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| Unlocking type 4 hair |
In our other posts we have mentioned that dreads are high maintenance.
Just like regular hair if you let them go without taking care of them they will
become messy and unkempt. After a while it can get a little tiring to keep up and
some people say enough is enough!
Over time having to pay for a loctition to re-twist your
dreads can be costly, coupled with care products. Not to mention that if twisted
to tightly to the ‘root’ a dread can snap clean off the scalp leaving a little
fussy tuft where a beautiful dread used to be. It’s during these moments that most
people chop off their dreads and start over with fresh hair. What many people don’t
know is that dreads don’t always have to be chopped off.
A dread is basically a well managed awesome looking cylindrical
tangle and tangles can be brushed out. I'm not going to lie to you, there are
hardly and loctitions that will do it and if they do the price is somewhat astronomical.
The process takes hours, depending on how long your dreds have been in
sometimes days.
If you would like to unlock your dreads, first...
Set aside a few hours- You’re going to be combing out hair
that has been shed and matted together over time. Pretty much the mother of all
knots times however many dreads you have on your head. Set aside time on your
day off or maybe a weekend when you don’t have to do anything all day, to start
on your unlocking process.
Get a deep conditioner and a cheap conditioner- While you
are combing out your hair you MUST saturate it in a detangling deep conditioner
and start at the root. These can be expensive so I say buy a cheaper
conditioner as well and use it to carry the detangling conditioner. Remember that
you have to comb from the bottom of your dread to the ‘root’
Invest in a few cute
scarves- The unlocking process may take a while for some people it may take days
if you don’t know of many styles or just don’t have the time, invest in a few
cute silk scarves to cover your hair until you are all unlocked.
Got that? So what you want to do is...
-Wash hair
in hot water and do not towel dry
-Saturate each
dread in conditioner
-Go through
your hair (dread by dread) using small amounts of the detangling conditioner –use
more if needed- as you go up the dread
-Remember to
go slowly as not to break your hair and start from the bottom of your dread
working your way up
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| Unlocked type 2 hair |
A few things that you may want to keep in mind while you are
unlocking your hair are shedding, length of your hair and the amount of time
you have had your dreads and your hair type. By now we all know that you shed anywhere
from 100-150 hairs PER DAY, dreads however rely on these shed hair to gain
length and mass. Keep in mind that when you are brushing out your dreads you
will see ALOT of shed hair because the process has been stopped for an extended
period of time. If you have long dreads expect to have your hands in your hair
for a very long time depending on the length of your dreads and the amount of
time you have allowed them to loc-up for you may be conditioning and combing
for up to 48hrs+. Also keep in mind that if you have dreads on type 4 hair it
will take a bit longer than someone with type 2 hair.
If you are going to take out your dreads I suggest asking a
friend to help you, it makes the process go a lot faster.
Thinking about unlocking your dreads? Tell us about it n our
comments section
Here is a really helpful vid I found on YouTube that may help! Enjoy!
