How to Dreadlock Hair
Dreadlocks are strands of matted pieces of hair. You can get dreadlocks two ways. Let your hair naturally develop in to dreadlocks or offer your hair a little bit of help. It may take a little time to have your locked and have them look the way you want them, but once you do it's a pretty much a maintenance free hairstyle.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- 2 Friends
- 3-6 inches of hair
- rubber bands for hair
- Blow dryer
- Brush
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1
Grow out your hair as long as possible. The longer the better in dreading. You will need at least 3-6 inches of hair to begin.
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2
Recruit at least 2 friends to help you. There are certain steps of this process that will require more than one hand. It is also difficult for the person getting the dreading to see what they are doing in the back of their head. So if you want your dreads to look good you are going to need help.
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3
Wash your hair. Dirty hair is greasy and will make your hair more slippery. You don't want that so wash and dry your hair just before beginning.
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4
Brush your hair from bottom to top getting rid of any knots or kinks. You want to start off with straight hair.
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5
Decide how thick you want your dreadlocks to be and have your friends section off your hair. The thicker the dreadlocks the faster you will see results. Still you may not want them too thick. In the beginning as your friends are sectioning off the hair you will need to use rubber bands. These will be removed later, but will help you see where your sections are.
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6
Knot each section by teasing the hair. You take a comb with bristles that are closer together and start at the roots. Tease your hair in an upward fashion until you get a good knot. Keep doing this all the way down the strand of hair. Do this to the rest of the strands of hair you separated. Remove the rubber band before you begin working on that section.
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7
Buy a dread wax and apply a tiny sized amount to each section of your dreads. This is where you need your 2 friends. One friend should be applying the way while the other friend twists it in to the dread. You will also need to use your blow dryer on the high setting to get the wax to melt. The wax dries super fast so you must work fast.
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8
Regularly tighten your dreads for the first couple of months. They will then lock up and you will have completed the dreading process.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Don't use conditioner for at least a week before you begin.
Dr. Bronner's makes a shampoo specifically for dreadlocks. It is recommended that you begin using this product after your dreadlocks are created.
Don't shave your head if you want to get rid of your dreads. Use an emergency dread removal kit instead and keep all your hair.
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Comments
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vinylritchie
May 03, 2009
Your article is only explaining one type of dreadlocking. Mine locs were backcombed then hooked with a crochet hook. That is the Thai way of making dreadlocks. You don't need yucky wax in your dreads EVER, and you can wash your hair immediatly.
