Forum Activity for @alexander-mcallister

combing out 4 month TnR dread, abandon mission?

Dreadlock Styles and Dread Styling

Thank you both so much!!!! after your replies i just took a couple hour break. i then reread everything, and decided now that my hair was dry from the conditioner and water, to try and comb/brush it out again. i gently began and instantly it was different, the lock resisted a little but started to give. 2 hours and a wad of shed hair later, the whole lock was combed out, and i still have plenty of hair to make dreads with, i think i have decided to make it 4

Thank you so much.
-Alex

combing out 4 month TnR dread, abandon mission?

Dreadlock Styles and Dread Styling

the issue i have with continuing on with the combing, even a little a day, is that even with todays brushing i lost more hair than i think is normal for brushing out a dread, i am pretty sure that even with being as gental and slow as i was going, i ended up ripping out ALOT of hair. making smaller dreads is not worth loosing the hair that i will loose if i continue to comb out the big dread, i am pretty sure i will have a very small abount of wiry dead hair left if i keep combing it out, im worried that it would probably make some very pitiful dreads :/

combing out 4 month TnR dread, abandon mission?

Dreadlock Styles and Dread Styling

Heyyy peoples, recently after talking with other people on the forum i have come to realize that several of my sections may in fact be too big. I will be reffering to one particular lock in this discussion tho, it is in my opinion the biggest and most in need of change. I have watched a couple videos online about "splitting" mature dread locks by making an insition at the center of the roots, and taring it the rest of the way up, turning one bigger lock into 2. My immediate thought after this was that the person in this video must have no care for the health of their dreads, However after researching i found that there was little info on just how bad this method of splitting is, or how not bad it might be. But it was not enough info to get rid of my first thought about "splitting" a dread. Which turned my attention to actually combing the lock out, i had heard its possible to do so, and after talking to more people on the forum i found that the general thought was that a 4 month dread could be combed out with some effort, but it was absolutely possible, and it totally sounds way better than "splitting" a dread in half via ripping and taring it apart.

This is the lock, the dread itself is not big yet, but the section is huge, and clearly doesnt want to be just one dread.

SO! this morning at around 9, i took my shower and did the usual dread soak/rinse routine. except this time, at the end of the shower i put a bunch of conditioner in my hand, and got as much of it as i could into the dread to be combed out, and i let the rest of the dreads dry, but kept messaging conditioner into the dread that i wanted to comb out. I knew that it was not going to be a quick task, and i went into it slowly, a little at a time. At first an hour went by and i felt i was making some progress, the tip of the lock had started to loosen. But after 8 more hours of putting more conditioner in it, and combing some more fallowed by more conditioner.... it didnt change at all, i had hit a snag that would not loosen no matter how much conditoner i put in it, or how much i combed it, it would not budge. I started to get really frustrated because my "progress" was starting to lose length, and the newly freed hair was beginning to look stressed, stretched, and ready for me not to be combing it.

The yellow circle is surrounding the "snagged" area. After all day of conditioning and combing the Lock is the the same length as when i started combing it out, including the newly freed hair.I honestly started to worry about my hairs health, i dont want to damage it beyond the ability to keep the over all healthy lock, the freed hair is lookeing really stretched, i am worried that i may have damaged it more then the commonly excepted amount for a combed out lock. the section is huge, and i feel it would look better being more than just this one accidentally to larg section/ lock, but i think any more combing will only worsen a already bad situation.would splitting it like i said earlyier just annialate the dread even more, should i leave it be? continue coming??? ... i honestly dont know, this all started cuz my secton lines are really really noticable on the top of my head. So i ask anybody with any knowledge for some advice on what i should do.

Please and thank you - Alex

updated by @alexander-mcallister: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM

McAllister's Twist and Rip timeline!!

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5 month update 3/6/2013

McAllister's Twist and Rip timeline!!

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In total i have 33, i intentionally made 4 of them bigger, but beyond that i agree, there are several that i think are probably sectioned too big. honestly i was sad when i only had 33, making several of them too big is a good explination to why that happened. Whats the process for combing them out, and what tools are recommended? Thanks a bunch S.E.

McAllister's Twist and Rip timeline!!

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*begining to split* not "begging" my bad haha

McAllister's Twist and Rip timeline!!

