yah, he's right. Hairs from one side of your head can get tangled into a dread on the other side and will constantly be taut. That can be painful and if it's not dealt with and your dreads get long and heavy it can cause patches of thinning hair.
I agree that it looks just like lint. I have the same kind of thing in most of my dreads. As far as I can tell there is nothing that can be done about it. It just comes with having dreads; they'll never be perfect.
Lavender oil was found to be toxic to human skin cells in in vitro testing. At the same time, lavender oil doesn't seem to cause damage to skin on an actual person, so it's not really clear how toxic it might be. Bottom line is be cautious, if you have any doubts, maybe use an alternative.
Chamomile and peppermint are two others that can be used.
Chamomile has antimicrobial properties and could lighten the hair slightly.
Peppermint doesn't do much for the hair, but does give a tingly, invigorating feeling to the scalp
One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that all essential oils could produce allergic reactions in certain individuals. I'm allergic to two of the oils SE mentioned.Always do a spot test on your skin first, or better yet, get a doctor to run a full allergy test.
Also, this is more debatable, but there is some evidence that it's a bad idea to use lavender oil when pregnant, or if you are a prepubescent boy. There's not enough evidence to say for sure, but the oil has been implicated in developing gynaecomastia (man boobs) in boys.
It doesn't really matter how old they are. You can dye your hair with henna at anytime. Don't worry about damaging your hair, henna doesn't damage the hair and the worst that can happen is the colour isn't what you expected. Usually it comes out as an auburn colour. You simply cover the hair in the henna paste, make sure it's saturated. Leave it in for a while and then wash it out. I'd suggest being cautious at first, leave the henna in for only 20 min or so and see how the colour is. If you want more, just dye it again and leave it in for longer this time.
You'll probably want to add things to the water that you mix the henna with, it helps with the colour. I use a mixture of 2 cups of black tea mixed with the juice of 1 lime and 1 teaspoon of cloves. Make as much of that as you need to get the past the consistency you want. You can also add other ingredients to change the final colour more. For example
Strong coffee or espresso - Shifts the colour towards a rich, dark brown
Cloves - brings out a chestnut brown
Cognac - shifts the colour towards reddish orange
Camomile - lightens the colour
Olive Oil - extra conditioning
Keep in mind that obviously henna dyes clothes and skin as well. So be careful
One thing that no one has mentioned is fly fishing and tying shops. They have feathers in virtually every shape, size and colour you could ever want. My ex would make and sell feather hair extensions and she'd get all of her feathers from fly tying shops. However, once feather extensions became more popular the prices at those shops started to go up. Those feathers are not a vegan-friendly product though, if that is a concern.
