Am i doing things right so far?

Only had my dreads for a week and heres how it went: First night i dreaded up by doing the twist and rip method. That worked pretty well for my curly hair then i kept rubber bands in for about 2 or 3 days, took those out and now have just been doing the twist and rip routine to each dread everyday and some palm rolling/back combing to keep the hairs in but i can sorta feel the dreads getting thinner but they do look better. Any recommendations or tips i could use? Short or long term? Thank you, help is appreciated. Also i've washed them once since day one.

updated by @spencer-livingston2: 01/13/15 09:26:10PM

You don't need to keep TnRing them. By continuing to do it, you are just bringing them back to day one. The twist n Rip method is really just a way to start sectioning your hair. Once it is sectioned, you only need to let them be. They will loosen a bit for a while, but that is only natural. That loosening lets them retangle on their own. What locks need to knot up is to be able to move freely. If you keep manipulating them, they won't get a chance to tangle on their own.

I'm glad you took the bands out. Nothing worse than using rubber bands except for wax and crochet hooks.

And you don't need to palm roll them. It only makes them look tighter for a day or so. When you sleep those loose hairs pop right back out. So it's not like it helps suck in those hairs permanently. And if you palm rollaggressively you run the risk of pulling out hairs from your roots that holed the lock to your head. This can weaken them quite a bit.

All you need to do is TnR them once and let them be. There is a gel from Dreadlockshampoo.com, that actually works pretty well. It's water soluble, so it washes out after each wash. And it even starts to break down before that, so it doesn't leave any residue in your hair.

And then wash wash wash. Wash every 2-3 days for young locks. get a residue free soap. One from that same site is good, or Dr. Bronners, or the baking soda/apple cider vinegar wash works great. if you use a soap, scrub only your scalp. Don't try to wash your locks themselves. As you rinse, he soap will run through them.

And don't be afraid. When you wash, they will loosen up, and might evenuntanglea bit. But that is good. They need to untangle so they can move around and retangle again. The sections will hold their own for the most part.

Baba couldn't have said it all better than myself. Since you have shorter hair I know the urge to want them to stay TnRed is high but the more you mess with them the less likely they will be to dread up and the higher your chances of thinning and breakage. Just let them be and wash your scalp every other day to every 2 days and they will lock up just fine.

I used TnR and then left them alone. By the end of the first week they had loosened up considerably but closer to the month mark started tightening up again on their own.

stop everything! stop tnr stop backcomb stop palm rolling just wash..and seperate thats all your gonna prevent any dreading at all and do alot of harm to your hair if you keep messing with them dreads only happen through neglect..there really is no other method to dreading all other starter methods only define the sections then the hair must be neglected to dread..so leave it alone..let it do the work for you..

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

these guys are right, i have been extremely tempted to keep tnring my dreads but im just leaving them be right now. i did my first wash and some do feel a bit looser but for the most part the hairs that are caught in the sections from tnr are together nice and strong. they have to just keep going from tight to loose back to tight again to form the dreads which will happen all on its own.

Thanks so much guys this really helped i was TnRing throughout each day wanting em to look better cause i was frantic at the looseness of the dreadlocks after sleeping or having intense amounts of wind.

Yeah, the fact of the matter is your hair wants to dread and will dread the way it wants to... TnR or backcombing is a good way to instigate this process but when you really think about it, that is just forcing your hair to dread the way YOU want it. An example of this idea would be deciding to part your hair a different way and your hair will protest by trying to go back to the way it likes to be. So with that said, your hair will loosen up and re-tangle itself the way it wants to and you just have to be patient and let it.

dreading the 1st weeks of dreading read that

Spencer Livingston said:

Thanks so much guys this really helped i was TnRing throughout each day wanting em to look better cause i was frantic at the looseness of the dreadlocks after sleeping or having intense amounts of wind.

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Locks tend to tangle more when you sleep. So don't worry about that. And wind helps because it forces your hair to move and twist all over the place. That tangles it even more.

So, no worries with either