A bunch of Questions!

Hello everyone -

My name is Halsey - I live on the Puget Sound in Washington State. I have always had a fascination with Dreads and a few months ago decided to get some for myself.

I first separated my hair and braided 1"x1" squares. Or so I thought. I had a friend do them and halfway through she just started taking chunks and braiding them. Then I used the backcombing method, braid by braid. I am not finished, I have about 10 braids left. Come to find out she didn't really braid SQUARES, so every braid I tend to split up into two or three dreadlocks. On the smaller chunks I have I tend to just twist and rip them, because it's hard for me to backcomb small dreads. I've noticed the twist and rip method looks a lot better long-term than back combing (well. long term as in the month I've had them).

I don't know very much about dreads. I have many questions regarding them. I have heard mixed answers online about tightening my roots, for instance. I don't need to do that yet, but I'd like to ask people who actually know what they're talking about - if I don't dread my roots, will my dreads loosen? Will they dread on their own?

My scalp is also extremely sensitive. I used selsun blue before I got dreads because I had a problem with dandruff (have my whole life). And now I can't use that, because it leaves residue and gets REALLY terrible in my dreadlocks. My mother makes all natural soap. I tried that. So far, it works better than any shampoo I've found, but still leaves dandruff. I hear that it needs to be residue free but I don't know of any brands that are that. I considered buying dandruff shampoo from this website I found but I'd like any recommendations.

I bought dread wax, as well as a 'dreadlock' spray that it supposed to help tighten my dreads. Looking at the information, I guess it's mostly seasalt? I feel like I wasted my money on this product. http://www.dreadheadhq.com/store/locking-accelerator
I hear dread wax does not work. When I used it, it made my dreads look better (less frizz) - assuming I was able to rub it all in! Did I completely waste my money?

I love my dreads. If I didn't have the scalp problem I'd be extremely happy with them. But at this point the whole thing is becoming really irritating - I have to tighten them every day, because they keep loosening. Also, they rat into each other and I have to pull them apart a lot. I have to wear my hair up to work, so that might be why they're ratting together.

That said, the person I spoke to about my dreads did it the natural way. I understand a lot of people say that's the best way to do it, but I don't want my hair to look like a rat's nest for a year. I want them to be at least tolerable until they start to do their own thing. After they are dreaded, I do not plan on tightening them all the time. But again, I don't know how necessary that is!

I have done a lot of research, watched a ton of youtube videos, etc. and the conclusion I've come to is that half the people think one thing, half think the other(on dread wax, for instance)! Help!

updated by @halsey-stevens: 02/14/15 05:04:08PM

And my hair keeps looping - what is your opinion on crotchet hooking and how on earth do I do it? I bought a hook and was told to get the smallest possible, but it literally does nothing.

ok dreadheadhq is a scam u did waste your money but worse u harjrded your dreads the wax is oure evikl and must must must be removed and thats not easy residue free remember? whats wax/ waterproof residue thats extremely resistent to being washed out and will prevent them frokm ever dreading..looks better..but looks are deceiving hence the scam hokus pocus lose your focus and the illusion is complete wax only makes them look lo=ike dreads but they cannot dread with wax in them

roots losen then tighten but if u force them to tighten you weaken them..they break

never force roots to tighten'yes tying them up alot will cause root n=martting but root matting happens no matter what and u wil need to seperate odften

thats all u shoulddo though

acceleratotr spray ..u paid 10 dollars for 2-4 cents wi]orth of sea salt never buy nothing from that site ever

make your own salt spraty (sea salt) byut if your scalps so bad dont bother

now scalp

teare4e rosemary pepermint add that to the baking soda acv mix..or try the teatree rosemary bars from www.dreadlockshampoo.com

if u got run=bber bandsin take em out

twist n rip is better then backcomb

squares are for sqy=uares sections should be varying in size and shape

dreading happensd by leaving them alone they get messy u got to let them get messy to dread

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

nooo loops are how they dread thry must loop to dread crochet is extrenely extre,mely bad throw the hook away

Halsey Stevens said:

And my hair keeps looping - what is your opinion on crotchet hooking and how on earth do I do it? I bought a hook and was told to get the smallest possible, but it literally does nothing.

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

read the dreaducation page the dread wax truth page and dread wax removal page

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

It will do nothing but damage your hair. What crochet needles do is break up you hair into smaller sections. It can weaken you hair from 30-70%. as you use it, you're locks wont actually wont be connected to your head. the hairs will be connected to other hairs the are connected to other hairs the are finally connected to your head. In time, they might not be able to hold the weight of the lock.

You NEED to get that wax out. it won't be easy. Just washing it wont get it out. You NEED to do a wax removal. It's a pain and can take many sessions.

You should not be doing anything to your roots. They will tangle up and lock on their own. Look at anyone with locks that are more than a year old. In that year, they grew about 6 inches of hair. if their roots didn't lock up, there'd be 6 inches of straight hair before the knots started. So they will do their own thing. If you tighten them, they will have nothing to grab onto and knot to as they grow out.

Unfortunately youtube has a ton of bad information. Since everyone can post (which is a good thing), there will be tons of people telling you that crocheting is good and that you should use wax. These are both falacies. Was prevents locks. Your hair looked better after you used it because you glued it down. This restricts movement that is essential for knots to form.

All you really need to do is wash and separate. You used a started method, so there will be backwards progress as they untangle. But that's normal. The started method only helps define the sections. They don't form the locks themselves. They need to unravel a bit in order to get tangled up again

Loops are great. It's proof that knotting is happening

Ugh thank you guys so much.

I have some teatree soap that I didn't even think to try. I'm a space cadet. :P

Getting rid of the hook. Will not use the wax anymore. I didn't know what was in the spray until it got to my house - they don't tell you on the website. I was extremely disappointed with it and will make my own from now on.

About the roots - the reason I asked is because I wasn't sure if it naturally dreaded or if those people just continuously dreaded their roots (and wasn't sure how that would even be possible). Thank you for clearing it up, I will only wash and separate.

I will read all of the dreaducation - didn't see it until you mentioned it.

Again - thank you both!

its not enough to just stop using the wax u have to remove whart u used ..now if you didnt melt it in like they recomend then your lucky and it wont be too hard to gert out if u did melt it in its extremely hard to remove

these are my dreads not only have i never tightened the roots but never backcombed tnred crochetted palm rolled ..or done anything at all but wash and seperate

if dreads can dread from nothing..ofcourse the roots will keep on dreading year after year without doing a thing

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
updated by @soaring-eagle: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM

No problem. It does seem odd the think that new hair will knot up, but if you see anyone with naturally formed locks, you'll notice that they usually start to knot up in the middle and them make their way up and down the hair. It's the same with the roots and new growth. Once there is enough loose hair at the root, it will suck it all in and tangle up into the lock

Hi Halsey,

What SE and Baba have been telling you are 100% correct. Jump into the dreaducation pages and if you have anymore specific questions after that just post them.

You will find that there are quite a few options out there for shampooing methods that you can try and you will notice that all the maintenance that you have put forth so far is somewhat counter-productive.
2 other good sections that I highly recommend you check out on the site are the recovery sections (so you can see exactly what people have gone through due to extraneous "maintenance" and how they have recovered) as well as the timelines (so you can get an idea of what's to be truly expected in regards to loose hairs, roots, tips fuzzies, etc. Sometimes seeing the progress and results of patience will put this journey into a better perspective for you.)