Ok. I’ve a feeling this is gonna be a long one, so get a nice big cup of tea and make sure you’re sitting comfortably.

I hope, via a slightly convoluted path, to provide you with some concise reasons to try and make it through your dreadlock journey without turning to the dread wax. Many dreadlock websites are full of very clear opinions that you either should or should not wax your dreads, but often the reasons behind these views are not so well clarified, which I think is why many of us, despite thinking we have researched the subject well beforehand, end up putting money in the pockets of these companies selling products we don’t need, in order to make something which would create itself naturally if we did nothing at all to our hair.

Been thinking about dread wax a lot over the past couple of weeks. Been looking back through my old dreading progress pictures, reading a lot of waxy rants in forums, realising some things. With my growing incredulity that certain companies convinced some of us that wax is an essential part of growing dreads, despite endless forum threads of actual people with dreadlocks saying don’t don’t don’t put wax on your dreads, I’ve also become increasingly baffled at how to write this post with some shred of lucidity, without just creating one big splurging rant of disbelief.

So why, theoretically, are we meant to put wax on our dreads?

The instruction to wax is frequently directed at those who have chosen the fast route to growing (or, rather, making) dreadlocks, e.g. usually backcombing, rather than what some might consider the truly natural method of simply leaving your hair to do whatever its nature determines. We’re told to apply wax after backcombing, and of course to continue applying wax. (I’m can’t remember whether we’re told to carry on forever). Waxing dreadlocks makes them look a lot more like dreadlocks, especially when they’ve just been backcombed into frizz-sausages. If you have paid a salon to do your dreads, they’re hardly gonna let you leave with a weird head of frizz, and of course will use wax, with the bonus of immediately having a product sale to push on you.

Alright then, the initial advantage of dread wax is that it makes you look and feel like you have some proper dreadlocks from day one. It helps you and your new controversial hair fit back in with your friends/family/school/job. The key term here is “look like“.

So then is there perhaps an argument in favour of just using wax for a little while, in the first few weeks, until your dreads look a bit more together? Well, on the surface, yes. And yet, still, no. Think how scary it is the first time you wash your dreadlocks, how terrified you are that they’ll all just fall out and how gentle and un-disruptive you want to be towards them. It’s just backcombed hair at this point; lots of bunched up loops, not firmly tangled knots. Next, think about trying to wash hardened beeswax out of something…

I know in some of my earlier posts on waxing, before I’d come to see the matter clearly, I went to some lengths trying to figure out/explain why wax might help your hair to knot up. I’m not sure I was talking complete rubbish; I think there was some sense there. However,  I had not carried the train of thought all the way through to its true end point. The idea that the wax, in the warmth from your head, is kept just soft enough to allow a small amount of hair movement and tangling to occur whilst the overall dreadlock is kept from unravelling, sort of sounds right. However, any dreadlocking progress the wax does permit/facilitate is totally counteracted and negated by the damage you do to fragile, newly backcombed dreads, by trying to wash it all out. That was the part I hadn’t thought about. It seems so obvious now, and such a ridiculous paradox, even more so when these “professional” dreadlock companies’ sites so insistently advocate the use of dread wax.

Even if the wax in  your dreads has been holding things in place (or “gluing your dreads together”, to use a term favoured by many once they’re on a wax rant), and perhaps permitting some slow knot development, this forward step will be followed swiftly by two back-paces when you wash your hair. At this point, the reason for not using wax really becomes quite clear, because it’s exactly the same reason why you use residue-free shampoos, and completely quit any conditioning routine until your locks have locked. What is wax, really, if it’s not just one great big massive load of residue? And this is where my incredulity wants to fight with my lucidity and turn this post into “OMG WTF?!?!?” In the shower, as the wax melts, it turns from cement to lubricant, from not letting your dreads go anywhere, to wishing them briskly on their way.

Strangely, this doesn’t really seem to get mentioned very clearly on the sites where you are warned against waxing, which is possibly one reason why many of us still go ahead and use the stuff against all warnings. If you do lots of research before getting dreadlocks, you still probably won’t fully appreciate the nature of knot formation until you have actually had dreads for a while, and come to understand the way it happens. When you read forum threads filled with vitriolic sentiments opposing dreadlock wax, which don’t actually elucidate the details of how wax harms your dreadlocks, accompanied by plenty of advice on how to remove it, and pictures elsewhere on the internet of people with waxed dreadlocks looking just swell, it’s probably confusing. Granted, it’s often mentioned that any wax you fail to wash out could hold moisture in your dreadlocks, leading to fungal growth, bad smells and damage…but that’s one of those warnings very easily counterbalanced by an “it probably won’t happen to my dreads” attitude, such that it doesn’t really override your fear of looking like a dumbass during your early dready days. (I know that looks are not meant to be the point of growing dreadlocks, but it would be totally unrealistic to assume that everyone embarking on a dready journey starts off with 100% self-confidence in this area. “Am I gonna look stupid until my dreads are mature?” is a big question for many).

