puffy dreads after wash

Hey everyone I'm new to this. I had my dreads in for about 11 days and I decided to wash them. I have African hair and I started them with the twist method with about a inch or two inches of hair. After the wash they became puff balls. Is that normal? I tried to re-twist them but it doesn't stay to I just left them alone. kinda lost on what to do and I hope I didn't destroy the whole process.

updated by @kyree-whitfield: 01/22/20 09:33:16AM

My dreads aren't as short as yours but every time I get out of the shower my dreads become super poofy and sometimes they stay like that for a day or two and other times the next day they shrink back down.

ok so its normal I guess. Do you think its a good idea to loosely apply a rubber band at the root to keep the sections seperated? or just let it be?

so as my dreads get longer it wont swell like that anymore?

`haha this isnt a help save my dreads situation in fact you saved them by accident you want to be washingthem despite the lies the salons told u u do not want to retwist them..evrr retwisting makes u go bald so leave em alone puff balls will be come dreads by just washing them

your doing it right just let it happen but wash with a dread shampoo not normal shampoos and never retwist ever

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

noo you necver re twist and rip after u wash your only reseting progress to day 1 ewvery time u do if they loosen or fall apartr...let them.they will dread right back up if u leave em alone!
Snags said:

Hey yes that is normal and if that did not happen then you would have very dense hair that knots very fast. When you wash em they get water logged andswollenwith water as does most things. The best thing you can do is grow your hair longer allowing more knotting. When your hair dries just pat it with a towel and let it air dry.

Once your dreads knot a lot more they will get tighter and allow for less swelling.
You will have to twist and rip them back in when dry but the more you do this the more knotted it gets.
Try not to twist to much just do rips and rip different sections but do not rip to tight. That should knotconsistentlyand evenly.

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

thanks guys for your responses. my hair dried completely and they seem to hold ok and didn't fall completely apart.

Kyree, you have the perfect texture of hair for natural dreads. Just be patient. You have your sections now, the rest will follow. There is absolutely no reason to retwist or anything.Snags, twist and rip, backcomb, starter methods in general are supposed to fall out. They're 'starter' methods, not 'keep doing it for a year and more' methods. If it falls out, it's meant to. Stop destroying your hair and let it happen.

lol I haven't done anything to them yet. sections started to blend in so im just going to seperate them. I think im just going to invest in a tam play xbox and forget about my hair haha!

Glad this site has so many helpful people. Glad I found it.