[Newbie Question]How long after dreading..

[insanityprincess]

How long after dreading is it safe to submerge my hair (e.g. dip my dreaddies into that crazy accelerator mix, or to shower)?

My boyfriend did my dreads and he used a lot of wax... so I gotta clean it out soonish.

(posting pics later!)

[miss chaotic]

Clean out that wax straight away... wax is never good for dreads EVER!!!!! look usually a week of not washing is pretty safe and if they are backcombed properly you should have no issues of them unraveling just be gentle with them until they start locking up....
Check this out it should answer all your questions
http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memori ... p_dread_up

[insanityprincess]

..to wash the wax out...will that ruin my babies?
(I have 80 dreadlocks, and I really don't want to make him do that again, lol)

Also, anyone have any easy-to-remove-the-wax-but-not-ruin-new-dreads methods?

And I need anything you have on super accelerated locking. I want them as tight as possible for Orientation (first time to college ^__^)

Thanks all!

[miss chaotic]

mmm honestly i can't help you on when to wash the wax out or how i've never started a set with wax! but if you want to accelerate locking use salt water in a spray bottle and palm rolling after a shower always helps.. When making the salt water the salt content shouldn't be too strong if it tastes like tears then you have the right water to salt ratio!!

[insanityprincess]

Alright I'll start with water... but my lil' dreads are only a day old now, too soon to submerge in any sort of cleaning liquid?

I'm gonna try one in just water, just wondering if any expert has some advice~

p.s. I was also wondering when it's safe to get them all wet in the shower, with no worries.

Sorry, so so new.

[miss chaotic]

like i said give them a week and then you should be able get them all wet... From what i could tell dish washing liquid is the best thing to get all the wax out but it may leave your hair feeling a little dry just don't turn the water on too hard when you wash them for the first couple of weeks but if your paranoid about them untangling put a stocking over your head and then rub the shampoo in just make sure you rinse really well

[Phoenix]

I reccomend checking out http://community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up it's probably one of (if not the) best place to go for impartial advice on dreads (without companies selling products shoving 'buy this!!! it will make your dreads great!!!' ideas.

Lots of info on wax: http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memori ... filter=all

and washing dreads: http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memori ... filter=all


All memories: http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memori ... p_dread_up

Hope some of that helps!

[miss chaotic]

i already put the link up to the live journal memories... i just hope she reads it... i got the best advice from the get up dread up community when i started my first ever set and since then they have been fantastic

[Phoenix]

Baaaah sorry, my bad for skimming the thread.

[vibrata]

Hi, don't worry too much about the wax... your dreads aren't ruined. You'll need to use really hot water (hot as you can stand without burning your head!) to wash it out -- any shampoo should help. I wouldn't bother trying to wash it all out in one go, just make sure you palm roll really well afterwards and don't use towels that create a lot of lint or it will stick to the wax. I would wait until your scalp is starting to get irritated before washing - it varies from person to person but see if you can go a month.

There are a lot of get_up_dread_up regulars that are anti-wax but they're not experts by any means so do take what you read with a grain of salt. Some people just like to have strong opinions on things and I doubt if it would matter to them if they were proved wrong. I've been using wax (occasionally and sparingly) for many years without a problem. I think my dreads are pretty awesome and I think wax has helped - it certainly helps with dryness and those awful frizzy fuzzies.

[Suki_Stardust]

I honestly don't believe waxing once in a while will ruin dreads. My friends dreads are around 5 years old and she waxes them around every 6 months and she's never had issues.
Over waxing is a bad thing, as is covering your hair with anything and not cleaning it properly as residue will build up but once in a while used properly it can help stop dreads drying up and breaking off which is a problem.

[insanityprincess]

Sorry about the late reply, I've been pretty busy.

Anyways, I decided to have a shower, and I used dishsoap first (couldn't find/afford no-res shampoo) and that felt so gross in my hair.

Then I tried some baby shampoo, it worked great, I think the dishsoap helped to remove the wax and the baby shampoo cleaned up whatever was left after.


Anyways, thanks for those links, they're really useful, I've read about 90% of get_up_dread_up haha

p.s. my baby dreads are about a week old (almost) now, and they're locking up nicely with simply being kept clean and some salt/lemon/warm water stuff I spray 'em with every so often.
Still haven't taken those pics ^.^

[earthymamawitch]

In my experience (and I've had two sets of dreads, one made w/wax and one made w/o) wax is just generally a bad idea. It does nothing to help the dreading process, only hinders, and just feels gross/sticky/dirty.

There is a recipe for a deep cleaning mixture that you can use, that is GREAT for getting out wax.
posted here: http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/show ... p?t=303589 HTH!!!

Jenn