It's natural for locks to loosen up in the first few months. Usually you see 1 step forward 2 steps back progress for the first 6 months. The vaseline is not helping them at all. Neither is the palm rolling. The jelly is making your hair slick and not able to tangle with itself. It acts the same way wax would act. It sticks your hair together with a thick slimy residue. Valeline washes off a tad bit easier than wax, but still leaves a ton of residue. You should do a wax removal to get it all out of you hair or it'll be an age before they lock up. The only gel I;d recommend is the locking gel from dreadlockshampoo,com. But don't use it until you have gotten all of the vaseline out of your hair.

Also, how are washing? What soaps are you using? How are you drying?

All of these make a difference in how fast your progress comes along.

Loosening and sometimes all-out unraveling is totally normal and expected with dreads that were made by backcombing and TnR. Using those methods only gives your hair a sectioning guideline to follow (if it so desires.) Once it all loosens up it will start to reform and lock on it's own. While it's doing this the hair will look crazy and wispy and a lot of people seem to develop a love/hate relationship with it. In fact, my hair is at 2 months old as of tomorrow and it looks really crazy.

Vaseline, like wax, is a hydrophobic substance -- it repels water. Think about it like this, if you put a spoonful of either of those 2 substances in a cup and add water to it and shake it up... will it disappear or still be there? You only want to put something that will be water soluble in your hair otherwise it will just build up with each application making a nice environment for future mold production.

So, as Baba recommends, I also recommend doing a "wax removal" so that the Vaseline is stripped from you hair. If you can do it, get the gel he mentioned too. Use it sparingly, like when you have to go to dinner with the family or have an interview and when you don't need your hair to be perfect then just let all the loose ends and wispy bits free because they need to move around in order to find a dreadlock to get sucked into or form.

Should wash about 3 times/week with a non-residue regimen (there are a few that are recommended on this site by various members so you need to find one that works for you, if you haven't yet) and then separate the locks as needed when they start to grow together. Before you do the washings you can spray your hair with a sea salt spray and this can help roughen up the hair and put a little boost to your dreading. aside from those things, you don't really need to do anything else. I bet if you get the Vaseline out and start going residue free then you will see a major difference over the course of the next month in regards to progress.

With washing there are a couple of different tried and true things that people here use (regular shampoo isn't good because it deposits on the hair and has sls in it)

1. Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar
2. Dr. Bronners
3. Dreadlocks Shampoo

Each of these have had success for different people. There are instructions for mixing the BS/ACV as well as the dilution ratio of Dr. Bronners in the dreaducation pages. The dreadlocks shampoo you can order at their website ( http://shop.dreadlockshampoo.com/ ) -- As well as the gel and wax remover.

From what I've seen, the first 2 are extremely cost effective (at least in my opinion) and with each method should be used 2 - 3 times/week. The cleaner your hair is, the better it will lock up.

With the first 2 on that list you can get essential oils to add to the mixtures for smell or use of their special properties (ie. tea tree is a good anesthetic and will help in the blocking of mold production. Rosemary will help with the scalp and dandruff, etc.)

If you wash your hair in the morning squeeze out the excess water with your hands and if you need to, wrap a towel and squeeze out more water (never rub the towel on the hair) and then let the dreads air dry. If you absolutely need to you can use a hair dryer but the reality is, heat damages hair (causes the cuticle to blow out) and that is why beauticians use heat protection spray while heat styling an individuals hair. Hot tools should definitely be a last resort for drying.

Just because it's "natural", doesn't mean it is good for locks. Glycerinis natural, but it's horrible for locks. You should be using a residue free shampoo. Either Dr. Bronners (if you have soft water, or access to a distillery), anything from Dreadlockshampoo.com, or the baking soda/Apple Cider Vinegar rinse.

The vaseline is detrimental to the process.

And, Val, I love that you used the word "Hydrophobic". Are you a science person?

You'll be just fine. All you need to do with locks is wash them and separate them. As long as you're using a good shampoo, you're all set. The BS/ACV is the cheapest and will last you the longest for little money

If you can scrape it together, you can get a small container of Dawn dish liquid (or you may have some in the kitchen already!) which is a grease cutter and will work to help remove the Vaseline. Then you should look into the BS/ACV (which would cost about 5 dollars without essential oils.)

When I was really hard up I was using a clarifying shampoo that was laying around my bathroom but it definitely helped to dilute it with water. This worked for applying it at the scalp only and helped with rinsing it out.

Kena Brown said:

Thankyou guys, Just one problem.. I have no money to get any of these things, what will happen if I just leave it.. like I just wash it, no more Vaseline ever..

Lol, I wouldn't consider myself a science person but my biology instructor would be tickled pink to know that there were a lot of terms that stuck with me. :P
I am more of a math/art nerd and science fiction geek.

Baba Fats said:

Just because it's "natural", doesn't mean it is good for locks. Glycerinis natural, but it's horrible for locks. You should be using a residue free shampoo. Either Dr. Bronners (if you have soft water, or access to a distillery), anything from Dreadlockshampoo.com, or the baking soda/Apple Cider Vinegar rinse.

The vaseline is detrimental to the process.

And, Val, I love that you used the word "Hydrophobic". Are you a science person?

No. Reback combing and TnRing over and over just brings you back to day 1. You need to let them unravel so that they can tangle back again on their own. If you force it, 1: you will pull out more hairs from the torque of the comb. 2: You will set your progress backwards.

The tips should be wispy. This helps them dry faster because water can drain right out of them. if you have blunted tips, water gets stuck there and is a pain to get out. I have a few that are blunted on their own, and they take many hours longer to dry than the ones that are loose at the tips.

updated by @baba-fats: 07/16/15 08:21:24AM

I'm a bio major, and I'm tickled to here other use bio terms. Not many here are science minded in ways more than how chemicals effect their locks. Or in their food

Valrie said:

Lol, I wouldn't consider myself a science person but my biology instructor would be tickled pink to know that there were a lot of terms that stuck with me. :P
I am more of a math/art nerd and science fiction geek.

I'm definitely a sci-fi geek. I took a sci-fi lit class just for the sake of it. I kept hoping he'd have us read Dune. I Loved that book. He didn't, but then the next semester, he did

Well, size depends on the size of the section. over 1 inch sections are verydifficultto maintain. They are hard to wash and harder to dry. How big are your section?

In time, as your hair grows out and your locks mature, they puff up and take on more of the size of the section. When they are babies, they are not tangled enough yet to puff out to that size. The tips will always be a bit thinner than the rest of the lock. But that can take a while. Unless you cut them to blunt them, it's not a great idea. blunted tips just look so uniform and cookie cutter. And again, really really hard to dry