~~ Dready Mamas 2012?~~ - Page 8

[yippiehippie]

I spent some time on my dreadies this weekend! They're looking much better after I finally cut off all the ends (debated about this for a long time, finally went for it!). There's maybe 3 locks that are much longer now since they didn't have loose hairs at the end. I can't decide if I should leave em or cut em, they look pretty quirky, but thinking maybe I like that for now, lol! I also did a bunch of crocheting and always think it tames my head after that:) I will make it a goal to take a pic and p;ost soon!

[koru]

Yes, I would love to see a pic! When I trimmed mine, I debated cutting the longer ones that were completely knotted but after living with it for a few days, I chopped them. 

My newest quest is to congo a few of my thinner dreads that tend to fall apart. I rubber banded them at the base & try to roll them regularly. I wish I understood the crochet thing because I'd probably try to weave them together somehow. I often tuck in stray hairs & put a little aloe on the dread to keep it together but it doesn't always work. Note to self: figure out how to crochet dreads!

[mamayogibear]

Originally Posted by koru 

Yes, I would love to see a pic! When I trimmed mine, I debated cutting the longer ones that were completely knotted but after living with it for a few days, I chopped them. 

My newest quest is to congo a few of my thinner dreads that tend to fall apart. I rubber banded them at the base & try to roll them regularly. I wish I understood the crochet thing because I'd probably try to weave them together somehow. I often tuck in stray hairs & put a little aloe on the dread to keep it together but it doesn't always work. Note to self: figure out how to crochet dreads!

Crocheting dreads is a lot easier than it sounds at first. It's not actually crocheting, lol. It is beyond easy to make a congo if your dreads are still a bit holey and immature. Get a really small 1mm or less needle and hold with the hook facing your thumb. Then maneuver the hook at a downward angle working from the root of the dreads to be congoed. Start out slow or you will stab yourself and get the dang thing stuck under your fingernail. This can be traumatizing but as a nurse I'm sure you can handle it. The hand with out the needle in it will be holding the two locks together making a small tricuspid  out of the three distal phalanges. Your goal is to stab the needle through the dreads into the cup; then on the way back through you will pull all the loose hairs into the dread closest to the hook. I prefer to roate the two locks every ten to twenty stabs but I'm not sure if this is necessary.

Another way to get good congos is to take some hemp or other string and tie the string to the base of the two dreads. Then macrame your way down to the tips. This method rocks because you can add cute necklace pendants to the hemp twist and give your new congo some extra character while it begins to form. The only downside of this is that after several weeks of constantly washing the hemp it smells funny, not like rot but like wet hemp, lol.

Oh and if you go to youtube you can find some awesome videos showing these two techniques which would probably make more sense than my rambling:)

Blessings to you mama

[koru]

Mamayogibear, I lol'd at the end of your post because as I was reading your post & re-reading & trying to understand I thought, "I bet I can find a youtube video." Even though I'm sure it's easy & after figuring it out I'll read your post again & realize it was a great description...but I don't do needlework so it's all Greek to me!

We're moving soon & I have my hands full but this is on my list of things to tackle....in July!

[koru]

Got myself a 1mm crochet hook today!! We're packing up to move & I'm crazy busy but I hope to find a few minutes tomorrow to play with my locs! 

[Chicky2]

Love the pics!

Here's mine from today, which is just 3 days shy of 1 year and 9 mos dready.

 

[Chicky2]

Um, bad lighting, lol.

[mamayogibear]

Originally Posted by Chicky2 

Um, bad lighting, lol.

I was just about to say I love your hair color too! LOL

[Brees_Mama]

I don't have dreads but I love the way they look. Beautiful dreads, mamas!

[yippiehippie]

Chicky - your dreadies look so much more mature than their age, love em!

mamayogibear/koru - So funny, that's not how I crochet mine, I didn't realize that would work, lol! I guess, though, I'm crocheting strays back in, not two dreads together, so there should be a difference;) Koru, it should work well for you since you say yours are thinner. Here's what I do for strays to make my hair look much cleaner: Push the hook through the dread and wrap the strays around it a few times (I like to use a fairly big hook for this). Then pull it back out the way you came in. Repeat all the way down so you're basically weaving the stay hairs in and out of the dread. It makes them look nice and the strays dread right in in no time! I must warn you, it's hard to stop once you start, lol! I do this for those darned thin hairs around the neckline too regularly.

[Sharlla]

my 15 month neglect dreads.  they had shrunk quite a bit but are slowly growing.  i cant wait until they get longer.  this is the dread soap i use, i love it http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/Mayleesgarden/1/7/25798//

[mamayogibear]

Originally Posted by yippiehippie 

Chicky - your dreadies look so much more mature than their age, love em!

mamayogibear/koru - So funny, that's not how I crochet mine, I didn't realize that would work, lol! I guess, though, I'm crocheting strays back in, not two dreads together, so there should be a difference;) Koru, it should work well for you since you say yours are thinner. Here's what I do for strays to make my hair look much cleaner: Push the hook through the dread and wrap the strays around it a few times (I like to use a fairly big hook for this). Then pull it back out the way you came in. Repeat all the way down so you're basically weaving the stay hairs in and out of the dread. It makes them look nice and the strays dread right in in no time! I must warn you, it's hard to stop once you start, lol! I do this for those darned thin hairs around the neckline too regularly.

Yeah, that's what I do for stray hairs on occasion. I have done maintanence on others dreads mostly. I only did mine when I was apartment hunting and before job interviews. Right now they could use it! I haven't touched them up since the first week of April. The only thing I do differently is I use a very small needle so that sticking it through the loc doesn't cause a bigger hole to form. It might take more stabs than a larger one but I can move faster. I have no clue where my small needles are right now but I'd love to do some touch ups before the end of the month.

[yippiehippie]

Sharlla - those are fabulous for neglect dreads! How lucky you are:)

Originally Posted by mamayogibear 

Yeah, that's what I do for stray hairs on occasion. I have done maintanence on others dreads mostly. I only did mine when I was apartment hunting and before job interviews. Right now they could use it! I haven't touched them up since the first week of April. The only thing I do differently is I use a very small needle so that sticking it through the loc doesn't cause a bigger hole to form. It might take more stabs than a larger one but I can move faster. I have no clue where my small needles are right now but I'd love to do some touch ups before the end of the month.

Hmm, I can't use a small hook b/c my hair won't stay wound around it. I've never created a hole in mine and I use a pretty big one. However, it is tricky to poke it through now that mine have gotten so tight, so I might have to try a smaller one soon. I don't go fast or do multiple stabs (put it through, wrap hair around, pull it back, but it's definitely not fast!), so there must be a few different ways!

[mamayogibear]

I don't wind the hair around it, The hook snags several strands of hair and pulls it back in. This way only small amounts are wound into each stab.
 

[delicate_sunshine]

So, um, I did something incredibly stupid to my hair today.  I was pulling apart some congos that had just gotten out of hand.  My hair in general has gotten out of hand lately.  It's a big frizzy mess.  Loose hairs everywhere, loose loopy dreads, and major congos.  Probably because it's so hot here that I just leave it in a ponytail bun for 2 or 3 days at a time.  Anyway, so some of the congos just could not b e pulled apart.  They were huge matted messes, so I took some scissors and cut right through the middle of them.  I can reach my scalp again, which is nice because it was getting so itchy up there.  But it also now seems like 2 or 3 of them are barely hanging on by a thread, like it wouldn't take much to make them fall out.  I'm really hoping that doesn't happen and my husband is promising me that he would love me even if I had big bald spots, but I'm not sure I'd want to be seen in public with them.  So, yeah, even if you're desperate don't try to cut through your congos.  

On a different note, I've found that washing my hair with Dawn dishwashing liquid gets it much cleaner than washing with baking soda.  The BS just was not cutting it for me anymore - I guess again due to the weather.  I live in Louisiana so it's hot and humid down here and there was just all kinds of sweat residue type stuff in my hair and on my head.  If I scratched my head I would get a sort of build up gunk under my fingernails.  Gross, I know.  So, I tried Dawn which is what I used in high school because I had really greasy hair then and it seems to be working much better.  

[mamayogibear]

Originally Posted by delicate_sunshine 

So, um, I did something incredibly stupid to my hair today.  I was pulling apart some congos that had just gotten out of hand.  My hair in general has gotten out of hand lately.  It's a big frizzy mess.  Loose hairs everywhere, loose loopy dreads, and major congos.  Probably because it's so hot here that I just leave it in a ponytail bun for 2 or 3 days at a time.  Anyway, so some of the congos just could not b e pulled apart.  They were huge matted messes, so I took some scissors and cut right through the middle of them.  I can reach my scalp again, which is nice because it was getting so itchy up there.  But it also now seems like 2 or 3 of them are barely hanging on by a thread, like it wouldn't take much to make them fall out.  I'm really hoping that doesn't happen and my husband is promising me that he would love me even if I had big bald spots, but I'm not sure I'd want to be seen in public with them.  So, yeah, even if you're desperate don't try to cut through your congos.  

On a different note, I've found that washing my hair with Dawn dishwashing liquid gets it much cleaner than washing with baking soda.  The BS just was not cutting it for me anymore - I guess again due to the weather.  I live in Louisiana so it's hot and humid down here and there was just all kinds of sweat residue type stuff in my hair and on my head.  If I scratched my head I would get a sort of build up gunk under my fingernails.  Gross, I know.  So, I tried Dawn which is what I used in high school because I had really greasy hair then and it seems to be working much better.  

*hug* I'm sorry for your congo catostrophy. For the few that are barley hanging on are they surrounded by loose hairs? If so you could crochet the loose hairs into the thicker part of the dread below the thread. This will put a bit of tension on your scalp and kind of hurt at first but it will eventually make the 'loose' hairs grow into the base of the dread. I did this once after cutting some really sticky gooey hash out of a lock about a decade ago;)

[mamayogibear]

I think my locks look awesome in this pic so I figured I'd share:)

[keylimecutie]

My dreads are 2.5 months old. Just starting to dread up now that I have stopped waxing... They are frizzy at the roots but definitely tightening up. I just hand roll them daily and try to tolerate the frizz! I am just curious how people sleep with their dreads. I have been sleeping with them up I a bandanna "Aunt Jamima" style. I thought it would control the frizz but not sure it even matters. If they are damp from the shower I sleep with them free and it feels so good! Better for my scalp I think! Any ideas? Thanks ladies!

[Chicky2]

Dreadies look awesome, Sharlla and Mamayogibear!

Keylimecutie, sleeping on them (loose) helps them dread.  :o)

[delicate_sunshine]

My dreads have gotten really loopy.  Like, every dread has at least 2 or 3 loops and some have more.  So, I got a crochet hook and am trying to work on these things but I am not having any luck.  I've watched several youtube videos but I still can't get the hang of it.  Suggestions?