I twisted my 6.5 month old neglect dreads.
Dread Maintenance
I have found nothing on the internet anywhere regarding this topic. so I decided to post it for those who might be interested.
Sure dreadlockssite is all about the natural way. I too lean heavily toward the natural way, but i do enjoy playing with my hair and trying new things along this journey. I think it only natural..
When i first started the journey i wanted to try starting my locs with twists... I twisted and pinned most of my head but the locs wouldn't stay. I mean instantly fell out.
Eventually i grew tired of trying to make my dread locks happen and just decided to let them be natural. So i sectioned them (sloppily), backcombed them, and left them alone for 6.5 months except for my daily separating.
After making considerable progress i went home for xmas break and found my old twist and loc gel and decided to see if my hair would hold a twist since my hair texture has changed dramatically since i started my journey..and itdid!
I went through separated allof my dreads down to the scalp( i know you shouldn't do this but i hate the feeling of congaed dreads andwant them to be very separated.) I twisted them and pinned them and let them dry. When i removed all the clips to my amazement every twist stayed. I assumebecause the dreads have secure knots and i was more justwrappingthe loose hair around these knots vs trying to created knots initially with twists. they all resembled dreadlocksmuch more instead of fuzzy curly hair...
The twists even stayed after islept on them. after two days idecided to wash them because they did have a weird unnatural look. I can admit that. they looked awkwardly skinney and didn't layin the same way i was used to. After washing them2days later they look exactly the same as they did before.
The reason i post this is because im amazed atwhat it did to my sectioning. I have perfect sections withno hairs straying from dread to dread.before i twisted them I could pull one dread and half my head of hair would move with it. Not a cute look in my opinion. Now although theyhave not held their twisted look (which imhappy about) they are still sectionedquite well. I am definatley pleased.
So in conclusion this post is for everyone with sloppy sections. If you are growing exceptionally tired of your roots matting together consider going in and really separating your dreads carefully removing hairs from the dreads they don't belong. As you succeed in separating dreads from each other, Twisteach dreads moderately tight from the root to the tip with a quality gel,pin them, and let them dry.
From here you can either wash them or choose to leave the gel in. Its up to you if you like the look, i personally didn't this time. It will make your roots look much tidier but your dreads will also be temporarily skinnier and slightly awkward.
After washing mine they look quite natural, none of my scalp is showing, and my dreads are almost perfectly sectioned.
I know dreads are not about being perfect, but they are about being happy, and my dreads being sectioned well means a lot to me. I used to spend hours separating my hair every single day. Now that i have gone in and done a quality job separatingfrom the scalp upward i have not had to separate once and have managed to keep averynatural look.
I knowthatmost of you would never consider twisting your hair and that is fine, however if you are curious what a twistwould look likeon your dreads give it a shot. Even if your hair is fine and straight. Its not something that just works onblack hair, as its simply wrapping the loose hair around the body of the dreads.In my opinion it will nothurt your hair to do it once in a blue moon and it really did tidy up things.
I just wanted to update you all on what i have been up to! still loving the journey more than ever. Getting so close to that one year mark!
Will post pictures soon
Peace be the journey.
updated by @bob-ngarly: 01/13/15 10:00:57PM
