Hi Jackie, dreads will certainly suit you. Take the time to go through the dreaducation pages at the top of this site. Almost all your answers will be up there, plus more! I am writing a bit here, so if someone else posts before I finish & I repeat anything, forgive me.
Your sections are now the blueprints to your future dreads, you will now be on an awesome journey. Those sections you made will now need to loosen. To loosen they must be free to move, so take out the bands, they will damage the hair by their pressure points... if they are rubber, the warm water when you wash will start to turn them to glue and get stuck in your hair...use beads instead. It is recommended to wash every 2-3 days, clean hair dreads faster, oily hair causes knots to slip out. The size of your mature dread will be the same size as where that section meets the scalp. To get to that size, they will zig and zag, and loop, and shrink, and it becomes a dread. Oh yes, you will go through a frizzy stage, do not worry, we all go through that with twist & rip etc. You really do not want to re-twist, you will stop the progress every time if you do, and even set back time again.
Oh yes, your ends you say look matted not dreaded. Those ends will not be dreads for a long time. They are the drip lines for water after you wash, so never worry about them, they will do their own thing and each one will be different and on their own time.
Dreads really should not have a braided look, you may want to take those ones out, and twist & rip should never be done tight. Sorry sore arms.
So you do not fix roots, you just wash and separate any trying to join together. Any playing with them will set back time on your journey. Now just sit back and watch the fun begin.....Peace
I finally got them all finished. Its been a week now since I have gotten to wash my hair and oh do I miss it. I gotall of mydreads done and pretty. They look so good. I am concerned though because the tips are kind of just matted rather than dread looking. will this resolve itself? Also, how long do I have to wait for my first wash and what should I buy to wash and how. I havent asked these questions because I knew I would have a little while before I had to worry about it. One more question. what do I have to do to make sure that the dreads stay somewhat organized and still lockup. And what about the roots? Will the roots lock or will I have to fix them. I did this comepletely on my own by the way.Please answer as many questions as you can. I, like my dreads, am a baby to this. 
