...when you really start to stick out!

 

Dead Balling - The Stray Hair Solution

Loose hair is nothing less than a nightmare for people with dreadlocks and often makes the locks appear neglected. Dread balling dreadlocks is a good method to smooth out loose frizzles from locks and make them look attractive. This is especially useful to tame hair near the roots and towards the center of the locks. 

You may go to a hair stylist for this or try this out at home by yourself. Make sure that the hair is absolutely clean. Now, gather the strayed hair and roll them into the shape of a ball and identify the most closely associated dread to it. This will help you to recognize the dread to which these loose hairs belong. Once you know this, you can knot up the ball and put them into the nearest dread and start rubbing and twisting that dread in a clockwise manner. 

Continue this clockwise movement for a few minutes so that the hair ball attaches well to the remaining dread.  Now, you can put the rubber band towards the root of the dreadlock where you have placed that dread ball. The rubber band should not be very tight but just tight enough to hold the ball with the dread. This is perhaps the best method that is suggested for maintenance of dreadlocks. 

 So, in case you are tired of the untidy look of your dreadlocks, give the dread balling method a try and you will surely not be disappointed! You may also take the help from any of your friends for this method, if you find it difficult to reach out to the locks at the back of your head. Now, get set to rock the party with your ravishing hairdo of neat dreadlocks. You may also consider tying them at the back so that you can easily manage them. 

Washing Your Dreadlocks, Not A Myth!

Among the long series of myths that surround dreadlocks, one of the most commonly heard is that in order to have good and mature dreadlocks, you must make your hair really dirty. Now, that may sound impossible but there are many people who actually get carried away by this and do not wash their hair from around 2 weeks to one whole year.

It is basically the dirty sebum of their scalp along with grime from their everyday life that holds their strands of hair together. This obviously is an unhealthy way of forming dreadlocks and is not recommended at all. The truth is that you can wash your hair on a regular basis and still have neat dreadlocks. The only thing you need to understand is how to wash them properly to maintain healthy dreadlocks.

The foremost thing in washing dreadlocks is to divide your hair into quarters and putting rubber bands on every quarter. This makes it easy for you to manage dreads while washing them. Your prime focus should be to clean the scalp and then work on hair towards the end. After this, you can rinse and repeat shampooing, if required. A conditioner is not recommended for dreadlocks.

While you select hair products for washing dreadlocks, it is a good idea to go for products that are specifically made for dreads. Knowing the texture of your hair also proves to be of great help. For example, finer and softer hair benefits more from the shampoo bar than any liquid shampoo. Cleaners such as a mild residue free shampoo or a castile soap can be preferred; in case special dread shampoos are not available in your vicinity.

So, please do not be misguided by such dreadlock myths unless you know the truth. Washing dreadlocks is necessary to make them appear neat and appealing and also ensure that they are healthy.

Palm Rolling Your Dreads For Style

Don’t you wish to had smooth dreadlocks? Of course, this is one of the earnest desires of people with dreadlocks. Palm rolling is an easy solution that can fulfill their desire. You simply need to palm roll your locks whenever you get free time. The more you do, the more tightened and neat your dreadlocks will appear.

Palm rolling, as the name suggest, is rolling dreadlocks into the palms. This is similar to the way we used to roll play dough into the cylindrical shape during our childhood. The results by this method supersede those of twisting with fingers. Simply catch hold of the dread where you can see loose strands of hair coming out, normally visible near the roots, and palm roll them vigorously.

You can palm roll your locks anytime you feel like but generally it is advisable to do it right after you wash your hair and once you have soaked them with the locking accelerator. As the hair gets dry, you can palm roll them and also work upon it with some dread wax.

Apart from pushing frizzy hair inside, palm rolling is also useful to help your dreadlocks get rid of the unwanted bumps and lumps as this helps to smooth them. Last but not least, palm rolling is a great way to reduce the problem of over waxing. So, do not worry the next time if someone says that your hair shows white wax. Wait! You need not rush to a hairstylist as well. Simply palm roll your dreadlocks and they will just be fine and neat, the way you want them.

Anytime you feel your dreads aren’t looking perfect or that there are many loose hairs, just roll them in your palms and you should be good to go!

Sectioning Your Hair

For some people dreadlocks are just a cool hairstyle or a political statement, while for others it is a kind of spiritual pursuit. No matter what your reason may be to flaunt the latest hairdo of dreadlocks, it is important to note that making dreads require a lot of patience and efforts. However, it is worth all the efforts and time, one of the most exhausting tasks of making dreads is sectioning hair.

Once you have washed your hair with a residue free shampoo and dried them naturally, the next step is to section the hair so that you can concentrate on each section of the hair separately. It is highly recommended to have equal volumes of hair in every section as the size of every section will determine the size of every dread. So, unequal sections would mean dreadlocks of different sizes. This variation in sizes of locks would leave a few spaces amidst locks that appear to be odd until your hair growth covers it, some time later.

You can start by parting from the middle. Now, you can initiate working on one side and clip the other, so that it doesn’t get into your way. Further, you can section the unclipped hair into square of similar sizes and put a rubber band on every section. This would help to hold every section separately from the other and will be removed as you progress towards the next step of backcombing.

You should always section your hair in a checkerboard pattern to keep the dreads from lying right on top of each other once they have settled down. There is no escape from sectioning your hair if you wish to have attractive and neat dreadlocks. Better start now because it takes awhile!