Why remove dread extenders?

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Librarynerd
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Why remove dread extenders?

Post by Librarynerd » Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:56 am

I'm planning to dread up in a few months and I'm going to add HH extenders at the same time. I've read a few posts where folks mention removing there extenders.
My question is why? What are the reasons to remove them? Do they not match well with the natural dread? Are your dreads just getting to long and heavy?
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MissAnthropik
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Re: Why remove dread extenders?

Post by MissAnthropik » Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:08 am

I have extensions on mine, and they are about 6 inches, plus some whippiness on some of them, so my hair is mainly about 6 inches longer than it would be without them. When I first had my hair dreaded it would have been difficult to tie my hair up without extensions, which really was not an option for me, needing to look professional for work, and also ensuring i don't catch headlice from the children!

Now my hair would be long enough to tie up my friends keep asking me if I would remove them. For me, some of mine are a better colour match than others, and it would be nice if that were perfect. If it were all my hair that would be easier to achieve (my own hair is not an even colour all over, I have some quite dark dreads, and some very blonde). I keep bleaching in stages the darker dreads, and the colour match is improving! So that might be one reason to remove.

Also, they feel a bit scratchier than my own hair, I have incredibly fine and soft hair. Maybe that is just because they haven't locked up as much because they are longer, maybe had my own dreads started that long they would be exactly the same, but obviously if I took the extensions off then that would no longer be an issue.

Partly for me I would quite like to be able to say it is all my own hair, which is a really small reason, but a reason no less!

Also, as they get longer they will potentially become more unwieldy if they are not tied up, some come down longer than my waist band now, and get caught in clothes as i am putting them on, or under my armpits in the night (and i do tie them up at night anyway). At this stage that is fine, but if my own dreads were that long themselves then they would be stretching down towards my knees, no real need for extensions if your dreads are that long!!

Also some of mine bend unaturally at the join, making the join obvious when unbended it isn't.

I guess much of the time it would be the same reasons as asking someone why they would cut their dreads, except removing extensions is less drastic than cutting dreads, so probably an easier decision to make.

All that said, I am not in any rush to take out my extensions at the moment. For one, I like the whippy ends they have, which the few of mine that don't have extensions on don't really have, so the style of dread would look different without them. Also, i like the additional length, some of the updos I was hoping to be able to have only work with very long dreads, which I am starting to have, albeit artificially! I also feel like I should have had my hair dreaded many years ago and the extensions make me feel like I have made up a little bit of lost time.

That's just my thoughts though, others may feel entirely differently.
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Gracey
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Re: Why remove dread extenders?

Post by Gracey » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:06 pm

The main reason people take out extenders is because, over time, the hair deteriorates and can become scratchy while the totally natural dread becomes soft. Also, as dreads can grow incredibly fast once they start, sometimes people find themselves with very long dreads quite quickly. Some people do leave their extenders in for good though, and conditioner can help with the scratchiness.
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Desiree
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Re: Why remove dread extenders?

Post by Desiree » Mon Jun 27, 2011 6:17 pm

I got my extenders because I lost about 40 cm when my hair was first backcombed. I was used to long hair, and could not get used to shoulder length dreads.
But after about 9 month my hair had grown so much that I could sit on the dreads, and they were heavy and actually quite difficult to style. Ponytails were to heavy, and buns were to big. I mostly wore them loose, tied back or braided.
I really like the nice updos you can make with dreads, and like to tie them up with scarfs, flowers and so on, so I decided the extenders had to go.
I'm not quite sure what to do, when my own dreads gets long enough to sit on? I might have to trim them down, but I'm not sure - maybe I'll get used to the weight.

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MissAnthropik
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Re: Why remove dread extenders?

Post by MissAnthropik » Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:50 pm

yes, i lost a lot of length when mine was dreaded, not sure about 40cm, but it went from waist length to not long enough to tie up, I was expecting some loss of length, but not that much!
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Desiree
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Re: Why remove dread extenders?

Post by Desiree » Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:56 pm

MissAnthropik wrote:yes, i lost a lot of length when mine was dreaded, not sure about 40cm, but it went from waist length to not long enough to tie up, I was expecting some loss of length, but not that much!

Hmm - maybe I was a little off - but about 30cm I guess...

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