making dreadlocks the right way and wrong ways

when making dreadlocks there are many was t start, some ways that may seem th most attractive are actualy the most destructive.

I want to try to cover most of the ways dreads are made and which are the right and wrong ways

making dreadlocks the right way:

• there is no way more right then going natural (sometimes called neglect or freeform) this is the most traditional and healthy way to dread many consider it the only 'proper" way to dread, however it is not the choice everyone makes because it takes patience and discipline. to dread naturally stop combing use a no residue shampoo wait for dreading to begin and separate as desired to prevent congos or huge dreads
• twist and rip (all hair types but african) twist and rip is nearly as gentle as braiding, in fact they identical to braiding..in reverse..with random strands instead if 3 equal strands, like all starter methods to create dreadlocks is not the goal nor is it possible, twist and rip aka tnr only defines the sections and gives some foundation knots to build on. twist and rip is accomplished by twisting a section of hair then splitting into 2 unequal parts randomly pull the 2 away from eachother gently sliding knots towards the roots, put back together split in a totally different spot split and pull repeat about 10 times before retwisting again..randomize as much as you can to avoid a braid like look, but if you do look braided don't worry, it will lose the braid lok soon as it actually dreads.
• backcombing (all hair types but african) i hesitate to include this in the right ways for several reasons, however you will get decent dreads this way if you don't make the usual mistakes so i will include it with this disclaimer: backcombing permanently damages the hairs cuticles, and goes against all principles of spiritual and religious dreading which require no comb t ever touch he head. backcombing has many other disadvantages, it tends to fall apart more then twist and rip, it tends to look goofy for weeks , it can be a painful process. please see additional notes after the right way section. to backcomb properly, section the hair, comb backwards towards the scalp while holding the tip firmly (firm enough to grip it well but with enough looseness to allow small amounts of hair to slip through your grip) some sites say only use a metal comb so you don't break the comb, however if your backcombing hard enough to break a comb, imagine what our doing to your scalp..and hair. instead be more gentle, you do not want to get it tight as can be. some looseness allows faster dreading, you want it tight enough to survive washings without falling apart but not so tight they stick up and look stiff.
• twists (african hair, kinky type) kinky african hair can be simply twisted into sections and hold shape to dread. they do not need to be baked in gel or waxed to hold together. and should not be retwisted as maintenance.
• coils (african hair straighter type) comb coils are simular to twists but work better in straighter african hair, a comb is used to twist the hair into a tight coil which is allowed to dread

aditional notes

• never use wax powders or dread products (exception african dreads require moisture to prevent over drying dread products for african dreads that do not contain wax are ok but you can make your own products that are better.
• never leave rubber bands in dreads longer then a day or 2
• never go long periods without washing wash weekly or more often
• never trust a salon to make or maintain your dreads
• never put anything sticky stiff or thick in dreads that maybe hard to wash out

making dreadlocks the wrong ways

• crochet crocheting dreads may seem like an attractive option because it seems to create perfect neat dreads instantly, however the reality is its extremely damaging, the resulting "dreads" are more woven then dreaded, stiff, way too tight, scratchy from all the broken hairs, and take 6 months or longer to recover before any dreading begins. the damage causes loose hairs to pop out all over requiring constant repair.. the repair doing more damage..requiring more repair.. crochet causes the low maintenance dreadlocks to be very high maintenance and you never allow it to dread instead you force it to look like dreads but woven dreads.
• dread kits dreadkits as popularized by knottyboy and dreadheadhq can make you look like you have dreads, dreads caked in wax that never really dread wax prevents movement needed to knot, no progress is made however constant palm rolling compresses backcombed hair into wax hardening and compressing them to simulate maturing. wax never washes out and years after using it if you use a wax removal product your dreads revert to a couple month old stage..barely any dreading occurs even after many years
• interlocking this was popularized by sisterlocks and others, however even before they started using it and changed the name from root flipping it was already well known to cause weak spots and in many cases breaking. every point you interlock is 30% weaker then the healthy dread should be, if they are done repeatedly to tightly this can be 90% weaker.
• felting this has got to be the worse thing ever it uses a felting needle to shred every hair into a felt tiny peices of broken hair cling together by tattered rough damaged peices. there is a other type of felting involving super hot very soapy water and pressing the hair till it forms a mass that i safe however
• dread perms. dread perms chemicaly fry the hair damaging it in an attempt to grt it to dread easier dread perms are nly to be used when absolutely every other method fails to produce dreads

any methods not covered here do belong in the wrong ways except perhaps wool rubbing and braids to dreads which are just alternative ways to begin natural dreads