Short Dreadlocks neglect method, that's how I really started my dreadlock journey, I wouldn't say they are 100% "neglect method" because I kinda helped with a little of twisting :P that's a cheating I know, but I don't think my hair is of the kind that a 100% neglect method would work for.. a friend of mine, who is also a dreadhead helped me, I think I have a video of the process, but unfortunately it doesn't show the whole thing :( but I will try to upload it, because he does it in a good way.. twist and backcomb
Dreads, Surf, Guitar, the beach....Life is wonderful <3
Dreadlocks with extensions for short hair, was the next thing I tried as you can see, it's locks, but big ones, not like the locks you do in real dreadlocks, sorry I don't know how to explain this lol but I think if you look at the pictures you'll figure out what Im talking about.. It's something that many women (especially African women) with short hair do to make their hair look longer.. Starting your dreadlocks with extensions could be a good idea, it would help your short hair to hold together and "get used" to dreading. And I didn't mention that it hurts so bad too :S in the process of making it, after it was done I had the feeling like someone was grabbing my hair all the time :S that was gone in few days but to be honest I don't think it was worth the pain, or what do you think?
Straightening my hair was the next thing I did In my journey. I wanted to see how I would look with straight hair.. I wanted to try something different, always wanted to know how does it feel to have straight hair for someone who has curly hair naturally.. don't know but it wasn't a good idea for the dreadlock journey I think.. anyway here's how it was.
metal fan
straight haircut for men
Hair straightening is a hair styling technique which involves the flattening and straightening of hair in order to give it a smooth, streamlined, and 'sleek' appearance. It may be accomplished by using hair irons and hot combs, chemical relaxers, Japanese hair straightening, or Brazilian hair straightening and other countries(nowadays most of country's company can make a hair straightening). In addition, some shampoos, and conditioners and hair gels can help to make hair temporarily straight. The process is often called "rebonding" in Southeast Asia (e.g. Malaysia and Philippines).
Hair irons and hot combs can only temporarily modify hair texture, whereas relaxers and the other methods permanently alter the structure of the hair, although new hair growth is not affected. The drug interferon alpha has been reported as being shown to modify hair follicles causing permanent change in a person's hair texture.
Braids, or Cornrows were also something that I wanted to try since I was kid, I used to like them a lot, so now that my hair is long enough, I decided to go for it and see how I would look with Braided hair, it was hard for me to find someone here make nice braids as it's not a common thing, but after some long researches I finally found someone who knows how to make great cornrows, it's a girl from Senegal that's studying here...
it hurts as hell while she was braiding my hair :S I even had tears in my left eye lol but then after about 30 mins she was done braiding, to be honest I loved it, except that cornrows don't stay like that for too long :( UPDATE: I have uploaded a how to braid cornrows video:
cornrows
I got braids for the second time, but this time it wasn't straight lines, it was something different, crazy braids style but still beautiful.
corn rows
crazy braids
Cornrows, also known as braids, are a traditional African style of hair grooming where the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to produce a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often formed, as the name implies, in simple, straight lines, but they can also be formed in complicated geometric or curvilinear designs. Often favored for their easy maintenance, cornrows can be left in for weeks at a time if maintained through careful washing of the hair and regular oiling of the scalp. If the scalp is not oiled properly however, prolonged styling with cornrows can result in dandruff and major hair loss. Cornrowed hairstyles are often adorned with beads or cowry shells, in the African and Caribbean tradition. Depending on the region of the world, cornrows are typically worn by either men, women or both. Cornrows are known as canerow in parts of the Caribbean and the United Kingdom.
Afro Hair Style. As my hair is curly, when it was growing up, it started to look like the Afro hairstyle after a while, I loved it so much, except that it wasn't naturally a very lengthy kinky hair so I still had to comb and work on it a bit to make it look like that, and also when it got longer, it became hard to keep it still without using gel or a solidifying liquid (that I don't like to use on my hair). But it was still nice to try the crazy afro hair :D
Here is a tutorial on how to have an Afro hair style:
Wikipedia:
Afro, sometimes shortened to 'fro and also known as a "natural", is a hairstyle worn naturally by people with lengthy kinky hair texture or specifically styled in such a fashion by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair. The hairstyle is created by combing the hair away from the scalp, allowing the hair to extend out from the head in a large, rounded shape, much like a halo, cloud or ball.
