Help needed for Dreadlocks!

Siogfinsceal

Ok, I know this is also relevent to 'style and appearance' but Im hoping for some help quick and I know theres lots of you guys in after hours.

Basically my little bro - 19- decided early this year to get his shoulder length hair put into dreads. Grand- he did it and one of his mates did it for him and had him putting wax in them all the time. Then he went to crete and they looked awful. A local girl has dreads and tried to help him with them - she told him not to put wax in etc and was going to crochet them for him but she has moved abroad now. So at the moment they look a bit of a mess - can any of you help me out - do you know anyone who can fix/crochet dreads prefferably in the kildare/dublin area?? I dont think he minds the cost.

Cheers

kwinabeeste

A scissors costs about €10!

ferdi

the african barber on moore street, dublin 1.

breadmonkey

kwinabeeste wrote:

A scissors costs about €10!

I think he was after helpful suggestions!

Binomate

breadmonkey wrote:

I think he was after helpful suggestions!

Yeah, where are you going with your scissors. A dry cut in most barbers only costs €7.00.

BoozyBabe

They're called dreadlocks for a reason:- they're DREADFUL!

Can't understand why anyone would want them & then, when it's gone terribly wrong, would want to fix them????

Cut them off.

Siogfinsceal

k it really doesnt suit him to have short hair believe me! The dreads suit him they look cool and unusual its just then they need to be fixed. Thanks for the tip about the african barber - do you have a name or number for the shop by any chance?

nesf

Siogfinsceal wrote:

Ok, I know this is also relevent to 'style and appearance' but Im hoping for some help quick and I know theres lots of you guys in after hours.

Read the Charter. Don't post here just to reach a bigger audience.

Moved to Fashion/Appearance where you should get plenty answers.

Siogfinsceal

ok sorry nesf. guys anyone have answers!!??

amazingemmet

I can do them good and proper. The guys on moore st are terrible at doing dreads on caucasian hair. I can either explain how do them or do them for a fee your call. pm me if i forget about this thread i can get pics of the locks i've done as well.

Siogfinsceal

PM you right now!! ;-)

edibility

I actually think the guys on moore street are pretty good, a mate got his done there and they turned out great. He does have very wirey thick hair though which I think helped, but they still don't deserve running down.

Shelli

I've always wanted really long dreads but have heard some horror stories about them, can anyone clear up these and tell me if they are myths or not?

1> You cant wash your hair.

2> You have to get your hair cut really short to get rid of them

3> I heard of a guy who was cutting off his dread and found a nest of lice in the centre of one! (URGH!)

Also, I want really thin dreads with extensions, possible? Are they easy to maintain?

Siogfinsceal

depends what type you get i reckon. Real dreads as opposed to braids means you would have to cutt off the hair after as you are making it matted

alantc

1> You cant wash your hair.

Lies.

2> You have to get your hair cut really short to get rid of them

Lies.

3> I heard of a guy who was cutting off his dread and found a nest of lice in the centre of one! (URGH!)

He believed lie number 1.


Washing your hair help the dreadlocks tighten. But only with 'residue free' shampoo. ie. not pantenne and definitely no conditioner.

Dreadlocks are just tangled hair. You can comb them out if you're patient enough. It takes a good few hours to do it but only hurts when you're near the root. Afterwards you'll have surprisingly healthy hair.

To put in dreadlocks, section out your hair in approx 0.5" squares (do the whole head at once) and then taking each section one by one, rub it between your fingers and pull the tangle as close to the root as you can, use a comb (metal) too and it should help.

The hair type only makes a difference after the dreads are in and only really affects what grows out at the root.


Anyone anything to add

Pighead

Pighead got this from his third favourite dreadlock website
How to wash Dreadlocks :
Washing your dreadlocks and keeping them clean is the first step in having healthy, tight dreadlocks. You should get on a washing routine and wash your dreadlocks once every 2 or 3 days. Always wash your dreadlocks with a residue free shampoo. If you wash your dreadlocks with a shampoo that leaves residue behind, it will slow down your dreadlocking process by coating your hair with lubricants and scents, which will lubricate your hair and keep it from locking up in your dreadlocks.

Love

Shelli wrote:

I heard of a guy who was cutting off his dread and found a nest of lice in the centre of one! (URGH!)

