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. 

Backcombing is the single most important step in making dreadlocks. But before you start it, you need to ensure that your hair is prepared for it. Before backcombing, you can start with a hair wash with a reside-free shampoo to eliminate any build-up. Let the hair dry naturally and section them thereafter. Make sure that your hair do not have any residue still left in them, else they may slip out from the knots during backcombing.

Once your hair is completely dry, you can make sections and lock them together with a rubber band. Sections can be anywhere from .5″ to 2″, depending on the size you want your dreads to be. Now, comes the turn for backcombing. It is helpful to make dreads in the initial 2-3 weeks and should be discontinued later. This is because backcombing if done during the time when your dreadlocks have started forming, it will only disentangle the dreads and nullify all your efforts.

It is advisable to use a metal comb and then start combing around an inch near the scalp. Keep on combing in this way, repeatedly. Gradually, hair would start to collect near the roots. Also, roll the hair for some time in your fingers. Now, continue with backcombing and start working from the scalp towards the end.

Finally, as you get to the ends, hold all dreadlocks one after another with rubber bands. These rubber bands allow the dreads to remain tight from their base. However, you can remove them later once your dreads become mature enough to stay intact without them.

Nonetheless, the next step of waxing also plays a crucial role in binding strands of hair into dreadlocks. But the base provided by a good backcombing and rubber bands cannot be ignored.