There are three main ways a dread can fall into disrepair. If you don't take care of your locks at the tops, if there are obvious weak/thin spots in the lock or if there are a lot of fly-a-ways.
Dreads grow out and maintaining the tops is something that comes with the territory of having them. Weak spots come from twisting locks or over processing them with hair color and can be a common problem for those that started their locks by perming them into place. For common ways to start your locks refer to my article here.
1. Fixing Weak Spots
A. Treat it like an extension.
Cut the dread at the weak spot and re-integrate the cut off dread back onto the shortened lock like you would a human hair extension. I go over how to put in human hair extensions in my article here.
B. Patch it.
The other way to fix a weak spot is to mat a small piece of human hair and use it as a "band aid' over the weak spot. Use a crochet hook to weave it in and latch it in place. To understand what I mean by latching you need to refer to my article here on how to start latched locks.
2. Maintain the Tops.
A. Latching
This is the standard method of fixing your locks at the top and looks most natural.
a. Think of the tops of your lock as a box with a front, back, right and left side.
b. Put the crochet hook through the thickest part of the lock close to your head. Let's say you are putting it in from the right side so that the hook comes out of the lock on the left side.
c. Take the very end of your lock and seat it in the hook.
d. Bring the end of your lock through the top of your lock with the crochet hook and out the other side.
e. Pull the lock through.
f. Repeat. Do it again from the back, then the left, and finally the front.
g. Never do it from the same direction twice. this creates holes in the lock.
B. Yarn
This method is really easy. You purchase yarn the same color as your hair and tie a knot at the base of your lock close to your head. You snip the loose ends close to the knot and wallah. The yarn will fall out on it's own after a period of time and your lock will be nice and tight where the yarn was tied.
B. Yarn and Feathers
This is one of my favorite ways to spice up my locks. Feathers in your hair have become pretty trendy. The only difference between putting feathers in at the base of your locks and putting in jumbo braid falls, is that you may have to sew the feathers onto the ribbon. If you get feathers with loops already on them, then it's exactly the same as above.
3. Fixing Fly-a-ways
A. Crochet Hook
There is only one real way to fix fly-a-ways and that's with a crochet hook. Generally you take the loose strand and weave it back into the lock using the crochet hook. If you can, latch it once or twice to keep the fly-a-way from escaping again.
That's my back of tricks when it comes to maintining my dread locks. If you have questions or if I missed something leave it in the comments. Happy dreading!
Tomboys UNITE!
<3 Tiger Brooke.
Dreads grow out and maintaining the tops is something that comes with the territory of having them. Weak spots come from twisting locks or over processing them with hair color and can be a common problem for those that started their locks by perming them into place. For common ways to start your locks refer to my article here.
1. Fixing Weak Spots
A. Treat it like an extension.
Cut the dread at the weak spot and re-integrate the cut off dread back onto the shortened lock like you would a human hair extension. I go over how to put in human hair extensions in my article here.
B. Patch it.
The other way to fix a weak spot is to mat a small piece of human hair and use it as a "band aid' over the weak spot. Use a crochet hook to weave it in and latch it in place. To understand what I mean by latching you need to refer to my article here on how to start latched locks.
Tomboy tip: Decorate Weak Spots!
If you want to put beads, charms, springs, gears or silver wire in your hair this is where you would do it. Once you take care of the weak spot in your hair, secure it with some yarn and then put a charm over the yarn to hide it until the patch takes and the yarn falls out on it's own.
A. Latching
This is the standard method of fixing your locks at the top and looks most natural.
a. Think of the tops of your lock as a box with a front, back, right and left side.
b. Put the crochet hook through the thickest part of the lock close to your head. Let's say you are putting it in from the right side so that the hook comes out of the lock on the left side.
c. Take the very end of your lock and seat it in the hook.
d. Bring the end of your lock through the top of your lock with the crochet hook and out the other side.
e. Pull the lock through.
f. Repeat. Do it again from the back, then the left, and finally the front.
g. Never do it from the same direction twice. this creates holes in the lock.
B. Yarn
This method is really easy. You purchase yarn the same color as your hair and tie a knot at the base of your lock close to your head. You snip the loose ends close to the knot and wallah. The yarn will fall out on it's own after a period of time and your lock will be nice and tight where the yarn was tied.
Tomboy tip: Spice up your locks.
A. Yarn and Jumbo Braid Fall
When I say yarn I mean any spongy material used for knitting with some give in it. You can use ribbon yarn or any combination of special knitting implement that you want. I like to use ribbon like the one pictured below in a pretty color along with a jumbo braid fall of any color to fill out my locks and maintain the tops at the same time. I loop the ribbon through the jumbo braid, knot it into place on the jumbo braid and tie it onto my real lock at the base of the lock close to my head. I don't snip the ends of the ribbon in this case so that it falls along with my dreads. It looks very pretty and adds some color. To make Jumbo braid extensions refer to my article here.
B. Yarn and Feathers
This is one of my favorite ways to spice up my locks. Feathers in your hair have become pretty trendy. The only difference between putting feathers in at the base of your locks and putting in jumbo braid falls, is that you may have to sew the feathers onto the ribbon. If you get feathers with loops already on them, then it's exactly the same as above.
3. Fixing Fly-a-ways
A. Crochet Hook
There is only one real way to fix fly-a-ways and that's with a crochet hook. Generally you take the loose strand and weave it back into the lock using the crochet hook. If you can, latch it once or twice to keep the fly-a-way from escaping again.
That's my back of tricks when it comes to maintining my dread locks. If you have questions or if I missed something leave it in the comments. Happy dreading!
Tomboys UNITE!
<3 Tiger Brooke.