Oh man... seriously?! That is so disgusting!!

dSTAR

Check out this site that a person I know runs:

http://mydreadlocks.com

Terri.D

alantc wrote:

Dreadlocks are just tangled hair. You can comb them out if you're patient enough. It takes a good few hours to do it but only hurts when you're near the root. Afterwards you'll have surprisingly healthy hair.
Anyone anything to add

.................................................that is untrue dreads are not just tangled hair.........and they don't just come out with patience....my sister had dreads for 18 months she got them done in new zealand by a mauri so they were proper dreads, there is a special wax tangled into the hair to keep it together....what you just described is what we in the earlier 90's called 'drags' not dreads.......tried to comb hers out with baby oil, conditioner and every other thing we could find, went to 8 different hairdressers, a jamican in temple bar who told us the only way out of dreads is to cut it off and start again!!! Went to moore street and they literally just chopped them off i had murder made a complete mess of my sisters hair and finally paid 150 to repair the damage.....so moral is don't go to moore street, don't go under the illusion of alantc......dreads are for life or until you chop them off!!

alantc

Can you explain what dreads are then? Every method I've heard for getting dreads is really just a way of tangling (matting) your hair. Yes, they have wax in them but it's only wax, not glue. The place you get your dreads done doesn't mean anything so doesn't add weight to your argument. I had dreads, I combed them out.

Get a good metal comb that you'd use for your dog, start at the end and be patient. If I'm wrong could you explain what could possibly be stoping this from working.

And your sisters roots couldn't have been any different to my own. They would have grown into dreads. Whats stopping them from being combed out if I could.

And what did you spend 150 on??

I don't have dreads but I know a lot of people that do including my flatmate and they all insist you have to cut them out. If they are proper dreads, they are so tight and have grown in such a way that the hair could never just be combed through and go back to normal. It's basically dead hair. My flatmate will need to think about getting rid of hers soon to get a job and she is growing them out a bit at the roots so she will have at least some hair left when she cuts them off. It's rather drastic, so people should think twice before getting them done. I'd love dreads now but I know I won't be able to have them for life and I couldn't deal with having really short hair after cutting them.

Terri.D

alantc wrote:

Every method I've heard for getting dreads is really just a way of tangling (matting) your hair.... Yes, they have wax in them but it's only wax, not glue. ...Get a good metal comb that you'd use for your dog, start at the end and be patient. ...If I'm wrong could you explain what could possibly be stoping this from working.And your sisters roots couldn't have been any different to my own.... They would have grown into dreads. Whats stopping them from being combed out if I could...........And what did you spend 150 on??

I know the wax isn't a glue but over time it acts as a seal....got a good metal comb got three actually as three of us attacked the monster, and everytime we got a piece out the hair would just fall off or break....we got the front ones out but they were small, her roots didn't matt because i was putting treatment on them so they wouldn't in case we had to cut them she would have some hair....spent 150 because the girl in moore street just chopped thats it my sister had long bits of hair short bits of hair all over the place there was no thought put into what she cut, she just did it arse ways. And my sister has red hair so by the time your one was finished my sis looked like a red haired Don King with a afro....brought her to a hairdressers in Blackrock asked for the director and he came out cut and styled her hair, gave her an intensive treatment and gave her a stying product and treatment to bring home he was great and she didn't look half bad....a little butch but funky butch!!!!

Brenner

Dreads are matted hair but the longer they get the more its matted hair connected to broken hair, my X took her dreads out after 6 years (about 4.5 foot long) and she tried having them combed out she was able to retain about 5/6 inches of hair, painful experience for her.

Supporting what *alantc* said also: Dreads done right are beautiful & clean, also when washed they smell great for ages... most people who go ahead with the not washing thing use it as a excuse in my opinion. Also I've helped maintian her dreads before and most of the time wax wasn't used (just once a month and only a small amount rubbed in), the best thing for really neat & tight dreads was taking the loose hair and threading it through the existing dreads and then threading the top of the dread through the bottom, twisting the whole thing at the base over and over.

Another thing is to singe (be careful!!) the light fluffy hairs off the edge of the dreads, making them look alot neater.

People are have unfounded prejudices against dreads which are really prejudices against crusty or smelly people who don't like to wash.