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View Full Version : Thinking of getting dreads, will I regret it?



Luna12345
October 19th, 2011, 04:24 PM
Hi all,
I've been loving dreads lately, I mean anytime I see a girl or guy with dreads I just haveto stare. I feel like I want dreads but I don't know if I'll be able to take them out. Will my hair get ruined? I naturally have very curly hair and its approximately BSL lengthwise. What you think, should I go for it?

Kiwiwi
October 19th, 2011, 04:31 PM
My sister had thin dreads for about a year. She's curly too. She does have very thin hair (as in; not a lot). She got them out with lots and lots of conditioner and lots and lots of patience.
But I'm not sure if that works for everybody.

Tsopana
October 19th, 2011, 04:40 PM
I loove dreads as well, and they're the reason I want to grow my hair to waist length; so that I can have long and pretty dreadies!! U should know that when you dread your hair it loses 1/3-1/2 of its length.. As for taking them out, I have reaserched it and I've even seen people with 4-year-old dreads comb them out when they wanted to get rid of them. Since in order to make them you have to back comb like crazy, and most people use a crochet hook, too, I imagine that when you comb them out u'll find quite a lot of damage.. But that can be taken cared of by doing a little chop! Much better than shaving all you head...

jujube
October 19th, 2011, 04:43 PM
I've had dreadlocks. They are a lot of maintenance (unless you want them to merge together) and look really bad for the first few months - they only start looking nice once they start "mature" after about a year, but the more time the better. You'll lose a lot of length, too. I was able to save a part of my hair, but chopped off a bit of the dreads anyways.

Also, people don't look at you the same way. I'm the same person inside (and out, aside from the hair) as when I had dreadlocks, but now no one thinks I smoke pot and hang out every Sunday on the Mont-Royal.

It's a tough choice to make.

spidermom
October 19th, 2011, 05:19 PM
You can get a similar look with multiple pinch-braids.

hisprincess
October 19th, 2011, 06:20 PM
I had locks and don't regret it at all, even though I had to cut my hair to about my chin to get them out (the rest I conditioned out). It was totally me at the time and I loved it. My hair is curly too, which made my locks very unique looking. It took a long time for them to mature though, and for a while I was known around my campus as "the freshman with the wild hair." I miss those locks :) But when I had them I did miss my hair's versatility.

Columbia River
October 19th, 2011, 08:12 PM
In the early 90s I lived in a very crunchy part of my city...for a couple years I saw all these dread locks and then they all started cropping their hair off...not sure if I would want to make that sacrifice.

Juicematic
October 19th, 2011, 08:18 PM
Probably. Also dreads tend to look unkempt on less coarse textured hair.

Annibelle
October 19th, 2011, 10:33 PM
Maybe you could dread just one part of your hair, like a part on the underside? Not sure if that's even possible. ._. But then maybe you could decide if you wanted to do it all...

Yozhik
October 19th, 2011, 10:57 PM
Ooh, I second Annibelle's suggestion.

I know of some people here (I think) who had one or two dreads at the nape of their necks. It allows you to experiment with them, but also keep the rest of your hair undredded if you want to do other things. :)

Helix
October 19th, 2011, 10:58 PM
Maybe you could get loc extensions. They're not as permanent as real locs and you'd get to see if you like the way locs would look on you.

Sometimes locs can look good on looser textures. Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa (hotness), look really good with them. I even think Mick Hucknall looked way better when he had locs (on the cover of his greatest hits cd).

If you get a chance, check out locluv tumblr for styling ideas. HTH

terryn
October 19th, 2011, 11:14 PM
Hey! I've had my dreads for a little over nine months now, you can see some pictures of their progress in my albums on my profile page, or checking out my threads here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=72540) and here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=77118).

As far as whether or not you will regret it, that is really up to you. I thought seriously about whether I wanted dreads for a year before I did it. This was because I knew I wasn't going to use wax, so they'd look nothing like dreads for most of the first year, that I'd be keeping them for a while (I'm planning on at least three years, but I'm not holding myself to that rule), that I wasn't even sure if I'd like them AND whether I could deal with the sideways glances, snide remarks and assumptions people were going to make about me. Dreads can be tough, but so worth it! I think what it comes down to is what is the most important thing to you right now - having long hair, or being able to try out different styles?

