DIY Dreader On a Budget With Questions

[SyNNy+SuKKupyre]

This is my hair {Now has blonde roots and hopefully completely blond later tonight, as well as the uglyiest fringe known to man kind but this is to show texture and length}

Its super thick and was curly but kinda fried from dying for so many years and flat iron abuse




I want to start dreading my whole head myself starting from the bottom up.
I would like thinner neat dreads.


Questions

How many hours will this take? {Incase I need another pair of hands and may have to pay said person}

What would be the best way to go about this?
Rip and twist?
Backcombing?

Can you perm at home?

Is it expensive?

Will Head and Shoulders mess up dreading?

I have super bad dandruff and don't want to screw up my dreads over it.

On average how much shorter does your hair get after being dreaded?

How long after you dye your hair do you have to wait to start dreading it so your not making more work for yourself?

How many days/weeks before should you stop conditioning your hair?

Um I think thats all for now thank you for indulging me ^^

[sammu]

There's only two pages of posts regarding real dreadlocks, so it really is worth your time reading through all of them, since most of your questions have already been covered and have been answered in a good amount of detail.

Also, my -personal- opinion is that your hair is too short. Dreading your real hair will end up giving you around half the length it was to begin with. I don't know, it may be better doing it shorter, it may not be; another person would be able to clarify that.

Also, have you heard of a Livejournal community called Get Up, Dread Up? http://www.community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up. Go through tags and memories - loads of information when you search for it.

[Suki_Stardust]

Also, my -personal- opinion is that your hair is too short. Dreading your real hair will end up giving you around half the length it was to begin with. I don't know, it may be better doing it shorter, it may not be; another person would be able to clarify that.

I second this, I've been doing real dreads for a while and my personal opinion for minimum length hair to dread is 5-7 inches. If you can stand waiting a little longer until it's just below your shoulders then it would probably hold and look better.

On average a full natural install can take from 2 hours to 10 hours depending on the length, because you want sexy skinnies and obviously you need more sections it may take longer. Is there a loctician in your area? Dependent on hair length and thickness it may not be too expensive to get it done by a loctician.
When I do dreads I find the best method to use is backcombing and the rip and twist methods. The back combing gives you a good base, the rip and twist method pushes up the knots and then once I'm happy with how that looks I either crochet or go over it with a felting needle. I wouldn't reccommend using the felting needle on your roots or by yourself though cause stabbing your head isn't fun! However crocheting is a must to get those fuzzies in where they belong!

I'm not too sure about the perming questions so I'm not going to answer them leave that to someone with the knowledge of dread perms. I'm sure there's stuff on the doctored locks site in the tutorials section
http://www.doctoredlocks.com/catalog/Tutorial/
It's worth a read anyway as the human hair dread section is a wealth of knowledge

Bad dandruff shouldn't be a problem, although my friends with exema on their heads get flakey scalps so I'm going to ask them how they deal with it for you Please don't use head and shoulders or any commericial non dread shampoo on your hair though. They leave residues and build up and that can make your dreads slip out. I think most head and shoulders shampoos are 2 in 1 anyway which contain conditioners which would make it really bad. I'm not sure about diluting it down though. Personally I used dreadhead hq shampoo with a little rosemary and tea tree oil (3 or 4 drops) mixed in the tea tree and rosemary help soothe scalps and also repell lice (I hang out with lots of crusties...)

On average you lose about a third of the length of your hair when dreading, but sometimes less.

I don't know if it matters about waiting from dying hair to dreading it. I think hair in good condition can dread up better but that's my opinion. I normally get my clients to wash their hair in washing up liquid or dread shampoo to remove residues then rinse with salt water to dry the hair out the day before dreading their hair.

I second what Cirquemachine said about reading get up dread ups memories and the forum on real dreads here. I hope that helps

[SyNNy+SuKKupyre]

Thank you both so much.

I have read/skimmed through this subforum and saw some of my previous questions answered and between posting this and now some questions have been answered elsewhere.

I understand that I lose some length of my hair but I guess my new question is

Would dreading my hair this short just be an asthetic downfall or would the dreads themselves have problems locking?

I am going to end up waiting probably a month or so before I am anywhere near a full head.

I was thinking of starting at the bottom and just doing a few whenever I have time and work up.

[Suki_Stardust]

In my experience shorter dreads stick up alot. My friend did dread her hair when it was your length and added extenders made from kk to add length. They looked really good too. When her hair was long enough (her natural hair) she just cut them out and crocheted the lose hairs at the bottom back in. So I guess that could be an option but it's a lot of work to do by yourself. Can you maybe find a local dread head to give you a hand? Or a kind friend?

