Combing out dreadlocks?

[gallows_gallery]

Has any body got any experience combing out your own or a friend's dreadlocks?

A girl who works with me has a whole head of massive long dreadlocks half way down her back, that she's had for three years. At Christmas she becomes a registered nurse, and has to get rid of them. She doesn't want to cut her hair really short, but is wondering whether, if she cuts them to shoulder length, she could comb the rest out and do 500 moisture treatments?

I thought perhaps soaking them in a really slimy (eg. amla) oil over night, then having a go, very slowly and gently with a fine-ish comb?

Thanks guys!

Yvette

[GlassEyes]

People have soaked them in conditioner for long periods of time to get them out.

Ask Kwaniesiam. She hd dreads and didn't cut the hair completely off after. she did lose a lot of length though.

[kwaniesiam]

Yep, that I did! Thanks for the rec Glass Eyes

My hair was just past waist length when I put them in, and even though they only had 3 months to mature, I ended up cutting the dreadlocks themselves in half (BSL on me), and after wards had my hair cut and layered by a stylist just above my shoulders to even out everything. The process of combing out was a long and difficult one, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it was going to be. I soaked them in conditioner and with a fine tooth plastic rat tail comb (got a few at Sally's, they're $1 something each) started untangling from the bottom up. My mum helped, and it took about two days to get them all out. My hair did not feel in that bad of condition after, but ymmv depending on her hairtype and how long she has had the dreadlocks, plus if she used wax, went natural, backcombed initially, etc. At 3 years of mature locks it will be much more difficult.

In my experience, oil was more a hindrance than a help but my hair drinks up oil like made and it just made things sticky. You want something water soluble so that when you rinse the hair, it will help it come out instead of mucking everything up. What really pulled them out was a nice slimy coney conditioner, Herbal Essences moisture kind in the blue bottle worked really well, and I also used some cheap V05 and Aussie 3 Minute Miracle since thats what we had lying around at the time. Also, make sure to tell her do NOT be afraid of handfulls of hair coming out, this does not mean you are ripping hair out, its simply the shed hairs that have gotten caught in the locs that normally would have come out in the normal process of detangling and her hair is not thinning. It can be really scary, but my hair is actually much thicker now than before I did it, but I had previously had hair loss so that could also be a factor of it filling in.

Another thing that really helped was about halfway through, I soaked my entire head in diluted ACV solution to rinse out the conditioner, de-gunk my scalp, and soften up the hair. A bucket or large bowl on the bathroom floor will work, I'd say about 1 part ACV to 6 parts water is what I used. Really get down in there and scrub at your scalp and work the conditioner through and out of the remaining locks then reapply more conditioner and start over with combing them out.

Once it was all over, it only took about a week for my hair to normalize. Once again, YMMV depending on if she has chemically colored her locs, etc. SMTs really helped, but don't do too much at once. Her hair is not used to any form of conditioner at all, and at first it will seem REALLY greasy. Give it a while to adjust and normalize, especially her scalp. A good BBB really feels good, but her scalp will be tender at first. I couldn't stand brushing at first and just used a very wide tooth comb gently for the first few days.

Does she know what her hair type is? Mine is thin, straight, and fine, so I had a lot easier time than say, someone who has coarse, thick, curly hair. I won't lie, it did hurt to comb out the locks, especially at the root, but overall it wasn't that bad. HTH, and if you have any more questions feel free to PM me!

[joyinc]

i imagine it would also depend on how wiry, or coarse her hair is to begin with... like it she had to do something to it to get it to dred.

my boyfriend has hair that dreds naturally, and if he wants them off, he's pretty much gonna have to shave his head

[Anje]

Would soaking her hair overnight in the most slippery cone-laden conditioner you can think of help? Maybe a vat of spray-on detangling mist? I haven't taken out locs, but I think the general rule is that people with them need to avoid conditioner if they want to keep the hair in locs, so soaking in the stuff should help them come back out.

My sister-in-law had her hair (1c/F/ii, I think, very similar to mine, but lighter red) in locs for a while, and she did not cut it when she took them out. Her hair was a bit past BSL at the time. It did take quite a while, though. Removing locs is not an afternoon project. Your friend should probably plan on spending at least 4-6 hours a day working on them for a week.

[sky]

Cut to approximately the length desired, then get into a nice warm bath and CO the bejaysus out of those long snarls!

I imagine one would begin at the bottom of each one and work toward the scalp, just as with any other kind of tangle.

[gallows_gallery]

Thanks guys, your answer was particularly fantastic kwaniesiam

I'm pretty sure her hair is naturally really curly and flyaway, and quite thick.

So, no oil it seems...just a really slimy conditioner. How much do you think she'd go through? Because the best i can think of is Redken Heavy Cream...I've never had anything that smooths and detangles better, but it's $32 per pot :S maybe better as a treatment for the weeks after?

[kwaniesiam]

I would personally recommend Herbal Essences moisture conditioner, in the blue bottles. You can get the family sized bottle for around $4-7 at Target, Wal*Mart, various pharmacies, etc.

[1nuitblanche]

My brother had dreads for a while and got his out with conditioner and combing.

[missmanytoes]

You could try L'Oreal Mega Moisture. $12.99 at Sally's for 16oz tub. I swear this is like the slipperiest stuff on earth. I'd thin it with water to a 50/50 mix and work that into the hair for detangling.