In persons with naturally curly or straight hair, the hairstyle is typically created with the help of creams, gels or other solidifying liquids to hold the hair in place. Particularly popular in the African-American community of the late 1960s, the hairstyle is often shaped and maintained with the assistance of a wide-toothed comb colloquially known as an afro pick.
Dreadlocks..Yes! it started just like this back in 2007, I even was bald a while before this pic, showing you how my hair used to looke like before having my dreadlocks might help you if you're still hesitating on doing it, well Just do it ;) don't think a lot and don't hesitate, start your Dreadlock journey TODAY.
By the way, it's not the first time I decide to grow my hair and to have dreadlocks, I've been dreaming of having dreads since I was a kid, and I let my hair grow many times before, but everytime there was something that stopped me, family, school... But this time I was determined to do it, there is no coming back. It was not very easy, but I had the will, and all I was thinking of was looking at me with long nice dreadlocks lol, It was a dream that I made come true, yes Dreads do come true lol
Here is my Dreadlocks journey Channel trailer:
(Join my dreadlocks youtube channel if you haven't yet, I have uploaded some tutorials on how to make dreadlocks and other stuff too)
Dreadlocks, also called locks, a ras, dreads, "rasta" or Jata (Hindi), are matted coils of hair. Dreadlocks are usually intentionally formed; because of the variety of different hair textures, various methods are used to encourage the formation of locks such as backcombing. Additionally, leaving long hair to its own devices by not brushing or cutting the hair will encourage it to tangle together as it grows, leading to twisted, matted ropes of hair known as dreadlocks. The latter method is typically referred to as the neglect method. A common misconception is that those who have dreadlocks do not wash their hair, but this is not always the case. Many dreadlock care regimens require the wearer to wash their hair up to twice a week (a normal amount for healthy, clean hair of any style).
Dreadlocks are associated most closely with the Rastafari movement, but people from many ethnic groups in history before them have worn dreadlocks, including many ancient Semitic and Indo-Aryan peoples of the Near East and Asia Minor, Sadhus of Nepal, India and the Sufi Rafaees, the Māori people of New Zealand, the Maasai and the Oromo of East Africa, and the Sufi malangs and fakirs of Pakistan, and medieval Irish Warriors.
Etymology
The word is a compound word combining the words dread and locks that dates to the time of the invasion of native peoples in the West Indies. In the 1960s the intent may have been to evoke the dread aroused in beholders of the hair; "dread" also has a sense of "fear of the Lord" in the Rastafari Movement, which can be partially expressed as alienation from contemporary society.
History
The first known examples of dreadlocks date back to East Africa and some parts of North Africa. Maasai men found in the regions of northern Tanzania and southern Kenya have been wearing dreadlocks for as long as they have survived. There hasn't been official date of the "start" of Maasai dreadlocks, but it is a tradition that has been going on for thousands of years.[citation needed] Even today, Maasai men can be found easily donning their dreadlocks, with a tint of red color from the soil.
In ancient Egypt examples of Egyptians wearing locked hairstyles and wigs have appeared on bas-reliefs, statuary and other artifacts. Mummified remains of ancient Egyptians with locks, as well as locked wigs, have also been recovered from archaeological sites.
The Hindu deity Shiva and his followers were described in the scriptures as wearing "jaTaa", meaning "twisted locks of hair", probably derived from the Dravidian word "Sadai", which means to twist or to wrap. The Greeks, the Pacific Ocean peoples, the Naga people and several ascetic groups within various major religions have at times worn their hair in locks, including the monks of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Nazirites of Judaism, Qalandari Sufi's the Sadhus of Hinduism, and the Dervishes of Islam among others. The very earliest Christians also may have worn this hairstyle. Particularly noteworthy are descriptions of James the Just, first Bishop of Jerusalem, who wore them to his ankles.
Pre-Columbian Aztec priests were described in Aztec codices (including the Durán Codex, the Codex Tudela and the Codex Mendoza) as wearing their hair untouched, allowing it to grow long and matted.
