How to dread hair naturally
Dreading hair naturally is easy as can be. However some tips will make your natural dreadlocks journey easier and faster.
Dreading hair naturally tips:
- Clean hair dreads best– wash your hair often but not every day. use a non residue dread friendly shampoo or the baking soda deep cleanse, and wash at least weekly, at most every 2 days.
- Dry hair dreads best– dry hair dreads faster, however african hair gets brittle if too dry so should be moisturized throughout the process, other hair types it helps to reduce oiliness and dry the hair out somewhat, sea salt sprays and soaks can help. baking soda without acv afterwards will slowly make oily hair less oily, also, washing slightly less often will also reduce oiliness slowly.
- Longer hair dreads best– if hairs too short it is harder to hold in knots, (african textured hair however will dread short) the longer the hair the faster it can dread typically, but longer hair also shrinks more, and may try to congo more as it dreads.
- let it dread don’t make it dread– try not to play with it much, don’t twist roll or mess with it. when washing, if you use shampoo just scrub the scalp ignoring the hair. if you use the baking soda soak dont scrub. when drying shake it out and air dry.
Phases of hair dreading naturally
When hairs allowed to dread naturally it goes through fairly predictable stages.
- Sectioning stage: the hair separates into sections, groups of hair begin to cling together in groups typically this happens within days to a couple weeks of stopping combing.
- baby dread formation stage: the sections begin to get tangled and knot, loose knots but still the sections are held together by many knots forming baby dreads. This can begin in days, but more often in weeks, sometimes it can take longer.
- Looping wild teenager stage: the dreads will get loops, bumps, kinks, and change dramatically day by day. this stage is fun and exciting if you dont worry about your teen dreads misbehavior. this is the stage where they develop personalities that make them unique, typically in the 3-8 month stage.
- shrinking stage: as loops become tighter the dreads shrink drastically, longer hair can shrink from hips, to ears, shorter hair will lose about 1/2 the length typically or more.this is also the tightening stage leading to maturity
- mature stage: they change less noticeably over time
- growing stage: once mature they will begin to grow, slow until fully mature then faster.
Natural dreading dos and don’ts
do wash them
don’t force them
do enjoy the journey
don’t worry
optional seperate as needed to prevent congos (dreads combining)
tips sea salt sprays and soaks help sea water is 3.5% salt content. don not leave it on too long, it only needs to be in the hair 10 minutes to 2 hours then can be rinsed out, any longer and you over dry the hair and scalp.
Wool tams, wool sweaters or blankets put over your pillow will help encourage knotting.
feel free to post questions in the comments.
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Eye am going to start my freedom locs journey next month (Sept. 2018). As of right now eye’m rockin an undercut hairstyle, next month eye’m gonna cut off all my hair and start from a bald fade. Eye am going to follow this guide but eye have a few questions. Is it a good idea to cut off all my hair to start? Since eye’m rockin an undercut, the top of my hair has length and the sides are short so eye figured that it would just be better if eye cut it down so that it is all even when it grows out but if u guys think otherwise then lmk what would be better. Another question eye have is, after u use non residue shampoo do u put any type of conditioner? Or do u just use shampoo?
just shampoo
no don’t cut every inch of growth helps it dread faster the length you got now will not affect it in the end you could start from a 10 inch mohawk and 3 years down the line have no sign of it left
the shorter you cut it the longer it takes to grow and dread.. just start now
Hi! My dreadlocks are about 3-4 months old, and I have a lot of wild loops and zig zags, will those go away on their own or do I need to pull them in with a crochet hook? I would really like for my dreads to be straight not zig zag!
Thank you for all your love, knowledge, and support to the dreadlock community!
Peace
sorry for the late reply. those loops are how they dread they are essential.. 99% will go away on their own if some stick around those will be your favorite dreads!
never ever let a crochet hook touch your dreads they are pur e brutality extreme destruction and can take 3 years to recover from just 1 use
you need those loops to dread if you crochet it can take 6 months or longer to loosen back up again to start looping again there will be no dreading at all during those 6 months
sorry for the late reply was away in the wilderness for over a month
I started the natural journey just two weeks ago….. spontaneous ….just felt time to let more of me out ?
It got extemely hot and humid that day and stayed till today….very conducive to dread formation! Although I couldn’t go past two days without a scalp wash! My head felt different…. I could feel my hair, the life force going to the ends (length almost to my waist). Thin noodles are forming from my thin slightly wavy hair….along side of this, changes happening inside …. my scalp also became alive with nerve pulses… At first I thought that I had a strange headache going on…then realized it was also happening throughout my body… like the sensation of your inards getting tickled and your hair stands on end… but mostly my scalp for several days…I know it’s time…. and to find your website in the sea of internet info is nothing short of a blessing! Thank you for telling it simple, bringing in the earth/forest/mountain/love in a grounded manner. I’ve read almost everything on here and really can go forward with your good advice! I’m headed to the high altitude soon which means very dry. Stark contrast to where I am now. I will be there for a month and a half and there won’t be the luxury of bathing or maybe no water. It’s also cold so no bacteria develops! what would you recommend for maintenance for these baby dreads in that kind of environment? I will be visiting holy places so I’ll be soaking it up through my newly formed tentacles ???
what a wonderful way to start!
just forget about yur hair awhile but when you get a few idle moments (not spent meditating or chanting or whatever) simply feel around for any forming too big or joining together..separate if needed ..ps the baking soda that maybe mentioned is no longer recommended! it weakens hair badly
this is just a minor blog i also run http://www.dreadlockssite.com that has a million pages, if you read all that, then you know all there is to know about dreading (really, with a million pages of info, 999,999 of them are what not to do)
ok…. lots of reading coming up!??