There is no guarantee that you will be able to successfully comb out your dreads. A lot of people do it, some's hair is fine, others' is unsalvagable. You might not be able to comb them out at all. The other thing about combing them out is that it is A LOT of work, a lot of time and a lot of effort, I'm talking 50 or so hours of combing depending on how long your hair is. Are you really going to want to put in that much effort knowing that you might still have to cut off a lot of damaged hair? Like all body modifications, dreadlocks ought to be thought of as pretty permanent until you cut them off, because there is no guarantee otherwise.

Personally, I am considering dreadlocks a detour on my long hair journey because while I want long hair at some point, I don't feel that I need to have it RIGHT NOW. I mostly think I'd take the time to comb my dread locks out, but if I needed to, I wouldn't be upset about cutting them off either. I second what jujube said about this.

If you are seriously interested, I strongly recommend reading everything you can in the dreadlocks community on livejournal (http://get-up-dread-up.livejournal.com/). It is an invaluable resource. Even if you don't have a livejournal account, you will be able to read most of the stuff posted there and in the memories section.

Annibelle - It is possible to dread only part of one's hair, but it is difficult to keep just that one part from sucking in all of the hairs around it.

justgreen
October 19th, 2011, 11:19 PM
Hi all,
I've been loving dreads lately, I mean anytime I see a girl or guy with dreads I just haveto stare. I feel like I want dreads but I don't know if I'll be able to take them out. Will my hair get ruined? I naturally have very curly hair and its approximately BSL lengthwise. What you think, should I go for it?

Yes I think so (hair ruined) . Enter this arena at a great risk. That's my opinion.

And I stare too, at dreads, that is. I try not to, but my head just bobbles around and freezes there.:eek:

Cassie 123
October 19th, 2011, 11:33 PM
I've had dreads. It really wasn't a natural thing for my hair - my hair doesn't even like to tangle under normal circumstances, and even where the dreads were nicely formed, my roots grew in flat and lank and just refused to dread. In the end, I had to cut them all off, leaving me with about 4" long hair all over. Were dreads a good idea for me? Nah. Do I regret it? Nah. You only live once*, and hair always grows back.

*only once in this body, anyway ;)

Maverick494
October 20th, 2011, 12:48 AM
If you can deal with the worst case scenario (that it may not suit you and that you may have to cut it all off) I'd say go for it. However, if you're not sure and you cringe at the thought of it going wrong, I think you shouldn't take the risk.

It's all about the mindset. When I experimented with my hair (extreme dyeing, cuts, etc.) I was at a time in my life I didn't really care if I had to chop it all off. That's why I could never do that again now, because I've come to value my hair too much. Chopping off a lot is a nightmare to me now. I hope you get what I mean.

Sookie
October 20th, 2011, 01:04 AM
All the people that i know who had dreads had to chop all they hair. It causes a really bad damage. I i were you i wouldn't dread all my hair..so i would have the opportunity to do and other things also..e.g. curling e.t.c.

MasCat
October 20th, 2011, 06:46 AM
I was thinking of braiding synthetic dreadlocks info my hair I like the look but I prefer natural hair. It is a good way to have a "tryout" without the consequences :)

starlamelissa
October 20th, 2011, 08:39 AM
Hmmm, dreads. Well, i guess you could cut them if you hated them, but they seem like a lifestyle more than a hair style. Too much effort and thought for my lazyness.

kaned_ferret
October 20th, 2011, 10:29 AM
Go for synth dread extensions to give the look a try :) In fact I ended up preferring the synth ones cos they looked good right from installation without having to mature in, could be taken out, changed, extended, my own hair given a rest... the benefits were endless. This is one of my many dread styles...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/kaned_ferret/PICT0212.jpg

Luna12345
October 20th, 2011, 11:22 AM
Ok so I've read all of your posts and I'm still crazy about dreads but I don't want to haveto chop my hair off. I've been trying to let it grow for over a year and I was able to get it from shoulder length to BSL. I don't think I'd be able to live with short hair again...it's not that I don't like it but it just doesn't suit me. I guess I'll haveto think about it more before I decide.

Luna12345
October 20th, 2011, 11:23 AM
Go for synth dread extensions to give the look a try :) In fact I ended up preferring the synth ones cos they looked good right from installation without having to mature in, could be taken out, changed, extended, my own hair given a rest... the benefits were endless. This is one of my many dread styles...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/kaned_ferret/PICT0212.jpg
Would the extensions work on long and very thick hair?

kaned_ferret
October 20th, 2011, 12:17 PM
Would the extensions work on long and very thick hair?

