Hi, i'm new.

oh and we dont have a patent on the truth we just have no financial motivation to liesalons doproduct pushers dohell the term loctician is a lie theres nothing thst requires a techician degree about alowing the hair to lockthey tell u your hairs hard to dread even if it dreads overnight on its ownu could have 15 year old perfect natural locks and they will tell u u need to fix them..anything to get your money..we saw 1 guy spend 14 thousand dollars on his salon dreads and they were all falling off (interlocked)\


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
updated by @soaring-eagle: 07/23/15 05:12:52AM

My mother is half black half native, and my father is dutch. My hair was very frizzy, curly, 'textured' when I was younger but got straighter and lighter in my teen years and is now very straight, however it was always very tangly. Thin straight hair I think does better with bigger locks, because it has it's little support group, and I sectioned big because I did light backcombing to start mine and the sections seemed medium to small then (they got thicker during shrinkage phase and due to the nature of maturing dreads). I think it's easier with curlier/frizzier/kinkier hair to do smaller locks because they stay together and strong even when they're small. I think you'd be fine with smaller locks, but the texture of your hair is really the tell all. For instance, though all my sisters have the same genetic parentage as I do, one has super frizzy/textured/kinky hair but it is nearly blonde (very light brown). Another has almost asian dark and straight hair. I have a combination, and mine has changed as I got older. We all are different results of combinations of our very different parents, and though we all look related we are all also very different. Some people think my little sister is mexican, while my other little sister is as pale as porcelain. It's just what happens with mixed heritage.I personally think that with textured hair, curls and such, you'd have better luck with more, smaller dreads, where as with straight or fine hair does well with larger, thicker dreads. Make a few sections and pull on them, if it feels secure and safe on your head it should hold and be fine. My hair has gotten thinner and straighter and so I am more comfortable with large sections because I think it affords the support needed, whereas if I was working with my hair from my youth I would have done a 120 dread route. Also, a combination of small and large is a good idea, as some of my "loose hair" is becoming small thin dreads on their own, so really your hair will decide what it wants and communicate to you through congos or splitting, etc.As far as methods, I think TnR is the safest and least dangerous if you don't want to wait on neglect method, and I personally did back combing because I didn't know of TnR at the time, but I also am a bit of a pansy on scalp pain and stress so my backcombing was very loose and gentle.You can do dreads yourself easy, and maintenance would just be pulling apart the congos. One of the benefits of a more textured hair type is that it congos/combines a lot less because the hair is in tighter ringlets and doesn't mingle much, so lots of dreads like that shouldn't be hard to maintain as far as pulling apart congos goes.

Um, to the above poster, how do you figure african hair is more suited to small locks and that straight hair is better for large ones? Granted, most black folks celebreties included rock small ones, but african hair by nature tends to be THICK and BUSHY, so thick locks are just as perfect as small ones.As to the original post. Bro i am halfrican american myself and can tell you what i have been doing.1. Throw the pic away2. Shampoo with organic soap shampoo bar made for dreads once or twice a week. No conditioner.3. Hot oil treatment once a week with jojoba oil. Excellent. for dry african type hair.4. Wait.I am stopped picking the first week of november and already my hair is matted and sectioning off. I was going to get twists originally like you, cause they do look good for our hair type. But deciding to go natural was a liberating decision, one which my hair is taking to quite happily. I know you want some "clean" looking dreads, but you can also achieve this with natural you just gotta seperate them into the proper sections once its locked and let the hair do the rest. Not trying to change your mind but seeing the progression of your hair is a rewarding experience bruh, for real.

let me explain what interlocking is and why its 1 of the dumbest things u can do to dreadsa healthy dread the root section is the same size as the dread itself when matureinterlocking takes the dread, puts a gap in the roots and forces the dread through pulling it out the other sidenow from a physics perspective thats forcing those roots on either side to twist 180 degrees while being pressed outwardthat causes a extreme weakness at that ooint..that cannot ever be repaired or recovered fromif that weak poingt becomes weakened further it can break or hankg on by a few hairs that tension will make it want to "pop" loosein adition interlocking stops dreading..the hair at the roots nee4ds a loose gap to move and alow dreading interlocking removes that movement room so you no longer dread u instead force it to look dreaded with a series of weak points that create a weak dreadtheres a reason we have a salon dread recovery group on here.. out of every 1 of our members who started dreads in a salon..only 1 said she didnt regrert it (and shes a famouse tv star and model so odviosly can go to the best in the world...and they still screwed her with wax)theres not a salon in the world id ever let touch my dreads..even if they paid me 10000 times what they chargei have never seen 1 do a decent job andnot really screw em up


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

It is funny how epigenetics work. I had quite the opposite; my hair got more 'friz' around puberty.I think it kind of makes sense about the smaller locks. Maybe it is because of the natural curl pattern, that are in fact already 'small natural partings'. But i'm no hair expert...I'm still apprehensive about not going to the salon... Because i can't do the parting neatly in the back of my head myself and other stuff. Basicly i feel i am not competent enough. However I do feel that a person who has dreads himself (and has mixed children with dreads .. i found out today), that is experienced with locking, is way more competent than i am. But maybe i'm paranoid.

tatyananashi said:

My mother is half black half native, and my father is dutch. My hair was very frizzy, curly, 'textured' when I was younger but got straighter and lighter in my teen years and is now very straight, however it was always very tangly. Thin straight hair I think does better with bigger locks, because it has it's little support group, and I sectioned big because I did light backcombing to start mine and the sections seemed medium to small then (they got thicker during shrinkage phase and due to the nature of maturing dreads). I think it's easier with curlier/frizzier/kinkier hair to do smaller locks because they stay together and strong even when they're small. I think you'd be fine with smaller locks, but the texture of your hair is really the tell all. For instance, though all my sisters have the same genetic parentage as I do, one has super frizzy/textured/kinky hair but it is nearly blonde (very light brown). Another has almost asian dark and straight hair. I have a combination, and mine has changed as I got older. We all are different results of combinations of our very different parents, and though we all look related we are all also very different. Some people think my little sister is mexican, while my other little sister is as pale as porcelain. It's just what happens with mixed heritage.

