Damage caused from salon methods such as crocheting, twisting, and wax.....PLEASE HELP!

I started my dreads in september 2009. A loctician at an afriacn braiding salon started my dreads as two twist braids like sisterlocks with beez wax. The cost to start my dreadlocks was $250. I went back to the salon every 2 weeks to get them retwisted. In addition to being twisted my dreads were crocheted once a month. This cost $180 and took about 7 hours. My stylist used different products such as organic locking cream, yellow and black bees wax, and moisturizing hair mayonaise. I was told not to get my hair wet for the first year. After a year my hair was washed once a month at appoinments only. Once my dreads started to lock thin spots were filled in with human hair using the palm rolling method. The human hair didnt match my hair color so my dreads were dyed. Loose hairs and loops were cut off of ever dread also.After about 22 months in i went to a different salon. the stylist there crocheted and twisted my locks with bees wax, dreadheadhq wax and jamacian mango and lime locking gel. I started washing my dreads every two weeks with dreadheadhq shampoo. the stylist attempted to reduce the frizz, loops, and hair sticking out of the body of my dreads by sewing in thread through each dread. Recently i have noticed that my dreads are very dry and brittle. Also some of the dreads are very thin at the root. The last time my dreads were crocheted was about 6 months ago and twisted about two months ago. PLEASE HELP!

updated by @emma-dawn: 02/14/15 03:17:37AM

ok the 1st pic looks bad the other 2 less bad i would expect worse with all that abuse both salons had done everythung wrong you could do wrong..cut off loops and loose hairs> really? loops mean they are dreading despite amll the wax and crochet and =everything else that would prevent dreading (like the 2 srrand twists that are for african hair on;y)

your hair was managing to dread despite all the things they did to p[revent them g=from dreadimg! a d they chopped that off?

dreads are loose hair..that is alowed not foreced to drraead

so u will always have loose haitrs here and there.. then they crochrtted which breaks alot of hair which creates..you guessed it..loose hairs!

so after handing over 3000 dollars you have hair thats been broken repeatedly caked in most likely over a pound of wax then was manf]gled so much they had to sew it together they started thinning from all the abuse so other peoples hair was added to "patch" the weak spots

now alt of people will give you some great advise here and i want our best experts to look this over but ill give you my prescription

you already got the anti residue soap wash with that today just to get rid of the buildup u can get rid of

then begin the wax removal using vinager sooaks and veryy hot water and dawn dish soap scrubs while you ordeer the wax b gone after a few scrubbings that way (read the wax ren]moval page ) when you have fgotten alot out switch to the wax b gone to get the rrst

just to be safe after u think you got all wax out do another wax b gone treatment every week for awhile followed bu=y the anti residue till they feel lite and soft again

next step a nourishing contitioning to help strengthen them .. im pulling this out of thin air so i want panterra and stephani to confirm my assumptions here but im thinking 2-3 cups of warnm water with a dropperful of joh]joba a tablespoon of aloe gel 2 capsyules ful or 1/8 teaspoon (ish) vitamin e oil (it might be li ]l heavy if so after 24-48 hours use the anti residue to remi-ove any excessm i just think a deep treatment for brittle roots will help)

then we can begin a more natural dread care regiment

just washing and seperating and letting them recover

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

thank you so much! Im going towash my hair tomorrow with the anti residue soap. Should i do the vinger soak the next day? And do i was the vinegar out with the dawn and do i actually scrub them? Also how often should i do each one?

you can do it after the anti residue soak in the vinager like 10 min then squeeze the dreads like youir squeezing toothpaste out from rots to tips unfortunatekt =y the blunted tips wuill make it harder to get the wax out that way but the vinager will soften it some then use the hottest water u can safely stand and lots of dawn dish soap scrubbing working it in deep then rinse very well

this will make em alot better but u still got a long way to go but 1 good treatment u should see a big digference

oh while i was wriiting our hair experts about this a question came to mind

if you werent to wet them for a year then i'[only wash monthly at appointments..how bad was your scalp? is it still real bad?

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

My scalp has never been that bad. Ive never had dandruff. the only thing that bothered me was itching and the pain of it being so tight when they crocheted it.

i can imagine

dreads shouldnt hurt or be that tight u should be able to pinch into them nearly 1/2 way ..at least when they are in real healthy condition when lil drythey maybe harder

ive seen salon dreads with sections this wide <----------------> but all that hair from the scalp pulled in so tightly that the dread roots were barely this wide <-> that causes that wide section to get narrower as the gaps between dreads gets wider

the pain your nerves feel beneath the scalps surface is your bodies defence tr=ying to scream as loud as it can stop pulling the hairs so tight if you want to have hair

just like when you stick your hand in a fire the pain tells you take it out if you stil want skin..the pain should have been telling you to stop going to the salon and having the roots tightened to the point of pain

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I washed my hair this morning with the anti residue shampoo and it feels better. After really looking at each dread i can see the wax and there is alot of lint in them. I now want to do the vinegar soak. How long do i leave it in? How much do i apply? Is white vinegar ok? And how long do i wash it with the dawn soap? I am very determined to get this wax out!

the vinager whits ok acv is better saturate the dreads massage it in then squeeze it out the ends after 10 min

the dawn use alot and the hottest water u can stand safekly scrub scrub scrub

it doesnt matter how long cause your going to have to do it again and again so scrub till u want to rinse

u said the rinse water was brown

a picture of that might discourage others from trying wax too

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

SO SORRY I have been busy all day.

Also I am SO SORRY to hear that those salon's put you through all of that. What SE has told your thus far sounds great to me. We wont be able to see the damage caused until all, or at least a good majority of the wax and build-up is removed. For now that should be your main concern, because you can't begin to repair the damage until the build-up is gone. Once you get it removed then we can actually see what kind of damage has been done. It will be easier to figure out the right way to go about healing your dreads.There are several different things that can be done as far on conditioning, but you really need to get some protein back in those dreads and really baby them.

I would put some of that waxy brown water in a container and take it to those salons and tell them where they can put it. BUT, I have a temper and that's surely not the way to handle the situation. I would call and tell them they go about their way of dreading all wrong and try to get the salon's name out there as much as possible. Just so that others don't go, or continue to go there.

Thank you so much for Ur reply. How severe do you think the damage will be? Will u lose alot of hair as I remove all of the wax? Since they were cut and other hair was added I feel that the wax may be the only thing holding them together. Also I was wondering if pu tting rubber bands loosely at the roots to keep the long Jew growth separated would be harmful