The Before Shots

The hair I left behind is shown here on a definite good day, probably the best I could get it to look. If it could have been guaranteed to behave like this all day every day without fail, then I possibly wouldn’t have dreads now. But the hair shown here represented a frustratingly small proportion of my total hair-time. My hair was the vaguely wavey, potentially quite curly if left to dry completely naturally, extremely moisture-sensitive type, that could not be worn un-tied outdoors unless there was no chance of humidity, including dawn/dusk levels, unless I wanted an unflattering and annoying collection of frizz clinging to my head.

With a history of about 9 years’ regular peroxide treatment, and dyes on top of that for about 5 years, this wasn’t the strongest or healthiest hair either. That didn’t really bother me though. I still managed to keep it feeling fairly nice with plenty of conditioner, and avoidance of any heated styling tools. In terms of dreading, all the abuse will have worked in my favour anyway because crappy dry rough hair has more natural friction and bending/breaking/knotting tendencies than lustrous Pantene hair.

I’d been thinking of having dreadlocks for a while coz it seemed like a cool idea. The finality of it kept holding me back though. If you’ve only got a few inches of hair, it doesn’t matter SO much if you make a regrettable hair decision. Even if you have to shave it all off it won’t be that long before it’s grown back again. My big hair plan for several years had been to grow it really long, and all I could think about dreads was that they would mean goodbye to that, and to my hair generally. I’m not sure if that’s completely as dumb as it sounds. Well I’ll go on the assumption/hope that maybe some other people have similar fears putting them off the dreads.

So then a few weeks ago it just dawned on me that I’d been thinking back-to-front. It had simply never occured to me that having dreadlocks, and also having hair (yes I’m aware this does sound pretty dumb actually) were not mutually exclusive. I’m fairly certain other people think of it that way too. It’s still possible to have nice long hair even with dreads. Dreads ARE still hair. It really felt like some kind of epiphany, lol. And what was I planning to do with my hair when it was long anyway? I’d just be faced with even more annoying hair that never quite behaved properly. Now I could have cool long hair eventually, AND it would be completely stress-free. The answer to all my hair problems had been staring me right in the face. It was such a relief to realise!

I think there’s definitely a common misconception that getting dreadlocks means not having hair anymore. Out shopping the day after mine were done, several people commented on them, and their first question was always, “What about when you want to take them out?” Take them out?! It’s MY HAIR! That question sounded to me just as ridiculous as it would if you asked a ’straight-haired’ person “But what about when you don’t want your hair anymore?” And the answer is just the same, you cut them/it off.

It’s the relative finality (I say relative because of course nothing is every really final with hair…it does grow back!) of getting dreadlocks which means you only get them when you’re really certain; that you’ve realised they are not a hair-do but are literally simply now your hair.

Well that’s how it all occurred to me anyway. Getting dreadlocks does not mean saying goodbye to your hair. It’s still hair and it can still be long and pretty and cool and interesting; it can still look clean and healthy. You’ll never get into a Pantene advert, but you can probably live with that.

Some people are concerned about what friends/family/employers might think. None of this was a consideration for me. It’s no-one’s business what I do with my hair. I’ve had pink hair since 2003, so I’m used to the varying opinions. I’ve lost a job over it (Blockbuster Video, incase anyone’s curious what kind of dumbass company would sack a perfectly good employee over an issue of colour…), and would have no interest in working for a company that places hair before job skills. People who make comments along the lines of “I’d never dare do that to my hair” generally leave me looking at them and thinking exactly the same thing. What’s so favourable about some grey old lady perm anyway?

So yeah, it’s up to you how much you let the opinions of others affect your choice. But who are these people whose opinions you value so much but who would let something like hair affect what they think about you? I guess children/teenagers who are rather more under the rule of their parents might be in a slightly tougher position, but am still of the overall opinion that you should encourage these mature paternal figures who are meant to be teaching you the proper way to behave towards people to think of something more important to stress about, and do what you want with your hair. And make sure you kick up a fuss next time your mum goes to the salon for yet another dreary haircut that says all sorts of dull things about her personality

I read a post on a forum, by a mother wanting advice on how to deal with her teenage daughter. The daughter had “such lovely long hair”, and had asked if she could get dreads, but the mother said no. Naturally the daughter went ahead and secretly bought a dread kit and started backcombing. Her mum caught her on the second dread, flipped, threw the kit away, made her cut the dreads out, and the daughter said she wanted to run away from home. The whole thing made me cringe. And I bet it’s a pretty common situation. Parents need to learn to butt out of non-life-threatening issues, and kids need to learn to tell their parents to, frankly, fuck off. Incidentally all the forum replies took the girl’s side, of course. Some said the mother was too strict. Several said just let the daughter get dreads. The worst that can happen is that she wont like them, has to cut them off, and the hair grows back. It’s really not that big a deal. And if you think your kid could regret a choice they make, fine, let them make the choice, regret it, and learn about making choices - instead of teaching them how to hate you and be more determined to do the opposite of anything you say.

Considering dreadlocks? Stop considering, and get them; they’re great!