Hence this lengthy post trying explain things so you can make a better-informed decision about your dreadlock care. Although, you’d think that entire forums of experienced dreadheads versus just a couple of market-dominating companies would be sufficient persuasion in itself.

Marketing is a powerful thing, especially when its target audience is about to make a pretty big decision about their personal appearance, which is a delicate matter and important issue for many. The subject of dreadlocks isn’t that well catered for on the internet. The two biggest, best-designed, most professional-looking websites both say you should use dreadlock wax. They have pages and pages of advice, information, videos. They seem like really friendly nice people who would never want to ruin your hair. Dread Head HQ have an actual guy with actual dreadlocks chummily chatting away with you. Knotty Boy show a guy with a mass of frizzy ginger hair being transformed into a neat and waxy dreadhead. Why wouldn’t you buy their wax?! But you really really shouldn’t. Use their other products, fine. They may not be essential, and you could come up with homemade alternatives for all of them, but none of them are going to do the opposite of what it says on the packaging to the extent that wax will.

If you have already bought some wax, and don’t have any furniture nearby to polish, and really really want to put some on your new dreads, one possible way in which it may help more than hinder your dreadlocks is by “sealing” the tips for a while. When your dreads are newly backcombed, they’re prone to sliding down off of themselves. You may have read that securing the ends of your dreads with elastic bands at first is a good idea. Well maybe, but it looks kinda dumb, and the hair can eat up the elastic and it’ll disappear in there, becoming a blob of gunk that never goes away. So, if you must use some wax, I concede it may help secure the tips for a while. Then again, when you come to washing it out, it might just cause slidey unravelling, I’m not sure, so don’t hold me to that one!

Ok, I’ll try to give a summary of why not to use dread wax:

- it’s a pain to wash out

- if you fail to wash it all out, you are at risk of sealing in moisture and cultivating fungi

- it cements your dreads in place, disguising them as mature dreads, whilst actually hindering their maturation

- when it melts it behaves like all those residues you are supposed to avoid, lubricating your hairs and increasing their tendency to slide out of the loose tangles you have painstakingly put them in

- dread wax is really quite tedious and time-consuming to apply “well”, it ruins the lovely sensation of freshly washed dreads you were just enjoying and makes you want to just go wash them all over again

- if your hair isn’t all covered in wax, you will be able to make the first few washes a great deal more gentle and less disruptive.

It’s not very helpful telling someone not to do a thing they feel the need to do, without providing an alternative. If you are taking the sped-up dread journey, starting with backcombing or some other knot-activation, rather than the “natural” journey, you might not have gone through the same mental preparation for maybe not looking so great all the time for a while, and dealing with others’ reactions to your appearance. We are probably only talking about a few weeks of true patience and determination, followed by a couple of months of vague compromise which rapidly turn into a total love of your new hair.

So for this initial short period it’s probably worth being prepared. My first suggestion for those really dreading the early days, to the point where it could either put you off the whole idea or make you reach for a pot of dread wax, is to think about the time of year…(I know this could be redundant if you live in one of those places with no real seasons). If you do your backcombing some time in late autumn, or whenever it’s getting a bit cold out, you can just solve the whole problem with a hat. And if it’s a nice woolly hat, it will even help your dreads to form. By the time it’s warm enough for your dreadies’ grand unveiling, the worst will be over and they’ll be well on their way. Alternatively, if you live in one of those gorgeous places by the sea, backcomb at the beginning of the summer and do plenty of saltwater swimming, as that will tighten your dreads up in no time. Hat and sea possibilities aside, just head-wear and accessories in general are something you should have ready. (I’m starting to feel like some kind of bad T.V. fashion program, lol). A bad-dread-hair day is much easier to disguise than a regular bad-hair day. Also, like I said back in one of my really early posts on considering dreads…people who don’t like dreadlocks will think you look shit regardless of your own perceived state of your dreads, and people who like them will understand, so it’s only yourself you should be trying to please. I don’t mean for this advice to come across as shallow; I’m just being realistic. A lot of people care about how they look, even if it’s just in their own eyes, and the issue is important!

Maybe I should include some pictures from my own wax on/wax off dreadlock journey. Perhaps they will help. Ok, let’s see.

Wax On/Wax Off

This was taken straight after my very first dreadlock wash. I didn’t wash my dreads particularly gently; I couldn’t. Initially I had tried keeping a stocking on them, as per some advice I had found online, but it soon became apparent that the soap simply wasn’t penetrating and cleaning off the wax. I think without any wax, I could have kept the stocking on. I also probably wouldn’t have waited a whole week before washing them. If I was to start my dreads over again, I’d still backcomb, but I would probably wash them every couple of days in the beginning. This way, there would be less dirt to wash off each time, so the washing could be more gentle, and I’d be taking full advantage of the fact that washing your dreads speeds up their knotting and tightening. Obviously I wouldn’t use wax. So, first,

Week One, Before and After the First Dreadlock Wash

In my second week with waxy dreads, we were away for four nights camping in Bergen. (By the way, dreadlocks are THE hair for camping with…as long as there’s no wax on them!). I was using the Dread Head HQ wax, which has a lower melting point than Knotty Boy’s. Five days under a hot summer sun, and four damp nights in a tent on grass that was heavy with dew every morning left my dreads totally minging. If I hadn’t chosen to wax them, I would have felt able to wash my hair whilst at the campsite without the problem of needing a couple of hours to dick around with wax afterwards. Without wax, they may have been on the frizzy side, but at least they wouldn’t have looked like this. I was walking around in public like this! How, really, is that any better than walking around with a bit of frizz disguised by a pretty head band or something? It’s not. These are not pretty pictures.

