Taking the plunge

Hi! my name is Giovanna, but everyone calls me Gio (like the car). I haven't actually begun my dreads yet. I joined this site to do more research, and get some advice before I actually take the plunge. One of my main concerns is that my hair is fine, there's a lot of it, but it's very soft and lacks volume so I'm worried that dreads will look eh not so good because of this. Will dreads increase or decrease volume in fine hair? Also, I am concerned about the length of my hair - it is a little past my shoulders at the moment, and I have read a LOT about shrinkage. Is it possible to just dread in extensions, or will I have to grow it out naturally before dreading? If anyone could give me some answers, testimonials, advice it would be greatly appreciated. :]

updated by @gio: 02/14/15 05:55:06AM

I have very thick hair so you will be very happy that you aren't weighted down once your dreads mature. I'm pretty sure they will add volume to your hair, over time, because the hair will move up and down and around the section creating a puffier dread. At first it may look too thin but truly, they will thicken up and get to be about the size of the section at the scalp (so don't try to over compensate by adding too much hair if you use a starter method!!!) Because of this looping and tangling you get the shrinkage you mentioned. Shrinkage is different for everyone and I think it really depends on how long your hair is to start with as well as how straight. Some of my dreads have shrank about 6" since starting them but, as I said earlier, I have really thick hair so I embrace the shrinkage so that I am not dying in this summer heat!

If you go by way of the natural/neglect method, I believe that there is a chance that shrinkage will be less noticeable because the hair will take longer to dread up on it's own and will grow while it does... but since I TnRed I can't vouch 100% for this (just what I noticed.)

I was also planning on doing the twist and rip method to begin, but I think I'm going to hold off until my hair grows out some more or use extensions, if that is a viable option. Can anyone give me some feedback on use of extensions? Thanks for the info Valerie

I do have a friend who put extensions into her hair to start her dreads because her hair was only 5" or so and there needed to be more length. She used the backcomb method for hers. She backcombed about 2" of her roots then overlay human hair to her own and backcombed it together. She used cotton thread to bind the overlapped part in a color that matched her hair so it would be less noticeable and help secure the extensions as they loosened and started to re-dread more permanently.

I also know someone who sort of interlocked extension hair to her own. She created her dreadlocks with backcombing them and then parted a hole in the middle. With the human hair she backcombed them with a loop at the end then tucked the loop into the hole and interlocked them together. Some she bound with wraps and beads, others she bound by kind of backcombing them together.

Honestly, the extension route is rather intensive and doesn't always make the wearer happy. A lot of people who do dreadlocks for spiritual reasons, or find themselves becoming more spiritual from the process, end up yanking the extensions out and starting over, dissatisfied.

I think there may be some groups on here about extensions. If you search the groups you may be able to find someone who has personal experience with this sort of extending. I've made and worn both human and synthetic dreadlock extensions but these were never intended for permanence.

I also don't plan on using extensions for permanence, mainly I'm just worried about shrinkage and my hair takes a very long time to grow. Sort of an 'I want dreads now' thing, but don't want to deal with extremely short hair because I know I won't like it and will end up regretting my decision to dread. I'll check out the groups though thank you.

well its plenty long enough to dread and dreading naturaly it shrinks dreads and grows ant bout the same rates often so instead of shrinki g just doesnt really grow untill mature longer hair tends to shrink more drasticly as well

and once your past that stage it just grows and grows so most find the exteentions more annoying then anything

when you let it section itself naturaly into thi=ck and thin dreads all diferent sizes the thick give it volume while thin fill in gaps giving the impression of more hair

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

If you apply extensions prior to dreading, for length, then they will be incredibly hard to remove because the hair will be dreaded together (and there will still be shrinkage, usually more because of the added length.) In order to remove them you would have to do a comb out.

You could do dreads now, with the length of hair you have, and as it starts to shrink (which will be a while anyway) you can add temp extensions or even hair wraps for a longer effect that is easier to remove from the hair when you are done.

Just keep in mind that if you want them to be temporary you do not want them to end up dreading with your natural hair.

I'm very new into this, only 3 weeks.What soaring eagle says makes sense. As you lock up, your hair is growing. You my get minimal shrinkage in the beginning but I think it will even out. My hair is thin and baby fine. I actually think since I've started it looks like it has more volume. Part of it I think is that I am not using shampoo that weighs down my hair. Before my hair would section out and get stringy and of course I'd brush it, only difference now is I'm letting it get stringy and knot. The only problem I really think I'm having now is constantly having to split apart the sections because of my hair type that knots easily, it is causing sections to knot together constantly. Nothing that can't be done in a few minutes while I chill or watch TV, or sit on the telephone, whatever. I will say though that with my hair being short now, just above my shoulders, I'm looking forward to being able to finally grow it out without it just looking long and stragly. I'm tired of having to cut it all the time and hating my cut. It's hard finding a stylist that does a good job with hair like mine and I usually hate it.

Heidi, that is honestly one of the reasons I am considering dreadlocks as well. I can't seem to grow my hair out as long as I want without it looking gross on the bottoms, and I'm ready for something different. Feedback much appreciated. What technique did you use to make your dreads?

Also, thank you for the added advice on extensions. I've actually never used them before and I think the temporary one are what I'm going to go for. I don't want the possibility of extensions messing up my dreads. How long does shrinkage usually take to start?

Darn it, I replied and deleted. Oh well, anyway. I started letting mine separate and my daughter twisted and ripped the sections. Most of them came out and started dreading almost immediately on their own again except for a few in the front where I don't sleep on them. Those I can see though where they are separating more at the root, so honestly I wish I would have waited and just went natural the whole way. I tend to see that as a recurring theme on here so now I see what they are talking about. If your hair is like mine, it knots VERY easily. I have seen very little shrinkage so far. I tried to get a picture but it didn't want to load on the computer for some reason, haha. I didn't think I was that ugly. Maybe an inch, but probably because they are still babies.

This may sound really gross, but I do a lot of gardening, and I notice that most every time I get out there and garden and sweat, I come in with more and more knots. Also when I have to pull apart where they want to grow together. I also went to an all day concert with my kids and came home with tons of new knots that have really locked in there. I attribute it to the sweat, so get out there and sweat. I'm going to another all day concert Monday so anxious to see what it does from there. Maybe I've found the real short cut to dreading. Lots of concerts and gardening.