Need help deciding what method to use

Hey everyone, I have been growing my hair out [previously a mohawk] for well over a year now in order to get ready for dreads. I am finally at a point now where I would like to begin the process. I have been washing my hair with baking soda/acv for a few weeks now, but am still undecided on the method that I should use. I have semi-thick caucasian hair and I want my dreads to be somewhat uniform in thickness. I have read that neglect is the best way to dread, but will this result in varying thicknesses throughout?

Is there a way to section it out , that wont be damaging long term, and then use the neglect method?

Also, my hair was previously dyed black. I have about 3 inches of growout and ultimately want my dreads to just be my natural color which is a light brown. I used a color remover I found at riteaid which didn't really work [shocker!] It left my hair a bit lighter, but with a reddish tinge. Should I attempt to lighten my hair or will that make the dreading process more difficult?

Thanks for the help! Love the site

updated by @sarah13: 02/14/15 11:38:21AM

If you want to lighten your hair try going to a Sally Beauty Supply and pick up a bleach with a blue base in it and ask them which developer you should use (30 or 40 - they will be better equipped to assess how many shades lighter to take it and how much damage there is already from the remover.) The blue base will cancel out the orange (and violet cancels the yellow.) If you get it to en equivalent or lighter level than your natural brown then you can dye it to match if you so desire.

With neglect there is no guarantee that you will get uniform partings. If you want to use a starter method, try the twist and rip method (check out the dreaducation page for more info on this.) With TnR you can decide on the sectioning, as a guideline. The dreads will sort of do their own thing (including unraveling and re-dreading) but this will give you more control over your parting sizes. Even though the TnR will make them look thin, your matured locks will be closer to the size of the partings so don't try to go too big.

why do u want them uniform in sizes? how boring u can keep them semi uniform just by seperating them if they get too big

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

You could braid your hair for a bit let the roots dread then un braid and let the bottems do there own thing or twist n rip good luck

Thanks Valerie and Naddy for your helpful responses! I think I will start by sectioning them out and braiding them, and then work one at a time with the twist n rip and then leave them to do what they may and see how that goes.

Thanks for the info about the dye Valerie. I will go to my local beauty supply and see if someone there can help me pick out the best bleach with a blue base and developer for my hair.

I thought you would be more helpful than just telling me that the dreads I want are boring. I never said I wanted them perfect, I just want them to have some consistency throughout and not have one huge dread here and a really skinny one there.

soaring eagle said:

why do u want them uniform in sizes? how boring u can keep them semi uniform just by seperating them if they get too big

u said uniform and that is boring and you will think so too so manypeople start off wanting them all the same then 1 dread refuses to be the same and ends up being the fave

its really better to have a mix of sizews thast blend if they are all simular theres a harsh looking conformity gaps between dreads cause theres no thinner ones to fill in the gaps

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

just trying to save u the trouble of splitting dreads combining dreaads and redoing sections

the best way to go is to let it section itself it will section perfectly for your head

then theres way less chance that sections will try to split when u force sections often they reject your sectioning and try to revert to 2 or 3 dreads at the roots but they are still fused together further dowwn

your natural sectioning will blend perfectly and look best

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Thank you for explaining. That does make sense. I think I will take your advice and let it do it's own thing and just make sure to separate any that start to get too big. I have been waiting a long time for my hair to grow and luckily I came across this site before beginning the process. I want to do it right the first time so that I will not have to "fix" anything major later on and it seems that neglect is thepreferredmethod for that.

As for the neglect method, is there anything that should be avoided? Right now, I wear hats every day, both normal and knit.. I would think the normal ones would flatten my hair out which may not be good? but I do have some loose lightweight knit ones I could use.

Also, when I do get my hair wet is there a certain way that I should towel dry it so as not to undo any of them, or does that just push the process along? I usually just give it a good rub with the towel and then wrap it around my head to soak as much water out as I can. then just let it air dry after that.

soaring eagle said:

just trying to save u the trouble of splitting dreads combining dreaads and redoing sections

the best way to go is to let it section itself it will section perfectly for your head

then theres way less chance that sections will try to split when u force sections often they reject your sectioning and try to revert to 2 or 3 dreads at the roots but they are still fused together further dowwn

your natural sectioning will blend perfectly and look best

well tight fitted hats can prevent progress so as loose wool tams a better optiom however they shoulfd hang loose as much as possible and well towel rubbing can go both ways u can rub in knots or rub em out its really better to just shake it out and sun or air dry

Sarah said:

Thank you for explaining. That does make sense. I think I will take your advice and let it do it's own thing and just make sure to separate any that start to get too big. I have been waiting a long time for my hair to grow and luckily I came across this site before beginning the process. I want to do it right the first time so that I will not have to "fix" anything major later on and it seems that neglect is thepreferredmethod for that.

As for the neglect method, is there anything that should be avoided? Right now, I wear hats every day, both normal and knit.. I would think the normal ones would flatten my hair out which may not be good? but I do have some loose lightweight knit ones I could use.

Also, when I do get my hair wet is there a certain way that I should towel dry it so as not to undo any of them, or does that just push the process along? I usually just give it a good rub with the towel and then wrap it around my head to soak as much water out as I can. then just let it air dry after that.

soaring eagle said:

just trying to save u the trouble of splitting dreads combining dreaads and redoing sections

the best way to go is to let it section itself it will section perfectly for your head

then theres way less chance that sections will try to split when u force sections often they reject your sectioning and try to revert to 2 or 3 dreads at the roots but they are still fused together further dowwn

your natural sectioning will blend perfectly and look best

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1