Yep, there are various braiding methods which can enable dreads to be installed, even on long and thick hair :)

Allow me to point you towards http://www.hairextensionsforum.com/index.php?sid=6a5fca11a643385e036e8226ff43efb0

:eek:

LocustSpawning
October 20th, 2011, 12:40 PM
My mother had very nice, reasonably thick, waist length hair. She had dreadlocks for about a year and a half, managed to comb them out with a LOT of conditioner and hard work.. it worked, but her hair's about half the thickness it used to be and definitely looks worse.

Also.. I second the synthetic dreadlock comment. My hair is just past BSL, and I had loong black tailbone length ones in. Looked great.

Othala
October 21st, 2011, 07:45 AM
I love locs on others but would not personally loc my hair because I am applying a "maximum care for the hair" philosophy and locs seem to require a different philosophy.

I suggest you do a lot of research about locs and perhaps experiment with shed hairs. Hmmm,in fact, might be an idea to create fake locs with a load of your shed hair (collected over months/years)...sort of test them out as it were.

blondie9912
October 22nd, 2011, 01:56 AM
I think you'd probably regret them. Also, from what I know, dreads are put in by teasing your hair to unnatural proportions (seriously...my friend did one dread and it took her about a week of daily teasing for an hour to get it in properly) and kind of rubbing it between your fingers. If you ever look closely at someone's dreads, you will see that they have plenty of 'white dots' at the ends, and tons of splits on the ends as well. I'd have to guess that they're very damaging to the hair and are pretty much irreversible.

Of the Fae
October 22nd, 2011, 02:20 AM
I had them twice. The first time I combed them out with a fork after a year (normal brush broke), and my hair was longest it had ever been, but everything had to be chopped off!
Second time after three months lots of condish, and no chop needed :)
Depends on how they've matured/locked/felted! They were cool to have, but it is a permanent decision, for it is HELL to get out of your hair.

joflakes
October 22nd, 2011, 03:03 AM
I have had the dread extensions. They were awesome! At the time I have shoulder length hair and I ended up with wait length dreads. Do that first to see how you like them! They aren't too expensive an well worth it, and not nearly as damaging or permanent as the real deal.

Galdr
October 22nd, 2011, 11:45 AM
Personally i'm not a fan of fake hair, because it's faking the hair you don't have.

if you are not so sure about it, take an amount of time to wait, and if you still like the idea, get them :)
after all, they will always look good on you if you make them so they will fit your face. there are so many differently made dreads :) you could leave the hair closest to your face undreadded, that will soften the contours. (i hope i explained this right) but here's a picture http://www.google.com/imgres?q=authentic+dreads&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=857&tbm=isch&tbnid=6BZaRi-n2gZG8M:&imgrefurl=http://authenticdreadlocks.co.uk/&docid=a9_R7F7RQm2njM&imgurl=http://authenticdreadlocks.co.uk/images/banner1.jpg&w=499&h=379&ei=fv-iTuzIFdDxsgaIqfWYAw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=191&sig=110712521852113943387&page=2&tbnh=133&tbnw=175&start=27&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:22,s:27&tx=91&ty=70

and don't fear of chopping them off, there are a lot of crazy haircuts for very short hair, also, you can dye it in in the craziest colours.

anyway, good luck!

paisley
October 22nd, 2011, 12:37 PM
Why don't you start to make a couple of dreads and see how they feel and turn out?

I had dreads for three years. I liked it a lot: it's a very low-maintenance hairstyle as long as they're short. And it's so beautiful! Though, I didn't like the way the dreads inhibited me from moving freely in water, running and doing sports when they got longer and heavier. I managed to comb out my hair to longer than BSL - see gallery for pictures. I guess you need to look at the structure of your hair to decide if it could take the wear from combing out. Also the way you make the dreads will affect: natural dreadlocks are most mild to the hair, backcombing is not so good (but get more even). 1 backcombing and then leaving alone is probably a good compromise.