In Senegal, the Baye Fall, followers of the Mouride movement, a sect of Islam indigenous to the country which was founded in 1887 by Shaykh Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke, are famous for growing locks and wearing multi-colored gowns. Cheikh Ibra Fall, founder of the Baye Fall school of the Mouride Brotherhood, popularized the style by adding a mystic touch to it, it's important to note that warriors among fullani, wolof, serer and mandika were also known to have dreadlocks when old and cornrows when young for centuries.
Methods of making dreadlocksTraditionally, it was believed that in order to create dreadlocks, an individual had to refrain from brushing, combing or cutting. This method created dreadlocks that varied greatly in size, width, shape, length, and texture. The method has come to be known as the "neglect" method. Other names for this method include "Organic" or "Patience" methods. Similarly, "Freeform" dreadlocks are created by allowing the hair to knit together naturally into locks of varying sizes. However, freeform locks are patterned to a degree, as the hair is pried (not parted, just pulled apart in "chunks") into fairly determined sections after washing, as opposed to organic dreadlocks that tend to bifurcate and coalesce haphazardly.
A variety of other methods have been developed to offer greater control over the appearance and shampooing frequency of dreadlocks. Together, these alternate techniques are more commonly referred to as "salon" or "manicured" dreadlocks.
As with the organic and freeform method, the salon methods rely on one's hair matting over a period of months to gradually form dreadlocks. The difference, however, is in the initial technique by which loose hair is encouraged to form a rope-like shape. Whereas freeform dreadlocks can be created by simply refraining from combing one's hair and occasionally separating matted sections, salon dreadlocks use one of a variety of established hairstyles or tool techniques to form the basis of the dreadlocks.
Salon dreadlocks can be formed by evenly sectioning and styling the loose hair into braids, coils, twists, or using a procedure called dread perming specifically used for straight hair. Backcombing, twist-and-rip, and twist-and-pin are also some of the more popular methods of achieving dreadlocks. The palm-rolling technique, involved in retwisting the roots of highly textured hair, is considered the foundation technique for lock maintenance. One can also utilize tool techniques such as interlocking, involving a crochet hook to draw the dreadlock through its un-matted root repeatedly in varying directions in order to manually and instantly weave the hairs at the base. The crochet hook is also used to create dreads in straight hair by drawing loose hairs into the body of section of hairs that have been teased together (either by back-combing or irregular plaiting) and maintaining loosened hairs from the resulting dreadlock the same way. Once installed, the dreads are groomed every few weeks, typically once a month using either natural or commercial products. Once the hair is styled into a defined pattern, the locking process occurs as the hairs begin to knot.
"Sisterlocks" and "brotherlocks" are a particular patented genus of dreadlocks that are created in Afro-textured hair that are installed in needle-thin twists to create very fine locks. "Sisterlocks" or "brotherlocks" are maintained exclusively by tightening the roots, or "new growth" with the latch-hook tool as the tension created by excessive twisting encourages locks to thin and potentially break off. Another method is the rub method which is best used on very short Afro-textured hair by washing the hair in circular motions going in the same direction and also drying the hair (with a towel or fibre cloth or sweater or sponge etc.) in circular motions going in the same direction. This will create tiny neatly parted coils around the head and will grow into small locks resembling sister-locks but with more of a circular coil-like diameter.
Regardless of hair type or texture and method used, dreadlocks require time before they are fully matured. The locking process is continuous as the hairs within the dreadlocks continue to form tighter and tighter knots and the un-matted hairs at the base of each lock continuously begin to follow the pattern of the more mature sections of the lock.
Dreadlock Journey. Before we start, I just wanted to share my wanderful journey with you :)
Peace&Love
My Dreadlock journey started in 2007, and I must tell you, it wasn't easy at all, unfortunately many people still don't accept anything different :(. As a dreadhead, or as a man with long Dreadlocks, I have been through a lot of troubles, I had to face people and to always defend my right to have dreads, I was always explaining what dreadlocks are, what's the meaning of Rastafari, what's the meaning of Rastaman... It make me crazy sometimes. many people don't know a lot of stuff about dreads, or just have wrong information about the whole dreadlock issue, that's why I thought about making a website and videos about it. Update: I made this video about the top 10 myths and rumors about dreadlocks, along with the facts:
