[IMPORTANT UPDATE >>Don't Use Dreadlock Wax<< ]

[IMPORTANT UPDATE >>Lock Peppa Revisited<< ]

There are plenty of products available, claiming to be the best at cleaning/tightening/knotting/maintaining/soothing/refreshing your dreadlocks, from all sorts of groovy-looking dready-type dread-loving companies, which are all probably basically good. I haven’t tested them all and have no idea which is actually the best.

My personal hunt on Google for dreading advice and dreadlock products led me to find that Knotty Boy and Dread Head HQ are two of the more prominent companies offering their dread solutions. Furthermore, and more to the point, they neatly demonstrate the choice between (in very broad layman’s terms) ‘all-natural’ and ’synthetic’ products. I know those definitions are in themselves essentially bollocks, but their inferrance is clear enough to understand: products whose ingedients have plant-like names you recognise and might consider eating, versus those whose ingredients include such ill-reputed components as sodium laureth sulfate and mineral oil. Knotty Boy products fall into the former of these categories, and Dread Head HQ into the latter.

Knotty Boy and Dread Head HQ both provide thorough information regarding their ingredients on their websites. Both make interesting reading. Dread Head HQ more so, because they explain their reasons for choosing to include such controversial ingredients in their products and discuss the ‘rumours’ about them. (I have no idea exactly how severe the supposed badness of sodium laureth sulphate and co. are, and sometimes think I’m beyond caring…but back to the point…). It’s certainly intriguing that Dread Head HQ think the benefits of these chemicals to dreadlocks are sufficient to be worth the risk of losing some potential customers; please excuse this very broad generalisation that maybe quite a lot of the types of people who opt for dreadlocks are also the ones who without question would refuse to buy a product that contained any certain black-listed ingredients. In fact I generally fall into this category too, though my reasoning also has a lot to do with the fact that our skin absorbs a large proportion of the cosmetics we put on it…and I’d therefore rather not put something on my skin that I wouldn’t just as happily eat.

Here’s what I did:

For starting my dreads I decided to use Dread Head HQ products - their Lock Peppa, Dreadlock Shampoo, Locking Accelerator and Dread Wax. My overall impression is that these are a little tougher than the Knotty Boy or other ‘all-natural’ products. Dreadlocks take a lot of time and effort to make, and you want them to last a good long time. It seems to me that it’s worth putting certain principles on hold for this initial investment into your dreads, and making sure they start off as strong and tight and knotty as you can possibly get them.

When my Dread Head HQ things run out, I will buy Knotty Boy for continued maintenance, because as I said, I’d rather use cosmetics I wouldn’t mind eating, in addition to having other environmental concerns. Infact, I ordered my first pot of Knotty Boy wax yesterday as I finished my Dread Head HQ one.

A bit more about the Dread Head HQ products I used:

Lock Peppa

Unless you have the driest, roughest, frizziest type of afro hair that would lock up with just a little twisting, then I highly recommend using this for starting your dreads, maintaining them until they start to firmly lock up by themselves, and probably on subsequent occasions when trying to get your roots to behave and become nice bits of dread. This fine white powder vastly increases the friction between the hair strands, making them very dry and tacky/sticky. When first backcombing your hair to make your dreads, this will really speed things up as well as making the dread hold together better. Also, after you wash your dreads and they are completely dry before waxing, sprinkling some Lock Peppa onto them before twisting and palm-rolling will help you to keep them as secure as possible in their fragile early weeks.

Locking Accelerator

This is a salty solution which you spray onto your clean sectioned hair before backcombing, or onto your freshly washed dreads, to increase friction between the hairs and tighten the dreads. The effect it has on your hair is just like a day at the beach swimming in the sea and drying in the sun. Your hair is left with a dry stickiness. I really like the way this works after I wash my dreads. They’re transformed from being a bit weak and floppy and fragile to nice and tight and dry, such that I wouldn’t be afraid to spend a day or two without wax holding them together.

Dread Shampoo

I can’t say for certain whether this has any special properties superior to other dreadlock shampoos or soaps on the market. Obviously it ticks the all-important residue-free box. I presume that some of those scary ’synthetic’ ingredients are possibly a bit stronger than the ‘all-natural’ alternatives…so following from that assumption I’d say this: in view of the fact that in the early days/weeks/months of their life your dreads will have a lot more wax on them than when they’re all mature and self-supporting, it probably makes sense to use a stronger shampoo to make sure you get them thoroughly cleaned. As I said, this it pure speculation. Milder, more natural shampoos might well be just as effective…afterall, Nature’s ingredients have been standing the test of time much longer.

Dread Wax

I can’t imagine there’s all that much difference between the various dread waxes around. I suppose some might smell better than others. Perhaps they have different workability.

However, whereas such products as Lock Peppa and Locking Accelerator are totally optional, wax is less so. You probably could make dreads without it, but I certainly wouldn’t. Wax plays a major role in holding your dreads firmly together until they begin to mature and lock up naturally. Furthermore, it’s sufficiently maleable to allow the hairs to move around within the dread. A good balance of easy movement and sticky friction will most encourage your dreads to lock and mature whilst you’re getting on with your happy dread-heady life.

Another thing about wax is that it is now your conditioner. Using the word ‘nourish’ with regards to hair seems a bit odd as I thought hair was dead (is it?), but it certainly does it good. You’re gonna have these dreads for a while, so it’s sensible to keep them as healthy and strong as knotted up broken damaged hair can be

[IMPORTANT UPDATE >>Don't Use Dreadlock Wax<< ]

[IMPORTANT UPDATE >>Lock Peppa Revisited<< ]