deadwood434 asked: I was wondering what the effects of the salt water would be on my dreads? Apologise if this has been asked previously

Salt water is generally praised for helping tighten up knots. It can also soothe an itchy scalp & encourage healing (such as a scratch, or those itchy red bumps that form along the hairline of some new dreadheads from the strain while their scalp is adjusting). It can even be used in conjunction with diluted tea tree oil to further the soothing effect.

A light spritz of home-made sea salt spray (1tsp sea salt : 1c hot water) every so often, or a dunk in the ocean can be helpful, particularly for younger dreads. It isn’t a miracle-worker & your dreads will lock just fine without it, but most folks report it leaves their scalp feeling awesome & their dreads feeling extra tight ♥

Personally, you couldn’t keep me out of the ocean back when I lived on the warmer coast, & my hair/scalp always looked/felt amazing!

Anonymous asked: hi, i've had my dreads for 2 months, but i followed the wrong advice and crocheted them to death, then crocheted extensions in. Should I comb them out, let my hair recover, then start over, or could I let them grow, then cut the crocheted parts off when the new growth is long enough? Also, since I made them all really thick (twice as thick as the new growth!), is there any way of thinning them out a bit (bearing in mind that they're already about as tight as they're going to get)? thanks :)

Whichever you prefer.

Excessive crochet, especially near the roots, can make it much harder for your hair to grow out & naturally dread itself (for those who do not yet know- you NEVER need to to anything to “make” your roots lock… hair naturally locks itself an average of 1-2 inches past the root if you leave it alone to adjust to growing that way!). This can delay your process a bit, but they will recover & begin to grow out & lock on their own eventually.

Because of this, you can absolutely just let the hair grow out, then trim off the damaged parts a little later (you only need a couple of inches of new, dreaded growth, so it isn’t a terribly long wait). Otherwise, combing out, letting your hair recover, & re-starting your dreads is always a solid option that starts you fresh on a clean slate with no issues!

At two months, it’s doubtful your dreads are as tight as they will get, though extensions may be. I’m not clear on which you are referring to with that comment. You can trim dreads just like regular hair, but that only effects the length, not the width (unless you trim off all “thick” length up to the “thin” parts). You will want to address your ends after a trim- either by blunting/rounding them with a crochet hook/yarn needle, or combing out an inch or two so they are wispy again. The ends of freshly blunt-cut dreads tend to look a little funky if you leave them that way ;)

to-love-and-to-be-loved asked: Hey, love the blog! My dreads will be 3 months old on Friday & I've tried staying on top of loose hair up until now but it's getting to the point where it feels like it's pointless. I've tried dread-balling but the hair never seems to stay in the dread. I was wondering if there's something else I should be trying to tame loose hair (besides wax) or if I should just back off and let them do their thing? Keep up the good work!

Some people see more or less loose hair during the early months of their dreads, & sometimes it honestly is pretty futile to change that (not to mention that more rigorous efforts can actually stunt the progress of young dreadlings!).

If yours are resisting your efforts to tame the loose hair, just save yourself the stress & leave them be! Sometimes it just takes a little longer to sort themselves out, & dreads will always do what they want, in their time frame.

Most loose hair will end up being eaten by surrounding dreads eventually, & most people don’t see a significant decline in loose hair until the first 6-12 months (when their dreads really start shaping up considerably).