Healthy dreads

WEAVES can be tiring, short hair may not suit you as much you think, your natural hair may be of a nice texture that is difficult to maintain or you just want to have dreads that’s why you come up with these excuses. Dreadlocks, dreads, locks, or whatever your term of choice for them may be; are essentially sections of hair that haven’t been combed, brushed, or handled at all (that was then) now the hair is twisted or they crotchet it into the desired design.

Crocheting has become very popular in the dreadlock community as a way to tighten up all your dreads and pull in most of the loose hairs on the surface of the dread.

To the untrained eye, crocheted dreads have the appearance of being mature. So dreads that are only weeks old may appear years older.

Reason behind having dreads

Economic — Save money by growing dreads with hassle-free maintenance that keeps money in your pocket. No more frequent trips to the salons /barber shops and purchases of expensive wigs, weaves, braids and an assortment of chemical products.
Protective hairstyle — Another dreads benefit is that hair that is grown together to form a tight loc (dread) holds more strength. Less damage can be done as compared to when you have on weaves and braids.

Faster hair growth — It is said that hair grows faster with dreads. If you have slow hair growth then dreadlocks are the solution you are waiting for. Say goodbye to combs that just damage your hair.

Hair trend — Dreads are a style that won’t go out of style. It has its own identity as everyone’s dreads are different, beautiful and unique in their own way.

Dreads may be gorgeous if well taken care of, the misconception people have is once you have them on you can relax and save your pennies, but just like any other hairstyle maintenance is key. There are different kinds of locks, the thick, the spaghetti thin, the long, the short, the unhealthy, the healthy and the well groomed. Having long locks is the goal of everyone who has dreads on. This takes years of maintenance and patience.

This is how you can attain healthy locks

Get a good hairdresser/locktician

This is so important especially in your beginning stages of growing your dreads. You want a hairdresser that can give you great advice and recommend healthy products. If you’re cutting off the last of your perm and going natural so that you can start locking, or if you are twisting your already natural hair, please have a real conversation about your hair objectives and your desired look with with your stylist to them twisting your hair. Make sure you feel comfortable with her or him, and get a sense of how knowledgeable they really are about dreadlocks, make sure they know what they are doing.

Get good hair products

You cannot rely on your hairdresser to do all the work for you. Get hair moisturisers, oils, sprays and necessary products to keep your dreads on fleek. Keep your scalp moisturised and massage it at least for 5 minutes every other day.

Don’t retouch your dread ALL the time

We all like the fresh look of a retouch, but if done too often it can start to create breakage and thinning at the root. Look around for new styles that you can try out to stay in love with your hair in between retwists/retouch — it’s the perfect time to experiment with your look.

Night care is essential

Just like with any other hairstyle, sleeping with a head wrap or net or whatever (a silk wrap to avoid breakage) is so important. Locks tend to shed a lot, and protecting your edges and your scalp is crucial. A head wrap helps keep the moisture in your hair and scalp, as well as protect your hair from pillow friction.

You need to be patient

Having nice long healthy dreads isn’t a process that will happen overnight. Locking your hair is a journey and it’s a little different for each person. Some people’s hair locks faster than others. Thicker hair tends to lock faster. The good thing is that if you nurture and take good care of your hair then the growth will come. It really will.

For the rest of us who know dreads will not look good on us, we can go for the faux locks. These have been trendy for a while.

Rihanna, Megan Good and Nomzamo Mbatha have been spotted in these faux locks among other celebrities. When you are tired of them you can always go back to your preferred hairstyle.

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