New dreads can be so much work! I didn't even think of that when I started my dreads. Knowing so many that have started dreads I expected far less work. I guess I had no idea what I was getting myself into!
With my other friends they seem to have very little dread maintenance. Most people I know with dreads in person use wax. Some don't. Almost all of them palm roll regularly. Some crochet their dreads too. I've never heard of needing additional backcombing. It all seemed so simple.
My hair is short. I'm not using products. I want to go with as little maintenance as possible. Originally I wanted to do it "right" with wax, palm rolling, crocheting, and whatever else I came across that would help. Somewhere along the way I found a forum on Ravelry for dreads. I found it through a friend on Ravelry that was starting her own dreads, but she got some negative criticism on hers, so she quit the group and eventually took the dreads out. I decided not to use wax from their advice. I decided not to crochet based on my own experiences with my wool dreads. It didn't seem to work that well on my hair then, so I figured I'd try without it for now. I had planned on palm rolling and that was all.
Shortly after my first shower, I realized I had a problem. Palm rolling just wasn't going to happen. there was no way to keep track of which dreads had been rolled and which ones hadn't. They're so short they all just fell right back on top of each other. I also was having a hard time rolling them anyway because my hair is so short. It barely wants to palm roll at all!
Well, I decided I would go with some of the other research I had found. I found a site that advocated not palm rolling, not waxing, not crocheting, or pretty much doing anything else. It's a big natural dread site. Given that natural (aside from the color!) is the way I want to go, it only made sense that I would be drawn to the natural dreading. I wasn't going to let my dreads form naturally. For my own reasons, I decided to section them evenly and neatly because it made me happier. I had help with that. It seemed the way my hair should be treated. It would be so much better.
In my research I also found that new dreads can easily wash out of your hair when you're not using products to hold them fast. I was warned that it would be a little scary. The new dreads in hair as short as mine can fall half way out. I've read that washing regularly is fine, though many with dreads try to wash their hair only once each week. I'm simply not comfortable with that for whatever reason. I'm sure part of that has to do with how much I exercise and sweat. As a result, I was fully expecting my hair to be nerve wracking at the start. Let me tell you, it's lived up to that fear!
When I realized how much my hair would come loose after each shower, I fully expected to have to re-dread entire sections of hair. I was expecting my after shower maintenance to take hours after the hair had finally dried. I was thinking I would have exhausted arms from processing through the twist and rip over and over. Dreads wouldn't be much of a time saver until they finally matured and I wouldn't have to worry much about them anymore.
Surprisingly, my dread maintenance takes near no time at all! I do have to spend time doing the whole twist and rip thing, but I can do it five minutes here, five minutes there. I generally multitask during my television time or while reading things on the web. I can scan a page while twisting and ripping, or read in depth. I don't even notice I'm doing it half the time. I'm not going to care about the wispy ends as I've heard Caucasian hair usually end up having wispy ends unless you really work to round them out. It's just natural for our hair type and I'm okay with that. I'm so happy that maintenance is so incredibly easy!
Here I go on this incredible journey. My dreads are slowly becoming whatever they will. It's been one week now and I'm just loving them more and more by the day. I can't wait to see how they grow and mature a month from now, two months from now, and far into the future!
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