Totally, dead straight hair. What do?

First off, hi everyone! Your member count just increased by 1.I'm pretty new to the whole dreadlocks game. I had some put in by a few mates a couple months ago on a whim but I combed them out today since the ends had totally undreaded and the new growth hadn't dreaded yet, and in short dreads that means only the middle 1/3 of the hair was a dread, which kinda defeats the point in my opinion. Not to mention my hair was full of wax and dread butter. Nothankyou. Not after reading the comments on here a anyway!Anyways, I'd love to dread naturally but my hair is pretty much completely straight. It bends a little at the ends - though I can't quite figure out why - but it never forms knots on its own and it lies completely flat.I daresay natural dreads are out of the question, so I'm trying to decide between getting new ones twisted and ripped in, or backcombed. In either case, a cursory glance around The Internets tells me it can help if I braid my hair for a week or two before actually dreading. I've got no idea how that works but hey, if anyone can vouch for that, I'll happily accept the advice. I quite like the idea of having bigass braids dangling from my head for a bit, but I'd prefer to get my dreads on the go sooner rather than later =DI've also attached a pic of how long my hair is as of an hour ago. I'm not sure how different methods affect the length of the resulting dreads - if they do at all - but I figured it'd be handy to have some reference.Thanks in advance guys =D[Edit] Well that's mildly irritating - every image program on my PC had the picture the right way up, then I upload it and it's falls over... Ah well. Fixing it now.
updated by @chris-rimmer: 02/14/15 11:37:24AM

sup anon,your hair looks like it's starting to be at a good length, you can try a mix of the 2 methods if you like as well since alot of people seem to be trying that.the braids might be a good idea for a little while, (i had them briefly a few times) it takes a few hours to get them out, but it wouldn't be a bad idea, only thing is you might notice a lot of dandruff if your scalp isn't used to them, which can be a good thing to help prepare them for locking.anyway that and you might find you like them a whole lot better w/o any wax,I did.

it will dread naturally with the right treatment, meaning reduce oiliness and adding sea saltu might have to wool rub alittle to get it knotty to startbut it will definately dread naturalynow if u want to twist and rip thats certainly an option tooone thing ti be aware if is the tips dont usualy dread fuully to the tip anyway especialy not right away and..its better if tips dont dread ..they dry 3 times faster with undreaded tipsand the roots normally have between 1-3 inches undreaded that usualy slowly reduces to 1/2 invch but that undreaded area at the rots is necasary for dreadingok back to your hair and allnever use wax and butta and all that gunk, look in the timelines section at jesykas natural journey, hers was as straight and thin as yours (longer tho) and began dreading in 2 weeksyours maybe slower mat not be but it will dreadtry aggressively rubbing your head with wool, then seperate that tangled mess into sections..thats your foundationnow just keep away from conditioners and combs.. add some dread beads wear a tam and wait...waitting is the important step in going natural..if your really in a hurry..rub a lil with wool less aggressively just to get ;il staticy and knotty then twist and ripbraiding for weeks only gets them lil wavy so it will dread lil quicker naturally (in theory) wool rubbing i believe will so more to get u knotty quicklybut only do it to get foundation knots not to make dreads or u might get a dread net (all the roots connected into a dread helmet that will become a giant unidread)


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

oh and welcome


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Thanks for the tips and welcomes guys. I'm in no major rush myself, but I work in retail and part of my job role is, unfortunately, to fit into what my employer describes as "smart". While I prefer the look of all natural dreads (having had a look through some photo galleries on here) the in-between area while my hair goes from straight + neat to dreaded will probably attract a little too much opposition from my line manager, a bloke who has in the past already made a point of trying to get me fired for the stupidest things.I suppose what I'm essentially getting at is that I need to get from 0 to dreaded in only a day or three. Once the dreads are there, their fuzziness, lumpiness and characterfulness won't really matter in work's eyes since I can tie it all back and everything'll be fine from there.I'm thinking twist + rip to get them in quickly, complete with large helpings of lemon juice (is that a myth too?) followed by weekly washings with baking soda + water. Anyone know if there's anything else I can do to get them workworthy in good speed?Thanks again =D

lem0onjuice i find makes em soft and it can lighten them in the sun i think what u meant was sea salt sea salt does help a bit some ppl add lemon juice to the sea salt but im not really sure why or if it really helpsu can experiment but sea salt is what ya want to get em knotty


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

soaringeagle said:

lem0onjuice i find makes em soft and it can lighten them in the sun i think what u meant was sea salt sea salt does help a bit some ppl add lemon juice to the sea salt but im not really sure why or if it really helps
u can experiment but sea salt is what ya want to get em knotty

I'd read somewhere that it helps the locks tighten, then again my memory works in retarded ways and might have confused lemon juice with citrus (found in many dread 'helper' products) versus salt water. If that makes sense... But yeah. How do you mean it tends to make them softer? Are we on about a smoother, less wirey kinda soft or a loose, likely-to-fall-apart kind of soft? I like having lighter hair anyway (half of why I like summertime =D) so that's a bonus. Also, for the salt I'm guessing the best way is to rinse the dreads in salty water?Sorry for the deluge of questions, but I don't want another wasted attempt =D

spray the salt water on the hair not the scalpwait a couple hours then rinsei think the lemon might loosen them too much


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Do twist and rip...But your hair will naturally dread if you allow it...

yeah the salt water would be what your looking for then, or if u live near a beach soaking them works to,never tried with the lemon but I do see alot of people adding it for w/e reason.