(And pleeease let me know if anyone out there is actually reading this!!!)

[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<< ]

I’m not going to provide a step-by-step instructional guide to making dreadlocks; there are plenty of sites you can find that sort of info on. Google it.

The method used for my dreads was backcombing. Other methods do exist. This is the one most usually chosen for making locks of controlled dimensions that actually look like proper dreadlocks from day one.

I’ll include advice that comes based on my own experience of getting dreadlocks, any problems encountered or points that didn’t seem to get sufficient emphasis on the sites I read (and I’ll assume that terms like ‘backcombing’ and ‘palm-rolling’ don’t need explaining).

Before you begin, make sure that you and whoever is making your dreadlocks are fully prepared to put in proper time and effort. Unless your hair is quite short and/or you are just going to have a smallish number of fat dreads, I’d recommend setting aside either one full long day or (like me) two easy-going days, allowing for as many breaks, cups of tea, tasty snacks as required. And if you are pre-sectioning your hair, perhaps get the washing+drying+sectioning done the evening before, so you can just get started on the big day. Making dreads isn’t technically difficult, but it is still demanding work. Every minute of hard effort put in will be more than worth it afterwards, so if the dreader has plenty of breaks to keep their spirits up you won’t have to worry that the last few dreads will turn out a bit crap due to exhaustion, or total loss of interest

If you’ve got any questions/comments etc, please join in! I want this site to be useful to people

[IMPORTANT UPDATE >>How To Make Dreadlocks<< ]

Whether you/the dreader decide to section all your hair beforehand or just pull out one section of hair at a time whilst dreading is up to you and whatever you think might be easier. Either way, you should really try not to make the sections into too regular a grid pattern, because until they’ve fuzzed over a bit (could take several weeks if you have very straight sleek hair normally - but not such a worry if you’re frizzy already) it just looks really severe and unnatural, especially in contrast to something as messy as a collection of fuzzy dreads. Keep the sections random, or overlayed like bricks so that the dreads will cover each other’s division lines from the start.

The effect of the size and shape of the section of hair on the final dread is explained on other sites, but I don’t think it’s really emphasised clearly enough.

If you take a section of hair from a square-shaped area of scalp, it will become an even round dreadlock. If you take the section from a rectangular or otherwise long and flat-shaped area of scalp, it will become a flat wide dreadlock.

Backcombing a section of hair really fattens it up a lot. Don’t underestimate this. A section of hair that’s only a 15mm square might seem very skinny and pointless, but it will make a very nicely proportioned dreadlock. Don’t forget that all the hairs you would normally find clogging the plug hole or jamming the vacuum nozzle as they’re naturally shed from your scalp will henceforth remain in the dreadlock. E.g. your dreads will get fatter with time.

A fat dread stays together better and locks up faster than a skinny dread.

For fairly averaged-sized dreads, that are not too skinny and not obscenely fat, just nicely plump, I reckon that aiming for about 70 on an average girl head and maybe 90-100 ish on an average man head would give nice results.

Try to get your hair as dry and frizzy as possible before dreading as it will make the backcombing easier. Washing with dread shampoo then using Locking Accelerator and drying your hair with a dryer on its hottest setting does this well. But it doesn’t make the sectioning any easier…so figure out what order you think might be best. My sectioning took an unexpectedly long time due to frizz making it really hard to accurately part the hair. Given a second chance, I might have gone for sectioning the hair in a normal manageable state, or maybe wet with conditioner on, then washing with dread shampoo and drying etc. Dunno. It’s worth thinking through though to decide what’s going to work best for you, especially if the person doing the sectioning has no former experience of dealing with your hair (it turned out my husband had no idea that I’d been disguising frizzy tangled annoying hair as normal hair all this time, and he informed me that he didn’t like it after all lol).

And finally:

Dreads are cool. Sections are not.

[IMPORTANT UPDATE >>Lock Peppa Revisited<< ]

I’ve already mentioned the benefits of Dread Head HQ Lock Peppa in the section on products.

The only other thing I would really strongly emphasise is that whoever is backcombing your hair should put in as much physical strength as they possibly can and really cram those hair strands up towards the roots, even if it means making the dreads a bit fatter and shorter than you might have originally envisioned. During the first weeks of washing etc, they will inevitably become a bit longer, leaner and looser until they begin to mature, so start them off really tight.

Finishing off one dreadlock includes waxing it. However, I think it’s worth omitting the waxing stage until the dreader has backcombed a few locks and mastered their technique, because it’s much easier to go back and fix a dreadlock (e.g. backcomb it a bit more) when it’s still dry and unwaxed. When my husband was doing mine, after he was a few dreads in and getting the hang of it, they started to be almost half the length of the first couple, because his backcombing became much better and tighter. At the end he went back and fixed the first ones. They were waxed so he couldn’t backcomb them very much more, so we decided to just cut them down in length a bit too. Turned out fine though

My First Dreadlock

I’ve just had a go at my husband for taking such a crummy picture of my first ever dreadlock, lol. Look at it! Completely out of focus and pointing off at a weird angle. Grr. But there it is. As I mentioned, they got shorter and shorter and this one eventually had a haircut.

