FAQ
Unfortunately, no. We are a By Appointment Only salon but we would love to get you scheduled for an appointment!
A lot of people ask how much length you loose upon dreading your hair. When you backcomb and start your dreadlocks depends on a few things. In general we see about a 20% loss of length during backcombing. Very curly or layered hair styles tend to loose a lot more length than straight hair. Also the larger you make the sections the more the hair is required per inch of dreads to fill the width as you go.
Yes! your hair does end up being a little frizzy and you lose some hair in the process but it is possible. No need to shave your head! Please be aware that combing your dreads out does take time.
As your dreads mature they shrink and if not properly maintained you can get “bumps or elbows” in them. This is a great way to tell if you need to give your locs a little love. Another reason for regular maintenance is to keep those fly aways in check.
Essential oils offer useful healing properties. If you are experiencing an itchy scalp or you suffer from dandruff, you will understand how difficult it is to get rid of either. A few drops of antiseptic, essential oils added to your regimen and massaged into your scalp, you’ll be able to keep your dandruff or itchy scalp under control. Did you know that essential oils can assist with a number of things? Here are the benefits of some essential and carrier oils: Almond oil: Soothes and moisturizes the scalp. Cedarwood oil: Stimulates the scalp and promotes hair growth. Chamomile oil: Adds shine and softness to hair, and soothes the scalp. Clary sage oil: Promotes hair growth and stimulates the scalp. Geranium oil: Strengthens hair. Jojoba oil: Moisturizes the hair, adds nutrients, and stimulates the scalp. Lavender oil: Deep conditions the hair, keeps it shiny, and helps control dandruff. Moroccan argan oil: Moisturizes, nourishes, and provides antioxidants to hair. Rosemary oil: Stimulates the roots, improves hair growth, and increases circulation in the scalp. Sandalwood oil: Helps with dry ends, and adds fragrance to the hair. We hope you find sometime this weekend to relax and let your locs down🥂
Its very important to keep your dreads clean and healthy by washing them with a residue-free shampoo. Remove excess water with a microfiber towel. Apply oil to damp, brittle areas of your dreads, focusing on the tips. Pressing on the individual dreads to ensure proper penetration. Pro tip: Avoid adding oils to your scalp, it could result in dandruff.
sing a sulfate, paraben and dye free shampoo. Condition your dreads with oils. (See more on other questions)
The simple and quick answer is no. As tempting as it may be to add conditioner to your dreads, it’s highly frowned upon as it will leave a residue that’s extremely difficult to get rid of. Despite a thorough wash after applying conditioner, you could end up with a smelly odor coming from your dreadlocks. The biggest reason why we do not recommend conditioner is due to most of us not completely rinsing properly. If you decide to use conditioner make sure you are rinsing a few extra times while squeezing up and down your locs. Your loctician should be able to see build up if rinsed improperly.
Despite the fact that coconut oil is very versatile and can be used on colored, bleached, weak or porous hair, it’s also important to keep a close eye on your hair when introducing coconut oil. It has an amazing ability to penetrate deep into the cortex and bind the hair proteins to strengthen the hair, coconut oil can also cause more drying and breakage when introduced for extended periods of time or when your hair doesn’t need the added moisture/strengthening. So use this twice a month max. Instead, you can introduce sunflower or grapeseed oil if coconut oil seems to be causing more damage than actual moisture.
As your hair grows and becomes longer, you might find that the tips of your dreads are drier than the hair at the root. This is normal, especially if you take into consideration that the hair furthest away from your scalp is older than the new growth, outgrown hair. The hair on the tips have most likely been rubbing against your clothes, the pillowcase, and has experienced more heat from the hair dryer than on your scalp. It’s likely, the cuticles are open and moisture escapes rapidly, which is why it’s important to use oil for dreadlocks in order to replenish the moisture lost through your day to day living. It’s also important to know which oils are best suitable for dreads and which ones you should probably use less frequently. DM or text us to set up your appointment today.🤍
If your hair is sparse or thin it is because you have fewer hairs per square inch on your scalp. Did you know that blondes tend to have the thickest, most dense hair while redheads on average have the thinest? Since the number of hairs in a dread determine it’s size, those with thinner hair will need to make larger sections so the dreads have the right amount. Your hair density will also vary over different areas on your scalp, so it may be very full or dense in the back and very thin or sparse in the front. It’s easy to compensate for a hair that is a little sparse, in fact, in many cases dreads tend to hide thinning hair to some degree. At some point the sections would need to be huge to have enough hair to make a decent dread.
