Forum Activity for @jon-browne

Mold in my dreads?

Help! Save My Dreads

I'm having the same problem right now. I've noticed that I've had white-to-brownish residue in my dreads since about the second time I washed them. I'm pretty sure it's just dead skin cells that have gotten trapped in the dread. This usually doesn't have a smell. I just noticed earlier today after I got out of the shower that I could smell that wet towely, mildewy smell. And it's been following me around all day. I don't know if anyone else can notice but I sure can notice a difference. I've been trying to figure out where the smell is coming from exactly, but I smelled each one of my dreads one at a time and I couldn't tell. It's like when I don't smell them, I can catch a whiff of mold smell. I found areas where there was white buildup in my dreads and I tried scraping it out with my nails and a tweezer. It's just really hard to get that stuff out.

I've never used residue soap. I only washed with baking soda and tea tree and lavender oil for the first year. After that I started using some soap from dreadlockshampoo. Nowadays I try to use a natural soap from Whole Foods. I just washed my hair with baking soda and tea tree yesterday, and then rinsed my hair out vigorously for an hour. I made sure I got to every single dread and squeezed out any dead skin. Not much dead skin squeezed out so I assumed my hair was clean. I was wrong. It seems like my hair will just always have buildup and it will never go away.

Friend has mold in dreads, what to do?

Help! Save My Dreads

I've been finding some white, fuzzy substance in the loops of my dreads. When I smell the loops directly, I can kinda smell that "moldy" smell, but I'm not sure. I have a feeling that the white stuff is just dead skin that got trapped in the dread. When I wash my hair, I usually end up squeezing and wringing out a decent amount of this white/brown/grey wax. I have never used wax in my dreads and I have only used residue free shampoo and baking soda. I haven't washed my dreads fully in about a month. They still smell and feel fine aside from the loops that have the dead skin trapped inside. I've been picking out as much as I can without tearing apart the dread. I'm afraid that I'm breaking hairs and pulling them out of the dread, but I need to do something about this waxy, sebum material.

Friend has mold in dreads, what to do?

Help! Save My Dreads

Now I'm afraid that I might get mold too. We do sometimes switch pillows. So far my hair doesn't smell. It does kinda itch, but I can't tell if it's more than usual.

Regardless, last night right before I fell asleep, I could notice the smell of mold around her hair again. It had kinda died down the past few days, but it was quite intense last night. I can even still smell it on the pillow. We tried a baking soda + clove + tea tree wash with an apple cider vinegar rinse about a week ago. It seemed to only mask the smell of mold. I'm going to recommend that she continue doing this wash once a week or so to kill the mold. I'm not sure at what point she has to come to realize that she has to cut them out. I can't be the one to tell her that either. I'm trying to help and so far she gets defensive when I smell her hair. It's not my fault. I can't help the intense odor of mold coming from her dreads. I feel really bad. I'm trying to pinpoint the location of the mold, and it seems like it's near the tips of one or more dreads. I can't find their exact locations and they are not visible to the eye.

I'm almost at the point of giving up trying to help her. She doesn't look for the mold on her own, and I don't think she'll want to let me do it for her. She seemed reluctant to even do the wash. I'm like dude you have mold in your dreads. I feel like she is in denial that there is even mold in her dreads. Nobody else has brought it up to her.

Friend has mold in dreads, what to do?

Help! Save My Dreads

Well, I guess what she found might not have been mold. I had some white, fuzzy, fibrous stuff in my dread where I had a bead. I knew that wasn't mold and she said she picked out the same thing. So what she found could have just been some kind of fabric. But I definitely smell mold/mildew somewhere in her dreads. It could be multiple locations. It could be in just one area. I don't know. And now, she's saying that her scalp hurts and showed me a red area that was scabbing. Could that be caused by mold in hair? She sprays a tea tree/water solution on to her hair daily and washes and dries her hair correctly. We even did a deep clean with baking soda/tea tree/patchouli and apple cider vinegar. I still smell mold, and I don't know what to do at this point. It's to the point sometimes where I can't get close to the back of their head because it smells like mold. I feel really bad and I don't know how to help. She either has to cut them off, or live with mold in her hair, which I can assume is a health hazard.

Friend has mold in dreads, what to do?

Help! Save My Dreads

Hello. Just a week or so ago, my friend found mold inside one of her dreads. The dreads are three years old. She cut one whole dread off near the root and was able to see mold locked in the center of the dread. I had suspected this for the past month or so. I knew that smell, but she thought it was one of her metal dread wraps. Anyway, I can still smell mold somewhere in her dreads, but I don't know exactly which one, or how many. I don't know how to go about this. I don't want to be the one to say she has to chop off a dread, but for the sake of stopping the mold, there has to be something she can do. So before I talk to her about it again, I need something to suggest that she do. Any advice folks? Thank you.

updated by @jon-browne: 01/13/15 09:50:17PM

Anyone use Simmons Special Soap (unscented)?

Dread Products

Contains: Natural oils of olive, palm & coconut, spring water, alkali, organic oatmeal

Anyone use Simmons Special Soap (unscented)?

Dread Products

I just came across this bar of soap at the corner store. It looks legit. Bought some. I'm wondering if anyone has any experiences with this and if it's safe to use with dreads. Since it's unscented, that means there's no residue, correct?

updated by @jon-browne: 01/13/15 09:28:58PM

Baking soda wash. hard/soft water question

Dread Maintenance

I did a thorough washing a few days ago that included bs wash and acv rinse. I thought it would surely get this residue out of my locs but it didn't. Nothing will even squeeze out of the dreads. It's like it's not even there when I wet my hair then as soon as my hair dries, the pasty white crap is visible. I eyeballed out more baking soda and poured a fair amount of acv into the rinse. My hair is clean but the residue is still there. I don't know what options I have left because baking soda and te vinegar don't clean anything out. I ordered a bar off that website you linked. Haven't used it yet. Can someone explains exactly how I should wash my locs? Simply pouring the mixture over my hair doesn't work. I let my hair soak in a bowl of bs and essential oils and no results.

Baking soda wash. hard/soft water question

Dread Maintenance

No matter what I do, the dead skin keeps building up on my dreads. The top half of nearly all my dreads have a white residue on them. I just washed my hair with baking soda, tea tree, lavender, and lemon juice. Rinsed it out multiple times. Used my shower head to blast as much of the dead skin out, but not much really came out. After I dry my hair, they are all white and nasty. There has to be something I can do. The dead skin is there, it just won't wash out.

Baking soda wash. hard/soft water question

Dread Maintenance

I've been washing my dreads with a baking soda and water mixture with tea tree and lavender oil. I live in LA so I have dirty, hard water. I heard this could be a problem and I think it has turned out to be. One time I used a lot of baking soda compared to water and I noticed that some white goo would get trapped in my roots and I would have to rinse them directly under the shower head to get enough force to wash the goo out. Needless to say, that was an annoying process. I tried again the last time I washed my hair and used less baking soda. I still got white goo in my roots. Is this because of the hard water? How do I get a decent supply of soft water just for washing hair? Also, do I leave the baking soda wash in my hair? I've been leaving it in for 20-30 minutes before I rinse it out.

updated by @jon-browne: 01/13/15 09:23:11PM