I'm super excited everyone. One of my crunchy mama friends in Southern CT is ready to take her own leap into her own journey of dread-hood. Her and I have been chatting back and forth for a couple of weeks now about it, what products I suggested she purchase, what she needs to do to prepare, etc. She was saving up to buy a Dread Kit from DreadHeadHQ and finally took the plunge and has arrange her own dread party. To my knowledge, I am the only person who actually knows HOW to dread hair, so I suspect I'll be doing a fair bit of instructing while I'm there. I'm so excited for her! Of course, I'm also excited to get to help her out! I LOVE dreading people's hair, so this will be a really fun opportunity for me! I am heading to her place with my LO in tow Saturday afternoon. The hope is to at least section her hair Saturday evening so on Sunday we can get right to the good part!
I don't know yet if she will want her new dreads crocheted, but I am going to bring my NEW hook with me when I go! Yes, I received my NEW hook in the mail today! I tried it just a little bit on a couple of dreads in particular that were really hurtin' and the results were fantabulous. It has a nice fat handle which makes for less strain. The other cool part is that it actually came with a little metal cover to protect the hook, which in my case will more accurately protect my LO if she accidentally gets her little hands on it. I'm glad to have a hook that I know will cause minimal damage to my dreadies.
Other fun news, my hubby graciously agreed to remove all of my remaining rubber bands at the roots today! It is an exciting step in the growth of my dreads. To be honest, I felt like a lot of them were actually getting in the way at this point during clock-wise rubbing. Many of them had migrated down the dread and the dread had started sucking them in so I couldn't just take them out -- they had to be cut out. Now, though, I am BAND-FREE! Yippeee!!!
I am trying to get more in the habit of using my loose hair tool to pull in loose hairs in the body of the dread instead of crocheting. One person on the DHHQ Facebook Page suggested the results tend to be longer lasting than crochet. Here's hoping he's right! I spoke to a follow dread head through facebook who was very interested in seeing a video on how to use the Loose Hair Tool v. 2.0, so that will have to be something I plan on doing in the future. (Thanks for the suggestion, Natalie!)
However, my NEXT blog will actually be about washing dreads as so many of you have indicated you would like to see an entry about it. I actually have already written it, but am planning on making a video to accompany it tomorrow morning, so stay tuned!!! In the meantime, Happy Dreading!!!
Blessing
~ KnottyMama
April 17, 2010 at 7:22 AM
can't wait to see the vlog on using the loose hair tool. your dreads are looking sweet mama. YAY on getting the bands out. did you find having them on the roots helped? so far I've just got them on the tips, but a few of the nape dreadies are REALLY short - the hair was just 3 inches prior to dreading which is about the shortest you can do it in - and so I'm a little worried they will fall out. DHHQ says wax is a must in dreads that short. I have some organic vegan all natural dreadwax here w/hemp seed oil, coconut oil, candelila wax, & cocoa butter, its very nice. but I'm scared to try it, as my last set was wax free.
what size of crochet hook did you get? I had 1.5 mm before and it was making holes in the dreads so I got a 0.75 mm. I think that one is actually too small, I'm having trouble hooking the hairs with it. I may need to try out a 1 mm.
April 19, 2010 at 3:42 PM
I really have to say that wax is NEVER absolutely necessary. I never had bands in my tips, only my roots and I definitely think they helped. I had them in most of the back of my head and a couple of the fatter ones that didn't want to stay together at the roots. I have been doing some research for a blog on dread wax, and I would steer clear if possible. The short version of what I've read so far is that it's REALLY easy to use too much, and REALLY difficult to use too little... it seems to me you're just better off without as far as I can tell...
The hook I was using in my video was 1.3 mm, but I've since switched to a 0.6mm hook that I am liking much better that doesn't leave holes like the bigger one did!