Issues with unfinished dreads

[Ceelker]

Hello, I'm new to the community, and wanted to ask for some advice about what to do with my hair.

I've grown out my hair for a little over 2 years, and I usually wear it in a long ponytail.
I wanted to get dreads, so I had a friend do them, but she didn't finish.

I have about 6-7 unfinished, and tangling dreads on the back of my head, and they're usually hidden under the mass of undreaded hair, so they aren't so noticable.

The issue stands in the dreads.
They're so badly tangling with eachother and any loose hairs, that I can't untangle them myself anymore. I managed to break 2 dreads, by just intensely combing through them.
I was wonering if it would be easier to just cut them out, or would it look odd?
I'll post a picture in a few days.

[TatsuOni]

Welcome! :)

Either fix and keep them or detangle them if you aks me :) No need to cut them out if you have the patience to detangle them. You might find something helpful in this thread http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=139576

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Welcome here! I know nothing about dreads though :)

[lapushka]

Welcome. Why can't she finish them if it's just 6 or 7 left? Can you do it, possibly?

[Aredhel]

Welcome!!

If she's unable to finish them until a later time, can you braid the loose dreads together, or tie them all together with hair elastics throughout the length of them to keep them from moving around and tangling? You could even wrap a silk cloth or bandanna over them first to protect them so that the elastics don't get tangled in them too maybe.

[Anje]

Dreads take maintenance. They're going to tangle and things like that without care. Separate them out before you comb your hair and palmroll them every day so they stay separate instead of tangling with each other and the rest of your hair. Or condition them and comb them out if you like, or dread the rest of your hair. But expect that you still will need to roll them and generally work them to keep them from fusing.

[ghanima]

Ha! I've had dreads for 10 years down to tailbone (before I cut them away) so I think I can help you a little. I didn't quite understand if you wanna keep them or you want to detangle them. Given your hairtype and that they've been done so recently you can detangle them very easily. DON'T CUT THE HAIR!

If you want to detangle the dreads, the best way is to oil them heavily or condition them and then work on them from the tip to the root with a wool needle.

If you want to finish dreading the hair, I think it's better you have it done by someone as you're new to this. Meanwhile maybe braid whatever is lose so it doesn't mess with the dreads. If you want to do them yourself, the easiest way I know is to backcomb firmly the dread and then roll, then again backcomb and roll etc until the end, going slowly from the root to the tip. When the dread is done palmroll it well. You'll have to take very good care of them especially at the beginning rolling them often and putting back in the dread hair that has escaped. You could find it useful to buy a crochet needle for that. A friend of mine, who has straight hair like you, found it very useful to roll the dreads with diatomaceous earth, which is very very drying, basically ruining the hair so it would stop untying. I'm sure you can find tons of youtubes on how to dread your hair and how to maintain them, and seeing it is better than any description. I remember someone telling me she sprayed them with salty water. I never tried, but my hair dreaded very easily almost by themselves.

[MoonRabbit]

Twist and rip is another technique. You can find a tutorial on YouTube. I had dreads a few years ago and I did them myself, it took three days to finish. (I had them done by a professional before but I actually liked the natural look from doing them myself better). Here's what I did, I clarified my hair a lot to get all the oils and product out. I sectioned my entire head into the pattern I wanted the dreads to be and tied them off with elastics. I would work in sections each day doing as many as possible using the twist and rip method, once I finished a dread I would tie off the end with another elastic. When I was finished with my whole head I kept the bands on for a few weeks and each day I would roll the dreads, one at a time, in the palms of my hands to help them get tight and collect extra hairs that would escape. Dreads take a lot of work to keep up, and they take a very long time to start looking like dreads. At first they will feel loose and seem like they are going to fall out but the more you roll them the more tight they will get and eventually the hair will knot up and compact.

[lithostoic]

I suggest doing a deep conditioning treatment overnight to loosen the knots. Might make it easier to pull them apart. Wrapping them with string will make it easier to distinguish them from the loose hair and keep it separated.

Mine were mostly formed naturally, with a few twist and rip here and there. It's extremely easy to make and keep up with dreads. You just have to actually do it. YouTube is helpful for showing techniques.

[ghanima]

The twist and rip is really simple to do!
I agree that maintenance is no big deal, and if you love your dreads you will want anyway to take good care of them. After a while, much of that rolls on its own.
I loved having dreads!