Occasionally a dread will begin dreading in two parts. This creates an upside down Y shape. Sometimes this happens on it’s own and sometimes it’s a direct result of clockwise rubbing dreads with longer roots and letting the roots spread apart while you rub. . Unless you’re trying to split a large dread into two dreads you’re going to want to avoid this, here’s how: . Since it can only happen to a dreadlock while it’s roots are separated in two parts you have to make sure that knotting happens when the roots are all held close together. If you are clockwise rubbing this is pretty easy to do just by giving the dread one clockwise twist before you start. You’ll also use your fingers to keep all the hair concentrated in the center as much as possible as you rub. Most of this is technique that you will develop as you work with it but by knowing what you are going for it becomes way easier.😊 . If you have a dread that continues to try to split apart on you, which sometimes happens with dreads that are growing on cowlicks or other anomalies in your hair growth pattern, you can put a rubber band on the roots (make sure its snug, never tight). This will keep everything closer together and prevent the splitting.
Dreadlocks will always want to grow together and combine at the roots. New dreadlocks are notorious for “hooking up”. As they mature it will occur a little less, but any time that hair from one dread ends up locked in another, you’re going to see some serious dreadlock PDA. . . Preventing It There are two main things you can do to prevent these dread relations. First, while they are new, having a rubberband at the roots of each dread will help keep them apart. The second thing you can do is have someone maintenance your loose hair at the roots. Also palm rolling is your friend! 🖤
Your dreads are like plants as long as your roots are healthy, your dreads will continue to grow healthy. So you damage the roots, then the leaves would deteriorate right? The weight of your dreads can cause hair loss. As you grow older, your dreads grow, in turn becoming heavier. If your dreads are past your butt, and they are heavy, they will stress out your scalp. As a result, your hair part becoming wider and your roots begins to thin. But, this only affects people with extremely long dreads. 👉🏽Also, the importance of having them sectioned out properly upon getting them done for the first time. The size section of hair varies for each individual. Over process dreads: This occurs after frequent colour treatments. Pulling your dreads to tight: This leads to both balding and thinning of the dreads. Lacking iron and folic acid in your diet: Helps produce hair follicles naturally. Too much stress: Stress affects dreads since it kills new hair that is growing from your hair follicles.
It’s fine to tie your dreads back even when they are new, but there are a couple things to look out for: If the hair tie you’re using to hold them back is very tight and always in the same place, pressing on the same dreads, it will prevent knots from locking in that area of the dread. Using a wider hair elastic to pull them back or tying them with a bandana can spread out the pressure and prevent any problems. Some slack in the dread is necessary for the dreads to shrink up and lock while they are new and for new growth to lock as the hair grows. If a pony tail is tight and worn all the time it’s keeping everything stretched out and it could make it very difficult for the new growth to have the slack it needs for it to dread. You can slide the dreads that feel tight out of the band, toward the root a little to relieve the tension. Ultimately rolling your dreads is key!! Also if you experience itching under the pony tail it may be because there is too little air circulation. This usually isn’t a problem unless you leave them tied back tightly for a long time. If it feels like the scalp is moist and or itchy under the pony tail you should wash your scalp well and dry it with a hair dryer.
Because the hair is packed so tightly, it traps these residues within the dreads. Residues sit inside the dreads filling the tiny gaps between the tightly packed hair. Soap residue absorbs and holds water, cutting off air circulation and preventing the dreads from drying properly. Soap residue in showers is a popular breeding ground for mildew because it traps dirt and acts as a food source for the mildew. When mildew begins to grow in your dreads it’s known as “Dread Rot”. If shampoos that leave residue are used over time, the sour smell of dread rot often begins shortly after the dreads mature and gets worse over time, often leading people to cut their dreads.
