I have 3-4" long hair (3 inches at the nape of the neck and 4 inches at the top of my head from a kind of boy cut that has grown out) and want to do dreads... I'm an almost complete newbie when it comes to this - I've only experienced having DE locs braided into my hair once and I kept them for a couple of months (until my new growth made them look bad and they were getting loose). I'm looking to make SE Kanekalon extensions and, essentially, attempt a permanent (or as permanent as possible) extension of my hair with them. I want to have dreadlocks anyway, but with hair so short, I'll have to do extensions.
The methods I've seen / looked into / read up on involve twist & rip and backcomb+crochet methods because I'm not big on the complete neglect method - I can't handle doing that. I plan on doing backcombing + crochet for my hair but I have questions on this.
[*] Using Kanekalon hair, I know I can steam, boil, or flat iron them to "seal" the loc but I was wondering if they would "naturally" flatten or smooth *at all* since they're synthetic, if I don't? I'm asking because my hair will naturally mature over time, but if I have immediately mature extensions, won't it look odd?
[*] I intend to backcomb my sections, overlay the fluffy end of my dread on most of my length, wrap the backcombed part of my hair around the synth. dreadlock and then crochet it in... It's the only way I can think of that will start the dreading process with that section of my hair AND provide me a very stable connection with the extension.


[*] I've been told by a couple people I was conversing with on the net that you can "seal in" your kanekalon dreads to real hair by using a flat iron at their juncture point after you've dreaded them together with a strong crochet... That sounds damaging and like not such a great idea to me? Thoughts on this?
[*] Can I blow dry my hair with dreads? / Can I blow dry my hair with synthetic (spec. Kanekalon) dreads? I know the heat may tighten up the synthetic dreads, but will it pose a problem if I decide to do so? / How much damage could I do to my dreads if I do use a blow dryer? I don't usually blow dry my hair all the way on the rare occasion I do blow dry it... it's usually to get a good chunk of moisture out before going out while it's winter or before going to bed, but I wanted opinions on this.
[*] What's different in the washing care of synthetic dreadlocks vs natural hair extensions when kept for the long term? And what can you tell me about the drying time on synthetic vs natural hair? Do synthetic tend to be more likely to mildew than natural or take less time to dry or require special care during / after washing?
Thanks so much in advance.
