when it comes to dreads and whats concidered neat and tidy theres many schools of thought , usualy this just means a nice style clean healthy no congos the thickness of your leg

just a nice look, however locticians and dread salonbs push this idea on you that to be neat and tidy you need to spend thousands on maintenance and constant upkeep

so lets look at a lil bit of these lies they tell you

lie loose hairs look messy

fact dreads are loose hairs alowed to dread most ppl who dont find dreads attractive find the dreads not the loose hairs messy.

lie dreads roots need to be constantly tightened to appear "neat and tidy"

fact dreads roots tighten themselves but need some looseness at the roots to move, be comfortable, and dread properly, tighten the roots too much and no dreading can occur, you replace dreading with weaker interlocks, or twisting or weaving with crochet. these methods can weaken the dread causing them to break off, additionaly pulling the hair in too tightly at the roots can even cause baldness, a condition called traction alopecia is caused by constant tension on the roots, its responsible for record numbers of 19 year olds getting hair transplants. Roots should have a gap under thenm that you can fit a finger under, ewhen dreads are young this gap will be much larger up to 3 inches but that does not indicate a problem, its just how they dread., the roots also should have loose hairs (in african hair that mini afro in others the scalp fuzz) this is normal and healthy protecting the scalp from sun damage, andthese hairs will dread on their own when long enough or join an eisting dread, however as you seperate dreads to prevent congos more will form.

lie dreads shouldnt be "fuzzy" o the body of the dreads

fact again dreads are loose hair they will have some sticking out too short to dreasd in its not noticiable and its not worth worrying about anything you do to control that like wax or crochert is devastating to dreads (african hairs tight curls will result in naturally smoother dreads)

lie dreads should be smooth straight and perfectly round

factdreads should vary in shape size and especially texture the effort needed to create smoothe round straight dreads is excessive and can cause minotr to severe damage (palm rolling minor- crocheting extreme) this also removes the natural personality turning an exciting natural style into a boring manufactured one.

lie dreads tips should be blunted

fact african hair blunts naturally due to he tight curls, other types might or might not.

however theres advantages and disadvantages to each, the advantages only pertsain to african type hair which does not produce oils, and culturally they come from hot climates so water and moidsture retention is a genetic advantage. other hair types will mold if they stay damp for days blunted dreads tips make the dreads dry 5 times slower on average.

short term neat and tidy vs long term dammage

salons and locticians are a bold bunch they will walk right uop to you on the street and start elling you how ugly your dreads are and how they can "fix them for you"

they will make you feel self consouse about every hair every bump every loop and try o convince yu you need their services or you'll never dread

so now your ashamed buying into the "only neat and tidy dreads are acceptable" lie (and starting to fear your going to get fired or never meet your lover cause after all your hairs so shamefull) you concent to get your dreads "worked on"

8 hours pulling your hair coating in wax poking holes in them shoving them through the roots rolling rubbing tying weaving gluing and who knows what else you walk out looking "neat and tidy" (at least to the untrained eye) your scalps in agony your dreads are stiff and unmoving and your wallets short several hundred dollars (2 months dread maintenace could pay for a used car)

now youve got scheduled appointments to come back month after month year after year

but how long till you wake up with a dread deached laying on your pillow?

or till the wax grosses you put so much you shave them off?

or til the expence and the work involved makes you think dreads arent worth the hassles?

some people have spent 14-18 thousand on their dreads only to have them so mangled they start to fall off

but then you see people who never do a thing and their dreads last 40 years and grow 20 feet long

and strong

dont fall into the trap

save your money

save your dreads