Dreadlocks in a Waxy Second Week

By the time we got home, my dreads smelled like wet dog, and believe me when I say that smell is not remotely endearing when it’s coming from your own head. This is how they looked (be sure to click full-size and zoom right in…it’s not nice).

Waxy Dirty Dreadlocks by the end of Week 2

Needless to say, I washed the hell out of them the evening we got home. One good thing about Dread Head HQ’s shampoo is that it washes their wax out pretty well, and their wax is easier to shift than Knotty Boy’s. Here’s how my dreads looked after that wash. They felt lovely! And they were still full of upwardsness, with the hairs all wanting to contract with their natural waviness. I think they would have knotted up so fast if only I had let them. What a shame I spent half of the next day putting wax all over them.

Freshly Washed Unwaxed 2-Week-Old Dreadlocks

By the time I washed my hair at the end of the third week, I was already through a whole pot of dread wax. They say to use it sparingly, but it’s actually really hard to apply it in a way that feels thorough enough to feel useful without ending up using loads. This picture shows the transition of week 3 into 4, with only very little wax on my dreads. They look so much thicker and tougher than when they’re fully waxed.

Dreadlocks in Weeks 3 to 4, with very little wax

In the fourth week, my new pot of Knotty Boy wax arrived, and the waxy cycle began again. Sleek and neat huh? So begins the hindrance of my dreads’ progress. Even just the action of applying dread wax drags your hairs downwards, encouraging unravelling.

Week 4 and a new pot of wax

Shown here in the fifth week, when my dreads are clean and dry and not yet waxed, they look really good I think. Why on earth did I feel the need to put wax on these? It was just kinda programmed into my brain. Must wax. Must tip-rub. Or else, no dreads. You can see they’ve started to lengthen and loosen a bit. The Knotty Box wax required some hardcore washing, which was starting to take its toll, but they still have a sort of texture and thickness about them, a toughness which suggests they’d probably have matured so fast if I’d left them to it. So these are dreadlocks at week 5. All these pictures have been of those early weeks that are meant to be so scary. None of these waxless photos show, in my opinion, a reason to rush out and buy a pot of wax for fear of having hair like this.

Unwaxed 5-Week-Old Dreadlocks

Aaaand….wax on! What a surprise. I can’t believe I kept it going this long. Your dreadlocks, after you wash them, feel amazing. After you wax them (with a tedious, time consuming, arm-ache-making process) they feel horrible and all you can think of is washing them.

Dreadlocks at 5 weeks, Waxy again

Here they are at week 6 after being washed. I know it’s normal for dreads to loosen and lengthen a bit in the weeks following their first backcombing, but I really believe, and hopefully you’ll agree, that using wax and having to vigorously wash it out again was not helping.

Week 6 Dreadlocks, post-wash

In the ninth week I decided to join several of my dreads together in pairs or groups of three or four, with the hope of fattening them up and speeding up the knotting process which really seemed to have taken a major downturn, despite having started with such promise. My hair was incredibly well backcombed, to half its original length and less in places.

Joined-up and Waxed Dreads in Week 9

FINALLY, I then decided to quit waxing. Here’s a link to my blog post from that day:

http://dreadblog.amykristiansen.net/archives/56

The start looked good…they were certainly raring to go…lots of natural squiggles and loopies ready to make some knots.

Dreadlocks at weeks 10 to 11, at the beginning of Waxlessness

My dreads really sprang into action after I quit waxing them. They shortened back up by miles as the hairs were able to contract and move around in their natural way, following the tension of their endlessly spiralling and coiled inner structure (almost identical to rope), making squiggles and kinks and loopies and tangles. And it was such a relief not having to arse around with wax for ages each time I washed them.

Dreadlocks at Week 12, Waxless

From this point onwards they just got better and better. This was the beginning of me really feeling like I had dreadlocks. It’s a shame it was unnecessarily delayed, but at least the damage wasn’t long-term

Well I think that’s basically it. Did any of that make any sense or seem useful in any way? I hope so.

As an afterthought, one other thing that occurred to me whilst I was contemplating these waxy dilemmas. Knotty Boy and Dread Head HQ…the characters they use on their packaging…funky groovy Afro-Caribbean dreadheady types…presumably this is just a sort of nod of respect to one of the branches of the dreadlock’s family tree?  Coz I really doubt these images are representative of their target consumers. Their logo should be a scared little white guy. Know what I mean?