beckyangelix asked: Hey! So my dreads are ten months old, and I've been reading what you have to say about leaving your roots alone to lock up, and I am genuinely confused. I'd love to just let them go, but I have been crocheting them tighter when they grow out. Right now I have some dreads with a good two inches of new growth. I'm not noticing them lock up by themselves, is this because I've been crocheting the roots?

Yep! Your hair needs to grow out enough that the hair can rub together freely. Friction is what makes it knot. Your hair will absolutely knot on it’s own if you leave it be.

Crochet is actually a really bad method for starting dreads, because it does a lot of damage & doesn’t grow out well. It will eventually, it will just take a bit longer- crochet forced your hair into broken, unnatural-type knots so it’s difficult to grow that way. Especially when you keep torturing your roots instead of letting it try!

The good news is, if you stop the crochet & just let your hair grow, it will start growing out & knotting on it’s own. & once it finally starts doing that, it usually starts doing it closer to your scalp over time. Healthy dreads have at least 1/2” of loose roots, but the norm is 1-2” for mature dreads (sometimes more). They should only be tight to your scalp when starting.