Saying that hair of around 3 or 4 inches will dread but they kinda look like dread sticks all over your head!

I'd agree with doing the bottom first, it means you can build up like you said and even though my friend did my dreads she did a few at the bottom to test how my hair locked up. Also it's easier to dread from the bottom to the top so I'd reccommend that anyway
Let us know how you get on

[SyNNy+SuKKupyre]

Well the only dread head I know in my city is a pro who charges insanely so I can't afford her help.

I am looking to find someone even if I have to travel a bit for an extra set of hands but I am prepared to do it myself.

I wouldn't mind my dreads sticking out

I think it would be kinda cute.

I never thought about extenders.

I may look into tracking down the right hair for that.

Were they just loose extensions she put in or synthetic dreads?

[kaytedies]

I have extenders sewn into my real dreads. I made them out of human hair, using the crochet hook method. Took me about 4 or 5 hours to finish 40 of them, and my sister sewed them into my real dreads.
I def. recommend human hair for extenders though. Synth hair seems like its more for short term use, not long term.

[SyNNy+SuKKupyre]

Thanks I will look into that!

I just wanted synth because I find it comes cheaper and of course better colors ^^

[kaytedies]

That's true! But with human hair, you can always buy platinum blonde and dye it any color you wish. At least that's what I do hehe.

[insanityprincess]

Hey there, I've got baby dreads, and I've had them for about 6 weeks now, they're mostly locked up (don't listen to that crap about not using wax, it helps)

Anyways, it took 16 hours for shoulder length, skinnies, but I have about 80 dreads so could vary.
Backcombing is the best.
Any shampoo will mess up dreads if used frequently =(
I lost about... less than an inch with my dreads, using my boyfriend's technique of undoing them like 8 times and recombing haha

I've bleached my roots a few times with my dreads in, just be gentle. (I have platinum blonde bleached hair)

I spray my dreads with conditioner about once a week (sundays are refreshing days)'


Tips for new dreads:
- have someone else do it, unless you are very brave.. and strong.
- sew about an inch up the root, and elastic the ends, you will lose the tips past the elastic after a while, but anywhere above it will be nicely dreaded.
- no matter how much it seems to make them better...shampooing won't help them lock up.
feel free to clean them on special occasions
- Buy tea tree oil! Definate must, you WILL be itchy...and it makes your messy head somehow turn beautiful with just a few drops =O (might help the dandruff too)
- Use extensions for your hair, I have $15 sewn in loosely extensions and they look gorgeous, though I gave up swimming.
- Buy bandannas, even the worst baby dreads on thier worst days can be saved with the right bandanna.
- get a "shawl" to sleep with on your hair, and to cover the dreads on the worst days.
- bobby pins will hold in kk-dreads nicely for parties
- hair ties won't be a huge issue if they're placed loosely into your dreads (I've heard things about creasing, but it's like real hair)
- keep an eye out for "congas" e.g. dreads that are knotting to other dreads... rip them apart every day, even when it hurts T_T
- baby shampoo if you need to wash them.
- Get about half a tablespoon of conditioner and a cup of water in a spray bottle and squirt the dreads weekly, sometimes twice a week
- salt, lemon, water in another spray bottle, daily for a while will lock them up beautifully
- don't swim for a long time after getting dreads, I still haven't but once they are locked up nicely you're safe. as long as you dry them well after (a friend of mine had mold! use a vinegar rinse). You should be able to tell when they're locked nicely.
- Tea tree oil!

I'll post again if I remember anything =)

(sorry if I repeated anything, I just skimmed this)

[sammu]

(don't listen to that crap about not using wax, it helps)

Yes. Yes it does help.

But it collects and stagnates inside the dreads along with any other crap that falls on them. And that's when the stereotype of smelly dreads happens.

[BeautifullyChaotic]

I've done a lot of dread services and I don't normally touch hair shorter than 6" for dread installs. There's just not enough there to knot well enough.

And to remark on some statements made previously in this thread:

-Wax is a styling product, not a dreading product. It gives an artificial feeling of firmness and maturity to dreads which isn't real - it's just the wax. It actually hinders dreading because it prevents the hair from forming knots. Use it to keep wisps of hair down, and using it sparringly, if at all. I sell it on my site as a styling product, and advise all my clients to use it as such.

