Forum Activity for @tara-c

Will dreads increase my pain?

General Questions

I'm sorry you're in so much pain, I can somewhat relate to it but in a different way. If you have dreads, you won't have to worry about it causing neck or scalp pain for a long time, if ever. It's only if they're very thick or very long that the weight starts to add up. If you're going for thin dreads, it'll most likely be when they're very long that they can add pain to the neck or scalp. And if it's not a bad idea to you, you may just trim them when they get long enough to cause pain; that way, you can keep dreads for as long as you want, but avoid them adding to your pain

As for separating, when the sections start to tangle together, you pull them apart to stop them joining together, that's all; do it as often as you need.

opinions?

Dread Maintenance

The thing is, the actual fact of the matter, based on my own experiment and many other people's, is wax is super hard to get out. Does it eventually come out? Yeah, sure it does if you find a way to get it out. But there are also people that waxed a few times and never again, and years later after washing their dreads as normal, still find wax in them. If wax was not almost impossible to get out, no-one here would be bashing it. Alright, people might still be saying it isn't as good as the natural method, but it wouldn't be harmful, nonetheless.

And yet it is. It's difficult to wash out, so even if it were to wash out in five washes, you're always five washes behind, you always have wax in your dreads waiting to wash out, during which time it's trapping dirt and moisture. You'd increase the risk of getting mold because of it. And despite all that, what are the benefits? Well, none. It makes them look neater I guess, but actual dread benefits? Zero. They don't dread much; they can't. They admit this on their site by telling you to manually create knots by backcombing, counter-clockwise rubbing(?) and whatever else. You have to create the knots yourself and then use wax to keep the knots in place. Why do they tell you to create the knots? Because wax doesn't allow for the creation of knots. It just keeps the hair in place so it's unable to move around freely and tangle. If you don't believe this, think of it this way: clean hair dreads better than unwashed hair. Why is this? Because greasy hair can't move around each other as well as clean hair, therefore, tangling can't really happen in greasy hair.

With wax, you create the knots yourself, and then stick them in place, so to speak. Which is pointless, and because the wax hardens, it makes you feel like you have mature, tight dreads when you really don't.

Moments Of Doubt

General Questions

You haven't missed out, don't worry. I mean, the journey's different for everyone, and you'll still get to experience your own journey watching your dreads progress and grow

Moments Of Doubt

General Questions

Delete her. Anyway, the people who go to her for maintenance after one or two years are obviously people who haven't done any separating, otherwise they'd see no need for it. One or two years of not separating your dreads will make them look CRAZY, depending on the individual's hair. I'm not saying they'll look 100% neat, but they won't necessarily look overly messy either. Just let it do its thing before you panic looking at pictures from a loctician posting pictures to boost/promote business.

HELP Losing the Faith

General Questions

They look amazing I wish mine had done that, to be honest. Anyway, it looks like a few of them have super-shrunk, but most of them look ropey, so yeah, I'd say just leave them be. They do shrink, but once they're done shrinking, they grow surprisingly fast.

Loops

Dread Maintenance

You can't tame them, really, they eventually become bumps, and most of those bumps are small so they won't stay looking crazy if you don't like them, so nothing to worry about. Enjoy them while you have them, because they can be awesome patterns, very cool. I love mine and I miss them when they go away, haha.

Long loose hairs

Dread Maintenance

Yes, thick dreads are a pain. Most of mine are thick-ish and they take 8-12 hours to dry, and remember that you can't really sleep on damp dreads or it could increase the risk of getting mold. So if you're not willing to deal with that hassle, I'd suggest splitting a few in half while they're still young, but if you're OK with it, go for it.

Anyway, as for the loose hair, it'll rejoin the dread or it'll stay out of the dread, and then more loose hairs will join it and it'll form its own dread so don't worry.

Never Have to Separate- Weird?

Dread Maintenance

Nope, it's not weird. I mean, it's uncommon I guess, but not weird. I have very wild, curly hair, but I hardly ever have to separate. I can go a few months without separating, and when I finally remember to do so, only one or two areas are loosely connected.

Thinking about getting dreads, but I have some questions...

General Questions

1. Mine take 8-12 hours to dry, and mine are thick. For others, it only takes a few hours. So if they're thin, just a few hours.
2. Shower cap!
3. This I do not know.
4. Well, the thing is, for a lot of people with long hair when they've started, they've experienced a LOT of shrinking. Like...losing half of their length. Mine shrunk to about...well, a bit longer than those in the picture, and they're now halfway down my back. Once they've done shrinking, they'll grow pretty quick, in my experience.
5. Nope, don't worry about the rain getting your dreads wet.
6. Well, you can wear a hoodie or a beanie I shove my dreads into my beanie, but a lot of people don't. And I wear a hood with no issues.
7. That depends on if you've set your mind on forcing them to be neat or letting them dread their own way. It's different for everyone. My hair looks extremely messy and I'm over two years into it, but I have a lot of loose hair and my hair's always looked wild even when undreaded. It just depends, person-to-person.
8. I read that damaged hair dreads quicker, so no, that won't be an issue at all.
9. Prep it? What do you mean? I don't think you need to do anything beforehand.
10. Twist and rip is less damaging. I backcombed mine and I have no issues with it, but it's not that important how you start off because they'll most likely loosen and fall apart quite a lot anyway, before they're able to start dreading.
11. I have bad skin problems, so I am often itchy, but actually, since dreading and since using an excellent method of washing my dreads/scalp, my scalp is hardly ever itchy. It can be rather itchy in the beginning as your scalp adjusts, but tea tree oil can help a bit, I think.
12. I never get headaches. The risk of headaches is really just if your dreads are very long (and thick), or if they're in an area that pulls on a sensitive part of your scalp. But it's not something to worry about.
13. I've only had one negative experience so far, from a woman who just glared at me in a disgusted way. I found it funny, but that's the only time it's happened. It depends on what your area is like, though.

Having faith and receiving help

General Talk

I'm the kind of person that has no faith. That's not to say I don't consider myself spiritual on some level, but not really in the sense that I believe someone or something will provide for me or look out for me. But I get the hope and sense of comfort it can bring people when, as you say, sometimes it's all they have. The thing is that many people have faith as you do and are good people, but they're not provided for, so I get why your partner thinks it's a coincidence. And her thinking it's a coincidence means she doesn't have this comfort to fall back on that, should life bring up something unexpected in a bad way, you'll both be OK. She wants as much security as possible, I get that. So perhaps some of the stuff can be sold, and some can be given to charity? Or perhaps you can sell the stuff on ebay, and give back to others in another way, maybe volunteering somewhere for a while if you have the time, or something to that effect? That way her own worries can be lessened, and you can do something to give back.