What to do about my loops, loose hairs, and overall flat shape??
Dread Maintenance
The first time I had dreads was when I was a teenager. I did not know anything about dreads I was just sick of brushing my hair since it was so long and thick and would become so poofy and staticky, which I did not like. I made the mistake of dying my hair many different colors (which ruined the soft texture of my hair) before deciding to go the neglect route. My hair became 1 huge congo with 5 huge dreads hanging out of it. I wasn't aware that I could have been ripping them apart. My hair was so tangled at the scalp I couldn't get a finger through it to itch my head. That summer the temperature soared to 105 F and my head was so hot, sweaty and itchy that I just decided to shave my head. Years later I decided to try dreads again and asked my friend, a long time stylist, if she could help me start dreads again. She said she if I could bring her a comb and some wax that she would back comb my hair. So trusting that she would give me reliable advice because of her 10+ back ground working with hair, I did what she said. She back combed & rolled with wax, but only the half closet to my scalp, she left the bottom as it was, loose hairs. I was paying her, but couldn't afford more than a couple hours of her time so it was left somewhat unfinished at the tips. My dreads started to congo, I ripped them apart, a friend helped cut some of the tough ones apart with scissors. I now have little pieces of hair that stick out of my scalp and dreads. My hair is naturally wavy and I have huge loops that won't seem to tighten into the rest of the dread. My tips are ragged. I have pieces all over my head that can't seem to find a dread to attach to. I went to another salon that said they worked on dreads. The stylist used the loop through method to get the area around the roots to tighten up, she did some braiding to pull in a few loose pieces, but then put wax all over my hair. Now, it's been months since I've used any products in my hair. Some of dreads are really tight and flat as a pancake. Some of them still have huge loops. I palm roll them, but it doesn't seem to improve them. I recently did a wire wrap with some soft aluminum wire to help give them more of a round shape and tame the loops and I would leave it in for about a week and then take the wire out and it seemed to helped to round them out. I will now try to get the wax out as it seems to attract a lot of lint/dirt. Any further suggestions???
updated by @lin-z-newman: 01/13/15 09:01:07PM