Here's my disclaimer to begin Every person's dread journey will be different because every person's hair is different. Your hair, like your personality, is the sum of nature (your genetics) and nurture (your lifestyle and the products you use/have used). Some people have hair that wants to dread and some do not. With my very Caucasian genetics, my hair doesn't really want to dread, so it's a constant battle. The process I used to get started and methods I use today might work for you and it might not. Do your own research. #1: What did your hair look like before you dreaded it?
#2: How did you do them? My husband did them. After conducting some research and reading lots of blog posts like this, Dusty (husband) and I decided to give it a try ourselves using a the back-combing method and lots of Knotty Boy Dread Wax. This post describes our process exactly. It's very time-consuming but we were living in Africa at the time. Lots of spare time. #3: Would you or Dusty give me dreads?????? No. I repeat, it is time-consuming. #4: Do you wash your hair? No. #5. ....wait, really? No, I really don't wash my hair. I rinse it when I shower but it only took a few months for my hair to calm down on the oil production and only produce as much as it needed. Frequent shampooing isn't necessary for everyone. That said, many people use dread lock shampoo. After rinsing, dreads take hours to air dry, so sometimes I blowdry them. Dreadlock HQ has some great answers to all sorts of maintenance questions.
#7. I wish I could rock dreads but I totally don't have the guts. Yes you do. Get them done, and then you'll have the guts. #8. How do you keep the hair growing out of your head dreaded? The second most common question I receive. The following are all methods I've tried at one point or another:
#9. Do you bleach them?
And finally, a piece of unsolicited advice. Don't get discouraged. Give it time. I know many people who have started dreads and wound up washing/combing them out after a few weeks because it was messy, awkward and the dreads didn't look they way they were "supposed" to look. That's normal.
I repeat, that's normal. Just like people, dread locks go through an awkward phase before they mature. Commit to survive, stay the course, and don't judge or compare for the first 8-12 months you have your dreads. Just keep palm-rolling and trust me. More wisdom on this here. Comments are closed.
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I'm CecilyAs a photographer, I work with families, couples, and brands in Southern California. As a graphic and website designer, I work with rad companies and humans around the world. Categories
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January 2021
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