Elysium
October 22nd, 2011, 03:51 PM
I agree with what previous posters have said: give synth dreads a try first! You'll be able to see if they'll suit you, how you'll manage with washing etc. You can make a set yourself for under $20, check out any of the tutorials on the web.
Or try woolen dreads, I personally find them much more comfortable as they're lighter and softer. There's a tutorial here:http://queen-among-rats.tumblr.com/post/11436874150/wool-dreads-tutorial

MNDaydreamer
November 4th, 2014, 01:02 PM
As I am reading this, I am sitting here with my hair all sectioned and in braids about to start the dread making process. I had Dreadlocks in my hair about 6 years ago and I have been obsessed again for the last few months. Hubby has made no secret that he is against me doing them, same as last time. I know it is my head and all that but having such opposition is hard! Well after reading what everyone here has to say and giving it more thought, I am taking the braids out. When I took my last set out I ended up just cutting them all off, I do not look good with short hair. And I remember all the lint and whatnot that came out of the little bit that I did comb out. I might still end up doing them again some day if I cannot shake this obsession, but for now I will just try enjoy the versatility of my straight hair.

Luna12345 I hope my input will help you make the right decision for you! Good luck and keep us updated on what you decide!

NitaB
November 5th, 2014, 05:33 AM
I have had dreads for just a few months, and it's really not an easy thing to get used to. Other people are usually the problem, making judgements. If I want to take them out, I plan to brush and salvage what I can from my hair, there will certainly be damage, but I'm not willing to give up my length

I however, love them. I love them on others and I love mine. Because of the physical and emotional commitment it takes, you should be absolutely sure before you try it. I second(third?) all of the suggestions to try synth dreads or partials before you start. Look up lazydreads or the dreadlock truth forums for a lot of really good information! He has videos on everything: how to know if you want them, partial maintenance, how to get them, how to take care of them, even how to take them out.

Luna and MNDaydreamer: It is a personal decision, so I cannot tell you either to or not to do this, but I just hope that you are sure in whatever decision you make. Good luck

MNDaydreamer
January 17th, 2015, 05:59 PM
I am back to reading this post again because I just cannot get over my own desire for dreadlocks! I am going to do just one or two underneath to start with. If not now, when?! I will post pics as I go.

rhyebud
January 17th, 2015, 07:50 PM
Dreads are fun. I had them for several years and I don't regret it. Go for it, if you want them. Mine were quite tight and I wasn't able to condition them out my hair and I did end up shaving my head. However, a friend of mine was able to cut hers off around chin length and comb out the rest of her hair with a lot of conditioner. Dreads do not look good initially. It took about a year of twisting and rolling them in my fingers for them to start looking the way I wanted them to. Granted, I am a white girl with white person hair, so that was a factor. I do not think this is a low maintenance style - they take FOREVER to dry after washing and they are awfully heavy when wet (and dry). It's kind of like washing a large hairy sponge. I ended up cutting mine off because the weight of them was hurting my neck, but they were fun while I had them.

MadPirateBippy
January 18th, 2015, 09:08 PM
Dreadlocks are super high maintenance. I combed my dreads out with about twelve bottles of Vo5 kiwi lime, two weeks, and every time I needed to stop the detangling I made braids with the hair so it wouldn't re-dread. It was a really unfortunate looking two weeks, I was super glad I worked from home right then.

I didn't get what i wanted out of the experience, and there was a lot of damage that took years to grow out. Here is what I would suggest.

Get some silk fabric in a dark color close-ish to your hair color, and get some fake dreadlocks- wild colors, natural, it's your call, but there are a lot of places that sell fake dreads. Braid your dreads in, braiding your natural hair down about an inch or two to get the lock stuck into your hair. Seperate the lock from your natural hair and braid it all the way down in a micro braid. Then make a tube or wrap your hair in the silk and hold it in place with the mini rubber bands.

You'll protect your hair (braiding yarn, lace, and fake dreads into your hair ups the mechanical damage A LOT and will give you splits if you are prone to them at all) by both braiding it and wrapping it in the silk. You can wash silk like hair, and if you keep your braids small enough they should dry fine, or you can but a bag over your length and just do scalp washes for most of your washes- which is honestly a much better idea with dreads anyway, if they get wet in the middle for too long they can stink and mold. You'll get to live with the look and see if you really want to commit to it.

I wish I'd done braid in dreads first. I still probably would have locked my hair, but honestly I had a lot more fun with my hair braiding random things into it.

Seeshami
January 18th, 2015, 10:08 PM
Dreads would never work with any of my practiced styles or hairtoys. I have already had to sell everything off once before never again.