Making Dreadlocks
How to make dreadlocks ?
There are several techniques for making dreadlocks.
Backcombing and Crocheting Dreadlocks technique.
This technique I use.
When I do dreadlocks, I take a strand of hair, backombing it enough to get a bushy form dreadlocks. Using crochet tool I slowly hook all hairs that stick out and dred is formed. At the end part of the Dread I pull in the remaining hair, so we get nice rounded end of dreadlocks.
I use this technique since I started. The only difference is that now I have 22 years of experience behind me .
I developed this technique to minimize damage to your hair. I make dreadlocks loosen in root, so they will look and behave as they’re here for a long time. They can move in all directions, falling naturally and therefore look the same as the "old" dreadlocks. If it's shorter hair, dreadlocks must be tightened all the way, but I make them look as if they were falling naturally or Hedgehog style or up to your liking.
The most important thing is to start making dreadlocks properly.
Maintaining dreadlocks from start is important, but if they are initially made bad there's only few of options to correct it. Sometimes it is possible to improve the situation if dreads are less woolly or messy, but if they are made too puffed they will crocheted too much and then become fatter than they should be. When the hair starts to grow in dreadlocks it becomes thinner in root and soon you will need to repair roots for thickness consistency of dreads. Also in the reverse situation, if they are not teased enough and crocheted too much, then they start to grow thicker in root.
This can be repaired, but it takes a touch of specialist.
With incorrect dreadlocks placement they can easily cause a empty patch between dreadlock witch is hard to fix, but it is reperable.
Dreadlocks are permanent lifestyle make sure you get them done right from the start with artist who had it done all.
Free Form Dreadlocks technique
This technique allow minimum interference in the 6 to 12 month course of dreadlock growth.
The process require to stop brushing your hair but keep washing hair on regular basis. Hair must be a minimum shoulder length or longer.
Long hair is tangled after washing unless is brushed. With every washing, your hair is going to be a little bit more tangled. There is still hair tangle randomly and it’s necessary from time to time to separate the parts that are too knotted.
Basically, that’s all there is to make natural dreadlocks from scratch.
In practice, the hair will tangle in all directions for the first six months, and growing hair will flow in every direction. At this stage dreadlocks are nor recognizable, cause hair is gonna become one large lump. When they separated it all falls apart and it looks like you're back at the beginning. After six months, dreadlocks will slowly appear. Some tangled highlights beginning to gain form of dreadlocks, although much has free hair. These slowly forming bangs will grow in to dreadlocks by the end of the year.
In the next 12 months your dreadlocks will develop in recognizable dreadlock shape! Such naturally grow dreadlocks are best looking dreadlocks. There is no other techniques wich will result with this kind of dreadlock style and it can not be done by hands or using tools.
You can find a lot of tutorials on web. From all of them I would single out this one , where you can see how the 12 month of naturally growing dreads process look like.
In conclusion, this is the best looking dreadlocks but takes the longest time to grow.
Method called „Twist n Rip“
This method works in way that you twist one strain of hair in one direction, then divide it in half and hard rip all the way to the root of strain, creating a chain of knots. Then twist in other direction, rip it and repeat process.
You will get section full of notches. That still does not look like dread cause it have too many loos hair in it and you have to work them with crochet hook.
This result in much shorter dread, usually very hard. Thin dreadlocks are very hard to make this way cause it’s too violent on the hair and it can rip off whole section of hair. Hair gets badly damaged and whole process is very painful.
