Sorry if I'm being annoying as hell, haha. I am super visual, science-minded, very type A... So just to clarify:
I always thought dreads were like the one on the right... But you're saying this weakens the roots and the dreads are too heavy to be supported straight by just their own roots?
So I should go with the one on the left where there's a tiny bit of normal growth underneath a mat that is then separated into dreads? And the mat acts as enough support to hold the weight of the dreads?
The thing I'm scared of with the picture on the left is ripping the mat part into dreads... I feel like that's bad for my hair because it breaks all the hairs when I do that (that's the popping sound, right?) And what if the mat becomes so tangled that it won't separate into dreads anymore and then I'm stuck with a layer of mat that just keeps growing out and growing out? Also, I can't imagine that my hair would get so heavy that the roots can't hold it? (Obviously since I don't have mature dreads I don't know....)
Oh and you say that the mat thing helps snag new growth but how does the picture on the right not do that too? Also I live in a place where it's winter 8 months of the year and in the summer I wear hats anyway so I'm never too worried about protecting my scalp from the sun since it's almost never exposed.
I think that's everything I'm freaking out about. Sorry, I don't know anyone who has dreads and I have no idea what to expect!!! The type A part of me really hates them but everything else in me knows they are meant to be :D
Haha edit: One more thing--when I separate them I don't pull them apart, I gently untangle them from the scalp up so that it seems like it breaks fewer hairs. So I don't viciously tear them all the way to the scalp if it seemed that way from my post.
updated by @fiddlesticks268: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM