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Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 10:24 am
by shrijani
As a professional dreadmaker I can say that there are a lot of ways of making natural dreadlocks and that there's a ton of conflicting info around. I only use a comb and a crochet needle, no chemicals whatsoever. I'm going to explain some of the prejudices to you.

Rubber bands:
Rubber bands are easy to get your dreads tight at the moment, but after a few days/weeks/months these can have bad consequences to your dreads. Because of the rubber band being so tight around your dread, the hair underneath the rubber band has no space what so ever to dread/felt for itself. So after a few weeks the rubber band will brake off and all that's left is a weak spot that's not dreaded. Because of these weak spots your dread can brake off eventually.

Wax:
Same story with wax. Wax may seem like an easy option to stick the loose hairs back to the dreads. But what happens is that inside the dread the wax keeps on filling loose spots, giving your hair no space to dread or felt for itself. So after a while, you might want to wash all that sticky stuff out of your hair with result that your dread is much weaker and sensitive then when you started them. Also the wax attracts dust that can make your dreads smell nasty after some time.

Felting needle:
Felting needles are easy to use for making dreads, though I strongly recommend you not to use these. Felting needles are extremely sharp and will brake a lot of hairs! At the beginning they may look nice, but they can get weaker and weaker the longer you use a felting needle.

Permanent solution:
Most of the dreads I have seen that were made with permanent solution have grown to be extremely thick. This is because the dreads weren't made tight enough and the hairs had too much space to grow inside each other. With the result that the dreads started shrinking till almost the half of what the length used to be. Also permanent solution can brake of hairs because of the chemicals.

In my opinion I think using a crochet needle is the best method for making dreadlocks.


Dread making Tutorial by Shrijani Dreads (http://www.shrijani-dreads.nl)


What you need:
- comb
- crochet needle 0.5mm


01. Work from back to front so start by making a row in the neck of the customer.

02. Pick a section and start back combing the hair. Check if every part of the dread is evenly thick.

03. Start poking the crochet needle (0.5mm) trough the dreadlock. Make sure the hook of the needle is always pointing from you, so you know which hairs you are pulling inside of the dread.

04. Keep on repeating this in every direction till you are at the end of the dread. You might want to back comb now and then till you get there.

05. You can leave the ends loose or If you want to make rounded tips, just flip the end up and start poking with the crochet needle through the dread and the piece of hair you just flipped up.

After a lot of work (believe me) the dreads should look like this:

Image

Image

Image

Dread maintaining Tutorial by Shrijani Dreads (http://www.shrijani-dreads.nl)


What you need:
- comb
- crochet needle 0.5mm
- crochet needle 1.0mm


01. Work from back to front and start with the bottom row, the rest of the dreads you put in a knot or tail.

02. Start by using the 1.0mm crochet needle. Take a piece of loose hair from the top and poke the needle trough the dread. Pull the loose hair trrough the dread with the hook.

03. Keep repeating this till you are at the end of the dread.

04. As you can see, it looks a bit like it's braided. To take that effect away you get your 0.5mm crochet needle and start poking all the loose hairs of the braided looking part trough the dread. This way you're pulling the hairs one by one into the dread.

05. Keep on doing this till you get the dreaded texture back.

This is how it should look like:


Image

Image

I hope this info can help you start your natural dread adventure!

For more photo's you can view my website: http://www.shrijani-dreads.nl

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:12 am
by Gracey
This is all really good advice and well pulled together :D Its bound to be very useful to those new to the methods.

Your dreadwork is beautiful! I'd love to see some pics of them worn loose and from the front and sides ;)

Did you add in extra hair with the crochet-hook to the blonde one or was it that multi-tonal to begin with? Nice work. x

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:49 pm
by Desiree
Love your work, and checked out your website... I may have to travel to Haag to have my hair done... :lol:

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:29 pm
by shrijani
woolhairhabit wrote:This is all really good advice and well pulled together :D Its bound to be very useful to those new to the methods.

Your dreadwork is beautiful! I'd love to see some pics of them worn loose and from the front and sides ;)

Did you add in extra hair with the crochet-hook to the blonde one or was it that multi-tonal to begin with? Nice work. x
Actually I never make pictures from the front or side. I might have to start with that :lol: .

I didn't add hair but because the roots of the dreads were so neglected, the dreads look longer after they got maintained.

Thank you! :)

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:30 pm
by shrijani
Desiree wrote:Love your work, and checked out your website... I may have to travel to Haag to have my hair done... :lol:
Let me know when you're coming ;)

I might go to Kopenhagen some day for a Parvati records party ;)

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 2:09 pm
by Tessie
I have a bit of a noob question about repairing natural dreadlocks. A friend of mine got her dreadlocks done about 6 month ago. They were made only by backcombing and palmroling. After about 2 months, her tips ( and even the whole dread a little bit) start to unravel and get really loose. I wondered if and how could I repair her dreads? Thanks

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 5:30 pm
by punicorn
Great tutorial! It's super easy to follow for people who are new to dreads.

I've been snooping around your website for a while now (like a couple years *blush*), because the dreads you do really are beautiful. And your own dreads kick ass, as well.
If I still lived in Holland, I would get you to do some maintenance on mine.

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:36 pm
by Taraiha
Tessie wrote:I have a bit of a noob question about repairing natural dreadlocks. A friend of mine got her dreadlocks done about 6 month ago. They were made only by backcombing and palmroling. After about 2 months, her tips ( and even the whole dread a little bit) start to unravel and get really loose. I wondered if and how could I repair her dreads? Thanks
Just leave them Tessie. I had the same trouble with my ends initially and thought they'd never lock up but they're starting to now after 14 weeks and much better since I stopped fussing with them.

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 4:25 pm
by Tessie
really? allright, thanks, I'll tell her. :)

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 6:52 am
by convenientlust
Great tutorial. Very informative. I'm definitely putting this to use. Thanks!

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 8:02 am
by shrijani
Tessie wrote:I have a bit of a noob question about repairing natural dreadlocks. A friend of mine got her dreadlocks done about 6 month ago. They were made only by backcombing and palmroling. After about 2 months, her tips ( and even the whole dread a little bit) start to unravel and get really loose. I wondered if and how could I repair her dreads? Thanks
back comb the tips with your hands or with a comb and poke it with the smallest crochet hook you can find. Also tip rubbing is a nice solution if the tips aren't that loose yet. Tip rubbing is explained here: http://www.dreadheadhq.com/make_dreadlo ... ubbing.php

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:57 am
by AmberLilith
Thank you so much for this!!
I'm starting on my friend's natural dreads and it's my first time with natural hair!

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:09 pm
by shrijani
AmberLilith wrote:Thank you so much for this!!
I'm starting on my friend's natural dreads and it's my first time with natural hair!
Good look! Post some photo's!!

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:14 pm
by apples
Thanks for (unintentionally) bumping this to the top - saved me a while of searching for an all-inclusive post on natural dreads.

After my first set of synthetic, I realize the look is totally me and that I'm ready for the commitment. This is a great post with awesome advice, and I love the before/after photos.

Thank you! <3

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:10 am
by Ludwik
On this page is a lot of information and pictures about how to do www.dread-zone.pl

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 7:24 am
by corpseesproc
Wow those White dreads look amazing! I live crocheted dreads but never seen them in that colour before :)
When I finally dread my hair I shall have to crochet away as the only girl close to me who did dreads(great dreads) just moved to Spain and you and Tracey are both too, and my hairs still too short ATM

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:21 pm
by shrijani
You can find more of my work at: http://www.facebook.com/freak.boutique

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:37 pm
by Desiree
shrijani wrote:You can find more of my work at: http://www.facebook.com/freak.boutique
Great stuff on there. Do you use the same method on synthetic hair to make those wonderful dread-extensions?

Re: Dreadlock making tips & tutorial

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:31 pm
by RagingRootsAmy
I just wanted to add that rubber bands CAN be used successfully. Like crochet, there is a "right" and "wrong" way to use them to get good, healthy results. Bands too tight at the roots CAN cause all the issues you mentioned, but placed loosely and not left in more than a month or so they can help. I regularly use bands at the ends of dreadlocks with my own clients to help prevent unraveling in those crucial first few weeks. Bands on the ends should be placed PAST the dreaded hair to keep the knots from unraveling/migrating down and out the dreadlock, though; not on. <3 http://www.ragingrootsstudio.com/rubberbands.htm