Make sure you have a sleeping cap to wear over your dreads when you sleep. This will train them to lay down properly and it will keep frizz, fuzz and feathers away from your dreads. After they mature a bit they won’t be such fuzz magnets but keeping them covered while they are still loose is a good idea. If your dreads get itchy before your scheduled washing go ahead and wash them. You’ll get some loose hair each time you wash, this is normal, no worries, you can fix loose hair easily. You have to dry them well. The best way to get them dry is to lean over, letting them all hang down in front of you, and squeeze as much water out of them as you can. Wring them like a wet towel later but be gentle while they are new. Then wait about 10 seconds and repeat. Next, grab them in a towel and wring them out with the towel around them. As your dreads get really tight, and they will get really tight, getting them dry will be really important. Dreads can hold water for many hours if not dried properly and mildew can grow inside them. This is called Dread Rot. This is the second most common reason peoples dreads get stinky. The first is not washing. Make sure they are dry before sleeping. If needed bust out your trusty hair dryer and make sure to use with no heat or very low heat. Once they are dry. Palm roll them babies! This is key to helping them lock up.
Bleaching dries and weakens the hair. Modern bleaching kits are a little easier on hair, especially when the instructions are followed. Dreads tend to lock well in slightly damaged hair so you will have no problem there but over time, since hair in the dread stays around forever (rather than shedding away) there is a good chance that you will see breakage in the bleached areas. I always recommend to dying your hair before dreading it so it dyes evenly.
Sometimes the hair doesn’t make dreads as thick as expected when it’s backcombed and people wonder if their hair is too thin for dreads. As long as there are enough hairs per square inch on your scalp to make a section of hair as big around as a pencil or so you should have plenty of hair density to make dreads. The dreads will generally fatten up as they mature so you will gain some thickness & fullness in the first 3-4 months. During tightening the tips draw up towards the roots making the dreads shorter and wider. Because backcombing technique varies, sometimes newly backcombed dreads can start out pretty thin and they do not loose much length during backcombing. These dreads will usually widen the most in the initially tightening. When the dreads don’t get much wider than the bundle of un-dreaded hair during the backcombing it’s pretty likely you’ll see the thickness you’re looking for as they mature.
When your scalp is at healthy pH range of 4.5 to 5.5 it is slightly acidic which helps to kill off yeast and bacteria. Therefore, a healthy pH range will contribute to a normal level of Yeast on your scalp reducing the likelihood of Dandruff with Dreads. Unfortunately, many people experience higher pH levels due to a variety of factors allowing an overgrowth of yeast which I will be posting about in the next few days.
Absolutely not! We can add in as many or as little as you want. Like the look of only a half set? Done. Only want a couple? Perfect.
Everyone’s hair grows at different speeds. 1/2″ per month is about average. There are two things you can do to get your hair to grow faster. Diet and Stimulation. There also supplements available for hair and nail growth which will work too!
Soap residue can build up over time and which gets harder to remove. Residues in dreads will increase the drying time so make sure you are doing a deep cleanse every month. The best results we have seen is by soaking your dreads for 10 minutes or so in hot water with a little dread soap. After soaking, work the dread soap into each dread like a sponge. When all of your dreads are good and soapy let them sit for 5 minuets or so. Work the soap out of each dread while they under water and continue to flush them with water until all of the soap is gone.
When you backcomb and start your dreadlocks depends on a few things. In general we see about a 20% loss of length during backcombing. Very curly or layered hair styles tend to loose a lot more length than straight hair. Also the larger you make the sections the more the hair is required per inch of dreads to fill the width as you go.
You can swim with dreads. Chlorine won’t hurt them and salt water can help them mature. You’ll always find some new loose hair after swimming but it can easily be taken care of with a little maintenance.
To start locs you need about 4-5 inches of growth. The softer the texture of your hair, the more techniques may be needed to ensure the locs remain secure. You also have to stay on top of your maintenance in the beginning to make sure they don’t come loose or fall out.
