Sleeping with dreadlocks

I was asked today whether there was any difference between sleeping with normal hair and sleeping with dreadlocks and so I got into bed and demonstrated the subtle differences that of course will be obvious to those already with dreads, but possibly of interest to those without.

Dreadlock Cleanse

Super Deep Clean!:

Basic Bicarb Soak:

There are many different variations on this. Some with nice smelling additives, but I'm going to explain what I do and then once you've got the basics down you can feel free to experiment a little. Tea tree oil is a normal addition due to it's anti-fungal qualities and Rosemary oil can be added to help with dandruff problems.

Every now and then you'll find you want to give your dreadlocks a serious deep clean. Over time various shampoos and soaps can build up in your hair (even if they're residue free) and you'll feel like they're a little bit heavier, a little bit stiffer, just not as 'alive' as they once were. There are also more extreme cases where you'll use a shampoo only to find out it is definitely not residue free - when you squeeze out after washing, the water that comes out is a little stickier / doesn't feel like straight clean water or on the extreme - you'll get white powder accumulating in the tips of your dreads once they've dried.

What can you do about this?...........................Deep cleanse!

How I go about it:

• I feel a washing bowl with hot water, the hotter the better, because you don't want it going cold on you while you're still using it. But obviously not so hot that you burn yourself! (You can also use a bucket or whatever you want, as long as it's deep enough to hold the hot water and your head of hair. I've even seen it done where you lay on the kitchen counter with your head back into the filled sink!)
• Then I will add bicarbonate of soda / baking soda. There's no exact measurement for this and everyone is going to use a different sized bowl and a different amount of water. I'll usually add quite a lot, but not so much that you get undissolved bicarb in the bottom of the bowl.
• Then you lay back and dip your hair in the water. It's tricky to do this actually, I lay on a step or box, even a skateboard to get my body higher than the bowl so that I'm comfortable dipping the hair.
• You'll want to soak them for around 30 mins. You can rub the hair in this time, make sure you get everywhere wet and just relax. It's nice to have the warm water flowing over your head and it removes itchiness.
• Once you've finished soaking you'll want to squeeze everything out of your dreads. You can repeat this part without the soaking time, just dip and squeeze, dip and squeeze.
• Then wash your hair as normal.

You should find they're a little lighter, bendier / bouncier, less itchy. All round new and improved!

I don't think bicarb washes should be overdone because it can make your scalp dry and therefore it's easy for it to get sore. I recommend every 4-6 weeks for optimal nice-ness! You shouldn't need to do it anymore often provided you wash and dry your dreads correctly. See my Washing and Drying post.

Dreadlock Maintenance?

Ok, people tend to be torn two ways on this. There are those who get dreadlocks and can't leave them alone, each loose hair has its place and each dread tip must be immaculately crocheted to perfection. Then there are people who never touch their hair and enjoy the extra time they gain from not having to brush and condition and cut and trim etc etc.

Here's what you need to know...

Dreadlocks are formed by neglecting the hair. You leave the hair to its own devices and eventually dreadlocks will form from the chaos, so you really don't have to do much to keep them on the right track. 

The best thing you can do to maintain your dreadlocks is to follow a good washing and drying routine. Keeping them clean and then keeping them dry is essential for the longevity of your dreadlocks. When you keep them clean, but not conditioned, you're putting your hair in a good state for locking-up. Also if you keep a regular cleaning routine you're going to stop the hair from becoming irritating and itchy. Thoroughly drying them after they've been washed is equally important. Leave anything damp sitting around long enough and it'll start to become unpleasant - dreadlocks are no exception. Roughly drying with a towel also causes a lot of friction and can help form new knots.

Washing and drying is the essential maintenance. Companies will often try and sell you maintenance products that you don't need - they will assure you that you do.... but they have products they want to sell. Not all products are bad, but most are unnecessary and most are just repackaged simple ingredients you can find around your own home. I cannot stress enough that dreadlocks need time and patience, but that makes it easy for companies to cash in by selling quick fix dreadlock products. There are no magic instant dreadlock products, there are just those that are waxes or variations on waxes/gels that stick your hair together to make them look more like tighter dreadlocks (while in reality actually slowing down the locking process by inhibiting the movement of the hairs and therefore stopping them from forming new knots). Then there are also products that simply dry out the hairs and make them more frizzy allowing them to knot up. The gels and waxes you really don't want to go anywhere near, the drying/frizzing products are completely unnecessary and the same effect can be achieved without buying branded products. You can make your hair dryer and more frizzy by using lemon juice, swimming in salt water or rubbing a wool jumper over your hair. Do you need to do this? no. Does it actually help in the long run? who can say. Over time the lemon juice will also bleach your hair slightly, but it's kinda sticky so needs washing out quite quick.

You may have to rip and/or cut certain dreads to stop them from merging together into congos. This is normal maintenance, if you would like your dreads to be fatter then simply don't split them! More information about that on my Congos page.

You really don't need to do anymore work with them than that. Feel free to play with them during the day, the friction encourages the knotting process, but they get it from the towel drying and when your head rubs on the pillow anyway (this is why you will find that the dreads on the back of your head mature the fastest).

I'll cover some other little bits here:

Palm rolling: 

this technique is commonly recommended by most sources of dreadlock information. You place a dreadlock between your palms and... roll. You're squeezing the dread, pushing loose hairs into the body of the dread and rounding the whole thing off. This technique doesn't cause any damage to the dreads but it's positive effects are also debatable. Most visible progress made by palm rolling will be undone once you wash the dreads again. So by all means palm roll, but don't stress too much about it!

Clockwise rubbing:

you take the base of a dread between your thumb and forefinger and rub the dreadlock against your scalp in a clockwise motion. This technique definitely has pros and cons. Some people feel that it helps knot up the roots better. But on the down side it can give you a sore scalp and possibly break hairs at the root, which you really don't want. Roots will lock up by themselves given time and patience, the best thing to do is leave them to it for the first few months!

Crocheting:

another really popular one here which has pros and cons. You punch the really thin crochet hook through a dread, grab some loose hairs on the other side and then pull them back through into the dread. It can also be used to blunt the tips of a dreadlock. Many people use this method for attaining very neat locks, the problem is that it is very easy to over do it. Every time you crochet your hair you are punching tiny holes in the dread, now while the really thin hook will push most hairs aside, you are still running the risk of breaking hairs inside the dread. This can, overtime, weaken the dreadlock, which needs to be strong to hold up all that weight of wet hair!

Rubber bands:

 

I have some more information on loose hairs, dread roots and dread tips in my - Loose Hairs, Roots and Tips section.