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

The pictures I’m posting now are from last night after I washed my hair and it was more-or-less dry. No palm-rolling or tidying had been done at this stage, so these are my dreadlock equivalents of a celebrity cellulite shot

I said briefly in yesterday’s blog that I’ve decided to skip the wax for a bit and see what happens. I gave it some more thought today, did a bit of googling about wax vs no-wax, and came to the conclusion that this might turn into something more long-term than the week-or-so experiment I had initially planned.

Before I go any further I want to say something else that’s been on my mind. I’m wary that, to anyone who’s been following my blog from the beginning, or even just skimming through it, I might seem inconsistent in the advice I give or conclusions I draw. I’ve only had dreads for eleven weeks, it’s a constant experiment, and sometimes something I thought was a good idea one week turns out to have been a dumb idea by the next week. Growing dreadlocks is personal and subjective, and we all probably think our own way is the best. Actually, I don’t think that; the example of the big plait problem illustrates this pretty well. (Grr). So yeah, I guess I’m just asking you not to think I’m stupid if I talk crap sometimes. Every dready day can turn up something new and unexpected.

Anyway, back to the wax. Let’s see if I can elucidate my reasons for deciding to skip it for a bit.

1. To see what happens, and tell you people about it (initially this was my only reason, but some more have followed…)

2. To see whether the rate of knotting increases, especially in the areas of straight hair left by the plaits.

3. To give me a break from waxing; it’s a pain sometimes

4. To see if all the blocked pores I’m getting these days are (as I suspect) from the wax on my pillow.

5. To try a more natural and less product-oriented approach to what is meant to be the epitome of natural hair-dos.

6. To see how long it will take this…

…to become something nice-looking (unassisted - ish).

I know that the only people who really strongly advocate the use of dread wax are the dread product companies. The general consensus among the dreading public seems to be that wax is a horrible sticky messy thing that hinders knotting and offers no benefits. I’m not sure about the sticky and messy thing. If you use the correct amount of wax and thoroughly melt it into your dreads with a hairdryer, there shouldn’t be much stickiness after the first day. With regards to knot hindrance…hmm…well it goes without saying that hair without wax has more freedom to move than waxy hair, and movement leads to knotting, so it stands to reason than using dread wax must put your locks at some disadvantage. However, I have no wish to undo my past weeks of wax usage.

When your dreads don’t have much natural tightness of their own, and are in places so loose that certain hairs just aren’t knotting, the wax will help hold things together. A condition of knot formation that’s just as important as loose ends and motion, is a level of constraint or containment, that causes the threads/hairs to turn back towards the main body of strands and weave among them.

I’ve noticed a plateau in my dreads’ progress over the past couple of weeks, though, and I think maybe it’s time to free them up a little (e.g. quit the wax). I think that maybe in addition to holding knots in place, the wax has been holding un-knots in place, namely those much bemoaned straight portions of post-plait-fucking-grr-fuckup. As much I hate to labour a point, I really cannot stress enough: don’t start your dreads with plaits!

As usual, I may in a couple of weeks change my mind about all this. Like I said earlier, this is an ongoing experiment. My present thought is that wax definitely helps your dreads to begin with, and when you feel they’re not getting any tighter, ease off on the wax so they can move around a bit more.

Another very important function of dread wax in the early days is, in my opinion, to keep your dreadlocks looking neat, and like dreadlocks, rather than an unfortunate nocturnal incident involving a hedge met backwards and intoxicated (you being the intoxicated one, not the hedge ). It helps you with that awkward phase of being a walking work-in-progress, fearful of being abducted at any moment by a farmer and set atop a pole in his corn field. Well, you just have to look at the photos in this post in comparison to some of my waxier pics to know what I’m getting at. Some hardcore dreadheads might claim it’s all part of the natural dready journey to look like the wrong end of a [something witty that I couldn't think of...Picasso hay-cart? rubbish chute? thing with a right and a wrong end? ], but I don’t think a wish to preserve some semblance of one’s self-esteem constitutes total corporate whoredom.

So, this is what I’ve got to work with:

Well in truth it’s not quite that bad. I’ve done a bit of palm-rolling today and quickly smoothed over a blob of aloe vera gel, and my hair isn’t looking too scary. So I reckon this could work. I’m definitely up for saving time and money in the wax department. It’s said that you need to use wax to replace your hair’s nutrients and keep it healthy. If anyone has knowledge of hair science can you fill me in on this please, because I’m not convinced. Can hair actually be nourished once it’s out of the follicle? With wax? Not proteins, which would seem more plausible, but wax? Another one for googling. And, if it turns out I can manage without wax, I can go back to using the tasty Knotty Boy Dread Shampoo (smells nice but shit at washing wax out).

What I Mean When I Refer to the Post-Plait Straight Hair

This can be summed up well with a photo:

The tip of the dread is knotted, and the root is knotted. Linking them is a portion of straight hair which has resulted from my starting the dreads with a few plait strokes (to secure the short wispy hairs at the roots). This portion of hair now has no loose ends to weave or knot into the dread. If I was to try backcombing it, hairs would break, creating a weak area in the dread. Not all my dreads are like this. I managed to fix a lot of them earlier on, when it was still safe to re-backcomb because the knots weren’t yet tight. I guess a few were overlooked. I’m not sure yet how this will be resolved. They might still get caught up with the knots over time. Perhaps without the wax, they will bend and distort more and get pulled into the two knotted ends in the same way that new root growth just eventually becomes knotted, even though one end is secured in the follicle and the other in the dread. I will of course keep posting on this matter. I get the feeling it’s gonna take a while…bleh.

Right, enough typing for one night. Bye bye

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