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swanns
May 17th, 2008, 04:44 PM
I'd completely forgotten about the month I spent with a whole bunch of synthetic hair on my head two years ago untill I came across some pictures on my computer the other day. Thought you might appreciate these pictures even if it's fake hair (Please tell me if it's not ok).

It took me and a whole bunch of friends (there were at least ten of us at the most) a good 7 or 8 hours to make the dreads and braid them into my hair. My scalp went crazy with dandruff but it was worth it since I got to experiment with dreadlocks without actually having to 'ruin' my hair. :)

Braiding.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/Sammal/Hair/IMG_0298.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/Sammal/Hair/IMG_0307.jpg

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1067&pictureid=12445

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1067&pictureid=12446

justgreen
May 17th, 2008, 05:18 PM
I like your real hair much better! I took a sly photo at Applebee's last Sunday, of a girl with wanna-be short dreds. Her hair looked like a rat's nest all over and she sat there twirling them while she ate, UGH. I'll post the pic when I figure out how to get it off my phone. Your 'fake' dreds looked much better!

swanns
May 17th, 2008, 05:29 PM
Yeah, I definitely like my real hair tons better too, but I'm still glad I experimented way back then because at least now I know I will never ever want real dreds, ever. And they were nice for a while :)

kwaniesiam
May 17th, 2008, 05:44 PM
Those look awesome :)

I loved my real dreads. The scalp thing adjusts eventually, but I'm glad you experimented first before putting all the time and effort into real ones, they are a lot of care at first.

swanns
May 17th, 2008, 05:50 PM
Thank you :)

I have huge scalp issues even now with my hair in it's natural state, the amount of dandruff I had with the dreads was unbelievable. And oh dear trying to wash my scalp, it was a nightmare :D

SHADOWSCODE46
May 17th, 2008, 06:12 PM
I love the 3rd photo! It looks really regal.
You definitely gave me an idea I am willing try. I always love the look of dreads, but I know I don't have the patience or willingness to commit to them.
I've never worn fake hair before but these look awesome. So pretty much you just bought a few packs of fake braiding hair and back combed and palm rolled them?

swanns
May 17th, 2008, 06:17 PM
What we did was we backcombed, palmrolled AND (this is really importand) blowdried them (blowdrying makes the hair melt a little bit), and then dipped them in hot water and let them dry. When you start to backcomb you fold the strand of hair in two and leave a small loop in the end, and when you braid the dreads to your hair you pull a strand of your own hair through that loop, then separate your own hair in two and use the dread as the third strand in the braid.

I hope that makes sense! I think I drew a picture of the process on Paint once, tell me if you'd like to see, I can try and find it :)

AprilElf
May 17th, 2008, 06:40 PM
Fascinating! How did you remove them, and how difficult was that?
The third picture is amazing! 8)

Village Mama
May 17th, 2008, 06:50 PM
I Love It!!!

swanns
May 18th, 2008, 03:25 AM
Fascinating! How did you remove them, and how difficult was that?
The third picture is amazing! 8)

The dreads are just braided into your hair, so all you do is cut that little elastic band and unbraid them :) Took at least an hour to do that!

Gothic Lolita
May 18th, 2008, 03:30 AM
I think they don't look really fake, that what I like about them. But I'm not a fan of dreads, so I like your natural much better...

FlowerHair
May 18th, 2008, 03:52 AM
I also like your natural hair better, but it's always fun to experiment :)

bubchoo
May 18th, 2008, 03:54 AM
I like wearing fake dreads - means I can have loads of colour on my head without damaging my natural hair at all! I tend to wear very unnatural looking ones though. There's a forum I regularly visit at http://www.extra-muffins.com/hair that has lot of handy tutorials on this :)

GlassEyes
May 18th, 2008, 04:11 AM
Third one is awesome.

I typically like fakes better, unless the dreads are thin. Bu that's just because they come in some pretty wild colors. XD

Stevy
May 18th, 2008, 04:21 AM
Wow, that looks really impressive!

FlowerHair
May 18th, 2008, 05:51 AM
I also like your natural hair better, but it's always fun to experiment :)

lookingglass
May 18th, 2008, 08:16 AM
I considered braiding in dreads before. I have worn real dreads (never again!), braids several times, and like my dreadfalls occasionally (I love Distorted Locks on etsy). Thanks for the pics!

