erinmarieboo asked: How do you get hairs that are completely loose from the dread back into the dread?

The first & most important question is, “How old are your dreads?”

Are they less than six months old? Then leave them be. Do absolutely nothing. A good portion of that hair will work it’s way in. Fucking with your dreads when they are young because you think they need to be “fixed” is the best way to seriously impede their locking process & often harm them long term. 

Frankly, I prefer to say just leave them alone for the first YEAR, because no one seems to have any self-control before then. Even now, I’m terrified people with baby dreads will read this & think OMG I THINK I HAVE TONS OF LOOSE HAIR I SHOULD FIX THAT & then they’ll go all apeshit with a crochet hook or something dumb & fuck up their dreads trying to “fix” things that aren’t broken!

But by six months some people’s dreads are together enough to handle the teensiest bit of maintenance as long as they don’t go all gung-ho about it.

IF & ONLY IF your dreads are more than six, preferably more than twelve months old, you can use a carpet needle to thread the loose hairs (just a tiny bit at a time) back into the neighboring dreads. Always do very tiny segments (a lrage clump of loose hair will just slide out again), bit by bit, & thread it up through from the root (not sideways). Sometimes it can be helpful to lightly backcomb that tiny segment & then pull it through. Don’t weave it in & out & all over the place, it looks pretty ghastly that way.