chinacatsunfl0wer asked: so i have quite a few dreads, all my underlayers and a few on the sides, you cant even tell when looking at me rightaway. but the two ive had the longest amount of time (two years now) have startedto grow out much thinner. i backcomb them a little when they grow out but im looking to try and shape my dreads into cylinders of all one size. i know its possible because i see some pretty fantastic sized dreads a lot. any tips?

As for your dreads growing out thinner:

First, it is possible that they are not actually growing out thinner. Sometimes the ends of dreads can fatten up more so than the rest of your dread ever will. This is usually due to shrinking they did initially. It’s still exactly the same amount of hair coming out of your head, except it’s distributing differently now. If it seriously bothers you, a little bit of palm-rolling after you wash your dreads can make them a more even, cylindrical shape.

Second, (I would bet money on this) you could be breaking hairs at your roots & doing the damage yourself. A comb should never go anywhere near your dreads again after you create them. In fact, no tools/etc should touch your roots. “Root maintenance” is completely unnecessary, & tears out/breaks hair. This causes weak spots & thinness.

Getting all of your dreads EXACTLY the same size when you didn’t start them that way isn’t likely to work with real hair. You might be able to get fairly close, though:

Depending on their placement, you may be able to combine dreads to get the thickness you want. You could also create mini-dreads from surrounding loose hair & combine those into the existing dreads, if the dreads are scattered too far from each other.

thedaughtersofeve asked: I've noticed that I've got little white blobs at the end of my hair strands and I don't know what they are

Assuming you’ve already ruled out problems like dandruff or lice, that’s most likely the roots of individual hairs.

When you have dreads, your hair keeps shedding periodically just like before… only instead of collecting in your hair brush, it never leaves your dread! (This is also why many people’s dreads become thicker over time)

The hair root is visible on these strands as a little white dot. They aren’t anything to be concerned about, & often can only be seen close up! They are also more visible on dark hair than fair. If they bother you too much, they can usually be covered up by a dye job.

nstama asked: my dreads are very young, but i love them and they are locking up very nicely. the only thing is that some of them have started to become very loose at the roots, but they are tight like 2 inches down from the roots. will the roots lock up with time?? thanks for this site by the way, it seriously is the greatest help! xx

Yep, that’ totally normal. Your dreads will never be tight to your scalp. The hair needs to grow out a little bit so there’s enough loose hair to rub together & knot! For most mature dreads, this averages around 1/2” - 2”. For baby dreads, it may even be longer!

Don’t do anything to try & “fix” them, nothing will but time & any so-called maintenance you might try will harm them or delay the locking process further.

So don’t stress it, they’re fine ♥

sleeplessgiants asked: what are some tips on dreading your roots for fine loose curl hair?

If you already started your dreads, don’t touch your roots. They are fine, leave them alone. You never, ever, ever maintain the roots after starting. They take care of themselves. Trying will fuck up your dreads.

If you mean starting dreads in the first place on that hair type, the walk-through I gave for backcombing will work wonderfully for you ♥

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.

40scarletbegonias asked: How do you set roots/hair into place with the existing dreads? I know that's probably a silly question, but still.. I've been thinking about starting dreads for a while, but I've only recently began looking into it and getting informed. I couldn't find this answered anywhere on your blog, so.. Also, do you have any pictures of yourself on here, if you don't mind me asking? Thank you for all the information here!

You don’t have to do anything at all! Once your dreads are started, your roots grow out a bit. Then they start knotting all on their own! Over time they tighten up closer to your scalp. But your hair just “learns” to grow that way & doesn’t require any maintenance from you to knot as it grows. In fact, trying to tighten your dreads at the root will cause a lot of breakage & harm, & often keeps them from knotting!

You can see my hair here.

arrays-of-art asked: So, have you just never touched your roots since you started them? Cause they look really awesome, I'm just worried if I don't touch mine, they're going to end up very loose :/

I’ve gently separated them if they eat each other, but otherwise I’ve completely left my roots alone, yeah! They don’t need any maintenance, just lots of pateince :) Trying to force them to knot will damage them & make your dreads very weak- whole dreads can even break off! The hair needs to grow out so it has enough to rub & knot, & then it “learns” to keep growing that way over time.

Anonymous asked: Do you think its possible for mature dreads to stop dreading.. Like just grow as normal hair?

Nah. Once your hair is dreaded, your hair essentially “learns” to grow out & knot as it goes (usually somewhere between 1-2” from your scalp, but sometimes longer). That’s why you don’t need to maintain them or do anything- it just takes care of itself.

So if you have dreads & a lot of loose roots- don’t fret! You don’t have to be scared that your hair will start growing out loose without knotting at some point. It will dread! Some people just have more loose roots than others, & it starts knotting further down.

If you are tired of dreadlocks & want loose hair again, you have to cut off or comb out the existing dreads.

Anonymous asked: What do you do about thin roots?

If your roots are thin enough to be a problem (assuming something weird didn’t happen, like cutting them), your sections are too small. The way to fix this is to combine small problem dreads with neighboring dreads. Try using a wide-eye carpet needle, latch hook, or crochet hook to combine.

arrays-of-art asked: First of all, I'm in love with this blog, thank you so much for taking the time to answer all our questions! My question is, what's your input on the twist and rip method? I only have a few, I combined both backcombing and the twist and rip. Also, I have to keep rubber bands on my roots, as I have extremely smooth straight asian hair, and I'm afraid the roots won't lock up :/ Thank you again!

Get those bands out of your hair RIGHT NOW. Like, NOW. Don’t even finish reading this first! Rubberbands are pretty much the number one way to keep your roots from knotting. Rubberbands hold the hair tight together, so it cannot move. If it cannot move, there is no friction, & your hair doesn’t knot. Period. Are they out of your hair yet?

I have the exact same hair texture as you. It is naturally bone-straight, silky, heavy, can’t even hold a curl. Like a blonde china doll. & it absolutely, 100% can, will, & did knot. Without anything in it at all. 

Okay. Moving forward. You’re very welcome, & thank you.

Personally, I despise R&T. It tears & breaks your hair, so you are starting off with weak dreads from the beginning. It also doesn’t blend nicely with new growth, because it looks odd & “braided” instead of like smooth ropes of knotted hair. Because of the way it knots, it is very difficult to remove later (so you’re more likely to shave your head, instead of comb out your dreads should you ever tire of them). So…based on my personal dislike of the aesthetic & that it’s really not good for your hair, I wouldn’t recommend it.