagined fairy neat thin dreads, but not so neat like the crocheted ones, still with a bit of funk, but I'm not sure I can hang with the all natural...possibly too funky for me and my lifestyle

Also want to avoid any headaches from too much tangles, any tips?!

Probably be good if I took a picture of my hair now huh, maybe I'll get to that tomorrow!

Well thanks a ton loves!

*And Soaring Eagle...you are like the dread god, here answer the sincere requests of the people, so friggin sweet!!!! Thank you dear <3!!!

updated by @anya-zama: 02/14/15 02:11:41PM

you went to a fest and its already dreading thats what 3 4 days? the answers odvios

seperate any that are too big or joining togetrher

your a freaky fairy lioness right ..that was u wasnt it?

embrace your true self and let your hair be your hair..

it knows what its doing

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

awesome way to put it

soaring eagle said:

a freaky fairy lioness

If you're hair is already super tangled, leave it be. Separate to the size sections you want, and just let them keep going. If you brush them out, you will be resetting the process. Why reset what you already started

Just continue to let them tangle and then separate them into sizes that you think you want (or let them section themselves and then separate as needed to stop them joining). Natural method isn't as messy as people think. Well, no, it is but I mean, dreading is messy no matter what you do. But the natural method...you don't end up with insane dreads. Unique, definitely, but I wouldn't say they'd create a negative aura about you to anyone who didn't already hate dreads.

Well this is exciting, thank you all!!

As silly as it sounds I will shamelessly admit that after reading your comment Soaring Eagle, I went into cathartic crying....tears of joy and release...letting go of all fears surrounding the societal implications. Total experiential understanding of the spiritual nature of what these roots mean for me on my path right now. Beautiful.

I'm posting a few pics of my hair yesterday before I separated it and today after I started separating...in case anyone can give me any other tips for my kind of hair. I probably have around 15 little dreads beginning now. It seems like it might take quite a while with my kind of hair though, but I had been using shampoo and conditioner up until yesterday, so stopping that might make a big difference huh. I plan to just use diluted Bronners or baking soda from now on. I am still curious if it might be best for me, or even fun to use the twist and rip method on sections of hair that aren't tangled at all...to speed up the process too?!?! I definitely know I don't want to end up having any loose hairs once it's all said and done, except around my face.

Well thanks again for any input!

~*~ Loads of love & blissness ~*~

Those pics are from yesterday, here's from today...

YES!

Ixchel said:

awesome way to put it

soaring eagle said:

a freaky fairy lioness

Um, that last sentence is deeply hilarious

Tara C said:

Just continue to let them tangle and then separate them into sizes that you think you want (or let them section themselves and then separate as needed to stop them joining). Natural method isn't as messy as people think. Well, no, it is but I mean, dreading is messy no matter what you do. But the natural method...you don't end up with insane dreads. Unique, definitely, but I wouldn't say they'd create a negative aura about you to anyone who didn't already hate dreads.

the natural process is beautiful in fact the messkier your hair gets the more compliments u get the more beautiful you feel

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1