-Shampoo is good for dreads. Clean dreads are happy dreads. If you've used wax to artificially (and superficially) mature your dreads, it'll negate any feeling of maturity in your dreads - that's where the smelly dreadhead starts. Shampoo, on the other hand, will keep your scalp happy, which will help with itchiness. It also strips the roots of oil, and as such helps them continue to dread as they're not so slippery.

[SyNNy+SuKKupyre]

That's true! But with human hair, you can always buy platinum blonde and dye it any color you wish. At least that's what I do hehe.

Ohhhhh yeah never thought of that :p

Hey there, I've got baby dreads, and I've had them for about 6 weeks now, they're mostly locked up (don't listen to that crap about not using wax, it helps)

Anyways, it took 16 hours for shoulder length, skinnies, but I have about 80 dreads so could vary.
Backcombing is the best.
Any shampoo will mess up dreads if used frequently =(
I lost about... less than an inch with my dreads, using my boyfriend's technique of undoing them like 8 times and recombing haha

I've bleached my roots a few times with my dreads in, just be gentle. (I have platinum blonde bleached hair)

I spray my dreads with conditioner about once a week (sundays are refreshing days)'


Tips for new dreads:
- have someone else do it, unless you are very brave.. and strong.
- sew about an inch up the root, and elastic the ends, you will lose the tips past the elastic after a while, but anywhere above it will be nicely dreaded.
- no matter how much it seems to make them better...shampooing won't help them lock up.
feel free to clean them on special occasions
- Buy tea tree oil! Definate must, you WILL be itchy...and it makes your messy head somehow turn beautiful with just a few drops =O (might help the dandruff too)
- Use extensions for your hair, I have $15 sewn in loosely extensions and they look gorgeous, though I gave up swimming.
- Buy bandannas, even the worst baby dreads on thier worst days can be saved with the right bandanna.
- get a "shawl" to sleep with on your hair, and to cover the dreads on the worst days.
- bobby pins will hold in kk-dreads nicely for parties
- hair ties won't be a huge issue if they're placed loosely into your dreads (I've heard things about creasing, but it's like real hair)
- keep an eye out for "congas" e.g. dreads that are knotting to other dreads... rip them apart every day, even when it hurts T_T
- baby shampoo if you need to wash them.
- Get about half a tablespoon of conditioner and a cup of water in a spray bottle and squirt the dreads weekly, sometimes twice a week
- salt, lemon, water in another spray bottle, daily for a while will lock them up beautifully
- don't swim for a long time after getting dreads, I still haven't but once they are locked up nicely you're safe. as long as you dry them well after (a friend of mine had mold! use a vinegar rinse). You should be able to tell when they're locked nicely.
- Tea tree oil!

I'll post again if I remember anything =)

(sorry if I repeated anything, I just skimmed this)

Thanks for all that!

Everything has been answered I think

I am personally against wax but then again I try to live a product free hair life right now anyways and thats just my choice.

When I am finally allowed to start my dreads I will have well over 10 IN of hair as my hair is growing incredibly fast

[Nawtali]

- Get about half a tablespoon of conditioner and a cup of water in a spray bottle and squirt the dreads weekly, sometimes twice a week

Why would you want to spray conditioner in your new dreads? I do realise dreads can be itchy at the start, but I don't think spraying conditioner would be good if you want them to lock up...

[PirateQueen]

- Get about half a tablespoon of conditioner and a cup of water in a spray bottle and squirt the dreads weekly, sometimes twice a week

Why would you want to spray conditioner in your new dreads? I do realise dreads can be itchy at the start, but I don't think spraying conditioner would be good if you want them to lock up...

I agree completely! There's absolutely no benefit to doing this at all. Conditioners purpose is to smooth down the cuticles on the hair shaft, making it less likely to tangle and knot - and that's totally the opposite of what you want to happen to your hair when you are trying to lock it.
Plus - putting a mixture of watered down conditioner and some wax and salt water and lemon juice on new dreads? Now that makes my head itch just thinking about it!
You are better off putting nothing on your hair when you first dread it, clean hair with no product dreads so much better.

[Nawtali]

I agree completely! There's absolutely no benefit to doing this at all. Conditioners purpose is to smooth down the cuticles on the hair shaft, making it less likely to tangle and knot - and that's totally the opposite of what you want to happen to your hair when you are trying to lock it.
Plus - putting a mixture of watered down conditioner and some wax and salt water and lemon juice on new dreads? Now that makes my head itch just thinking about it!
You are better off putting nothing on your hair when you first dread it, clean hair with no product dreads so much better.

Amen! No products is the way to go!

[SyNNy+SuKKupyre]

I am all for the natural method