After visiting New York City and seeing people with dreadlocks from all races and cultures, I decided to follow my desire to welcome them into the life of my hair.
Upon returning to Dallas, I started seeking information on how to let my hair develop dreadlocks. I researched the Internet, consulted hair stylists, and continued questioning people with dreadlocks.
I discovered a few things everyone should understand about dreadlocks. Most important is they require a lot of patience and care in the beginning stages.
- They don’t grow or develop quickly. Even with the popular method of twisting, it still could take weeks, months, or even a year before dreadlocks can stand on their own with no farther twisting.
- The secret to growing dreadlocks is that there is no secret. It all depends on hair texture. Dreadlocks result when hair (for lack of a better word) gets nappy, uncombed and unkempt as it continues to grow.
- Each dreadlock has thousands of hair strands intertwined together. It resembles a nylon rope which is nothing more than strands of fiber plaited together.
- You may or may not need help to create dreadlocks. If you ask others how they got them, you are bound to get many different answers. What worked for others, or how long it took to create their dreadlocks may or may not work for you.
- The bottom line is “know thy hair.” Is it coarse, straight, spongy, or curly? Your texture will determine how easy or complicated dreadlock develope.
- One of the worst ways to create dreadlocks is to let hair matte together with dirt. No shampooing for months until hair mattes. Not a popular method.
- As mentioned above, you can twist long straight, spongy, or curly hair, into dreadlocks. This process involves having a hair stylist or friend part your hair into sections. It’s then twisted with beeswax to make the stands of hair “stick” together. With this process, you force hair to develop dreadlocks. Until the hair starts locking, you must re-twist daily or weekly.
- Braiding hair is another way to develop dreadlocks. Creating many short or long braids is an excellent way to make this process work. You can add extensions if the hair is not long enough. The key to this process is leaving hair braided for long periods. Dreadlocks will begin to develop at the bottom of each braid. Once the dreadlocks reach the desired length, cut the braided ends.
- You or a local hairstylist specializing in dreadlocks can give braids an appearance of dreadlocks by using acrylic yarn. Braid the hair with yarn then wrap it with extra yarn to resemble a dreadlock. Left unattended, it will grow or transform into real dreadlocks.
- The easiest but the longest route to dreadlocks is letting them develop naturally. This process is called freestyling. You do absolutely nothing to your hair but wash, oil, dry, and go. This process requires a high degree of patience as the hair grows into an afro and later into dreadlocks.
In my case, I ruled out twisting and braiding because I did not want to spend the time or money required. And I didn’t have long hair. I decided to go all natural and let the dreads “lock” where they may. This is called freestyling.
Clippers, hairbrushes, doo-rags for making waves, and DAX hair grease became enemies of my hair. Not another human-made product was going to touch my hair, except all-natural oils and shampoos.
As Bob Marley says, “Plenty people have the wrong idea about this locks thing. Like I read in a magazine: `Marley came onstage with his waxed locks.’ Now that is very much a lie because I could never sit down and put wax on my hair, my wool, to keep it together. It would be clammy and stink man. Them blind man! This come natural.”