So, I posted here about 8 days ago maybe? and asked about some different methods and about the length of my hair. I went against some posts because I really wanted to start my dreads because I've been waiting awhile. But anyways off topic, so I just got them backcombed (I know people say it's bad blah blah blah) about 6 days ago, it took about 8ish hours for a friend to finish them up. They're about 4 inches long. The first 3 days they were pretty tight then I had to was because they were so greasy from me sweating and working outside. A LOT of loose hair came out after i washed and dried them up, I used that Suave clarifying shampoo or whatever so it doesn't leave behind residue. Initially I had rubberbands on the tips but took them off after the second day because they were annoying and made them look pretty goofy, but now with all this loose hair I put them on the roots to combat it and have been doing a little crocheting to help the dreads stay together and tighten. Some have even come completely undone and I had to almost redo them. At the moment most of them are together and have the rubberbands on the bottom. Sorry for the rambling but I wanted to give a bit of background information. So, my questions and concerns are what should I do about this loose hair? Should I be crocheting it or sleeping with a hat on? Also in a about a month football starts and ill have 2 practices a day for 2 weeks. So that means a lot of sweating. Will I be able to wash them every day without a shitload of loose hair coming out/sorry again for the long post but thanks!
updated by @corey-ledgerwood: 02/14/15 10:57:35AM
questions and concerns
wow ok throw the crochet hook away that will destroy them worse thing u can do (almost) never ever crochet dreads!
next take out the riubber bands!
next do not use suave ui]it does leave residue but its an extremely toxic residue remover only safe to use 4 times a year to remove buildup
get a dread shampoo
leave them alone! thety are suposed to have loose hair frizz and come undone
they are short if they retain any knots your in great shape
but never ever ever crochet them
tyour only days in
they take a year to dread
leave em alone be patient givce3 em time
and throw that hookm in the trash dont even keep it in the house they are already going to take waaaay lionger to dread nw that u used it
crochet hooks should never touch dreads..period
and no dont wear a hatto bed thats silly
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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
Haha I guess I've been going all wrong. And I guess ill refrain from the crochet hook. Do you have any dread shampoos you could reccomend that you don't have to order online? But yeah most of them are knotted good for the first 2 1/2 inches. There's just like a wispy end with all those stray hairs.
You should read the dreaducation page. You are doing a few things that are not helping your hair dread. Backcombing isn't actually dreads, its only a starter method, it takes quite a long time for real dreads to form. You can't make dreads, you have to grow dreads. If you keep trying to stop the loose hair coming out you will destroy any chance of real dreading to take place. If your hair is too short to really dread, there isn't anything you can do about that.
peace
Alright. So there's really no way I could have my hair looking semi presentable in 2 weeks? I have my first job interview in then at the Buffalo Bills training camp and I kinda wanted to look neat. But the way its looking it sounds like it isn't possible
If you have soft water, Dr. Bronners is the most accessible shampoo. But if you have hard water, it won't work at all.
If you want the best shampoo, look into dreadlockshampoo.com. They make the best stuff, and it works well in hard and soft water
Do you need it to look neat just for the interview, or do you need it to look neat all the time? Because there is a gel you can get from Vicki at dreadlockshampoo.com, called locking gel, or something like that. All other gels are not good, they are full of stuff that does not wash out. You could tame your hair with Vicki's gel for the day. But its a bit of an up hill battle if you are trying to tame baby dreads, they will not co-operate with that idea. But, they will do their own thing quite well. 
peace
Take the rubber bands off, they can end up rotting and getting eaten up by all the loose hair and dreads as they grow.
Also, stop the crocheting. It breaks hairs and over time will snap off the dreads. I almost lost one of my dreads because I (accidentally) broke off a few hairs on one of them, and many MANY people who crochet end up doing exactly that. They weaken the dreads without noticing and eventually they just break off.
Please don't worry about them getting loose. I was worried too at first, but there's no need. Mine were backcombed and all came loose and/or fell apart, but they dreaded up again no worries. I look at backcombing as nothing more than sectioning and messing up the hair a bit to give it a head start. If you keep re-doing them whenever they fall apart, they will NEVER dread. Best thing to do? Forget about your hair and let it do its thing except to wash them, keep washing them.
I'd tie them back. When my dreads were starting out, I'd just tie them back so all the loose hairs, frizz, etc. was mostly looking neat
Corey Ledgerwood said:
Alright. So there's really no way I could have my hair looking semi presentable in 2 weeks? I have my first job interview in then at the Buffalo Bills training camp and I kinda wanted to look neat. But the way its looking it sounds like it isn't possible
Well I mean honestly it would be nice to have them look nice all the time but really just for that day. And I do have hard water so ill look into that website and ditch the crochet hook. Thanks for the quick replies everyone, hopefully they'll just start looking better soon instead of just a big ball of messy hair lol.