You will know! 💕 They get hard like ropes because you can bend them and they are flexible but if you try to squish them flat they resist. They become much harder to penetrate with a pencil tip or even a paper clip. The amount that they can be squeezed down flat with about 2.5 lbs of pressure becomes very small, usually about 1-4 mm. Larger dreads get tighter than thinner dreads. Very thin dreads with sections smaller than 1/2″ may not have enough hair to feel fully mature even when they have reached full tightness.
Generally the hair grows at exactly the same speed after it’s dreaded, but the dreads gain length slower because as the hair grows it zigs and zags horizontally or back and forth in the dread, and this takes up much of it’s length. Thicker dreads are effected more by this than thinner dreads. When the dreads are mature they will begin to gain length faster than before, but still not as fast a un-dreaded hair. Thinner dreads will always gain length faster since there is less back and forth due to the smaller diameter.
If you’re growing your hair out for dreadlocks and you have some time before it will reach the length you’re waiting for there are a couple things you can do that will be helpful to locking later. First off you want to make sure your hair is healthy and growing fast. Why wait longer than you need to right? One of the biggest changes your scalp will need to adjust to when you start your dreads is the change in washing frequency. If you’re washing your hair every day now and you’ll be washing it every 3 days later, that’s a big adjustment. If you slowly increase the time between washings the oil that your scalp produces will naturally decrease. This will make the transition easier later on. The sooner you begin changing the washing frequency the more gradual the change can be. You’ll definitely want to stop using conditioners at least two weeks before you start your dreads and you can also begin using a residue free dread shampoo to allow the scalp to adjust and to ensure that the hair is as clean as possible for the backcombing.
To start locs you need about 4-5 inches of growth. The softer the texture of your hair, the more techniques may be needed to ensure the locs remain secure. You also have to stay on top of your maintenance in the beginning to make sure they don’t come loose or fall out.
Sometimes dreads do mature and change later than expected. But there are a lot of possible explanations. Like your maintenance routine, washing frequency and hair type are probably the most important variables. A common error that delays maturity is washing too infrequently (every 2 weeks rather than every 3 days) with the wrong shampoo. I hear about this happening to someone at least once a month. The good news is that although they matured later than expected they are maturing now. Give them time to shrink and adjust. They will probably end up a good bit wider than they were before. Fuzzy hair is not going to hurt them. The loose hair at the roots should be pulled in with a Crochet hook to keep things tidy and prevent the dreads from growing together.
About two weeks before you dread your hair you can start making some changes that will help things go a bit smoother. These things are optional but they will help. You want your scalp to begin getting used to the routine you’ll follow after to dread your hair. This will make the transition easier and you’ll reduce the chances of getting an itchy scalp. The two changes your scalp will notice will be a change in washing frequency like every day to every 3 days and a change in stimulation because you won’t be brushing your dreads. You can ease the transition by getting your scalp used to these changes a head of time. The most important rule is not to allow your scalp to be itchy. Itching leads to scratching and irritation. These are issues you don’t need. So if your scalp is itchy go ahead and wash. Even if it means breaking that consistent routine. This goes for before and after you have dreads. For the last week or so before your dreads stop using conditioners and shampoos that contain residues like moisturizers, scents, herbs and oils. If you already have dread friendly soap you can start using it a week or two before your dreadies. Of course this is optional but it will make backcombing easier and make the transition smoother. The day you get dreaded you should wash your hair really well with the dread friendly soap. Because it’s residue free it will remove oils and leave your hair clean. When it’s totally dry you are ready to get dreaded!
As your dreads really begin to lock and tighten, rinsing them does become more challenging. You’ll have to rinse them like a sponge, allowing them to fill with water, then squeezing it out. There is dread soap you can use that is unique in when you rinse it away there is nothing left behind. This makes it easier to rinse that other shampoos, but even so, if you work the soap directly into the dreads you will need to spend some time squeezing them and rinsing them. Fortunately for day to day, regular washing this isn’t necessary. You can concentrate your shampooing and scrubbing on the scalp. The amount of warm soapy water that runs though the dreads is while you wash the scalp is sufficient to keep them clean. Since the soap that runs through them is more diluted it rinses out much quicker.