I personally think that with textured hair, curls and such, you'd have better luck with more, smaller dreads, where as with straight or fine hair does well with larger, thicker dreads. Make a few sections and pull on them, if it feels secure and safe on your head it should hold and be fine. My hair has gotten thinner and straighter and so I am more comfortable with large sections because I think it affords the support needed, whereas if I was working with my hair from my youth I would have done a 120 dread route. Also, a combination of small and large is a good idea, as some of my "loose hair" is becoming small thin dreads on their own, so really your hair will decide what it wants and communicate to you through congos or splitting, etc.
As far as methods, I think TnR is the safest and least dangerous if you don't want to wait on neglect method, and I personally did back combing because I didn't know of TnR at the time, but I also am a bit of a pansy on scalp pain and stress so my backcombing was very loose and gentle.
You can do dreads yourself easy, and maintenance would just be pulling apart the congos. One of the benefits of a more textured hair type is that it congos/combines a lot less because the hair is in tighter ringlets and doesn't mingle much, so lots of dreads like that shouldn't be hard to maintain as far as pulling apart congos goes.

To me interlocking seems like an easy way to maintain, but if it is really that damaging i guess palmrolling them once in a while is ok.

Brandon Arnold said:

Those methods may not cause "harm", but you have to constantly maintain them. Like interlocking or crocheting or whatever....

Doing it naturally, or just twisting and letting it do it's thing pays off in the long run. No going to salons every few weeks to have them "maintained" or buying wax or anything like that. They will look bad for the first year, but so what? They'll be 100x stronger and better looking (eventually) and you'll never have to go to a salon.

Lots of people who "lock" do it with combs or needles or rubbing and pulling and ripping....but sheesh even bob marley said in the video posted here "just don't comb it. keep it clean." and that was it.

and it doesn't matter at all what type of hair you have. it all can dreadlock

hahaha if your concerned about the back of your head just kidnap a friend for the day! My super wonderful mother did 99% of my dreads for me :D i LOVE my mum! It's pretty easy, if you read up here about section size and work it out to the thickness you'd like your dreads to be, and just go from there

'As to the original post. Bro i am halfrican american myself and can tell you what i have been doing.1. Throw the pic away2. Shampoo with organic soap shampoo bar made for dreads once or twice a week. No conditioner.3. Hot oil treatment once a week with jojoba oil. Excellent. for dry african type hair.4. Wait.I am stopped picking the first week of november and already my hair is matted and sectioning off. I was going to get twists originally like you, cause they do look good for our hair type. But deciding to go natural was a liberating decision, one which my hair is taking to quite happily. I know you want some "clean" looking dreads, but you can also achieve this with natural you just gotta seperate them into the proper sections once its locked and let the hair do the rest. Not trying to change your mind but seeing the progression of your hair is a rewarding experience bruh, for real.'I appreciate your comment.However im not shure about 'freeform' them. But maybe you can convince me: do you have a pic of your hair the way it is now (and maybe a before shot)?.

I kinda like physics to a certain extend so I like the fact that you explained it from a physics point of view.But if you interlock the hair loosely and leave 1 cm (~0.4 inch) of newgroth 'uninterlocked', is it still that damaging because you don't 'force your roots'. Wouldn't the tension around the roots be minimal that way?

soaringeagle said:

let me explain what interlocking is and why its 1 of the dumbest things u can do to dreads

a healthy dread the root section is the same size as the dread itself when mature
interlocking takes the dread, puts a gap in the roots and forces the dread through pulling it out the other side

now from a physics perspective thats forcing those roots on either side to twist 180 degrees while being pressed outward
that causes a extreme weakness at that ooint..that cannot ever be repaired or recovered from
if that weak poingt becomes weakened further it can break or hankg on by a few hairs that tension will make it want to "pop" loose


in adition interlocking stops dreading..the hair at the roots nee4ds a loose gap to move and alow dreading interlocking removes that movement room so you no longer dread u instead force it to look dreaded with a series of weak points that create a weak dread


theres a reason we have a salon dread recovery group on here.. out of every 1 of our members who started dreads in a salon..only 1 said she didnt regrert it (and shes a famouse tv star and model so odviosly can go to the best in the world...and they still screwed her with wax)

theres not a salon in the world id ever let touch my dreads..even if they paid me 10000 times what they charge
i have never seen 1 do a decent job andnot really screw em up

I guess i could consider it. But i'm still paranoid :P haha

O'Callaghan said:

hahaha if your concerned about the back of your head just kidnap a friend for the day! My super wonderful mother did 99% of my dreads for me :D i LOVE my mum! It's pretty easy, if you read up here about section size and work it out to the thickness you'd like your dreads to be, and just go from there