Member Journals and Timelines

After over two years of serious contemplation, I FiNaLLy!!! decided to dread my hair (im currently searching for a decent picture of my hair before I did it, i am somewhat shy and avoided pictures being taken) So there are 33 babies in these pictures, I am so proud!!! i honestestly was hoping for more, but admitadly i am a nube to dreads, and just kind of jumped into it. I actually started my first lock by back combing, and realised 7 hours or so into it that my hair just wasnt taking to it, and then in the process of brushing it out, i ripped out a NOT OK amount of hair, ultimately loosing about 5 inches to that lock, its the tiny one in front...sad face.BUT i love them, and they are mine, and i love them. I am excited and already proud of what is to come in the future! Let this Journey Begin!!
Palm tree!!! I estimate this is around one month. I was volunteering in idaho at the time on a wolf preservation compound, so....I am sad to admit, that I was not really paying attention to the exact date it was, and i also lost the pictures i had taken the weeks up too one month. Despite that, let the timeline of my journey continue!! Loopies and zig zags!!!! Me with my buddy Mowhawk in Idaho!!!!
He is a bit better at it than i am xD

Two-ish months!!! (the lack of the ability to rock the faicial hair is regretibly noted...sad face...one day a beard will be mine)
THREE mOnThs!!!!! I am pretty sure some shrinking has taken place in the last month or so, not too many pictures to up date it, but i have both sides

So here is my FoUr mOnTh update, this be them at the beginning of the 4th month in my journey Right side Left side
Top
Here we have a repeat, except in it you now have a yellow circle the lock-to-be that is responsible for the very noticable section lines, there will be a few more circle pictures showing you what i mean. Same lock, from the back, notice you start to kinda see it begging to split at the roots Same lock, pulled to the side to better show the vastness that is this section, you can see the split from this side a bit better.
Deffinitally seeing the split right here Not Circled, but here is a picture from a distance so you can see again the big root section, along with a way better look at the roots where they are splitting

So that is my 4 month, they have shrank up quite a bit, but i think they have more to do haha!!

I debated "splitting" the giant lock for a while after posting the pictures, but after research and talking to the dread masters of this wonderful forum, i desided that "splitting" the lock was probably a terrible idea, and to just take up the challenge of brushing the giant-to-be-out, it took a couple hours and a few moments of unneccessary panic, but i got it all out, and after a couple wash cycles, the smell of conditionder faded and the hair sectioned itself into four defferent sections all verying in size, which is what i thought the lock would rougly have enough hair for once brushed out (yay for being right). Me, after seeing that and being a tad impatient TnRed them just a little being carful not to make them to tight, just to aid in the start a little. Thank you once again dread masters that gave advice.

Some inbetween pictures...

sunny day in the park after spinning my poi for a couple hours, the vitamine D was much needed!!!

Rocking out at the bus stop into good ole' portland

FIVE MoNtH update!!!! Definitally shrank a bit more, alot of them are getting fatter, and you cant really see them in these pictures, but my new locks have started to loop up in a couple places!!! There are a few more locks that i think i am going to comb out, just one at a time, as i feel necessary, hopfully making my lock count above 40 by the end of it, there are 36 in the making currently. I'm lovin every one of them!!!! I very much look forward to reaching the half year mark, its passed so quickly it will only be a matter of blinking before i break a year and on..Im so happy!!!

Right side (side with the youngest ones)

Back (thats Nate-O)

Left side

That concludes my five month, and my timeline for now, Im super stoked to add the next set of pictures a month from now!!! dread on.

updated by @alexander-mcallister: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM

3 month!!!

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Alright ill try that, thanks a bunch for your advice!!

just some info on my hair type before, i had a lot of really long hair like past middle back. But it was thin, the individual strands i mean, and it was a bit more thin on the top then on the sides, ive always had scalp showing a little where my hair spiral starts, and there always seemed to be more hair on my left side then right. I think that might have something to do with it maybe.

Also i forgot to include this in my routine description, i separate any locks that have even slightly intermingled with another lock, ide say about once every two weeks or so, not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Lastly, "Castaway J" mention maybe some of my sections are too big, i have actually thought about that also, along with the thought that maybe some of my sections are just wrong in general. That thought has lead me to wonder. is splitting a dread is possible and if it would look like normal dreads eventually if you did split it, (DONT WORRY!!) I wasntconsideringdoing it at all though, cuz my immediate response to hearing "split a dread" is that it is only 100 percent harmful to the dread, just flat out unhealthy, but this seems like a fitting time to ask the question,

3 month!!!

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my routine is as fallows: i shower every other day, before the shower i prepare just a basic baking soda and water soak/rinse, just 1/3 cup baking soda, and a gallon of water, i slowly dump the gallon solution over my head pausing here and there to message my scalp a bit (nothing rough) i then put my hair up and let it sit for about 15 min, then i get in the shower, and rinse it out, throughout the shower i step out of the water and lightly squeeze each dread to get water out to make room for more water (like a sponge)then step back in the water and repeat that process 2 times, i occasionally message the scalp during this part of the shower also, then I turn off the water, squeeze out the dreads again, and make a apple cider vinegar and water soak/rinse, i dump this over my head quickly, and let it sit for about 3-5 min, and i rinse that out messaging my scalp through the process, and then finally turn the water to cold and let that run through my hair. then i get out of the shower, put them up in a towel for like 5 min to get the loose water off, then let them air dry. that is pretty much it, i have been experimenting with only using the rinse/soaks every 2 washes verses every wash. other than that i let them do what they choose.

3 month!!!

Member Journals and Timelines

will the amount of scalp showing be less once they are fully mature locks?