NICE AND EASY DREADLOCKS
For those of us who are ready to make the transition to dreads without the high starting and maintenance costs, Velma Mitchell has graciously shared her wisdom, born of personal experience.
Nice and Easy Dreadlocks
This is for sisters of African descent who may benefit from at least some of the info below. As a result of my having to answer many questions over the past seven years, I asked God for the right time to share via email what I’d learned on the subject. For a long time, I kept hearing the inner ‘Wait’. Then, recently, a good friend asked me for advice on cultivating nice and easy dreadlocks without having to pay a lot of money. She was tired of relying on perms, fed-up with twists/braids, could no longer afford the cost of regular twisted/braided extensions, did not want to cut her hair short or wear a wig. I saw her request as the green light I had been waiting for. Most of the info I have here I have already shared with her. Feel free to pass on to others too as well.
Although there are various other methods of growing dreadlocks that may be better for some, what follows is what has worked best for me. I still have days when my dreadlocks look, feel or even smell less than their best, invariably because of some fool-hardy experiment on my part, yet continue to receive more compliments than I ever did before embarking on this journey. My purpose here is not to be vain, I hope, but simply to share info that may be helpful to others.
At first, I never liked the word 'dreadlocks' because I didn't see anything dreadful about them when started and maintained with both cleanliness and aesthetics in mind. I even tried coining my own alternative word. Now I've come to see that no matter what the original intent behind the origin of the word, it need not imply anything more negative than the simple, basic fact that once fully locked, the dreadlocks would cause inevitable 'dread' in anyone attempting to unlock them without a pair of scissors applied to the roots.
My journey towards peace with my natural hair has not been without the pit-falls caused by my own faulty experimentation, but I have been my only guinea pig. At this point, having traveled a long way, with the help of God, through extensive research on the internet, and through trial and error, I do believe I am now ready to share four basic principles that have stood the test of my own time:
1) Braid and Back-Braid. Start with thin braids all over your head, each braid in the direction of a particular basic style you'd like. Regular braids are fine, but braids that actually look almost like dreadlocks from the beginning are even better. To do this, one of the three strands for braiding must be as thin a strand as possible – the thinner the better – with the other two of equal size. When the roots grow in, 'back-braiding', instead of twisting, is what you do to keep the dreads separate, using the crochet-like method with a latch-hook tool, a crotchet needle or simply your own fingers. First, make a hole in one side of aroot, loop the lock into the hole and pull it through very gently to the other side of the root. Repeat the same process with a hole made in another side of the root. This double looping and pulling through makes one whole ‘inter-knot’ to tighten the root. Make as many such knots as needed to tighten a root adequately (usually no more than 2-3 needed per root if done once every month or so), but don’t tighten too much, so as not to overstress the scalp.
2. Cut and/or Sew. I’m sure you’ve observed that dreadlocks tend to grow very fast on a healthy scalp. Once the dreads begin to grow out, you will probably need to do a little pruning for styling purposes, or you may decide to keep them cut at a certain length. You can attempt to trim them yourself or seek professional help.
You can sew a dread that has already been cut on to another dread, in order to make the second dread appear longer, again for styling purposes. Over time, the thread simply meshes in with your own hair. In addition, if so desired, dread extensions can be made with nappy human hair by first braiding the hair into dreadlock-like braids, then sewing on the braids to already existing dreads on your head. Again, over time, the extensions will simply lock in with your own hair. Any such sewing must be done with a very small needle and very fine thread the color of your own hair.
3. Wash Once a Week with Liquid Soap/Shampoo and Vinegar. I find that a little vinegar mixed in with regular shampoo or liquid soap cleans out the dreads more efficiently than just shampoo/liquid soap alone. Not surprisingly, dreads are a little harder to clean than regular open hair. The vinegar helps to wash out lint, dirt, grease and grime, as well as helps to soften the hair. When diluted with the shampoo, the vinegar smell quickly dissipates. Rather than mix in the vinegar with the shampoo, some people prefer to save the vinegar, diluted with water, for rinsing only. This is equally effective. Again, the vinegar smell does not linger longer than a few minutes. I prefer to use the vinegar for washing and then rinse everything out with plain water, because a little vinegar is incorporated as well into the homemade leave-in conditioner I use. When the shampooing process is over, first towel-dry and then air-dry. This may take a few hours, depending on how thin the locks are – the thinner they are, the shorter the time to air-dry. Do not sleep with damp locks, otherwise you may run the risk of developing mildew in your locks (ugh!) – a thing which can easily be remedied with the use of vinegar, but who wants to have to deal with anything so disgusting in the first place! Once the hair is dry, make sure that each lock is fully separated at the root from any other lock.
4. Moisturize as Needed with Light Leave-in Conditioner. You can buy any light over-the-counter leave-in conditioner, or you can make your own with a few basic kitchen ingredients. Either way, natural African hair tends to be too dry without any kind of external moisturizer; therefore, it must be used fromtime to time, even everyday, if necessary. Stay away from anything too heavy by itself. For example, beeswax, shea butter or cocoa butter must be mixed in with a lighter substance. Mineral oil or petroleum jelly tends to cause dandruff so either should probably be out the window. To make homemade leave-in conditioner, mix one part herbal tea with a little vinegar, a pinch of salt and a drop of honey, to two parts vegetable oil with a drop of melted wax. Olive oil is good, coconut oil excellent, castor oil also good if mixed with a lighter oil. Contrary to a previous conviction I had just recently, honey can be applied to dreadlocks after all, provided that the honey is working together in the right balance with certain other elements. However, as this formula is still experimental, use your own discretion if you decide to try it out. Regular tea or sage, rosemary, parsley, hibiscus or some other teas may darken hair a little, while chamomile or others may lighten. Make only enough of the conditioner (keep in a small plastic bottle) to last about a week without refrigeration. Shake each time before use. This concoction can also make a good skin moisturizer.
Some people assume I pay hundreds of dollars every few months to keep my hair the way I do. They are wrong. I pay for nothing more on a regular basis than the cost of the elements used in the moisturizing formula. Freely growing my own dreadlocks is one of the better decisions I have ever made for myself – a decision that I believe is one option provided by God to save some of us a whole lot of stress, time and money. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to email me.
Velma Mitchell – velgm@hotmail.com
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