Dyeing dreads

[sally]

At the moment I'm into synth dreads, but I love the look of real dreads and since i've got curly frizzy hair it's something I'd definitely consider for the future. Only problem is, I LOVE dyeing my hair, and I have it blue at the moment and for the forseeable future. How easy is it to bleach and dye dreadlocks? I can see it being hellish difficult to make sure all the bleach is washed out before putting the dye on... Does anyone have any experiences?

[ANNloses]

http://www.compunction.org/dyeing.txt

[sally]

Much appreciated... have you ever tried bleaching your dreads? how did it go?

[ANNloses]

I haven't tried bleaching mine yet, and I probably won't. It seems like some tricky business!

[Evil_Locks]

I used to bleach my dreadlocks til they went white. I think i had a Matrix twin thing going on, but it was before the matrix, so the copied me, damn it!!!!

I have to say, I didnt look into it much before i did it, and i used very strong peroxide 40vol, instead of 20vol which would be much kinder.

My dreads would have been about 2 years old maybe when i started bleaching them from a dyed black.

Needless to say, i tortured my hair of an evening by bleaching it 4 times to get it light blonde. I cant remember what my hair felt like, but my head was burning!!! lol!

Anyway, the moral of my story is, that i bleached my hair, then my roots over a 3/4 year period, i think, and my hair was fine. But i did burn my head on a few occasions (im not the safest person when it comes to dying/bleaching hair!)

Hope that helps a bit!

[ANNloses]

Yikes that must not have been very good for your hair, to say the least!

[Evil_Locks]

Yikes that must not have been very good for your hair, to say the least!

lol! no, it wasnt my best idea in the world!

I found a photo of my hair - its not very good, and i have no idea if anyone wants to see it, but here it is none the less!

[sally]

eeeee that's cool

[kaytedies]

I've had the same concerns. I'm looking to do dreadlocks as well, but I like my hair to be pink and black (and obviously those are not my naturals :p) So this makes me feel a lot better about being able to bleach and dye it. Although it may be some work, at least it's doable

[ANNloses]

Keep in mind while dyeing dreads, that it doesn't evenly penetrate the dread. Because of this, if you decide to comb your dreads out, it'll be a really patchy dye job lol

[Becca]

can you dye real dreads with henna?
I wasn't too sure as the Lush henna I use makes my hair feel lovely and soft afterwards, so does that mean it will make dreads all soft and squishy?

[kaytedies]

I've never tried henna. I know with regular dye, my dreads were soft and squishy till they dried. I'm sure henna would work the same way, but don't quote me on that...lol

[earthymamawitch]

The only thing is that bleaching weakens hair, causes it to break, and that can cause your dreads to fall off, if there's not enough hair left to support the weight of the dread.

Also bleach *can* seep into the middle of the dread where it can't be rinsed out, and eat away at the dread from the inside out.

Jenn

[cloudface]

hellooo, not sure if this is the rite place to ask but i really wanna dye my dreads back to blonde, they are my natural clour of dark brown at the moment.. does anybody no of somebdoy who dyes dreads as a professional?

[Goglu]

well, im having hh dread extension at the moment, and dye them easy...but I guess it's a bigger job when the dreads are on you head... For sure you'll have to rince the hell out of them!