when will this phase end?

My TnR dreadlocks are 9 months old (1 week shy) and I dig them. I have been way more patient than I thought I would be and have learned to embrace the journey without losing my mind trying to make my hair do what I wanted it to do (pointless anyways, right?!) That being said, I have lost a lot of length (to be expected) and while my roots are tightening up nicely it is my ends that are driving me nuts right now (for the last 2 months really). I have included a pic so you can see (please excuse the webcam, before bed, jammies pic). It seems like as they mature they are forming dread clumps/balls where the length will fold up on itself many times until there is this clump of hair, which is annoyning because I wanted skinny dreads and now they are fat, but only at the bottom or in the middle wherever the clump happened to form. Then at the end of the clump/ball is a bunch of undreaded strands of hair that just look all tangled up and scraggly. So, I know this is a phase, but it seems like it has been doing this forever (like 4 months now) and I am wondering what happens next? Will my dreads eventually eat up this undreaded hair at the end and become VERY short? I thought that my ends would just remain undreaded and wavy (what I wanted), but it seems like they are gonna form more blunted ends.

Also, I have not touched my hair and don't want to dye it or cut it, but I was wondering what if I cut the loose hair off the dreads? Would that speed up the process or weaken the ends?

I know ultimately I will continue to be patient and do nothing, but I don't like this phase really. I wanted dreadlocks not dread clumps will this remedy itself or will I have dread clumps forever??

pic to come...

updated by @mama-harrison: 02/14/15 03:31:29AM

waiting for pics but sounds beautiful

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

a pic would help but i think we have the same concerns. i'm not as far along as you in my journey (6mo.)but i have some sections that are zig zaging up from the bottom. looks like a big heavy mass hanging from the ends. i was hoping for wispy ends but i guess thats not going to happen now. maybe it has to do with hair texture? i have fine hair. i was actually considering combing them out the other day because i definitely don't like how its looking.

see it ends up looking like a birds nest and I hate that. the roots to mid length are maturing ni9cely and all, but it seems the ends are just horrible right now So I was wondering if I cut them off (Im sure i won't because i am really into letting my hair do what it is gonna do) will that make them start to unravel and just do this more? Are my ends always gonna be like this? i do not have fine hair, I have wavy, THICK hair and over 150 dreadlocks.

mine did the same, and at almost 1 year I have mostly all naturally blunted ends. I would have liked them to stay wispy but we don't really get a say in the matter! either way just love em! They look amazing!!

i am fine with whatever they end up doing, but i just don't like this phase at all. I am not married to the idea of having perfect dreads or wispy ends or anything--just don't like that I can neither put them into a decent ponytail out of my face nor leave them down without them looking like a rats nest--the reason being that I wear my daughter on my back A LOT and the rats nest part is right in her face and so she can put food in it and pull it and blah blah blah....just wondering how long it takes fom this stage to when the ends are no longer wispy and are matured a bit more? Natural Womyn--you say you are at almost a year, I am too and seem to have been at this stage for like 2 months already--how long were yours at this stage before the ends became integrated a bit more? I don't care about losing length I just don't want the nest anymore.

well it'll be a year in a couple of weeks and i'd say in the past month they have pretty much sucked up into the dreads, I was a bit blah about my hairs before that to be honest, now I like them much better!

they look amazing

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

thanks guys and gals I will patiently wait it out, as always. it is summertime in FL and beach weather now, so maybe some salt water will do the trick.

You are going through the exact thing I am going through. I am at 8 months almost to the day and I have lots of dreads that look like that. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to get a pair of scissors and do some "trimming" but I have fought the urge diligently. The top of my head is a perfect habitat for birds! HA! But, with friends from this site and abound, I have been assured that it is all the process and just let it be. I find wearing a tam helps with the "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy.