Rage Against The Minivan

Flashback: Dreadlock Maintainence

I’ve been wanting to post these for some other adoptive moms. Sadly, Jafta insisted that his dreadlocks be cut, but I sured loved them when he hd them! Here is a short instructional video on how to finger-lock dreadlocks at the root, and some other techniques for getting new growth to lock together. Hope this helps!! Then, this video shows a technique for keeping the dreadlocks from unraveling when you trim them:

Comments

  1. Jen says

    Thanks Kristen! those were great. We are still in the growing out stage with Wil’s hair so that we can loc it. It is about 1.5 inches when pulled straight, so we are waiting a bit longer. The twists seem to come undone quite easily after he sleeps on them even when he wears his manly head wrap. Did you have that problem with Jafta?

    If I am doing twists in his hair now do I still need to put clips in them until they dry? as they aren’t long enough to hang flat, more of a little knot.

  2. Kristen says

    Jen, I put this on your blog but I’ll comment here, too, in case others are in the same boat.
    I think if you wait a year Wil’s hair will really fill in. It will also get a tighter kink to it, which will help the hair intertwine. The trouble with doing it now on a toddler is that as his scalp fills in, all the new growth will become difficult to incorporate. I have a feeling after several months of getting bigger and healthier his hair texture will really change.

    So yeah, in the meantime, you just keep twisting! If I was lucky, I could usually get them to last about a week. I avoided getting anything (water, sand, etc) in his hair, which was a pain. We used a shower cap for swimming and bathing, and a wigcap at night. A wigcap is just like the pantyhose trick Corey described, only without the crotch panel! But the nylon trick works, too. I think you will find they hold much better with something like that.

    I have tried every product under the sun. Knotty Boy made the locks hold, but any beeswax product will leave a white film on the hair eventually, that isn’t water soluable. Jafta’s dreads looked like they were dipped in candle wax after a month of Knotty Boy, so I switched to Jamaican Lime. It’s water soluable, but it doesn’t hold as well.

    Oh yes, and you should clip them while they are wet, and leave the clips in until totally dry. This will ensure the twists stay tighter, which will help them last longer.

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