A bunch of Questions!
General Questions
Hello everyone -
My name is Halsey - I live on the Puget Sound in Washington State. I have always had a fascination with Dreads and a few months ago decided to get some for myself.
I first separated my hair and braided 1"x1" squares. Or so I thought. I had a friend do them and halfway through she just started taking chunks and braiding them. Then I used the backcombing method, braid by braid. I am not finished, I have about 10 braids left. Come to find out she didn't really braid SQUARES, so every braid I tend to split up into two or three dreadlocks. On the smaller chunks I have I tend to just twist and rip them, because it's hard for me to backcomb small dreads. I've noticed the twist and rip method looks a lot better long-term than back combing (well. long term as in the month I've had them).
I don't know very much about dreads. I have many questions regarding them. I have heard mixed answers online about tightening my roots, for instance. I don't need to do that yet, but I'd like to ask people who actually know what they're talking about - if I don't dread my roots, will my dreads loosen? Will they dread on their own?
My scalp is also extremely sensitive. I used selsun blue before I got dreads because I had a problem with dandruff (have my whole life). And now I can't use that, because it leaves residue and gets REALLY terrible in my dreadlocks. My mother makes all natural soap. I tried that. So far, it works better than any shampoo I've found, but still leaves dandruff. I hear that it needs to be residue free but I don't know of any brands that are that. I considered buying dandruff shampoo from this website I found but I'd like any recommendations.
I bought dread wax, as well as a 'dreadlock' spray that it supposed to help tighten my dreads. Looking at the information, I guess it's mostly seasalt? I feel like I wasted my money on this product. http://www.dreadheadhq.com/store/locking-accelerator
I hear dread wax does not work. When I used it, it made my dreads look better (less frizz) - assuming I was able to rub it all in! Did I completely waste my money?
I love my dreads. If I didn't have the scalp problem I'd be extremely happy with them. But at this point the whole thing is becoming really irritating - I have to tighten them every day, because they keep loosening. Also, they rat into each other and I have to pull them apart a lot. I have to wear my hair up to work, so that might be why they're ratting together.
That said, the person I spoke to about my dreads did it the natural way. I understand a lot of people say that's the best way to do it, but I don't want my hair to look like a rat's nest for a year. I want them to be at least tolerable until they start to do their own thing. After they are dreaded, I do not plan on tightening them all the time. But again, I don't know how necessary that is!
I have done a lot of research, watched a ton of youtube videos, etc. and the conclusion I've come to is that half the people think one thing, half think the other(on dread wax, for instance)! Help!
updated by @halsey-stevens: 02/14/15 05:04:08PM