ha ha ha…. I just HAVE to share this one…. I sent my two week dread photos to a friend and just said … I haven’t brushed in two weeks…. and their reply… ‘Go to the salon, treat yourself to a colouring and shampoo and conditioner, you deserve to pamper yourself to be beautiful’…. oh my, I had a good chuckle and I will send photos to that person again in a few months and tell them thank you, I treated myself hee hee!?
you deserve to pamper yourself to be beautiful ..paying someone else to wash your hair makes you beautiful? is her makeup budget higher then her rent?
people who have to do things to be beautiful aren’t beautiful
if you have true beauty you don’t need to do anything to see it shine. you could be burned head to toe, missing limbs even a nose and it wouldn’t change how beautiful you are
in the very short limited conversation we had i could tell you are a beautiful person and would never have to do anything to prove that
….wow ?
you didn’t join my other site yet did you
Do you mean dreadlocksite? no, I haven’t signed up… yet…if I have some time before my journey I will, or when I get back. I won’t be able to access any internet activity for six weeks anyway ??
ok hope you do 😉 have a wonderful blissful adventure
I’ve been freeforming for a month now!I started out using a sponge then stopped on my third week,because I wanted to grow my hair the natural way.Ive noticed my hair is a lot drier ,and I like it.How do I know if my hair is locked?And
Should I keep using a doorag?Thanks?
no do not use a doorag that will prevent them from ever dreading they need to be loose to move freely, day and night
wash at least weekly with a dread shampoo http://www.dreadlockshampoo.com (assuming African American use the bars not liquid)
the sponge makes you look like a hedgehog don’t it?
lil spiky dread like things
from here on out just wash, and as they need it, separate
it depends what you mean by ‘locked’ fully mature, a year..sometimes longer dreaded winth no worry of falling apart no matter what you do, a few months
Thanks so much for replying I’ve stopped using a doorag.I fell free!This journey will help me learn to be patient!
i bet your new locks feel free too
bet your new locks feel free too
and, will you take me with you?
i’m a glider pilot myself, who also spends weeks/months at igh altitude spiritual gatherings
above 10k feet where the airs thin, 2 plants grow
osha, and, yarrow
now i have never used yarrow for altitude sickness (pounding headache low energy always out of breath, taking 15 steps is exhausting) but osha root, just take a small chunk and chew it, make ‘mouth tea) chew and suck out the juices. its a real strong taste, but i like it. it ends altitude sickness, you absorb o2 more efficiently, and, over time it actualy helps increase lung capacity by up to 25% thats needed to live long term at high altitudes.
if your used to living at sea level (anything below 1000 feet) over 9000 you can start to feel the sickness especially if you smoked in the past.
above 12,000 no matter how good of shape your in your thinking will be affected after 15 minutes.. you can lose consousness nd the higher you go, the quicker that happens.
people who climb Everest without o2, literally are in a fight for their lives, and struggle to survive, not only because of the extreme cold and all the other risks, but lack of oxygen, and hypoxia causes you to feel like your doing better then ever, even while slowly dying.
im sure your not going to 20,000 feet since nobody is up there. but some high mountain spiritual retreats can be near 12,000..
and if your lungs aren’t used to it, 10,000 can be very rough on you too
bring a nice sized osha root, and may be even nibble on it a lil before you go
you’re more than welcome to join….although on this journey permits have to be applied for one month in advance… but the next part in May …. you just have to show up and the adventure unfolds… send me an email and I’ll share deets
I’ll check out the root you mention…. there is a local root that’s used in the area I’m going to… I don’t know the English translation … but last time I was there I did exactly what you said… I had a saliva tea constantly floating in my mouth keeping me from tipping into full on altitude sickness… I was up over 4,500 meters…I will be going to some high hermitages…it’s rough… I love it!
Thank you for the advice on the altitude sickness, it’s definitely something you don’t mess with or take lightly…and it can be a different experience each time I found!
its probable that was cocoa leaf, did it kinda numb your lips and make you jittery.. i believe its the rawest form of cocaine i could be wrong
send me a message using the contact form on dreadlocksite
and,,, come to next years rainbow gathering with me too
I’m one month into not combing my navel length straight hair. I wash once every week or two with a little baking soda in water and condition with acv in water with lavender oil. I have to separate my natural sections several times a day to keep half of it from becoming one big mat, mostly in the back. How can I encourage them to stay more separate so I can reduce the pain and struggle? Do they need moisture? My wash routine was great for my hair when I brushed, but maybe something needs adjusted now… Thank you.
i need to update that i no longer recommend baking soda and acv long term use SEVERELY weakens hair
i was losing 6-8 inch even 10 at times off the ends the hair was so weak
try http://www.dreadlockshampoo.com liquid till mature then bar
beads can seriously help keep them seperated
cheap wood or make peyote stitches with seed beads cause yor hair will shrink alot trapping beads so you want something you can take apart someday and remove
peyote sleeves are a great option
easy to make cheaply
This is day one of my journey
congrats! its exciting isn’t it? they claim it takes patience but even on day 1 the excitement makes time irrelevant
I have shaped sides (a mohawk),
How should i seperate it?
just worry about the dreads connecting to other dreads .. the sides are just like a hairline .. nothing that even needs to be considered.. only whats happening between 2 dreads needs to be given attention