combing out 4 month TnR dread, abandon mission?

Heyyy peoples, recently after talking with other people on the forum i have come to realize that several of my sections may in fact be too big. I will be reffering to one particular lock in this discussion tho, it is in my opinion the biggest and most in need of change. I have watched a couple videos online about "splitting" mature dread locks by making an insition at the center of the roots, and taring it the rest of the way up, turning one bigger lock into 2. My immediate thought after this was that the person in this video must have no care for the health of their dreads, However after researching i found that there was little info on just how bad this method of splitting is, or how not bad it might be. But it was not enough info to get rid of my first thought about "splitting" a dread. Which turned my attention to actually combing the lock out, i had heard its possible to do so, and after talking to more people on the forum i found that the general thought was that a 4 month dread could be combed out with some effort, but it was absolutely possible, and it totally sounds way better than "splitting" a dread in half via ripping and taring it apart.

This is the lock, the dread itself is not big yet, but the section is huge, and clearly doesnt want to be just one dread.

SO! this morning at around 9, i took my shower and did the usual dread soak/rinse routine. except this time, at the end of the shower i put a bunch of conditioner in my hand, and got as much of it as i could into the dread to be combed out, and i let the rest of the dreads dry, but kept messaging conditioner into the dread that i wanted to comb out. I knew that it was not going to be a quick task, and i went into it slowly, a little at a time. At first an hour went by and i felt i was making some progress, the tip of the lock had started to loosen. But after 8 more hours of putting more conditioner in it, and combing some more fallowed by more conditioner.... it didnt change at all, i had hit a snag that would not loosen no matter how much conditoner i put in it, or how much i combed it, it would not budge. I started to get really frustrated because my "progress" was starting to lose length, and the newly freed hair was beginning to look stressed, stretched, and ready for me not to be combing it.

The yellow circle is surrounding the "snagged" area. After all day of conditioning and combing the Lock is the the same length as when i started combing it out, including the newly freed hair.I honestly started to worry about my hairs health, i dont want to damage it beyond the ability to keep the over all healthy lock, the freed hair is lookeing really stretched, i am worried that i may have damaged it more then the commonly excepted amount for a combed out lock. the section is huge, and i feel it would look better being more than just this one accidentally to larg section/ lock, but i think any more combing will only worsen a already bad situation.would splitting it like i said earlyier just annialate the dread even more, should i leave it be? continue coming??? ... i honestly dont know, this all started cuz my secton lines are really really noticable on the top of my head. So i ask anybody with any knowledge for some advice on what i should do.

Please and thank you - Alex

updated by @alexander-mcallister: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM

splitting it u break liy=teraly every haitr in the dread u see every hair xzigzaggs in chaotic ditrections so splitting it up the center u break literaly every hair into s dozen or more peices

just do what youir doing but do a lil every day some pick at it with fingers others a fork to loosen tight knots a brush n[might be slowest but will be genr=tlest too

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

the issue i have with continuing on with the combing, even a little a day, is that even with todays brushing i lost more hair than i think is normal for brushing out a dread, i am pretty sure that even with being as gental and slow as i was going, i ended up ripping out ALOT of hair. making smaller dreads is not worth loosing the hair that i will loose if i continue to comb out the big dread, i am pretty sure i will have a very small abount of wiry dead hair left if i keep combing it out, im worried that it would probably make some very pitiful dreads :/

some were already shed hair prom=bly most was everyon thars combed out a dread has a pile of haor afterards that was shed byput still stuck in the dread

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

SE is right. My previous time having dreads, I decided to take them out instead of cutting them. I had had them for about 6 months, so I had 6 months of hair that shed stuck into those dreads. When I was combing each one out, some of the hair that came out actually looked like the wefts of hair people use for clip in extensions. It was A LOT of hair that came out, but the hair that was attached was still thick, full, and healthy. The hair that came out of the dread was just what would have ended up in my brush had I not dreaded. If you cut that dread apart like the video (I believe I have seen the one you are talking about), I do believe it will cause you major problems down the road and you will end up having to wrap it indefinitely for damage control. However, from what I have learned about brushing/combing out dreads is that you should not NOT do it while they are wet with water or conditioner. Condition the dread you want to remove, and then rinse it out and let it dry before you start combing it out. Hair is elastic and brittle when wet and can break very easily, especially after conditioning.

You possibly could separate from the root if you don't mind having the rest of your dread connected and just have it split into two the rest of the way if you are still weary about combing it out... I'm not sure how that would work out but I am considering trying it on one at the back of my head that is just way too big lol

Thank you both so much!!!! after your replies i just took a couple hour break. i then reread everything, and decided now that my hair was dry from the conditioner and water, to try and comb/brush it out again. i gently began and instantly it was different, the lock resisted a little but started to give. 2 hours and a wad of shed hair later, the whole lock was combed out, and i still have plenty of hair to make dreads with, i think i have decided to make it 4

Thank you so much.
-Alex

good..or..better yet let it decide hlw many to make let it section itelf

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I'm glad we were able to help Happy Dreading!