Question for you natural dreadies

I have had my natural dreads for 6 months. I have naturally curly hair so they locked up pretty quick. My current concern however is that I have loops and paddles and alot of hair shrinkage. Will the paddles roll up eventually? BTW my husband hates the way my natural dreads look as well. They aren't uniformed and he tells me constantly that they aren't "real dreads"! UGH

updated by @kelly-williams: 07/23/15 05:07:23PM

ofcourse they are real dreads i think he doesnt know what real dreads are

the looops and paddles mostly will round out but some n[might not and why shouldnt they remain they make em unique

if the paddles are too big try wrapping them or putting a bead over m

otherwise just let em be

my fave dread early on had a paddle at the end that i attached a broken earing to to decorate it..it was my fave dread

now i cant even find it the paddles long goone and i have no idea which dread it was

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

The loops and paddles will definitely round themselves out. I've had quite a few do that (check out in my photos the "ohm" dread I had a little while back - that one is completely round now.) If they are really wide and bothering you, criss-cross some hemp or embroidery thread around it and it will tighten it up. If you cut off loops your dreads could actually unravel because the loops form as they knot themselves up.

mine took a good while to start going after three months of not seeing the progress i wanted i started thinking what i'm i doing my hair type is going to take years to dread, i got such a terrible feeling and panic and excitement rushed over me with an impulsive urge to grab a comb and force them in via backcomb method, at first i was like shit i have dreads! 3 day i started feeling just bad i kept them in for under a month and just couldn't take it anymore i layed on my couch and took them out with only my hands took hours the way i did it and gave it a brush and haven't brushed it since now it's been about 8 months neglect and wow what progress i would neverrecommendany method other than natural it is soooo worth that wait <3 such bliss

i agree completely in fact i feel that those who take the longest earn it the most

and the results are worth it

some of the most impressive dreads ive ever seen took the longest to even start to dread

Alive She Cried said:

mine took a good while to start going after three months of not seeing the progress i wanted i started thinking what i'm i doing my hair type is going to take years to dread, i got such a terrible feeling and panic and excitement rushed over me with an impulsive urge to grab a comb and force them in via backcomb method, at first i was like shit i have dreads! 3 day i started feeling just bad i kept them in for under a month and just couldn't take it anymore i layed on my couch and took them out with only my hands took hours the way i did it and gave it a brush and haven't brushed it since now it's been about 8 months neglect and wow what progress i would neverrecommendany method other than natural it is soooo worth that wait <3 such bliss

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Just to clarify I don't cut all of the loops. I've only cut maybe 1 or 2 loops from right at the end of a dread where it was getting way too wide/leafy or however you want to describe it. I guess I was at that stage where I was thinking they were just turning into a knotted mass and I hadn't accepted at that point that it was the path to dreads. I do very minimal maintenance to my dreads now, I don't bother palm rolling or anything like that. I think the last major thing I did was pull 2 nearby dreads through each other as 1 was particularly flat and the other one was the right size to round it off if it dreaded in. Congo-promotion perhaps? It's dreaded into it now so all new growth will be 1 dread and it splits further down into the 2 separate ones!