Katurday
May 18th, 2008, 10:36 AM
I can't stand dreads.
I feel a little closed minded, but they always look smelly and dirty.
Plus I once read an urban legend that Bob Marley had about 200 bugs living in his hair when he died...
Its probably not true, but ruined dreads for me.
I love you for not committing right away and doing a trial run instead.
;)

freznow
May 18th, 2008, 10:51 AM
That's awesome! If I ever have a whole bunch of synthetic hair on hand (ha I doubt that'll ever occur...) I know what I'll do with it!

spidermom
May 18th, 2008, 11:10 AM
I enjoyed the pictures; thanks for posting them.

truepeacenik
May 18th, 2008, 11:44 AM
I like your real hair much better! I took a sly photo at Applebee's last Sunday, of a girl with wanna-be short dreds. Her hair looked like a rat's nest all over and she sat there twirling them while she ate, UGH. I'll post the pic when I figure out how to get it off my phone. Your 'fake' dreds looked much better!

please don't. you said you took it without her knowledge, and baby dreads usually are dodgy. to flaunt them on a board is sort of mean.

truepeacenik
May 18th, 2008, 11:47 AM
I can't stand dreads.
I feel a little closed minded, but they always look smelly and dirty.
Plus I once read an urban legend that Bob Marley had about 200 bugs living in his hair when he died...
Its probably not true, but ruined dreads for me.
I love you for not committing right away and doing a trial run instead.
;)


Bob Marley was bald from chemo when he died.

kwaniesiam
May 18th, 2008, 11:48 AM
please don't. you said you took it without her knowledge, and baby dreads usually are dodgy. to flaunt them on a board is sort of mean.


I missed that post, and agree with truepeacenik. Young dreds always look messy, especially if they were going the natural route by just not detangling their hair anymore and allowing it to naturally mat up.

Back on topic, were the fake dreads heavy? My real ones weren't that bad, I got used to them in a few weeks. Sometime I think I'd like to experiment with fake ones before I start another real set.

chelly
May 18th, 2008, 12:26 PM
ooooh i love dreads but i cant stand the thought of having matted hair for years and years. I had a hair wrap in my hair and the top started dreading from not being combed and i ripped it out sooo fast it'd make your head spin!

flaming bunny
May 18th, 2008, 01:31 PM
Your fake dreads looked awesome! You would never be able to tell they were fake. And what a brilliant way to transform yourself without committing to anything scary :)

Blueglass
May 18th, 2008, 01:37 PM
I like them on some people, and I think yours looked nice. Yet I wonder about washing and drying them. I worry about mold, because how well can they dry?

Lixie
May 18th, 2008, 01:50 PM
Those look great, I especially like the look of them put up. Thank you for sharing. :)

Elarea
May 18th, 2008, 01:57 PM
Wow, they look real, how cool! I love dreads but I am so fanatical about running my fingers through my hair that I am scared I might feel claustrophobic. I always enjoy looking at dreads though, I love how they look all twisted up in various ways.

swanns
May 18th, 2008, 03:16 PM
kwaniesiam, yes I guess they were quite heavy. I never wore it in public like I'm wearing it in the third picture, it was usually braided or up in a huge bun, I couldn't even properbly turn my head in the car because the hair got in the way :p I can make fairly big buns of my own natural hair these days too and sometimes people ask if I get a neckpain from the weight, it just makes me giggle cause I remember the weight of all that synthetic hair.

Blueglass, yes washing them was quite a challenge, which is why I only washed maybe once every four days or so. You really don't need to worry about mold with them, they dried surprisingly quickly.

What's good about these is that you can re-use them, I still have the whole bunch of dreads in my closet, as gross as it may sound :) Oh and you see the elastics in the last picture? That's where my own hair stops. You really can't do this style on hair that's very long, or well you can but it'll look kinda silly because then the 'net' your own braided hair forms on the dread will go all the way down the dread.

MissHair
May 18th, 2008, 03:53 PM
It looks so real, I love the look of dreadlocks. How did you attach them?

julya
May 18th, 2008, 04:05 PM
I'm usually not a big fan of how dreadlocks look, but yours were just beautiful.

swanns
May 19th, 2008, 12:26 AM
It looks so real, I love the look of dreadlocks. How did you attach them?

They're braided, it's explained in more detail on the first page of comments :)