And a few more…

A much higher resolution pic this one.

Oh yeah, another thing I decided to do with my dreads was to begin them with a small amount of very tight plaiting. You can probably see in the picture above that I have a lot of short stray hairs all over the place, and I wanted to keep them in check and not have them popping out of the dread too early on. Putting an elastic band at the root of the dread is another way of doing this but I’ve been really wary of putting bands at the roots incase they lead to breakage and make the whole dread more likely to fall off completely. Plus, something that restricts the hairs’ movement is also limiting the process that helps hairs to knot up. A disadvantage of plaiting is that unless the hair is backcombed and tangled very tightly at the beginning it can tend to split into the three plait sections. This hasn’t been a big problem though and I wouldn’t consider it to be a reason not to start with a plait if you think it will help - just backcomb properly like I said

Fuzzy!

A great close-up of a freshly backcombed dread before waxing and palm-rolling.

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

[IMPORTANT UPDATE >>Lock Peppa Revisited<< ]

The instructions on my pot of dread wax suggest using an M&M-sized quantity of wax for each dread. That was about right for my dreads. Most of the instructions I’ve read about dreading and waxing also say you should work the wax in from the root down to the tip. I can’t really think what the reason for this might be. I’ve noticed that the tips can end up a bit under-waxed and dry, which also causes them to start falling apart a little. The tips are probably the loosest most delicate part of your dreads. Even though it might be hard to un-do a dreadlock, it’s quite easy to loosen chunks of knotted hair down from the tip, and if inadequately waxed they’ll start turning wispy and straggly. I’d suggest working about half the wax in from the root downwards, and work the rest in from the tip upwards. Really rub and push it into the dread, being quite rough with it and ruffling it all around, then twist the dread around firmly clockwise (coz that’s the direction hair grows in it so it’s more likely to flow down into the dread rather than twist open against it), and do some firm palm-rolling. Finish with a hair dryer on its hottest setting, held right up close to your dread. This melts the wax so it can move right into your dread and bind all the hair together. It also makes your dreads all glowy and lustrous

You’ll have a bit of a sticky head of dreads in the early days. And when you wake up in the morning they’ll have softened with the warmth and got all bent and look dumb. I find that a quick going over with the hair dryer has a really nice neatening and revitalising effect on my dreads in the morning

Wax is fun. It smells nice

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

So, we - well, my husband - spent 2 days making my dreadlocks. They looked a bit weird for quite a while. All the lengths were different because that’s how my hair started out. There were those first few disproportionately long ones from the beginning that still needed fixing. Along the hairline at either side of my face, there was just really short wispy baby hair, which I was worried about. There was no way of including it in a longer dread without the overall base area of the section being so big that one day I’d have great big tree-trunk dreads sticking out of my head. (It’s just occurred to me as I write this that I could have let them grow thick then cut them down the middle eventually, but that probably would have meant having them look totally wrong for ages). I was sure they’d just turn out to be really strange tiny little stumpy dreads. And they did actually, but don’t look so bad as long as they’ve got all the others covering them a bit. Initially we decided to tie them at roots and tips because they seemed too small to hold themselves together. A couple of weeks on, we decided to take the bands out and redread them without to see what happens, because they weren’t being knotty at all, just unravelling. I haven’t washed them since that particular decision so I don’t know yet whether they’ll hold. Will update when I know the answer to that one.

It really wasn’t until literally the last dread was in place and the early long ones had been sorted out that my hair was finally transformed from a strange random mess into a proper cool dready dreadhead of dreads. Of course I loved them immediately I suddenly had a mass of groovy fuzzy pink friends I reckon almost everyone who gets dreads made in this ‘fast’/'instant’ way feels the same immediate delight and relief. And coz new dreads are a bit scary and unpredictable despite being very cool and cute and friendly, it’s kinda like getting a new pet - or maybe that’s just me being silly

Well I’ll let some pics do the talking now….

Dreading, dreading, dreading

And finally….! Very tired and covered in Lock Peppa, but very very happy Yay!

Yay for dreads!

[IMPORTANT UPDATE >>Lock Peppa Revisited<< ]

]]> http://dreadblog.amykristiansen.net/archives/18/feed http://dreadblog.amykristiansen.net/archives/19 http://dreadblog.amykristiansen.net/archives/19#comments Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:00:21 +0000 Amy http://dreadblog.amykristiansen.net/?p=19

The After Shots

Mission: accomplished!

I figured this is probably the best they will look for a long while. Judging by other people’s pics I’ve seen, the first wash onwards represents a several-month-long downhill course for new dreadlocks until they begin to mature and head back on upwards. My pink dye will fade pretty quick too, and I won’t be able to re-do that for ages yet, when my dreads are good and strong and mature.

At least with this method of making dreadlocks you get an immediate taster of how good they’re gonna be, and something to remind yourself about on those bad dreadhead hair days when it seems like they’ll never get their act together.

I’m prepared to put a lot of time and effort into maintenance though, so hopefully they won’t get too bad.

The verdict for my first day with dreadlocks is: YAY!