A lot of people, due to their lifestyle, need to take showers ever day. So what do you do if it’s not time to wash your dreads and you need a shower? Can you get them wet? Getting the dreads wet ahead of time won’t usually cause them any problems, but many people find that if they get their dreads wet without washing them and getting them clean, they get itchy sooner. If you don’t find this to be the case then you can get them wet in between washings. Of course you need to make sure they dry fully. You don’t want to ever let them sit wet for long periods.
Flatness is expected with young dreads. It’s normal to notice this in the morning after you sleep with them. Don’t worry though, if the knots are good and the sections are pretty close to square your new dreadlocks will eventually grow round. For now you can help them out by palm rolling!!
I cannot stress enough that so many people are not educated on how to care for dreadlocks. There is so much conflicting information online it gets really confusing. Let me tell you ladies & gents. I have put almost everything in my own dreads because I was not sure what was the right way or the wrong way. Here are some things that will help you along the way:
1. Use conditioner sparingly and make sure you are rising really well (wait until they are at least 1 YEAR old), use a dread friendly hair oil instead.
2. Deep clean your locks 3-4 times a year.
3. Use paraben, sulfate and dye free shampoos.
4. Palm roll, palm roll, palm roll.
5. Stay away from hair products, your dreads are meant to be natural and beautiful.
6. Essential oils are your friend. They have healing properties.
7. Keep up on regular maintenance.
8. Itchy scalp? Wash them babies🤪In between washes sprits them with alcohol free witch hazel or rose water.
9. NEVER sleep with wet hair.
10. Be sure to give your Jedi dread a name.
AVC Recipe:
1C baking Soda.
16 oz Organic Apple Cider Vinegar.
1/2 lemon sliced.
1/2 orange sliced.
1/2 lime sliced.
1C epson salt.
1 Rose fresh or dry. You can also use 1C of rose water.
Baking soda. Add water to turn into a paste. Press it into your locs and massage into your scalp.
Fill a wash bin with medium- hot water. Add the ACV, fruit slices and roses/rose water and epson salt into wash bin. Soak your whole head from 30-45 mins while squeezing your dreadlocks and make sure your scalp is also getting some love during this process.
Make sure you rinse and repeat until the apple cider smell is no longer there. Dry with microfiber towel.
Each cause of dandruff has a preventative solution. Sometimes dandruff just happens and it has nothing to do with any of this stuff but that’s more rare than you’d think. Usually these steps take care of it within a few days. The most likely cause of dandruff is that your washing schedule is messed up & you need to get on a regular schedule, you need to be consistent. If your whole scalp appears dry and you are washing regularly you may be getting it a bit too clean. Some scalps are very sensitive to this, they prefer to have more natural oil than others. If you tend to get dandruff right at your hair line try massaging this area gently while you’re rinsing your dreads. Then dry your hair line well with a towel right after your shower. Everyone is different but there is always a solution.
Absolutely not!👎🏽 Wax is not water a soluble. Which means: it doesn’t allow water to penetrate the dread, if you try to wash your dreadlocks and they have wax in them, you will not be able to clean out where ever wax is clogging. Most products hinder the locking process or make your dreadlocks shrink up so fast you lose length. Having dreads is a journey and like all journey’s they take time and patience.
You really cannot thin or split dreads very easily. How thick your dreads are depends on how much hair is in them and taking hair out of dreads is difficult. Cutting them down the middle with scissors or a knife is a really bad idea. Because of the way the hairs are packed cutting them will make the dreadlocks way shorter and thinner, pretty much ruining the dreads. I know from first hand experience, I did it to one of mine before I combed mine out. So if you can’t cut them what do you do? It depends on how mature your dreads are. If they are fairly new the easiest way is to back comb them out starting at the tip and working toward the root. After you comb them out you can re-dread them^_^