Some one reassure me please :)

Hey there so I've had dreads for 8 months and i sort of let them do their own thing so they started connecting and i thought tonight would be a good night to separate them. so i used olive oil and i cut them a little bit, not too much. My roots feel really weak now, I'm wondering if thats how their suppose to be considering i just yanked at them for an hour. So basically is it normal to have my roots feel weaker? I'm sort of nervous that their going to fall out or something.

updated by @ashley-walker: 02/14/15 03:31:49AM

I usually just pull mine apart. I think I expect some may weaken to the point where they fall out, but I feel it is a part of the natural way of it. I wanted to let mine free-form from the start, but I was starting with really long hair so I backcombed to get them formed a bit. I think this may cause them to be less structurally sound.(Fat at the end and smaller toward the root.) Which may contribute to dread loss. In the end, time and patients are the great equalizer.

that is true, but from now on ill probably separate more and handle them delicately. have you used olive oil? and if so is there a way to make it come out of your hair faster because i have a lot of loose hair still and it just looks and feels greasy, i already washed and dried.

well you should have been seperating more often so only a couple to few hairs break at any time and theres no need to cut when u cut u got to be surgicaly precise about it and only snip a few hairs at a time to be sure u just snip the right ones

can u take a closeup of any weak feeling roots?

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

if you use olive oil it should be applied just to the root6s your trying to disconnect and to get it out try real hot water (lowers the viscocity so its easier to remove) and dawn dish soap or a clarifying shampoo

ashley walker said:

that is true, but from now on ill probably separate more and handle them delicately. have you used olive oil? and if so is there a way to make it come out of your hair faster because i have a lot of loose hair still and it just looks and feels greasy, i already washed and dried.

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I have used a tad bit of olive oil in my wash. I didn't really like it. Too oily. Just wash some more, is what I say about getting the oil out. How are you drying them?

ashley walker said:

that is true, but from now on ill probably separate more and handle them delicately. have you used olive oil? and if so is there a way to make it come out of your hair faster because i have a lot of loose hair still and it just looks and feels greasy, i already washed and dried.

ive used it too its great as a conditioner when u have no other option but its so easy to over use and get too oily and can take a lil effort to get it out a degreasing type wash with dawn will do the trick or a clarifying (anti residue) shampoo will do too but extra washing should work as well but might take a couple washes to get it if its heavy saturation

Jennahfly Soulflower said:

I have used a tad bit of olive oil in my wash. I didn't really like it. Too oily. Just wash some more, is what I say about getting the oil out. How are you drying them?

ashley walker said:

that is true, but from now on ill probably separate more and handle them delicately. have you used olive oil? and if so is there a way to make it come out of your hair faster because i have a lot of loose hair still and it just looks and feels greasy, i already washed and dried.

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

You'll be fine, but just separate them more often before they get so joined that it requires so much effort to pull them apart. If you separate them more often then you'll only be breaking some connecting hairs as opposed to entire dreads, if you get what I'm saying.

I towel dry, then blow dry. and yeah i only used oil on the roots but i over used and when i went to rinse i guess it got in the rest of my hair so it's pretty oily right now.

what happens if you're not surgically precise with cutting? I think i was okay with it, not too much cutting.

I don't know if the picture really helps with trying to describe what my roots are like, you can't really tell that anything is wrong with them but my dreads just feel heavy on my scalp and it's worrying me a bit. My scalp is also sore from the pulling and stuff.

How do you towel dry(do you rub or squeeze)? Blow drying may be, a bit rough on them. SE probably knows more about that. I squeeze(without ringing it out), and shake it out a bit until it stops dripping. Then I use a towel to wrap it up for a bit. Then air dry, making sure to try not to put them up or wrap them in a way they won't get enough air to dry properly. IDK about cutting, sorry...hope I was helpful <3